Episode 33 - The Orangery - Tea anyone?

[mistlethrush]

The tearoom has traveled back to the Orangery for another visit. There are bluebells in the nearby woods, and Mellors has Earl Grey and Lady Grey ready for some excursions. Mellors has, indeed, been overwintering away from Canada for some reason - I think he's been helping Maud out in the garden. There are tulips out in urns outside, and there are a few tables out in the sunny courtyard for use between showers.

Whether you have one child or several, pull up a chair and share a or a . The only rules remains no fisticuffs.

That's seriously impressive CMot - what are they all for?

My mother's friend did a whole lot of cooking - of complicated (expensive) mini cakes for something - and the dog ate an entire batch. So she did another - and the dog ate all but 4 of them.

oh dear, sounds like boy has been sick again, I'll be back.

DHs eldest brother and wife are having a silver wedding anniversary party tomorrow, and I volunteered to make a cake, and then she asked if I could do cupcakes instead. Which is a PITA tbh, but gave me an excuse to buy a cake pop maker which I have hankered over.

Threats have been levelled against the other denizens of this house as to what will happen if people eat anything but discarded cakes as no dog yet

UniS - sounds grim

CMot - 'yet' !!!!

It wasn;t AS grim as the previous up chuck. He got nowt left to bring up I think. Been off school today as 2x puke between 5.30am and school time. Seemed fine all day till tea time.

We're well versed because of the car sickness - so much so that DS manages to make it to the bathroom in the middle of the night having first announced it in our room and still get to the loo in time. Hope he feels better soon! (and gets better for next week especially)

apparently there has been a 24hour sickness bug going round the year below at school. I had thought it might have been a as simple as poor hygiene on yesterdays very soggy farm visit but not so sure now.

Blackcurrant and lavender? sounds like a very interesting combo... I may have to go and google recipes... inspiration for ice cream certainly.

ANy one for a friday pimms?

What are cake pops??

Cake pops (at least in this case) are ping pong ball sized spherical cakes which you put on lollipop sticks, dip in some sort of coating, and add sprinkles. Fun, and not sickly.

There are now 100 of them in various states of not yet finishedness

Welcome to KMD - we live in West Yorkshire too. The YD is 9 years old, stubborn and opinionated!

UniS We have had a bug start to go round at the end of last week - I hope we managed to send the students home before it spread too far! I don't want it!

The Young Donk is being very obstreperous at the moment. Partly to do with the strangeness and tension due to ill FiL, and partly because the school routines get disrupted at the end of the summer term. He was awful on Friday, and we ended up late for school. He struggled in to cope in school as well. He has made a (completely unrealistic) list of things to do today, and is stubbornly refusing to be diverted and having tantrums when it (inevitably) goes wrong....

I am not looking forwards to next week with the continued changes to routine. And then school wonder why he is difficult...

sports day for boy on monday! he's been fine today, fingers crossed it was just a 24 hour bug and he's clear again. boys school is very end of termy in these last two weeks of term. school play, trips out, sports day, lunchtimes all over the place to accommodate all these specials.

can't type tonight, so will keep this short.

Cake?? coffe or choclate?

CMOT, how do you make spherical cakes? Don't they sort of collapse and go flat in the oven? Wish I had known about that for Wriggle's party tomorrow.

I have just finished making 40 butterfly biscuits for the children to decorate at the party (only 15 children, but there were quite a few burnt biscuits), made 15 ladybird jellies - red jellies and I am going to add chocolate buttons just before they are completely set, argued enormously with Wriggle, tried to do some reading, argued more, made her cry when she accidently wrote on her trousers with her white board pen .....

Glad no-one who is attending the party tomorrow could see us cooking, with Wriggle's favourite young chicken 'Chickpea' sitting on the table watching and the bunny finishing up anything that fell on the floor.

Donki, I have a little boy in my class who is really struggling with the lack of routine. I have given him a clipboard and a stack of paper and he liers under the table wherever we are, frantically drawing, very often of various disasters involving the end of the world/grusome (sp?) fates for children who have laughed at him or 'told' on him. Occasionally he emerges to ask, "Mrs Belle, have we got time to arrange a funeral?" or "Have we slipped through a time portal into another dimension?" The answer to both is obviously no, not at the moment. I am sure that I am handling this quite wrongly, but there is no advice.

obviously, 'whiteboard' and 'he lies'

more cake? or a top up of ?

How did the cake-popathon go, Cmot? And how was Wriggle's party?

Donki - You have my sympathies. This 'school but not school' at the end of term is disorientating.

was it cake pop tastic...

Jolly afternoon at a fete today, the sun shone - hurrah. Boys friend too unwell to go the fete 9 boo hiss) but we picked up a goodie bag for him.

Good family service this morning, we made prayer bunting and its still slung up around the choir. Nice joint effort with string all up the aisle and stapler being passed along.

I love fetes. There just aren't enough round here - and they all seem to happen on the same two Saturdays, leading to frantic fete-to-fete racing.

Prayer bunting sounds wonderful. I may steal pass on that idea.

boy seems to be liking "school not school" this last few weeks. but largely because he likes PE and the social side of school more than he likes the routine and learning. Sports day tomorrow. Whole school assembly on Tuesday ( these only happen once a half term and involve whole school walking up through village to the community hall). End of year party on Thursday. I'm sure some special will crop up for Wednesday.

Tell me more about prayer bunting. (RE coordinator's hat on)

Wriggle's party was amazing and exhausting, held in the village hall because of the weather. One of the most tiring feats of organisation I have done, including whole-school plays.

For me the best part was the way all the collecting mums went straight to the kitchen and started washing up when they came to collect, and the dads got the brooms out and swept and I had nothing to do.

Then friends came back to our house and we all drank cheap champagne and sang old Beatles songs and the children all marched out across the meadow behind the house with kazoos and whistles as the sun went down .... Wriggle had a really high temperature all day and only kept going with regular doses of calpol and she lost her first tooth at the party, on her birthday.

Wow, Belle!

I am going to try to introduce prayer bunting to sarf London, so let's get it going across the country, for those who want it!

possible aurora alert if you are in the North, and have clearish skies!

Good plan!

Hi Donki. How are you doing tonight?

prayer bunting - quick n dirty version. better looking bunting may be possible...

Vicar introduced idea of thankful prayers and making bunting to celebrate the things we are thankful for. triangular bits of paper ( different colours for visual impact) handed out along with pens. Congregation asked to think of one thing they were thankful for (each) and draw or write ( or in some way symbolise it) on their bit of paper.
Then all asked to fold over the top cm or so ( half inch in old money) of their triangle so they will "hang " on string.

Papers passed to central aisle and stapled onto a string being stretched along the aisle.

Hang bunting in appropriate place during or after service depending on church layout and squeamishness of elders/ church wardens etc.

DH and I waited till church warden was distracted with tea and biscuit before we clambered about on choir stalls and rood screen to hand bunting today.

ok thanks Maud.

Just back from a futile hunt for aurora!