Month: May 2012

A blistering hot, clear-skied weekend. Out in the allotment on Saturday morning, initially with Lola and Neve, though Lola didn’t last long, needing to return for the loo. Anyway, got a fair bit done by lunchtime:

• 5 rows pink fir on left of onions
• 1 row roma next to beans on path side
• 1 row san marzano next
• 2 rows Rooster on inside next to beans
• 2 defender, 2 clarion, plus one which may well be a Zucchini in the courgette bed. From left.

The rest of the day I spent helping Isa prepare for the evening, when Sabrina, Tim and kids were due to arrive for dinner. Isa had been cooking since early that morning: grilling veg, making a mango and quinoa salad, making pastry for an (it turned out) utterly fantastic crostata di fragole.  I popped off to get some ingredients, then made tandoori chicken and a rhubarb fool. By the designated time, we had the food pretty much done and the table set. Then, ten minutes before kick-off, Tim rang to say Sabrina had done her back in and they couldn’t come. Aargh! Well, it worked out anyway. Samuel and Sascha came for dinner and then we all cycled over to Sabrina’s with the puddings and some food for them.

Sunday morning and back in the allotment, planting 5 rows pink fir apple above the two rows of rooster on inside left. Then sorted out the greenhouse, taking the staging out and planting out five cucumbers (cucino and avanti F1, I think) and 6 peppers (four mavras and 2 sweet mixed, I think). Then a quick shower and off on a sweltering drive down to Mill Hill to see grandma and Mike. We went cross-country through the Shelfords, Fowlmere, Barley, Barkway, Puckeridge and then straight down the A10/M25/A1. It was a good run and we got there in 90 minutes, arriving just 5 mins outside our 3-4 pm window.

I nearly ran over Mike, who was out in the drive finishing off a major hedge-trimming exercise. We had tea and cakes and chatted about this and that. Grandma was looking well though she has lost a little weight. Lola was lovely with her, asking questions, listening, often coming to her; she asked her to come out in the garden where she and Neve were playing. So we all did.

Monday:
Planted out another five rows of tomatoes: Roma, St Marzano, Roma, St Marzano, Samdar.

 

We took the girls down to London to see the English National Ballet’s special children’s production of Sleeping Beauty. I took the day off work and we went down on the train, which made it a proper adventure. We had an easy trip down getting a block of seats with table and snacking and chatting the way down. Lola was very excited about getting the tube, which we did down to Holburn, Lola picking up a lovely compliment on her attire from a fellow passenger (she had a dress on and her Railway Children coat over).

We got to Holburn early enough to grab some lunch; we went to an Eat, I think. Hard to distiguish among the rash of franchises that line the main road. Had some hearty chilli thing which was ok but I should have saved the money as I finished off both kids’ toasties. Then we strolled over the road to the Peacock Theatre where Natalie and Louis were waiting for us. We had no trouble finding the place: we just had to follow the flow of tiny girls with furry pink wands back upstream — they were obviously exiting the previous performance. I have to say, the merchandising, and particularly those nasty plastic wands (and *why* were they furry?), seemed a grabbing, cynical ploy that marred an otherwise excellent show.

Anyway, the performance itself was really good: great narration by the nurse character, great costumes and dancing. Good length, too. Maybe an hour and a half including interval.

After the show we we all walked together up to St Giles Circus (being en route to John Lewis, where Isa and wanted to pop in) for a spot of dinner. A very enjoyable walk up Longacre with the kids playing chase games with their new . . . pink . . . wands. We stopped at a Croc shop and got a pair for Neve. And then at another place where we got something similar for Lola.

Then we got St Giles and the huge new building that Dodge is managing, part of which is a big Zizi’s where we installed ouselves and ate pizza and pasta and antipasti and stuff. Amazingly, after all that we still had the stamina to head off to John Lewis. Luckily, we saw a bus as soon as we hit Oxford St an jumped on that, which was great fun for th kids and speeded things up. It turned out John Lewis didn’t have what we looking for but we didn,t mind to much. Got a tube back to kx and onto a train home. Must have been gone ten by the time we got back but Lola and Neve were still in good spirits.

Of brain, that is. Should get to bed earlier.

This weekend was Neve’s third birthday party. Arlo came, with Nat and Loius; then Seth, Chriselia, Otis, Dave. A nice relaxed event with minimal gaming (musical statues being about it) and much playing in the garden and trampoline. It was a lovely day. The first since that week in March, and we spent the whole party outside.

Neve continues to be utterly adorable. I’m sorry that I’ve not being blogging about her more. She is bright and funny with a love of wordplay and of putting on funny voices. Currently, she and Lola spend a lot of time being Hex Girls (rock chicks from a Scooby Doo film). “I’m a Hex Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrlll,” sings Neve, with a wonderful wandering melody in that long “girl”. Then she points and her eyes take on the steely/scary character of her subject. “And I’m going to put a spell on you!”

Neve has a hard time with pooing and sometimes goes days between. Sometimes she has to push and she goes red and makes straining noises. More amusingly, when things are not hard, she makes a parody of straining noises and you can hear her from anywhere in the house going, “EEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeee!”
Neve is reliably good humoured and very loving. She is forever coming up for a cuddle. For a month or two, one of her catchphrases when talking to me or Isa was, “I love you toooooooo much!”  Which is quite disarming.

Disarming is one of her core skills. If reprimanded she will quickly say sorry and follow up with a cheeky smile, or a quick comment to produce a laugh. If that’s not enough, a flurry of kisses and cuddles will follow.

Quick note to say Neve and I planted the earlies (only a month later than last year) and half the roosters. The earlies in the first bed on the right, the roosters in the bed Nonna and Assunta dug over last year, with two rows of earlies nearest the shed.
Then put three rows of borlotti-style and one of blue lake down at the end.
The rye grass was up to my hips when I first got there yesterday. Thankfully the sycle made short work of it.