blondefish.blogspot.com: September 2019

Kool & The Gang #Birthdayhoot

Continuing on with joint September birthday celebrations and in the spirit of family that we are celebrating this year more than anything, we decided to meet up and re-visit another hill from my childhood...Kinnoull Hill.

I still find the views breathtaking (as are the cliff drops) and it was good to get some exercise in with a furry friend or 5 before All.That.Cake.

How many boys can read Asterix simultaneously? #overgenerations

"All the boys in the room" is the correct answer....and for hours.

Bright Star #x2

Totally coincidentally (I am informed by the Headmistress), BOTH kids picked up their class Star Pupil of the Week Award. It's called that, but it's actually handed out at the last Assembly of every month and counts for the month. This was the first one and both class teachers chose my lovely two.

Obviously something is going very, very well for them here!

Well done kiddos! MWAH!

Blood & Truth #thebeatgoeson

So as to not be outdone by a 5 year old, El Puma took it upon himself to slash himself deep enough to need stitches. Anything to get out of the washing up...

The irony being that we were so looking forward to an early night after our hard working week and fun-filled weekend, and then of course ended up waiting 5.5 HOURS in a freezing cold A&E with no hot drinks or snacks machines working (of course) until 3 in the morning.

I've never liked Forth Valley Royal Hospital and our 1 visit a month isn't really helping...

So this was the immediate aftermath: a greasy chicken casserole dish with 2 sides broken off which apparently created quite a knife edge, and a sink full of blood.

And in the clear light of the Minor Injuries Unit at the Stirling Community Hospital, they told us that i) it would need stitches and ii) it was too late for them to do it and iii) there was a minimum 4 hour wait in FVRH. Like I said, what a scene-stealer.

So here were the two gouges:

And here is El Puma, ever the joker:

And at 3am he is told he is free to go and will live to tell the tale.

AND, no more dishes for a week for him!

Now where's that other casserole dish...

Love is an open door #letitgo #ourprincessturns5

For AT LEAST 2 years, Fingerling has been ~~informing~~ asking me for an Elsa ice palace 'Frozen' birthday cake for her fifth birthday (because my kids work a couple of years in advance, planning their birthday cake themes and cakes out), so I really had no excuse. I knew it was coming, but it just seemed too daunting a palace to attempt:

Well, this year, a few failed cake attempts seems to be on trend, so I'm in good company. I was aiming to make sugar glass, and the first 20 blogs or so I read about it seemed to make it sound quite easy. I made quite a lot of first batch, cooled it, and then when it was still gloopy, stuck it in the freezer, and then stuck it in some more. It's now 20h the night before the big day and I clearly have no sugar glass, I also have very little sugar so now there's a bit of a problem.

Get the kids to bed and I make my second batch, now owning a little more information about the importance of holding the sugar at a constant 150 degrees C. Too low and it will go gloopy (hands up) but too hot and the sugar will caramelise. There's also significant disagreement about the amount of stirring required and when to add the food dye, so I watch it like a hawk. For AN HOUR. I literally go to the loo for 5 mins, and can instantly smell the change as I come back down. The whole batch is wonderfully dark brown toffee...totally caramelised. And no sugar left.

NOT what it's meant to look like

So I decided to sleep on it, and thankfully inspiration came in the form of Mama B, and thus, the cake was made.

And very quickly pronounced 'weird' by the birthday girl. I was just glad there was anything at all, so I bigged it up and served it anyway.

We made it a family occasion with a wonderful cousin party after Sunday lunch, which of course meant extra prezzies.

5 going on 15

Happy Birthday to our wonderful princess!

Interesting to note there has been no mention at all of what next year's theme might be...

I believe this dream #anotherweek

So, life continues in Scotland. And like most of life, it's not all fun and games, or even blog-worthy. Plus, I was in London for work for 2 days. But I've scraped a few photos together anyway:

Crevette's hair: always worth a photo

Open Day at the local Fire Station. We were late, which is why this is the only photo we got.

Fingerling started ice-skating lessons, and enjoyed it so much and went on about it so much that Small Fry has now joined.

And enjoying more gorgeous weather while using our bikes. Shoulda caught a photo of us all having a drink at our wedding reception venue, but, didn't.

