Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Long ago, at school, I had to write a haiku for each month of the year.  From memory (and why do I even remember it?), the one for this month was: Changeable April Rainy and sunny by turns Weather for rainbows This April has taken that to extremes, by being sunny, rainy, hailing, sleeting, T-shirt warm, frost-on-the-grass cold, and most things in between.  We have been working hard while it's sunny and going out when it rains - or occasionally the other way around.  Cafes with Kids has been keeping me busy and taking us to a few new places, but we've also fitted in some work around the house and garden, enthusiastically helped by the boys (especially the bits which involved lots of MUD). Toby  - rather liked the idea of April Fool's Day.  He tried out a few comments like "There's a spider on your foot!" and "Your hair is turning green!" Look at my tree! - has been doing some really good drawings (in my completely unbiased op...

Imagine finding out you owe the government £7 million.  Seven million pounds!  It seems an impossible amount. Even when it was reduced to £2.5 million, it was still far too much for the Cavendish family to pay.  They were forced to give their house to the government in lieu of the taxes.  This house wasn't just an average suburban semi, however.  The head of the Cavendish family was the Duke of Devonshire, and the house was Hardwick Hall. The story of the break-up of many great estates in the 20th century is a fascinating one, of which I only know snippets.  Two world wars had an irreparable effect on the wealth of many landed families, of course, but the change in taxation seems to been at least as big a burden.  The amounts charged are so enormous (the Cavendish estate was taxed at 80%!) that I assumed the tax had been brought in on purpose to destroy the gentry's power.  Interestingly, that doesn't appear to have been the case.  The...

It was too nice to stay in today.  The sun was shining, the air was warm, and Graham had taken Theo out for the day, so I was on my own.  I managed a few hours of working on the website, then slammed the laptop lid and headed out to find some sunshine. I recently read a book entitled The Wild Rover , about walking Britain's footpaths.  In the first chapter, the author, Mike Parker, draws a 3-mile radius circle around his Welsh home, noticing how many footpaths within that area he has never walked.  When we got out the map for our own area, we noticed the relative paucity of paths; hemmed in by major roads, a railway and a river, many rights-of-way simply dead-end a short distance away. However, a few minutes' drive down the road, the village of Repton is surrounded by a spider's web of pink dotted lines.  I parked outside the tall-spired church and set out, OS Landranger map in hand. Considering how strongly Ordnance Survey maps and rights of way are...

By the time you get to March you start feeling like it really should be warm already.  Apart from a few tantalisingly spring-like days, it has stayed stubbornly chilly.  Between sniffly noses, headaches, and fevers; job-hunting and website construction; rain and cold and missing mittens, we haven't always been in the best of moods this month.  But we managed our usual few outings to beautiful places like Carsington Water and Beacon Hill, spent a few days with each set of grandparents, and of course, enjoyed a bit of Easter chocolate.  So we're still smiling! Toby Front view - was Peter Rabbit for World Book Day - in a home-made costume! Back view! - did a lovely Mother's Day assembly with his class at school. - rode his bike through all the puddles at Carsington Water, proudly asking Graham, "How do you think my bike looks now, Dad?" as it (and he) got muddier and muddier. By the lake at Carsington Water - spent several days curled up ...