Tea Room the Tenth: Tea and cake and rock and roll

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

Welcome back to the tea room.

In the search for the perfect venue, we have now decamped to a rambling country estate. The once-decaying castle, now restored, is a boutique hotel, popular with rock and roll gentry and visiting bishops, and the tea room (which never closes) is located in a tastefully converted barn. The charming garden contains a duck pond and ends in a haha. We need the haha, of course, to stop the bison trampling the herbaceous borders. Mellors the gardener is, as ever, in charge of the grounds.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink.

tooooooooo pretty

I had an inward giggle this morning at church.... service was led by a lady in casock and suplice... I wondered if it was you mary... but there was no sign of mellors. and to be fair I think she was gransnet age rather than mumsnet.
Took boy exploring today and we climbed a hill to reach a white painted rock ( Wesley preached from it allegedly). DH off playing cricket, boy about to have early bedtime, so hes on form in morning.
I'll be back later for a pint and some nuts.

boy has taken to shouting "silly-loo-ya " after one of the songs at church today contained multiple Hallelujahs .... not so sure the family service was a good idea. Except it is one of the few village things we can do as a family rather than just boy and I.

Hello everyone.

Just back from a camping weekend and am at the prospect of evensong with Mary in a micro-mini surplice (she said she'd let it out but she didn't mention that she'd let it down) with Mellors in lederhosen and a backless cassock.

Would anyone like some prosecco to go with the eton mess?

Prosecco and Eton Mess - what a fabulous combination!

Am also impressed at UniS after-dark cycling adventure - the most daring I ever was on a bike was free-wheeling down a loooong slope in the Lake District - it got a bit scary by the end!

at Bambi burping - that would be funny! Although didn't Bambi have some issue with bubbles at one point? Can't remember...

We had a fab sunset last night - fully rosy sky, all across, no clouds.. they are great sunsets but never last long here. The sun drops really quickly.

Mary - I hope your surplice is in order now! Can't have the local oldies fainting in shock...

Only ever seem to have time to drop in in the mornings, so just making myself a cup of tea from the kettle always simmering on the aga. Much chillier this morning - have had to wrap myself in one of the tartan lambswool rugs so thoughtfully provided by the management.

How lucky you were with the weather, MadBad, for your camping trip! Does MadBaby have her own tent?

Interesting fact that I always think of sharing - on my wonderful Eurocourse there were eight of us in the group, all women of a certain age. Four had no children (although might still change their minds) and four had ... one child! Ranging from 3 to 22. It seems far more usual in other European countries. One Roumanian teacher remarked, 'Well, we're academics. It's normal.' Not sure about the link there, but it was quite nice not to have everyone saying, as second sentence when we meet, 'And when are you having a little brother or sister for Wriggle?'

A cup of tea is just what I need to fortify myself for mucking out our bedrooms, which have become dumping grounds for all the clutter in the house! Would anyone like a freshly baked coconut kiss to go with their tea?

We were quite lucky with the weather for our final camping trip of the year, although yesterday was grey and gloomy and we didn't see the sun at all. MadBadBaby sleeps in the tent with us. I suspect she'd like her own tent, but I'n not sure I'd be comfortable not being able to see where she was at all times. Too much scope for mischief in a tent of her own.

Perhaps when she's older we'll graduate to a bigger tent with a 'bedroom' at each end.

Interesting about academics having only one child. Is it because they are too, ahem, intellectual to involve themselves in nappies and nose-wiping? Or a recognition that more than one spell of maternity leave might sabotage theoir career for good? Probably none of those.

Haven't seen a decent sunset for ages - too much light pollution around here - but the night sky over the campsite was beautiful. I've wanted to do an astronomy course, just to be able to identify more constellations.

Ah, well, I wear the surplice over the cassock, which is full length AND has a back, so length not quite so important.

Coffee and cake anyone, or is it too close to lunch?

It's never too early (or late) for cake! What do we have?

Well there's still some of the fete cake left, or you can have some blackberry and apple flapjack crumble, as we went blackberry picking yesterday

I'll go for the crumble.

We had a nice weekend - DS went back to rugby on Saturday, and he had a friend to play on Sunday. His first ever playdate ! Friend was removed eventually sobbing that she wanted to stay, but was waaay too tired to do so

You want a star gazing/night sky course though MadBad. This is as someone who did a year of astronomy at uni, and can't identify any more constellations than I could as a brownie - they aren't of interest to astronomers. I did spend a proportion of the weekend explaining the solar system to DS though after the questions didn't stop after 'why is the sun off the edge of the earth'

Blackberry and apple crumble? Yum!

Thanks for the tip, Cmot. I had assumed that an entry-level astronomy course would cover constellations and I could bale out before it progressed to astrophysics . In fact, doing it all through Brownies isn't such a bad idea. I will have to persuade our Brownies to do their stargazers' badges!

Astrophysics and astronomy are quite different subjects as well - my uni offered degrees in both.

My mum got a pilot dad to teach her brownies for their stargazers badge - the autumn term was a good time for it

Perhaps it should be stargazy pie for dinner

We have different stars down here - it's quite bizarre to look up at the nightsky and not recognise "anyone" Although Orion pays a visit for some of the year, I think he's the only really noticeable constellation that "does" both hemispheres. I haven't worked out when though.

Blackberry & apple crumble, hey - yum!
I found out yesterday that blackberry is a pest weed here now so it's not really allowed to plant it (like pampas grass) which is a bit sad. Also means they are trying to weed them out because they took off like wildfire here and threaten biodiversity. Poo.

here you are MadBad - a discourse on Orion with pictures. Apparently we get it in summer.

I went to a fabulous restaurant just outside Alice Springs where they did star gazing dinners - we ate outside, then they turned all the lights off, and provided you with v good telescopes. I remember then milky way being totally fantastic. But it was odd to not recognise the sky

Sometimes when it's really clear you can see the Milky Way from our garden. I love looking up and seeing my bedroom window lit up and the Milky Way at the same time ... We;;, what do you know - you can see it tonight! How about some nice warming cocoa (or Irish coffee) out on the lawn to do some star gazing?

Irish coffee would be perfect - thank you

i just went and stood outside the back door. clear night LOADS of stars. Way more than I could see from in the city. yet another perk of village life I guess.

Well hello my dear friends!

I have found you at last! No chance at all to catch up fully so what can I tell you?

DaisyBloke made it back from The Wilds and we went on Tame Holiday a trois which was fab. Now we are back

To drop in to other conversations:
Tea yeah, to Milk and the start of school

Thumb sounds like you have made the Grand Trek so hope all is peachy down under

JM love the idea of catching your dress in the stool while treating bad backs. Yes to Poutine - can I pay with a Loon

Amber lovely to see you (well, so much of you thanks to your (ahem) lessons with Mellors. And I think a Gracious Drawing Room says "please come in and sit on my lovely plump sofas")

UniS hats off to your midnight ride, sounds like you have moved too

Zazen good to see you again

DCMD very jealous of your Spa-Tastic trip

MadBad lovely to see you too - we camp three in a peapod and it is great we are planning one more trip this year, do you think we're too late?

CMOT glad Ireland was fun

Racing you sound down. Of course you don't have to stop fun at home. Fun at home is more important than ever. DaisyBoy was early too - pushed him up a school year, but I just reckon it's life. My birthday is end of September and I was always "up" a year at school and that was just life - if wriggle is really suffering maybe look into it, but if she's just adjusting that is different - I know you were really anti starting school in the first place so is that affecting you?

Food - yes to haggis, no to battered haggis. Yes to black pudding but sorry, its a no to eton mess. Yes to twiglets, I am with MadBad and no to Marmite - but big yes to Vegemite

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happy to be back bunting

HUrrah! Daisy is back! Long time no see, you wanderer you! {grin]

Where did you go for your tame holiday - obviously somewhere sunny.

AUstralia is ok - weather extreeeeeeeemely variable at the mo - but still not remotely feeling like I've actually moved here. I think my brain is still stuck in "this isn't really happening" mode. Although we have just bought our car, so it might start to unstick soon - and almost certainly will when we move into our house, and out of MIL's.

Wowwee! Daisy returns! At last someone agrees with me in the matter of Marmite v Twiglets!

Now we just need to find Mistle and Donk.

This calls for a celebration. We have tea, coffee and hot chocolate. A fresh batch of crusty rolls is on top of the aga. There's creamy butter, honey and home-made apricot jam. Please tuck in!

In re camping. MadBadBloke thinks it is now too late for any further trips but I suspect the Daisy family is made of sterner stuff . Where would you go? Heading south may be the answer.