Stoat sighting!

Following a hideous day at work, where each hour felt like a week watching paint dry, I felt the need to get out into the open country as soon as food was placed on the table for the children.

I headed up towards the Darren Mountain and did a semi-jog past Gwern Vale Farm, heading upwards towards the Twyn and then onwards towards the old village settlement.

As I nimbly danced up the mountain (I am allowed to exaggerate) suddenly, up between the path that runs between two stone walls, I glimpsed a really long tail, then saw a stoat dancing about in the grass and furrowing amongst the wall.

At first I thought I had seen some sort of mutant squirrel but the tail was quite long, (not the filament fluff of the usual squirrel) and then I caught sight of a flash of white throat as it dashed between the walls and then disappeared.    A great way to end the day and well worth the nettle stings I endured as I picked my way back down towards the table mountain!

Lemon "Drizzle" Cake

In an attempt to ward off an overwhelming desire to jump off a cliff due to the usual bank holiday torrential rain, I instead reached for a tray-bake tin and created a Lemon Drizzle cake with #2. 

#2 enjoyed using the electric whisk for this recipe which is a Mary Berry special, as I am avidly watching the Great British Bake Off series again.

Other than the odd piece of egg-shell which was lovingly crushed into the bowl, the cake turned out really fluffy, moist and the sugar coated lemon juice mix which was tipped over the top, was also licked off the work surface and pronounced “Mum….this is Yum!”

You always know when a cake is good, when silence (other than the sound of what sounds like cows chewing cud) reverberates around the table.

Mummy - Who is in charge of the world?

This was one of those questions asked by #2 at about 0715, before I headed off to work towards the end of this week and to be honest, I had to stop imbibing my coffee to consider my response.

#2 took my pause as an opportunity to provide her own thoughts on the matter and came up with two options for me.

1. Is it the Weatherman?
2. Or God?

We have been berating the weather forecasters recently which #2 has decided are now very naughty as they are spoiling our summer holidays with consistent rain showers.

As for God - I can only think that my cunning plan to send both #1 & #2 to the first week of "Champions Club" ( a 2hr session run by the local church to help beleaguered parents, and my nearest and dearest with the first week of holiday activities, has obviously worked in the favour of the church.       

Anyway, I asked #2 if she has seen God yet, to which she naturally answered No, so we then settled that the Weather people are probably in charge of the world, as they tell people what to wear to go outside.  

I even remember to pick up my umbrella on the way out to work a few minutes later :)

Olympics 2012 - Day 4

We came, we saw and we enjoyed Day 4 of Olympic action this week in the Olympic park.

The joy of the Megabus took us straight from Newport to Victoria and was well worth the £30 return for the two of us.....what a bargain!!   Saved the hassle of driving, the cost of diesel and we could also nose into the lives of the rich and ridiculously affluent as we coursed through London through Kensington on the double decker.

We had tickets for the early morning Hockey Morning session between Japan V Netherlands and later, South Africa v New Zealand and enjoyed watching the games.  Thoroughly enjoyed taking in the atmosphere in the Olympic Park which was really friendly.....(at one point I did wonder whether we had been transported to another city) and can honestly say that the day is certainly one that will cherish and say...."I went to support it!"