Taken 26 February 2006
At the dinner table tonight, apropos of nothing whatsoever: If you want to look like a robot, this is what you have to do. First you put a box on your head, with a square hole in it. Then you put socks on your hands. Then you take off all your clothes.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Bit by bit, Fiona’s nature is unfolding before us. She has always been a centred little thing, with a certain poise to her gestures and a grounding of deep silence to her warmth. She’s the kind of girl who loves her cuddles, but loves her quiet times with her books as well.
This is not to say that she is never silly. Witness our conversation yesterday:
F: Mommy!
A: Nony!
F: I not Nony. I Nona!
A (deliberatly misunderstanding): Nana? 1
F: No, I not nana!
A: No? What are you, then?
F: I apple!
She’s also just old enough to find Martin’s and my long-running game of randomly swapping the words “nose” and “knee” funny. She certainly did this morning.
You gotta laugh. I did.
Taken 24 February 2006
In other news, last Monday I was picking the kids up from nursery. Alex, who has only now become interested in representational art, presented me with a picture of a number of space ships and aliens in battle, with lines connecting them up to show their alliances and actions. Even his drawings are social. Fiona, less obsessed with diagrams than appearances, drew a swirl of circles on the page, looked up at me and said, “Datsa moon, Mama!”
It was her first drawing of something, at two, while her brother has only started getting serious about it at 4 3/4. How can my children be so very different?
We have been having a busy wee weekend here at the Evilrooster’s Nest, after Friday’s high-energy activities.
On Saturday, the kids and I went out for a brief expedition to the local shopping centre and (more importantly) the play park right nearby. It was a frosty morning.
Taken 18 February 2006
But the crocus was just beginning to bloom in the park.
Both taken 18 February 2006
Fiona decided to take a route through the play structure that required her to cross a wobbly bridge. She was brave, but cautious.
Both taken 18 February 2006
We walked home, past the dry hedges in the suburban front gardens.
Taken 18 February 2006
My in-laws then came over and took the kids for a long expedition to a soft play area, while Martin got some quiet time and I took a nap (sleep can be hard to come by in a busy household). M and I then went out to dinner and a film, leaving the kids in Ian and Sheila’s very capable hands.
This morning, after sundry shopping expeditions, we all ended up at the Cuddy Brae (pub with grub) for the classic family lunch. The children were beautifully behaved, the conversation pleasant, and the food good if excessive. Ideal. Even the car park plants were looking pretty good.
Taken 19 February 2006
Who says you have to do exotic things to have a good time?
Another Friday, another adventure.
Fiona had a birthday party to go to quite late today (4:30 – 6), so I had half-intended to spend the morning quietly so as to leave her with energy for the afternoon. But the day was so sunny, and the kids so chirpy, that I decided we all needed a trip out. There’s been a geocache near us, unfound, for some time: Craigmillar’s One of Four. Off we went.
Alex pointed the way.
Taken 17 February 2006
Fiona checked our heading with a compass.
Taken 17 February 2006
We lucked out. We found the cache really quickly, got good loot, left our trades, and thought, “now what?”
So we walked on round the castle, whcih was magnificent in the glorious sun.
Taken 17 February 2006
Fiona took her own path, at her own pace.
Taken 17 February 2006
We saw lots of trees.
From far away.
Taken 17 February 2006
From up close.
Taken 17 February 2006
And all wrinkly.
Taken 17 February 2006
Ones that look like dragons.
Taken 17 February 2006
And ones that look like island chains! (Cropped, I confess.)
Taken 17 February 2006
Then we rolled back down the hill (no, really, Alex wanted to barrel roll. Fiona tried to join him, but needed a bit of help.) After a brief visit home to lunch, nap and change clothes, we went to Lauren’s party. The kids were perky as they waited for the bus.
Taken 17 February 2006
Fiona loved the party, particularly when painted as a puppy. (Yes, I know it’s out of focus, but she was dancing.)
Taken 17 February 2006
It was a magnificent day. Alex impressed me with his maturity at the party (I asked him to sit out the party games after he won the first one, to give the smaller kids a chance. He not only did so, but he made the effort to smile about it as well. Wow.) Fiona was funny and beautiful. Then they had a delightful bath and went to bed.
