The Sculpture and Mosaic illustrating Coleridge's Kubla Kahn

Sculpture at Porlock visitor Cantre



Exmoor Horns with teddy bear mouths

Wild jay walkers

The End of a Career

Aside

This is the final appearance of son # 1 as a male model. He was a very active little boy and his default position was hanging outside his pram, cot, high chair suspended by his restrainers. He was walking at 10 months - like his mother. A word of comfort to mothers whose children are late walkers - I never showed the slightest athletic prowess, whereas Maddie, my sister sat on her bum for sixteen months and was ace at long-jump and outshone me in all sporting avctivities.



The apple of Mum and Dad's eye but soon he has to share the spot-light with another. Life's hard at that age.

Note the bulky terry towelling nappy. I used to boil them every day in a cast iron bucket. Then there were water-proof pants on top. it's a wonder they didn't end up bow-legged. Wouold I have the strength to resist today's disposables? I'd like to think so but maybe i'm kidding myself.

MORE TROPIQUARIA

Tomorrow is girls' day put so here is the last of tropiquaria for your delectation

I can't make head of tail of this.

Eat up your greens!

The birds fly free and this one was sooo friendly.

No I won't thank you - if you don't mind awfully:)

A meercat - standing up.

A snake. Where's the mongoose?

Who ate all the pies?


Tell me when your taking it.

Mutterings.

Aside.

September 5^th: twenty two years ago today we moved in to our much loved family home. All the family have visited regularly over the years and towards the end of Mum and Dad’s life we moved beds downstairs to make it easier for them. We couldn’t do it now. It is too big for us but as long as the family want to come and visit us we’ll stay here.

Why have the powers that be fiddled with the programme numbers on the digital box. I was looking forward to the first episode of the final series of ‘The Sopranos’ and was thwarted. Last night I found there was a repeat on E4 but again the number given in the Radio Times didn’t work. Finally managed to get E4+1 which is the programme repeated an hour later. Bit late for me but I watched anyway. Presumably I have to retune the box, but how?

Must do some work and will put the rest of Tropiquaria up later on.

Back to a Quiet Life

Story contd.

I settled down to being a housewife and Mummy, and life was very pleasant. Our garden backed onto the garden of a large house owned by a National Hunt Jockey. He got into conversation, when I met him on the train, before baby was born, and we discovered we lived in close proximity. He was great fun and a real charmer and when our families got together I was delighted that William also liked him. Before long he had made a gate in the fence to save us all a long, twenty minute walk to reach each other’s houses. Through him we were introduced to the racing fraternity and our social life stepped up a notch.

Then there were the two girls with babies that the health visitor had introduced me to - we had become a strong trio and saw each other almost every day. We even went on holiday with one of the couples. Vanessa, my old nursing friend and her husband, would come over to visit and Maddie, my sister and husband would drive over from Caterham. Throughout this time, Maddie had kept in touch with Liam – Jamie’s brother, and knew that Jamie was living in Cheshire. Odd that we had recently left Cheshire. She has always been good at keeping tabs on people, so called in on Jamie and his wife and child. As she was being served tea – which she always drinks black, the little girl asked,

‘Mummy why does Daddy’s girl friend not take milk and sugar?’

She was told this wasn’t Daddy’s girl friend but Daddy’s girl friend’s sister.

All of this was related to me by Maddie and not for the first time I wished she wouldn’t be such a ‘meddlesome Mattie’. I didn’t want reminders of Jamie and the hopes and dreams I’d had, especially when I was trying to come to terms with my life as it now was.

All in all I was reasonably content until William told me he was applying for another job, and if he was offered it we would have to move. I couldn’t believe it. It was déjà vu all over again. In Altrincham just when I had become embroiled in the SAP, the local theatre group, and we had a circle of friends, it was up sticks and off we went down south. I know I was probably being selfish and not seeing the bigger picture. I just don’t like change –especially when we seemed to be reasonably content. But this was the time when the wife was a kept woman and the husband was the bread winner so his job took precedence. I just wasn’t convinced it was vital for his job to be changed and for us to move house to another county.

There were tears – not just mine – the girls got quite emotional. We knew it would never be the same again and being at home all day with a small child was quite a lonely occupation. I felt better when I found I was pregnant again. We wanted at least two children and this would make the gap two years and three months between them, so maybe it would be better to have a larger house and a better salary. William was offered the job; I put on a brave face and threw myself into looking for a nice house. It was a long way to travel so we scoured the Daily Telegraph and I found something interesting. Good enough for us to make the trip to look at it.

Tropiquaria
We paid a visit here over the weeek-end.
Johnny Depp allowed us to run wild round the pirate ship


I'm sure I know him?

I wonder if they knew Rikki Tikki Tavi?

The misfit - just because someone is different is no reason to be mean!