Happy First Birthday, Theo!

Yes, a year has rushed by, and our curled-up little bud of a baby has unfurled into a ~~walking, talking~~ cruising, babbling, genuine one-year-old!

The birthday itself was low-key, which I think is only fair when the chief player has no idea what's going on. Graham's parents came to visit, and we are seeing mine soon, so the birthday boy gets to show off his new skills to his grandparents. And eat cake.

Grandad brought a cake, which we ate for lunch, and I made a banana cake. It had to be banana, really, for this one. I'm not sure we yet have photographic evidence of Theo trying to stuff half a banana in his mouth all at once, but that will have to be remedied. He is very good at it.

And since it was his birthday, I feel entitled to sing Theo's praises for a few minutes.

We love his infectious giggle and cheeky smile.

We love the tuft of hair that sticks up between his double crown.

We love the way he can entertain himself with toys for half an hour at a time. (Oh yes!)

We love his careful attention and single-minded determination.

Determination here applied to taking all the coal off the electric fire and - if the state of his face is anything to go by - trying to eat it. Of course, when I got the camera out he started moving too fast to get a non-blurry photo.)

We love his bright blue eyes - and still are amazed that he got them!

We love his funny noises and clapping hands.

We just love him - from top to toe!

Comments

Mr White Watson of Bakewell

Once upon a time, back in 1795 or so, lived a man who was always asking questions. The kind of questions like, "Why is glass transparent?" or "Why do fruit trees grow better in that place than in this place?" or "What does the earth look like underneath the surface?" This last question was one that he was particularly interested in, and he went so far as to work out what the rock layers looked like where he lived, and draw little pictures of them. Now he was a marble sculptor by trade (as well as fossil hunter, mineral seller, and a few other things) so he thought it would be even better to make his little pictures in stone. That way he could represent the layers using the actual rocks they were composed of. Over the course of his lifetime he made almost 100 of these tablets, as he called them. Then he died. And no one else was quite as interested in all those rocks and minerals as he was. His collection was sold off, bit by bit, and the table...

A mini-pilgrimage to Derby Cathedral

On a sunny day near the end of June, I set out to walk from my village of Findern to Derby Cathedral. If this had been 1826 or even 1926, this would have been a perfectly normal activity. In 2026, no one spends two hours walking to the nearest city. They drive, or catch a bus. It feels faintly subversive to ignore the more obvious modes of transport and to set off on foot. Priory Way, the footpath north out of Findern, is on the Six-Inch series of OS maps from the late 1800s. It has probably not changed much, give or take a few electrical pylons. The fields and farms are still there. Butterflies flew over bright yellow flowers of lady's bedstraw; a hare paused to look at me; a squirrel panicked and almost ran over my toes. After a few miles I came out at Heatherton Pond, greeting its more manicured path with relief. This is now the edge of Derby city; the boundary runs just south of the lake. However, I was surprised at how much more green space I encountered. A cycle path took me ...

Sheffield Cathedral: dogs and lions welcome

Earlier in the day I had caught the train up from Derby and visited Rotherham Minster . The Supertram from Rotherham brought me to Sheffield Cathedral just as the clock struck two. I realised as I left the tram that I had totally forgotten my cathedral passport until now. Rotherham may not have had a stamp anyway, though I probably could have got the vicar's signature or something, but I dug the passport out of my bag to be sure to remember it. The shop had a stamp, I was told, and so it did. Formalities completed, I went to explore Sheffield Cathedral. It's a strange jumble of a building; "one of those forever unfinished places" as an architectural journal describes it. This view along the church towards the east end makes it look pretty standard - a medieval chancel and a Victorian-renovated nave. But if you turn ninety degrees to the north, there is another long axis - a regimental chapel that leads through to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit. At one point in the 193...

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog