Totally Granola... Except For The Lego.

I could get used to week-long half-term holidays. We've had friends to stay. We've had exactly the right mixture of sunny days where we took off on foot or on bikes and explored the wilds of Bournemouth; and rainy days where we lay about on the floor watching movies and pouring glitter all over the kitchen table. Much has been done that is non-essential. Mummies had cups of tea and really good talks, Chas helped Katy revise for a Latin test (with much hilarity and charade-ing), Max had a friend over, and Lego was spread hither and yon.

Sam and his buddy Thomas, with much encouragement from Chas, his friend Connor and Thomas' sister Katy, have made their first ever film:



The death scenes (there are many) are of Oscar-Winning Quality. The kids said that IF ONLY we had a camera here, and didn't have to use the laptop camera, it would have been better, so Daddy, bring the camera back when you return!

The boys have also posted some stuff on their own Website about bikes and rocks, and are threatening to post more.

My Muesli was used up this week, so I have made a new batch and I'd just like to say that I've discovered THE HOLY GRAIL of Muesli. Usually I just throw whatever is around into a big jar and shake it up, but this time I had Good-Quality Oats, Cranberries, Walnuts, Dates, and end of a bag of assorted nuts (mostly Brazil), Apricots... and FIGS!

Ohhhh, dear readers, you gotta taste Muesli with FIGS! The angels sang, I tell ya. I cut them up with scissors (figs, not angels),  the way I do apricots, and tumbled them around so the oats coated them and they won't stick together. They taste like crunchy honey.

*SIGH* Figgy Muesli! 


We have done quite a bit of snuggling (including snuggling of my niece, and brushing her long hair), and finished reading 'The Magician's Nephew' for Max, as he couldn't remember the story. We plan on reading the whole Narnia Series again, we have enjoyed that one so much. Some books you just have to read every few years!

Chas has read 'Goodnight Mister Tom', a beautiful story about an abused boy who is sent from London to stay in the countryside during the War and finds self and love. Sam read the book at school and saw the movie, and loved both book and movie. Chas is now re-reading Terry Pratchett's  'The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents' and giggling just as much as the first time.

I've been reading Vikram Chandra's 'Love and Longing In Bombay' and wishing I could write like that; Gerald Martin's Biography of Gabriel García Márquez, which is written much in the style of Márquez and which any fan will enjoy reading; and 'Yoga, The Holistic Way To Health', a big book of poses where I've been looking up 'immune system' and 'lungs' (my cough is much better, thank you). B. K. S. Iyengar is a great teacher, and this, his latest book, is excellent for finding almost any pose and getting it right.

I usually scoff at self-help books, but someone recommended, when I was in the throes of moving countries, that I read 'The Power Of  Now' by Eckhart Tolle... This has been an easy read, and makes stress seem so unnecessary and last-year. I'm re-reading bits, just before I go to sleep. I think that getting this on CD would be a great idea, because there are some good meditations which would be better listened to than read. Most of us could use a good talking to about stress, and this book does it well.

Tomorrow is the last day of our holiday: The day when Sam will suddenly remember that he has homework, I will finally request that the Lego be picked up, the glitter will be vacuumed, and the spare beds and bedding will be tidied up. A pottering-around day. We are all healthier and more rested than we were a week ago, and I hope our visitors are too!