Sarah, Neil and Family

Kenny visited Ghana recently, and this is one of the children he tried to help.

Ella looks lovely in her tiger suit. Sarah adores her of course, as does Uncle Kenny.  Ella calls Neil, Grandad.

We had a delicious tea with Sarah and managed to take photographs of the family's new arrival Ella.

Charlie tucks in to his meal, with Dana next to him.

CHRISTMAS DAY

                                                          CHRISTMAS DAY 2012

       We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Day with half of the family.  I prepared the vegetables and Mum, as always, cooked a delicious dinner with roast turkey and stuffing, chipolatas, pigs in blankets,  cranberry sauce with roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts, parsnips, and carrots, and gravy of course,  All the plates were cleared, a great tribute to Mum's cooking and the family's appetite.
   For dessert, we enjoyed a beautiful home cooked Christmas pudding with brandy sauce, brandy butter and cream. There was also a lovely chocolate pudding which some of the children preferred.
After dinner, the children helped Tilly to give out the presents from the tree.
Here follow a few photos taken on the day.

Most of them managed a happy smile for the camera.

Sensibly, we put out place names beforehand and had no squabbles at all. It was a very happy time.

The table awaits the hungry horde.

                                                

FAMILY BIRTHDAYS

 

                                    FAMILY BIRTHDAYS

 JANUARY  OLIVER 14TH
                          

 MARCH  BECKY 7^TH, IZZY 8^TH

 APRIL CHRIS 2^ND, ELLIE 25TH

 MAY CHARLIE 15^TH, SARAH & TIM 24^TH, NEIL 29^{TH 
 LUCY 29TH}

 JUNE BEN 9^TH

 JULY JESS & IAN 8^TH

 AUGUST EMMA 13TH  
                   

 SEPTEMBER KATHERINE 4^TH, KENNY 7^TH, 
  ^{THOMAS 6TH, PENNY 23RD}

 OCTOBER LAURA 2^ND, DANIEL 24^TH

 NOVEMBER VIV 9^TH, ROD 18^TH, KATIE 24^{TH 
 DOUGLAS 6TH, WILLIAM 3RD}

 DECEMBER GILL 10^TH
                                

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Here are a few shots of our newly decorated Christmas tree, and other decorations that Mum has created and displayed.

                                                                                  

                                                                                 

Soft Play

One of her favourite fooods is beans, which she eats by hand, and then rubs her face-lovely!!

                                                                                

Here she wanders amongst the equipment, seeing what she fancies.

On of the places that Tilly enjoys is the Soft Play Centre in Trowbridge.  While the children play, very safely, on the equipment, parents and carers can enjoy a cup of tea or even a meal. Here are a few shots of a certain little person, having a wonderful time.

She is always smiling.

A Day Out Shopping In Bath

Unusually, I really enjoyed a day's shopping with Gill in Bath.  We used the Park And Ride service and started at Hotter's where Gill chose a pair of new shoes.  Then it was off to M&S, where else, to buy a new coat.  This was accomplished surprisingly quickly, and we had lunch then in the cafe` there.  It was time for home after this.

Films Seen

                                                          HITCHCOCK
                                                Director Sacha Gervasi adapts Stephen Rebello's book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho to explore the relationship between the legendary British director (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren), who played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the making of her husband's terrifying 1960 classic Psycho. Scarlett Johansson co-stars as Janet Leigh and James D'Arcy portrays Anthony Perkins in a film also featuring Jessica Biel, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, and Ralph Macchio. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi



