This Week

The weather... variable! A nice bright morning today, but on Sunday we went for a BBQ in the woods and got soaked by torrential rain, despite stopping on the way to buy a cheap emergency gazebo to protect us from the forecast showers. Showers? If those were showers, what do they count as rain? At home - maybe 15 miles away? - it was bright and sunny until late afternoon, and several degrees warmer.

I am wearing... black and white pyjamas. (It is beginning to sound as though I live in pyjamas! In reality, I just tend to blog first thing in the morning before I get up.

I am reading... finally on the last chapter of When the Lights Went Out, which despite ploughing through it so slowly I have enjoyed. It has given me a much better understanding of the first decade I remember politically (I first voted in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was elected).

I am creating... self striping socks and a Jordan vest top with some bargain yarn (ten balls of discontinued Jaeger Trinity for about £12).

I am hearing... Cherub playing with the iPad

I am watching... a new series of Who Do You Think You Are? starts this week. Right up my street! And a wonderful advert for genealogy - over the past few years the programme has dramatically increased the number of people using archives and genealogy websites.

I am enjoying ... an unlimited data plan and iPad / iPhone tethering on the train (which is where I am writing this blog post).

I am planning ... time! Juggling work and school holidays - it is working out fine, but I have to plan ahead who is where when and who is in charge of Cherub.

Learning notes ... Cherub is having fun playing with Montessori iPad apps.

Cherub ... is such a very girly little girl - will only wear dresses or skirts, and loves fairies, princesses and anything pink and sparkly. Makes for variety as neither of the others were like this. In fact Star was the opposite - liked dinosaurs and Horrid Henry and refused to wear anything with even the tiniest bit of frill.

On the calendar ... a quieter week this week. I am hoping to meet up with an old school friend on Wednesday (must phone her!) and it is Star's thirteenth birthday on Saturday.

On the menu... summer holiday season has kicked in and my menu planning attempts have fallen by the wayside. Happens every summer. I will get back on track in September.

A picture from last week... summer BBQ British style. We stuck it out for about 3 hours - and it did stop raining for an hour in the middle - but in the end we had to concede defeat.