As bath toys go, bubbles are top favourites in this household. We never do bubble baths on nights when we’re in a rush to get the kids clean and into bed, because the bubbles are too much fun to rush. But though they play with bubbles, both kids had forgotten how much fun it is to wear them. Till I reminded them last night.
Alex with a beard.
Taken 12 February 2006
Fiona with a beard.
Taken 12 February 2006
Apparently, this beard thing is catching. I look like one of the Soggy Bottom Boys in it.
Taken 12 February 2006
Take two Santas into the bath…?
Taken 12 February 2006
We’re finally out of the Christmas blast radius, and the weather was sunny today. It was time to go out for adventures.
Alex was keen.
Taken 10 February 2006
Fiona was dressed to the nines
Taken 10 February 2006
So we went to the play park, where Fiona was brave and Alex was funny. We bagged the Crag and Tail geocache, then walked down the Royal Mile.
En route we found Adam Waters, who makes his living as a William Wallace (“Braveheart”) impersonator. He explained that he pays the bills with the royalties from postcards, and poses for photos to raise money for lukaemia research. We were happy to donate to the cause, and Alex was keen to cross swords with the guy with the blue face.
Taken 10 February 2006
We were going to go on to lunch, further caches and Starbuck’s, but Fiona fell asleep sitting on my shoulders and leaning on my head. So we got some food and came home for a restful afternoon.
What more could anyone want from an adventure? Travel, courage, treasure and swordfighting, followed by the brave heroes returning to their beloved home for a feast.
In the style of the “What Happened Next?” game beloved of talk shows, geeks and geekettes, what happened before Fiona shook her finger in my face and shouted, “Dat’s a MOON not a ‘pace tason!”
A mouse took a walk in the deep dark wood…
Actually, it was a whole family out searching for the Butterdean Wood geocache, but two keen little children found the idea that a Gruffalo might be lurking among the trees pretty exciting. Martin, clever bunny, proposed a caching expedition to get us out in the beautiful (if chilly) sunshine, and this was a good cache to look for. It was about half an hour’s drive from home, taking us over flat paths that were just wild enough to seem adventurous. They were also perhaps a little muddy.
I brought my phone camera, of course, and stopped from time to time to take pictures.
Fungus on a fallen log.
Taken 4 February 2006
Alex took the GPS and went ahead, following the arrow and talking of treasure. Playing Zelda has sharpened his taste for quests and adventures. He waited patiently whenever I would stop to take a shot.
The twisted stem of some vine – I don’t know what kind. (This picture has been cropped.)
Taken 4 February 2006
Two leaves on a twisting vine.
Taken 4 February 2006
Fiona strode along the path, first with one parent, then with the other. At two, she is rock-steady on her feet and entirely unafraid of any mystery the woods might hold. She has been a strong walker for some time, and I think she enjoyed the challenge. When we were walking together and I would step aside to take a picture, she would venture onward without a backward glance.
Fir cone among the leaves.
Taken 4 February 2006
Eventually, Alex relinquished the GPS in favour of a stick sword, and Fionaberry took over as navigator. (We pretty much followed the path.) She thought my eTrex was a camera, and every now and then would stop, hold it to her face, bend very close to the ground, and say, “I take a picture. Cheese!” before going on. Not a landscape photographer, I guess…
Tangle of sticks, a pattern shot.
Taken 4 February 2006
Lichen on a branch. It’s almost blue!
Taken 4 February 2006
Alex was soon wrapped up in Zelda-esque adventures, which reminded me vividly of my own childhood games. The forest around our cabin was always Lothlorien and Mirkwood, Stephen R Donaldson’s The Land and Sherwood Forest. For him, East Lothian became Link’s country, and he crept and ran through it like the hero of his favourite Game Boy game. I’m happy that our mostly urban life has opportunities for that kind of imaginative play.
He has not yet developed the love of the woods and trees for their own sake that I have. But I learned that a bit older than four. Maybe one day he’ll see it.
The pattern of decay on the limb of a fallen tree reveals so much of its underlying structure.
Taken 4 February 2006
Concentric rings on tree bark. I don’t know why this occurs.
