JBarBlog

The girls enjoyed the Spring Fayre at the Primary School.  Emily always likes helping on a stall and this year she helped at the tombola which seemed to be very popular.

My own wee sunflower stall didn’t exactly rake it in, but I think its important to have at least one activity that is purely fun and doesn’t cost anything or is by donation.  The potted sunflower seeds were given as a consolation prize to anyone who failed to win a coconut.

Lucy was very successful on the coconut shy. I’m thinking of trying this Coconut Lentil Soup recipe.

On Thursday I joined an hour-long walk starting from the Community Centre and going down to sea, along the path that runs adjacent to Preston Crescent, returning to the community centre via the road (does it have a name?) between the Mary Murray and South Crescent.

We returned to the Community Centre for a cup of tea and the world’s largest filled roll.

On Friday morning, Nigel and I had a late breakfast on the balcony of the Mercat Gait and enjoyed the views across Polwarth Park.

Add to this the award-winning Pitstop Cafe in the Pennypit and we’ve got three great community eateries.

It’s been a pleasant day.

Having distributed some Herman the German mixture to Barbara & Andy and Kathleen & Bryson yesterday, I resolved to give the third portion to the first person I saw on the way to school, which happened to be Gemma, our former neighbour.

I baked our share today having added apples, raisins and spices.  It’s taken a long time but I can honestly say it was worth waiting for.

Natural Spice are giving away some of our copies of The Alchemist as part of World Book Night (you are supposed to target ‘non-readers’ so holding an event in the library or bookshop is a bit of non-starter).  Hopefully it will be a nice surprise for people when they get their takeaway.  I left a copy in the bus shelter.

After school the wee two were intrigued by a tree surgeon so we stayed to watch for a bit.

Lucy said it was her favourite part of the day.

I asked Georgie what her favourite part of the day was and she replied “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (which I found puzzling to say the least).  She went on to explain that she had seen an Alvin & the Chipmunks lunch bag which “made me happy – I just love his face”.

…is Georgie’s creation.

I love it!

Nigel has started his new job.

The girls are back at school.

I’m trying out a new routine that balances hauswhiffery and other stuff.

I’ve worked out that if I run up the hill on a Tuesday, I can be home in time to listen to Radio 4′s The Public Philosopher while simultaneously loading the washing machine, washing the breakfast dishes and mopping the floor.

Who am I kidding? There just aren’t enough hours in the day to keep on top of the chores.  And if there were, I’d still find an excuse to do something less boring instead.

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Three grown-ups, five children, 90 minutes litterpicking resulted in countless bin bags (I didn’t count them), one high chair and – more importantly – a much improved and beautiful woodland in which to play, picnic and party.  We saw a rabbit, butterfly and a squirrel.  Brilliant morning!

Bottom Right: Before

Bottom Left: AFTER!

Absolutely loving Artists and Makers.com

You may have heard…reading is good for children.

I love books.  Nigel loves books.  We have books in every room.  Our children see us reading.  We read to our children.  Our kids have library memberships.  It’s easy for us to earn parenting points because books are a big part of our lives.

But what if, some expert somewhere, declared that going to a football match was positively crucial to a child’s development?

Oh crikey. I’m becoming quite panicky just thinking about it.

How do I find out where football matches are held?  How do I decide which team to pick to watch.  Which match?  Which whatdya call it…stadium, pitch, ground?

Where do I buy tickets?  Do you need ID these days?  Will there be hooligans?  Do the fans go in separate entrances?  Do I have to wear certain colours?  Is it expensive?

These are all genuine questions.  I realise that anyone who goes to football matches or even has a passing interest in the sport will find these questions utterly ludicrous.

Substitute the words ‘match’ for ‘book’, ‘team’ for ‘author’ etc etc.  Are you beginning to get my point?

It’s easy to get smug about easy ”achievements’ and a whole lot harder to do something that takes us out of our natural habitat.

Yesterday Jocelyn and Josiah brought round Herman the German Friendship Cake mixture.  We will look after Herman for the next few days before diving him up and passing him on to another three folk.

I have vague memories of a friendship cake doing the rounds at school c.1984.  I do hope its not the same yeast.

We went along to Cuthill Park this morning to help dig up the weeds and level the earth prior to the paths being formed by Mobex.  Jan H and the kids planted sunflower seeds.

Jocelyn brought some delicious cordial she’d made from stinging nettles she’s foraged in the park.

I’ve been inspired by the Eat Weeds website which has loads of wild food recipes including one for Sauteed Hogweed Leaf Stalks With Nettles & Wild Garlic.

As we left the park we could see the markings the Council have made to indicate where the wildflowers will be sown.  It’s going to look beautiful.

My popcorn tub courgette seedlings are doing well.

The Easter holidays are drawing to a close.  Thank goodness.  Some of the Barkerette behaviour has been a little challenging to say the least.

Highlights of the holidays included:

The Nature Detectives ‘Spring’ pack from the Woodland Trust.

Norwich Puppet Theatre‘s production of Thumbelina in Prestonpans Community Centre as part of the Puppet Animation Festival.  Actually, I didn’t care much for the re-telling of the “little girl so small she could float on a lily pad and ride on the back of a dragonfly” so amused myself by counting how many Boden cardigans and Orla Kiely changing mats I could see in the audience (the Aberlady and Gullane mum mafia were out in force).

Some unusual sights on our Easter Sunday walk to Levenhall Links included: a crocodile; Mr T; an inaccessible stretch of sandy beach.

We rolled our hard boiled eggs down the slopes of the lagoons then did an Easter Egg trail at Prestongrange Museum.

Lucy had her final assessment at speech therapy which confirmed she doesn’t need any more speech therapy – hooray!

Today, Lucy and I made a really easy and totally yummy cheesecake:

• Mix together 400g crushed ginger snap biscuits + 75g melted butter and press into base of tin
• Mix together 500g soft cheese + 75g icing sugar + juice and zest of 1 lime and spread over the biscut base.
• Chill for 30 mins.

My Nether Wallop Paper Potter arrived yesterday and I’ve already made lots of biodegradable seedling pots (from Grauniads of course).

I’m doing lots of indoor sowing at the moment so need quite a few pots.  I used some leftover popcorn buckets to plant up some courgettes.  They look quite stylish!  We ate the popcorn during Earth Hour when we sat in the twilight and and talked about our favourite restaurants and cafes.

Even ‘nice’ takeaway eateries use those awful polystyrene foam clam-shell packaging.  They are an absolute environmental disaster as they don’t biodegrade and it’s not economical to recycle.  And don’t even get me started on the way they block up litter bins by springing open inside them…

I took delivery of a gazillion napkins today.  They’re from Vegware, and like all their products, they are made from plants and are compostable.  How cool is that?!

They sent generous quantities of samples across their range of food packaging.  They’ve just won the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Green Company of the Year award and have a good sense of corporate responsibility.  I love Vegware!