Martha's Marvellous Munchies

We've had some beautiful weather this month, so have spent lots of time out in the garden, or out and about.  Graham took voluntary redundancy from his job at the end of March, so the boys have enjoyed having their dad around to play with them while he works out what to do next! Toby - has had two visits to "big school" and appears to have enjoyed every minute of them.  He and his fellow preschoolers are going most Friday afternoons this term, so they should be very familiar with the primary school by September. Sitting on a sheep at Beacon Hill - is becoming a bit more adventurous about climbing things.  He recruited Dad to come up this steep slope with him. Up we go... Made it! - enjoyed a day watching car racing with Graham at the Donington racetrack A contemplative moment  - prefers drawing to colouring in "I want to draw my plate." Theo - is into everything .  Seriously.  Anywhere you don't want a curious bab...

I once mortally offended a girl in my chemistry class at university. It was Freshers Week.  We had been standing next to each other in the queue to register for our classes, and exchanged a reasonable amount of conversation.  It was a long line; we had time for more than the first three questions that everyone asks during that first week. (What's your name; where are you from; what are you studying.  In case you were wondering.) Later that day, I was in the bar at my halls of residence when I noticed a girl waving.  Not recognising her, I assumed she was looking at someone behind me.  Finally she confronted me and said, "I was talking to you just this afternoon!" Unsurprisingly, we didn't become best friends. I have since realised that those are classic conditions for my facial recognition difficulties to kick in.  Give me (a) a situation where I am meeting lots of new people, let me (b) meet you only one time, even if we are chatting for ten min...

Remember Easter?  Once you get back into the regular routine, it quickly seems like a long time ago.  Just in case you need a reminder, here's a quick recap of what we got up to this Easter holidays.  Toby was keen to write down what we were going to do on the whiteboard, like we did last summer.  His writing has improved so much!   Easter Holidays.  Tesco, biscuits, boat, Maisie and Poppy [friends] The weather was variable, to put it mildly: We floated paper boats in a puddle in the pouring rain. I learnt how to fold a paper boat! We made bunting (which was originally going to be flags to fly outside) on a day when it was too windy even to fly a kite. Not a great picture, I know.  It was an old burp cloth, decorated in pen. We planted pansies on a lovely warm sunny day.  Theo helped so enthusiastically that he had to be bathed afterwards! On a more Easter-y note: We invited the girls next door round to help cut out, bake an...

Snow.  Solar eclipse.  Spring flowers.  Spotty baby.  Seeds.  Simnel cake.  Showers and sunshine.  Star charts.  Soup. Toby Watching the solar eclipse at his preschool  - likes telling jokes, although they are mostly complete non sequiturs .  And I can't quite tell if he gets the punch line, when I tell him one back! Admiring aero engines - announces what he is planning to dream about every night. - reads every sign we walk past.  We are trying to persuade him that "Caution" is not pronounced "Cuttin". My booky boys! - achieved some toilet goals he's been resisting for ages with the help of a star chart.  If I'd known it would only take five stickers and a piece of chocolate, I would have done it months ago! Quotes Graham: "What are you thinking about?" Toby: "I'm thinking dot dot dot.  That's when you're not really thinking about anything." He fell over and was howling: "Oh!  Oh!  M...

The guards recover "What was that??" "Owwww... my head hurts." "I'm not surprised, Dan!  You went down like a felled tree - I saw you!" "You weren't much better, Matt.  You were shaking like a whole bush full of leaves." "Well at least I didn't faint, did I?  I could have sworn we'd been struck by lightning - but it was a man ..." "Yes, just as we were about to tell those women to get out of here - and where did they go, anyway?" "That way, I think, in a hurry.  They must have been as scared as we were." "No, that's not right, that shining guy talked to them!" "Oh come on, Saul, you must have imagined that." "No, he did!  He said something like, you're looking for Jesus, but he's risen from the dead." "Risen?  You mean..." "Uh-oh..." "Oh, we are in for it now." "We are dead.  We are so d...

The chief priests approach Pilate "But the man's dead, dammit!  What possible trouble can he cause now?" "Undoubtedly he is dead, sir.  Your judgement was most... satisfactory.  But we are concerned..." "He's dead, he's buried, and that's not enough?  What do you want from me?" "Well you see, Mr Governor, this impostor had the bad manners to predict that he would come back to life, three days after he was killed.  Which, naturally enough, is impossible - " "Although there were those rumours about that man Lazarus... " "Nothing but superstition, Nicodemus!  As I say, the thing is impossible.  But I wouldn't put it past some of his friends to decide that it would be a nice publicity stunt.  All it takes is for the body to disappear, a few rumours to start..." "...and we go from dead charismatic rabbi to immortal Messiah.  Not a good idea, I'm sure you'll agree, Mr Governor...

Joseph of Arimathea asks Pilate for the body of Jesus "Joseph of Arimathea to see you, sir." "Oh yes?  And what do you want?" "I apologize for disturbing you, sir.  I request your permission to remove and bury the body of Jesus of Nazareth, crucified at Golgotha this morning." "Jesus of Nazareth?  Don't be a fool, man!  He's hardly been up there nine hours.  There's no way he can be dead yet!" "I have reason to believe that he is, sir." "Oh, you do, do you?  Let me get to the bottom of this.  Sestus!  Sestus!  Get me the centurion on crucifixion duty at Golgotha this morning!  And you, Mr Joseph, stay right there.  I'm not releasing any body until I know a bit more." "Centurion Flavius of the Ninth Cohort, Mr Governor, sir!" "Centurion Flavius.  You were on crucifixion duty today?" "Yessir.  Three prisoners executed, sir." "The one known as Jesus o...

  The disciples discuss Jesus' comments at the Passover meal " What did he just say?" "One of us will betray him?  He can't mean it!" "Why, we're his closest friends, we've been with him for years.  We'd hardly turn on him now, would we?" "It's not me, is it Lord?  It's not me?" "Well, it won't be me .  I'll stick to him till death!" "Yes, Peter, no one could imagine you being a betrayer!  But if he's right, it must be somebody in this room." "What did he mean, 'the Son of Man goes as it has been written'?  Written where?" "Don't ask me, Andrew.  I bet Bartholomew'll know.  Barty?  Did you hear what Jesus just said?" "Eh?  Sorry?  Oh yes, it just reminded me of something.  Here it is, Psalm 41: 'Even my best friend, that I trusted and shared my food with, has kicked me in the teeth.'" "That's just...

Judas goes to the High Priest "My name's Judas Iscariot, my lord.  Zach.. Zach here said you might... you might be interested in some, um, some information about Jesus.  Jesus of Nazareth." "Jesus of Nazareth!  Yes, indeed!  And tell me, young man, what kind of information might you have?" "Well, I'm... I was one of his friends.  His disciples.  The Twelve, he called us.  I know where he's staying, what he's doing.  He trusts us.  Me.  It would be easy." "He trusts you.  I see.  And why, Mr Judas Iscariot, should I trust you?  What makes a trusted disciple of Jesus come running like a rat to his enemies?" "He... I told him!  He could have had this city in the palm of his hand, and he knew it!  I saw his eyes light up, and I knew .  And then there was that dumb donkey, and then tonight... tonight there was that woman... no better than a common whore ..." "Your revered teacher has been cons...