It felt like a busy Easter holiday this year - a nice mixture of household jobs, time in the sunshine, and family celebrations. Here are a few highlights.
Birthday cake
Graham's mum had a big birthday, so Graham and his sister secretly organised a few friends to come to dinner with her. She was surprised - and pleased! - when a small family meal at the pub turned out to include fifteen extra people. Theo baked and decorated this amazing cake all by himself. My sole involvement was cutting it up at the end. The event was a big success.
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| thanks to my mum for the photo |
Days out
We had a family day out at Peak Wildlife Park, in the Staffordshire countryside. It's been a few years since we last went; the penguins and lemurs were familiar, but the zoo has acquired a couple of polar bears. Believe it or not, these two are only half-grown. They're about three years old.
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| playfighting polar bears |
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| lemurs |
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| penguins |
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| otters |
I persuaded Toby and Theo to come to a garden with me with the promise that we could combine it with a trip to Ikea. A friend had recommended Felley Priory, which proved to have razor-sharp topiary, beautiful blossom, and a bluebell wood. We spent some time debating whether one of the topiary animals was a peacock or a wombat with a block of cheese on its head, and had the bluebells all to ourselves.
Ikea was as huge and overwhelming as ever, but we escaped fairly lightly with a mirror, a chopping board, a couple of glass jars, and some scented candles.
Graham went to see Europe's Strongest Man Competition with his sister on the first weekend of the holidays. My parents invited us to see an Easter musical at their church, presented by members of the congregation. All of the cast were clearly having a great time, and the songs were very enjoyable. Afterwards we went for a picnic in the park, complete with ice cream.
House work
The first day of the holidays accidentally turned into a spring cleaning day. I started by going through an overflowing box of papers, and somehow ended up deep-cleaning the kitchen. Toby caught the bug and found himself re-organising the living room, while Theo hoovered all the carpets.
I've also been scraping the moss out of all the brick paving, which is an ongoing task. We have a LOT of brick paving. It's kind of satisfying though, and I've been enjoying Alastair Humphries' Living Adventurously podcast while undertaking this unadventurous job.
The adventurous bit would be going up a ladder to clean the solar panels, gutters and windows, I suppose. Playing it safe, I paid someone else to do that for me. He made a very good job of it. You can actually tell the house trim is white now, not a dingy grey.
Walks - of course
The boys and I did a short loop around Brailsford, starting at the church. We saw two robot lawnmowers, one which was going neatly in lines, and another which was struggling with a slope and going round in circles. I did not take photos of the lawnmowers.
Toby came with me on the next Derwent Valley Heritage walk, which I will write up properly at some point. We spotted two families of ducklings on the Cromford Canal, and got back rather late for lunch.
And I had an unexpected opportunity to walk on Easter Sunday afternoon, so I returned to the same spot and went up the other side of the Derwent Valley, to Crich. I discovered all kinds of bits of abandoned railway and various non-conformist chapels.
Church - of course
I paid a visit to St Wystan's Church in Repton on Good Friday. The altar was stripped bare, and strangely moving. The crypt downstairs used to hold the saint's shrine; the steps are worn by the feet of many pilgrims. It dates back to the 8th century.
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| crypt at St Wystan's |
Easter Sunday was a joyous celebration of resurrection at my own church, including communion and finishing with a rousing rendition of Thine Be The Glory.
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| not Easter Sunday, but nice rainbow |
And finally - running
No, I don't run! But Toby and Theo have both got into it. Since I bragged about Theo's cake, I thought it only right to mention that Toby ran 22 km this morning. That's a half marathon! He simply decided he could do it, and did. I am so proud of these boys.
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