Thursday 30 May 2013

Grand Havre


Our house is on the left of the picture further back from the front and with an arrow pointing down at its roof.

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Meanwhile in May....

....a month...

Of hard work and a few holidays, including Liberation Day.
Of spring arriving and summer hopeful, but mostly scarves and coats and gloves and boots and winter winter clothes.
Of friends and meetings and kayaking and lovely lovely ladies breakfast.
Of emails and Skype calls.
Of charity walks and cycling to school.
Of hard work.Report writing. Meetings. Discussions. Lessons. Lessons.

And several completely astonishing 'blasts from the past': I bumped into an acquaintance from Kenya while I was on a course in the UK - and someone, too, with a close connection to school here in Guernsey. Then, as Richard was taking the dog for a walk, he was recognized by one of his father's farm employees - having worked on the Pollard farm in Kenya, he had been farming in Devon for many years and was on holiday in Guernsey for a couple of days.  We last met him and his wife at our wedding, nearly 29 years ago!  So astonishing that he recognized Richard - plus beard, plus pepper-and-salt hair (but no weight gain!) - after so many years...

And I listen to the bird song and watch the baby rabbits spring-hare leaping on the lawn. Magpies raid wood pigeon nests and I find the sad eggshell debris. New potatoes appear on the 'hedge veg' and chickens lay too many eggs. And some days the sun is warm and hot on my back and I lie with a book.

May might be here.

Thursday 23 May 2013

Frrrrrog Chasing

Pickle loves the summer. Huge opportunities to spend a lot of time outdoors, discovering all kinds of exciting creatures and unusual smells.
A plump rabbit sitting outside the back door in the early morning is just asking to be chased.
A hedgehog, struggling up and down the pond, invites derision and annoyance. The animal in question is not designed for swimming, however elegant its hedgehog-paddle might be.
Beetles crawling through the grass are a source of fascination. So are ants and bumble bees.
As for the large frog, which had the temerity to leap into the pond right under her nose....well, she couldn't let it get away with that:

Investigating the pond during a playdate with Howie...


...needs a deep and thorough search for that elusive amphibian...


...which ends up really tiring. Aaahh....

Saturday 11 May 2013

Amazing April!

Well, not exceptionally amazing except for the weather, which was amazingly cold. North winds bit at the sunshine. It was warm behind glass, so the greenhouse lettuces started to grow. Fortunately, the school garden is further behind although it is hectic trying to get things going quickly now. Not enough time, not enough time...

April brought many good things. A visit from Jonny was first: he helped us hugely by chopping up some of the felled trees which had collapsed under snow and stormy winds in March. There were five trees in total, so there is firewood for the next x number of years.

Our dear friend Leslie from Kenya days came to stay. Good to catch up on times old and new. Such a privilege to share in the lives of others. The end of the month saw me meet up with precious friends from Rugby days, too, when I dropped in before and after attending a course at Rugby School. The town hadn't changed too much - the railway station has been wonderfully upgraded: clean, smart paintwork which went some way to ameliorating the brash new canopy which replaces the beautiful Victorian fretwork which had lasted a hundred years... progress? Not.

So days were full with holiday catch up of all sorts...friends, colleagues, chores. A time of looking back and remembering the distant past. And many conversations about the future - immediate and further off. Because in all this, mid-April marked the start of another period of sick leave for Richard...we wait to see what will happen...