Yesterday we took a trip along the coast as we had a parcel to collect. It happened to be right near where Nana used to live with Dick after they retired and before he died. So we parked by the park that was at the end of their garden and the Rs played whilst I reminisced about our Sunday visits there, the games my brother and I played and thought in amazement about how lucky we were to be able to roam so far. My brother and I would wander along to the end of the green and come out at the back of the castle which had all sorts of exciting bushes, rocks, trees with low branches, hills and valleys to play in. For a few years there were also two very little shetland ponies tethered and we used to play with them too. The Rs and I walked along the lane passing The Old School House 1896 and entering the very large beautiful church which was originally built in the early 1200s. Lots of history there which mostly went over our heads but both children very much enjoyed looking at the stained glass windows and other churchy things that we’re not too familiar with. We were in there for a while before they started itching with the temptation to run around and climb the bell ropes so then we wandered along to the Roman fort to look at the medieval castle. There were little pillars with information on which we read and talked about, Ms R was really interested in it all and seemed to keep waiting for me to tell her more, unfortunately I didn’t really know anymore. At one point she said it felt like a dream because she couldn’t really believe that once it was really a proper castle and people lived here. It’s history is quite fascinating so I think I must look out for some re-enactment dvd’s.
Master R mentioned how lovely the kittens were that we’d seen the day before and asked if we might be allowed to see them again. He thought we could take my Mum and Lucky because Lucky would just love to play with all those little friends.
Today when we woke up Ms R wanted to read me a story. She offered me a choice of three and eager not to appear too pushy I opted for the picture book without words. So she removed that option from the list of choices because she thought I’d enjoy a more grown-up book instead and then chose a Peter & Jane book for me. It was the first one and she read it all the way through. She was very proud of herself and pointed out a couple of times that she read it all the way through and it only took her five minutes. Then Master R wanted to read it to me but got cross because he didn’t know the words so she sat by him and helped him to read by whispering the words into his ear. So she actually read it twice.
Then we popped in to see Nana. Ms R read the book to her and she was suitably impressed. Back home I attempted to make two birthday cakes. They’ve come out the right shape (one square, one round) but don’t look all light, fluffy and moist. More like a brick. I’m guessing it’ll be the sort of sponge that tastes better with custard but am hoping to disguise it well with brightly coloured icing. The children only eat the icing anyway.
I nearly let slip to Master R about the kitten. I said that maybe next week we’ll invite friends round rather than going out and he started complaining so I said "Well I’m sure you’ll want to show them your kitten". Ms R jumped on me and pulled all sorts of faces and Master R said "But we don’t have a kitten" and I quickly said "I meant your white cat" meaning the soft toy that we found and played with earlier. So Master R agreed and started listing other soft toys that he could share with his friends and Ms R gave me the thumbs up sign. Wish I could get that kitten out of my head.
We saw our friends at the farm. There were some younger cows in pens who all got up and came to look at us, Master R tried to feed them hay but they were quite shy. One licked his coat though and took the hay so he was really pleased. The soft black yard cats followed us around again so he delighted in that. Everytime he beckoned it went to him and rubbed itself all over him. And he fed a polo to a pony which he enjoyed. Ms R started with her hand over her nose but I sat her on a hay bale and went off with Master R and when I came back her hand had left her face and she was chatting away to our friends. They both enjoyed playing with the young girl. Ms R suggested that the young girl pretend to be a young girl so that she could be the Mummy and Master R wanted to be her Daddy and then they all walked along hand in hand. It was very cute.