Give me time #primary1

A very lovely tradition is the local paper publishing a photo of all the new Primary 1s.

Doubt it will be our Fingerling's last time making some headline...or posing for the camera.

Cruise control #theweekthatwas

I think that after this week I will define parenting as "juggling". Daddy was in Paris and Nantes and Oma was in Germany, so mama did a lot of 'parenting'.

But there were many upsides....especially my Wednesdays off, which have always been the highlight of my week and continue to be. This one was bright and sunny so crevette and I followed The Forth Trail (hugging the river forth as it meanders for a mile or two) all the way round to Dobbies, and Dobbies equals a tea and scone for mum, and a play in the soft play area for baby. Win-win.

Crevette is always a highlight, so here's another picture so you can see a bit more of her defining feature: her hair. I understand. I've pretty much been defined by my hair for as long as I can remember, but hers makes all sorts of strangers come up to her to touch and up to me to exclaim 'Curls'!! They must be as rare as naturally blonde hair these days. Or maybe they just make babies so much cuter.

The kids are both doing exceptionally well at school - they've settled in well and both seem to be enthusiastic members of their class. Small Fry's writing is still a little phonetic, but that's why we go to school, right?

Hi Cayden, I know that you are my best friend. I feel sorry for Kai who is diabetic and has to inject insulin. Would you want to come to my birthday? It's the 17th of November.

And Fingerling took another step towards grown-upness by getting her hair cut. The hairdresser wouldn't take it any shorter as she needs to wear it up for ice-skating/gym/swim etc, but Fingerling seemed happy and she suddenly seems much older.

Then, daddy came home, Oma came home, and we all lived happily ever after...well, the weekend has been pretty good!

Pocketful of Sunshine #Thelongwayup

One of the most fun things about living in my house in Stirling during my PhD was to hike up Gowan Hill to the Castle with various visitors...which is probably the last time I did it.

This Saturday morning, because the sun was out and because we all surely have French visitors this coming year, we decided to give it a bash and see if I could remember all the back routes and secret passages.

There is now an actual heritage trail with proper routes, but I found it much more fun tackling the gorse, thistles, brambles and brush to slip and slide down muddy slopes and untangle myself from various spikes plants. The kids being about 2 foot lower than me found it less of a fun adventure. But still, the views were worth it.

And the late Scottish summer evening light is just gorgeous in these parts, which propelled us on to the bikes and along Lovers' Walk which follows the river Forth to Cambuskenneth Abbey, a ruined Augustinian monastery. It was founded by David I in 1140 and was important in its time due to its proximity to the Royal Burgh of Stirling, and Robert the Bruce prayed regularly there. Bruce also held his Parliament there in 1326 to confirm the succession of his son David II, but it's mostly just the foundations that can be seen now. Both Margaret of Denmark and James III are buried there, but it was shut by the time we arrived.

It was also the way that Small Fry and Fingerling discovered Cattle Grids. I honestly hadn't thought twice about it and naturally got off my bike and walked across it. Fingerling followed me but stayed on her bike, a wheel got stuck, she slid to the side and with no footing, landing between the rails and hurt her wrist (I was worried for a few minutes that its as broken). Despite watching the incident, Small Fry followed his sister and did exactly the same thing. And now we know the rules of crossing Cattle Grids. Clearly there's only one way for city kids to learn...

Days gone by

So of course the sun didn't last. Other things also didn't:

Yup, 6 days after we picked up our new* wheels, the exhaust pipe fell off. Just one of those things apparently. I wasn't confident about yanking it off so the recovery vehicle took us to the nearest garage and then the wonderful Uncle Stan arranged for it all to be repaired.

Oma also saved the day right before going to Germany by coming to rescue us from the side of the road and take us home, because El Puma was in Paris lucky devil.

My new office mate was pretty fun though:

And once he got back it was my turn for a break, at Holly's 40th in Kent. 16 hours in a train for a 5 hour party. But I've known these girls for 33 years, so, worth it.

Yeah, best one we got.

Just before I left Paris I made a random impulse buy - a reusable cup from my favourite coffee shop. I randomly carry it in my bag and this weekend made an effort to use it while travelling. And I discovered that they give you money off if you bring your own cup. Bonus!