barging down and up

Yesterday I took the boys on a short trip along the canal with Dawn & Ro. There were issues with the engine when we first arrived, with a bag of lunch goodies from Oasis. But boat-fixer man was on hand, and we finally got going with not really enough daylight left to go there and back again.


I started off filling the first lock while Dawn set out with the boat. The boys were keen to help at this point. I ended up doing most of the locks, and there are many...

There was a short bit of cruising whilst the autumn views were to be enjoyed.


We fed the ducks and geese.

Meanwhile it had become necessary to make some green jelly on board, which didn't quite survive some of the dodgem-boating, and never quite set as I think someone had eaten some of the jelly cubes...not my boys, of course- they won't eat anything that they know is not totally veggie! (not my doing!).
And of course, since we had only got there, and not back, by dark, I had to leg it back along the towpath to fetch my car. But all was well and good and we all had a jolly time. It was the first bit of fresh air and excercsie I had had for days, having been in bed most of the week with this damn virus, that I still haven't shaken off and is making me quite tired and weak. Still aching from doing the locks- how feeble is that? I can't wait to be better so I can get on with it.

choo choo jingle jingle

Saturday was dismal and wet and I stayed in the house all day with the boys while Joy went riding and watched X-factor. I'm glad the extra hour came on Sunday when we were all up early.

We hitched a ride on a steam train with a womens morris dancing troupe, and had a jolly day out visiting stations along the line and watching them and two other groups of dancers.

It was a beer festival with Jazz in the engine shed at Oxenhope. I had to keep buying them snacks and stuff to keep them happy, but it seemed to work.

The Wonderful World of Weta

On Wednesday we went to the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds to see the Wonderful World of WETA exhibition. I heard some bloke talking about it in the pub the other night (!) and we've never been there before, plus it's free to get in, apart from the family day Rover bus and train ticket, £8.50, which is, after all, cheaper than the cinema for 4 of us. (£15 if you please). 'Cept we didn't use the bus as there isn't a bus there from the station, just a very long walk, well 20 minutes (for an adult, more like 40 I recon).


I can't show you any pictures of the props from Lord of the Rings and Narnia as I wasn't allowed to take any, so here is an elephant...

Well, they were quite fascinated, especially Fergus. We had seen Prince Caspian only last week and there was Peter's suit of armour and Susan's bow and arrows, along the white witch's wand, Frodo's sword and Gandalf's sword, and... you get the picture.
We had a look at the knight section, as Fergus liked the look of it. I liked the tents (!) and suits of armour.
There's a scary array of weaponry in the spiral stair tower bit. Freddie didn't want to walk down the stairs for some reason. We went up via the transparent lift, which I can do without going dizzy. There was no cold water to be found in the whole huge place, which you could easily spend a day in, apart from the expensive plastic bottled variety, and we had drunk the drink I brought along with hastily made peanut butter sandwiches on the train.

We missed the horse display which was in the morning, but went to see the horses, and birds before we left.






"ARMS & ARMOUR FROM THE MOVIES
The Wonderful World of Weta
12 JULY UNTIL 16 NOVEMBER 2008
Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds
New Zealand's Weta Workshop has won countless awards for its work on major films such as The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe ..."

remember me?

Ok, well we have been a busy of late, what with the Fringe, etc, which I shall blog about here when I get round to it. But there has been some other stuff going on in our lives as well. Here are some of the highlights...


Theres been Calderdale pulling the plug on Joy's stabling experience: "no-one under 13 is allowed to groom a horse"... they need work permits now. This was pretty devastating news, but the stables are starting a pony club to find a way round the regulations.


there's been a wet summer solstice round a bonfire

...with fire twirling


There's been a 21st birthday

...featuring Meg Munroe
And we spend this week at Grandma's, looking after her, playing where I used to play,
...cycling and talking to horses
and of course lots of homework. There might be more about this later.

the day we went to school

Tuesday we went to look round a school (shock, horror, hold the front page...). I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I've been thinking about this for quite some time and I seem to have been spending a lot of time around people who think that I'm mad for not sending them to school. i have been a bit down recently and felt like I've been struggling with everything really: the house, the kids, myself, life, etc. I thought maybe it would be an idea, at least to look and then think about it some more.

So anyway, this is what I dragged them away from: lunch in the treehouse on a lovely sunny day in the garden.

By the time I was halfway there I was far from convinced that I could do this every day: this road's ok when you're walking to the pub, but all that traffic, it's highly unpleasant during the day with children.
The staff were all really friendly and we got stickers! I don't think the boys were very impressed though.

We found a better route on the way back, past the canal. There are nearer schools but both the infant ones are full already for September and Fergus would be at junior. This one is J&I with mixed ages, small year groups, smaller and more flexible and friendy I think. The Head was really nice and talked to us in her office.
So, anyway, they really still don't want to go to school and I don't really want them to either. I suppose I had to go and visit to help me to stop thinking about it. I thought they should see it so they could know what they were missing. I'm feeling a lot more positive about life now, after seeing the homeopath and the sun coming out, so maybe that's all I needed. Anyway, it gave us something to do for a bit.

manchester museum

Yesterday we had a trip to Manchester to see the Manchester Museum. It was only arranged the night before but they were quite excited about going to the 'dinosaur place'. They especially enjoyed the large collection of stuffed animals, Stan the T-rex, and the live reptiles. The whole thing was a bit of an adventure, just catching the train and meeting our friends, who were already on, with our tickets and a railcard, and trecking across Manchester on magic buses and trams.




The grown-ups had a rest on a comfy sofa while the kids played in the "play and learn" section.



Afterwards we had a quick look round Afleck's Palace, which is a collection of trendy way out clothes shops; they quite enjoyed that, too.

light at the end of the tunnel

Last Friday, after forest school and shopping we met up with Milly and her mum's boats for a trip through Tuel tunnel and locks at Sowerby Bridge. It was a great afternoon out in the sunshine, with lunch on the boat.




heading into Tuel tunnel

There's a light at the end of it...


...and look what it's called: Silver Lining (argh! whatever I do this picture wont show up- can you see it?)

This is a very big lock.
The girls cleaned up the boat afterwards.

festivals and party

The kids went to the Rushbearing Festival today with Daddy, so no pics, I'm afraid. I think they went through Norland, too, to see the scarecrow festival, but seem to want to go again to see it properly, so looks like I'm going to have to find the time in the next couple of days.

We went to a birthday party at Callis later on, but all the other kids had gone home. They had some cake, though, and had a good play outside when the rain stopped, with sisters, Y (just left school to HE) and B (just 4 and about to start nursery school- eek, don't do it, I yell inside).


We ended up getting supper on the way home from the new posh chippy in the centre of Hebden, that does vegetarian chips- you have to ask for them specifically, though, even if you are ordering everything else veggie, like sausages, otherwise you get non-veggie chips. the kids were very well behaved when they got home, they said they were just tired, but I've got a feeling that daddy's new girlfriend had them under control.

a trip on the canal

On Friday we met up with Dawn's boat in Hebden for a trip along the canal.

Freddie wore a life jacket for about five minutes. It was hot!

Joy steered the boat

and helped with the locks


we saw the heron

Fergus learned how to steer the boat


Arriving back at Callis, where we had a lovely barbeque and magical bonfire, with singing and lots of friends. We camped in the tent; they didn't want to sleep on the boat! I wish I had; the tent was too small for all of us. It was a fantastic day, though.