Taken 4 February 2006
Alex used his stick to open “gates”, mostly by keying his name into the trees. This one, in particular, required a number of passwords to be entered. We touched certain parts of the branches and said certain letters, spelling out our names to pass onward along the path.
Taken 4 February 2006
By the time we found the cache, a good half mile from the car park, the kids were running out of adventurous spirit. They weren’t crabby, or unhappy, or even tired, but they were more focused on getting the “treasure” than on telling themselves (and us) stories on the way.
We found the box easily enough – it’s both well hidden from the casual passer by and easy to find if you know where to look – and there were toys enough for both of them. Alex chose a deck of cards, and Fiona took a mini pencil set. I left some stone animals and an amethyst in trade, and we turned back to the car.
Although she wanted to be carried early on for the return journey, Fiona soon regained her energy and did a good deal of walking on the way back to the car. We covered over a mile as a family, and she managed about two thirds of that. Alex walked the whole distance, and wasn’t worn out at the end.
We left the wood as the sun began to head for the horizon.
Late sunshine on brown leaves. The shot looks warmer than it was!
Taken 4 February 2006
One of Fiona’s favourite Christmas presents this year was a pushchair, from Grandma and Granda Sutherland. Ever since she got it, she’s been putting her new teddy bear or her latest doll (“Baby”, the third of that name in our house) into the seat and bustling it around the living room. “I’m going home,” she’ll inform us, “Bye! Have a good day!” Then she’ll walk it to the entry hall door, open it, and vanish from sight.
Moments later, she’s back, grinning hugely. “Hiya!” Bustle, bustle, then “I go get-a milk! I go to the shop! Bye! See you later!” And out again. She can do this for half an hour at a time, easy.
So yesterday, since we actually did need milk, I decided to walk out to the corner shop with her, Baby and the pushchair. (Martin and Alex were at the cinema, and I needed to tire her out before her nap. I also had to get outside and get some light after Saturday’s catastrophic mood crash.) When she realised we really were going to go out and get milk with the pushchair, she practically floated off of the floor.
We set out, and she was all over the pavement in her delight.
Taken 8 January 2006
Taken 8 January 2006
It took us half an hour to get to the foot of the road (a sixfold increase on my average time when heading for the bus). It was worth every minute in the cold air. We paused to take some more pictures, including a rather nice portrait of Baby.
Taken 8 January 2006
Taken 8 January 2006
By the time we were in sight of the crossroads, Fi was getting tired (it’s a long slope for short legs). So she tried carrying Baby on her shoulders, which didn’t really work. (Baby is falling in this picture).
Taken 8 January 2006
Eventually, as I expected, Baby and the folded pushchair ended up in my rucksack while Fionaberry sat on my shoulders and got dirt on my jacket with her little feet. The trip home, across the field and over the fence, was faster and muddier, but less memorable, than the trip to the shop.
So the last day before I go back to work, the New Year’s Bank Holiday, we decide to go to the beach for the day.
Actually, we managed about 45 minutes on North Berwick beach itself before the kids got too cold. And with everything shut for the bank holiday, we didn’t even get to take refuge in any warm place but the car. Martin did a bunch of photography with the big cool camera while Alex threw rocks in the water and Fiona walked around exploring the sandy world. (There was also a certain amount of climbing on rocks, running about and shrieking, and generalised beach fun.)
Nonetheless, I did see a couple of things that just needed photographing, and as usual, the camera phone came through!
Rock and seaweed
Taken 2 January 2006
Roseate seaweed
Taken 2 January 2006
Rocks and sea glass. (I am particularly fond of sea glass, for long complicated reasons.)
Taken 2 January 2006
I love the dark trails in the sand under this bit of seaweed.
Taken 2 January 2006
Yeah, yeah, more seaweed. But I like it.
Taken 2 January 2006
I did a bit of colour messing with this shot – but only a tiny bit. I love the textures, but I know I may be alone in that.
Taken 2 January 2006
This is the prize shot. I tried it with the big fancy camera, but actually, this one from the phonecam is the best of the day. In my opinion.
Taken 2 January 2006
(And, by the way, happy new year.)