Author: alex

Neve the Beve of Bevey-neveness

IMG_2020 Lo-la. Low-la! Loooooooooooooowww-la! Neve will call Lola in the morning until she wakes. She’ll point to Lola’s things and tell us they are Lola’s. She’s not beyond going to fetch her hat and telling us it’s time to go and get Lola from school. And Lola’s name punctuates Neve’s pseudo-talk all the time — it’s not possible to tell whether it’s semantically in context or she just likes the sound of the word.

Neve hits Lola — not maliciously: I thinks she just thinks it’s funny. Lola does not, and can get quite upset. When she cries, Neve comes and gives her a cuddle.

Neve is happy, funny, and excited about stuff. She loves going out; she loves visiting. She skips everywhere; often breaks into spontaneous dance.

frostings

This morning the first frost of the year visited the back garden ;I could feel it under my feet as I went to fetch my bike. Now I’m traveling through a mist-hung, pink-tinged morning on the way to work. It really is quite stunning, despite my trite and clichéd description.

It’s been an excellent weekend, with a lot of stuff done with a minimum of stress. We painted the inside of the understairs area; took the door off the washer/dryer cupboard and painted that (three coats of heavy, black, tar-like paint which will turn it into a magnetic blackboard. Hm, I don’t mean magnetic, I mean attractive to magnets), and sanded down the inside of the front door, removing that awful maroon stain.

I got out in the garden with the girls. Took down the beans, cleared leaves, tied back the crysanthemums, dug over some beds. On Sunday, I got over to the allotment, cleared some of the top end and finished pulling the tall weeds. Will I double-dig? We shall see.

We got out on the bikes briefly on Saturday, but only to pop down to Mill Road to do some washing in the laundrette; then back home for a quick pasta before Isa went off to the cinema with Ally to watch the new Mike Leigh film. She came back all sentimental, so it must be good.

trick or treat

The Hooper coven was abroad last night, frightening the neighbours into letting go of their yummiest possessions.Isa, Lola and Neve as witches

That’d be the first time I’ve ever been trick-or-treating; it’s not really a tradition I have any connection with. Hallowe’en in Cornwall meant the stealing of gates and, perhaps, the pelting of houses with eggs. Trickery only — and fairly destructive trickery at that.

But Lola got excited by the whole idea and Asda had some insanely cheap witch costumes, so Lola and Neve both got dressed up and went round to five local houses fishing for treats. Quite successfully.

In more mundane news, we had two fairly productive hour-long sessions at the allotment this weekend. It suits the routine quite well to take the girls over there after breakfast and before Neve’s nap. Neve tends just to plonk herself down on the ground and play with the mud — often eating it, too. I often catch her just staring into space with a far-away look in her eyes. Lola will busy herself digging with a little trowel, pulling weeds, planting sticks.

I’ve now managed to pull most of the more-than-ankle-high weeds; then I’ll just turn it all over before the frosts come. I suspect I won’t get to double-digging it this year.

octoberjust

P1060478 And so, Autumn is upon us — as someone with awful literary style might be tempted to write. I’ve been casting around for signs of mellow fruitfulness but unable to see through the mist. S’been OK so far; September was very mild though the temperature has certainly dipped and there were a few days when we were glad of the new radiator in our modern and desirable open-plan living area.

P1060525 Did I mention that I installed the radiator myself? Hung it on the wall, ran all the pipework (proper soldered joints, doncha know), spliced it into the heating loop, flushed and inhibited the system. Amazingly: no leaks.

In other news: Lola has started school! She’s about to finish her second week of full-time school; prior to that, there was a week of half-time. She loves it. She is very lucky that her very good friend Isla is also going to St Philips (and also went to nursery). One tends to assume that the experience would have been less easy without that support. Though, obviously, one cannot be sure.

What else? Neve is a happy, adventurous, resilient young lady; babbling like a goodun’ but no words beyond the basics yet. We bought a new table for the kitchen — new to us, that is: it’s a regency table in three sections, veneered and french-polished. £60 down the RSPCA shop. We’re going to take the polish off and slap some polyurethane on it. Heathens! We’ve painted the tall-boy we bought at the Sally Ann a deep, high-gloss pink. We got rid of our old kitchen table on Freecycle; and we picked up a set of Ikea tall kitchen cabinets that must be >£500-worth of stuff. P1060508I went clay-pigeon shooting off an old Thames barge up past the Thames barrier — corporate hospitality from NTT.

Garden has done well. We have been inundatted with tomatoes, many of which are green, though they many are turning red (cue my favourite Shakespeare quote but I can’t find the right phrasing). Unfortunately many of the later-picked are turning brown; the intention is to make some of the glut into chutney, if we can get to that before they spoil. Isa had the great idea of semi-drying the excess ripe tomatoes in the oven and then putting them in jars under oil. They should last six months in the fridge, though care in storage is required: mould pounces if they are not fully covered.

The Hungarian Hot Wax peppers did really well and are utterly delicious if char-grilled. Also pretty hot — some significantly more than others. We’ve given them some of the under-oil treatment, too. We shall see…

The Crystal Lemon cucumbers unfortunately failed to mature — we got two fruits from the entire six plants. These were lovely, so perhaps will try again next year. I think they were probably just planted a little late.

Now it’s Friday and I’m on my way home: hurray! And it’s grey and rainy: boo! Fingers crossed (at least, they will be after I’ve finished typing) for better weather over the weekend…

allotted

Woohoo! We have an allotment. Or very nearly. We take over a half-plot on October 01. We have a key and have signed the paperwork.

It’s a good-looking plot with a small potting shed and a little lock-up. And if you could jump high enough, you’d be able to see into our garden from it.

So, more digging ahoy. Though it shouldn’t be too bad: it’s weedy, but it’s been worked this year.

slightly less delightful

P1050972In the meteorological sense, that is: it started to rain as I stepped out this morning. Neve and Lola remain as delightful as ever. Though Isa may not be agreeing at present as Neve woke at 06:00 this morning and would not be cajoled back to sleep. And, by the time I left at 06:40, Lola was also awake (Neve having kindly taken her her rice milk. It’s going to be a long day…

Neve can now say, “Mama,” and “Dada,” and “Lola” — the latter in her own special way which I am unable to transliterate. She also, like Lola before her, like to do “Cheers!” (“chszz”) with her beaker. Seems quite civilised, you might think, until you see her grabbing fistfuls of
cottage pie and smearing the contents in and around her mouth.

Hearing her shout for her food is quite something. If the food is not ready when she expects it — say you put her in her chair and then go to dish out her food — she’ll be shouting Mama or YumYum and jumping up and down making excited noises. Much delay and she’ll be crying, shouting. During a meal, every time something new is brought to the table she’ll be pointing excitedly, wanting to try. If it’s something she knows she likes, the excitement is intense. When she finishes and wants more, she’ll hold out her empty bowl: “yum-yum, yum-yum!”

a-wobbler

Neve at Rosie's birthday party The enduring image of Neve at the moment has her walking backwards and forwards in a wobbly manner carrying things. Preferably, things that are just a little too heavy. And then finding a step or ledge upon which she can sit.

She loves to chase, or be chased around the sitting-room/hall/kitchen circuit — and Lola is happy to oblige. Or she’ll go on a trip around the kitchen table with a little bag with some interesting items in, waving goodbye with a “Ciaii” and then waving hello with a big grin as she rounds the table.

wah, heat

Nonna and Stefania have now gone home after being with us for three weeks. Three sweltering hot weeks — we’ve not seen a summer like this since the year Lola was born. It was absolutely lovely to have them here; Lola was over the moon to have ‘Tefi to play with every day. Isa and I were over the moon to have Cesarina extending her calm, “get stuff done” aura over the otherwise frequently frenetic and fraught Hooper lifestyle. Neve was just over the moon.