                                                        LES MISERABLES
                                                                         
                                                                             Bille August directed this Rafael Yglesias adaptation of the 1862 classic by Victor Hugo (1802-1885) about the quest of Inspector Javert to capture escaped convict Jean Valjean, originally an honest man who was jailed for stealing a single loaf of bread to feed the family of his starving sister. This new interpretation of Hugo's epic begins with Valjean (Liam Neeson), released after 20 years of cruelties and hard labor, reporting for parole in Dijon. Stopping at a bishop's house, he's treated with respect, but even so, he steals silverware, flees, and is captured. However, the bishop says the silverware was a gift, proving Valjean's innocence by giving him two silver candlesticks. Valjean is free, but the bishop asks him to treat others with equal kindness. By 1822, Valjean has risen to mayor of the village of Vigau, where he also maintains a successful factory. Joining the local police, Inspector Javert (Geoffrey Rush) is suspicious of Valjean's identity and eventually recognizes him as a former convict, but Javert has no proof when he carries his accusations to Paris. Valjean develops a relationship with Fantine (Uma Thurman), who lost her factory job because of local attitudes about her illegitimate daughter. The starving Fantine turns to prostitution, is arrested and tortured by Javert, and becomes ill. As she dies, Valjean promises to raise her daughter Cosette. Focusing on Valjean's life with Cosette (Claire Danes), the story is set amid the action of the July 1832 Revolution, a time when Cosette falls in love with a militant student, Marius (Hans Matheson). On the banks of the Seine, Valjean and Javert have their final confrontation. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
                                                                 LIFE OF PI
Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
The novel was rejected by at least five London publishing houses^[1] before being accepted by Knopf Canada, which published it in September 2001. The UK edition won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction the following year.^[2][3][4] It was also chosen for CBC Radio's Canada Reads 2003, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee.^[5] The French translation, L'histoire de Pi, was chosen in the French version of the contest, Le combat des livres, where it was championed by Louise Forestier.^[6] The novel won the 2003 Boeke Prize, a South African novel award. In 2004, it won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in Best Adult Fiction for years 2001–2003.^[7] In 2012 it was adapted into a theatrical feature film directed by Ang Lee with a screenplay by David Magee.

                                                                 HUGO

Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Brian Selznick's award-winning novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret stars Asa Butterfield, as an orphan boy who lives in a Parisian train station. Sent to live with his drunken uncle after his father's death in a fire, Hugo learned how to wind the massive clocks that run throughout the station. When the uncle disappears one day, Hugo decides to maintain the clocks on his own, hoping nobody will catch on to him squatting in the station.

His natural aptitude for engineering leads him to steal gears, tools, and other items from a toy-shop owner who maintains a storefront in the station. Hugo needs these purloined pieces in order to rebuild a mechanical man that was left in the father's care at the museum -- the restoration was a project father and son did together.

When Georges (Ben Kingsley), the old man who runs the toy stand, catches on to the thievery, he threatens to turn Hugo over to the station's lone police officer (Sacha Baron Cohen, who makes every effort to send any parentless child in the station to the orphanage. But Hugo's run-in with Georges leads to a friendship with the elderly gentleman's goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who unknowingly possesses the last item Hugo needs to make the mechanical man work again.
                                   
                                                        GREAT EXPECTATIONS
We took Jess, Laura and Ben to see the film Great Expectations at Westway Cinema in Frome.  They had a bag of sweets each to munch, and enjoyed an icecream in the interval.  They followed the story line very well, rather better than I did.

The film centres on Pip (Jeremy Irvine), an orphan who eventually finds himself the recipient of some property, courtesy of a mysterious benefactor. The gift grants him the opportunity to make a life for himself as a gentleman in the class system of London. The chance also opens the door for him to pursue the lovely, yet hard-hearted Estella (Holliday Grainger), though fate or something darker seems to be keeping them apart.

All the familiar faces are here with Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch and  Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham.  Robbie Coltrane plays Jaggers, Jason Flemyng as Joe and Ben Lloyd-Hughes is perfectly sinister as Bentley Drummle.
                                                                           TAKEN  2

Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent with a ‘particular set of skills‘ who stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim from kidnappers in TAKEN. When the father of one of the villains Bryan killed swears revenge, and takes his wife hostage in Istanbul, Bryan uses the same advanced level of special forces tactics to get his family to safety and systematically take out the kidnappers one by one

                                        

Vale Resort

Mum and I had a great day at the Vale Resort near Cardiff.  It was a very luxurious place with all the facilities that you could wish for, with spa, pool, bar, restaurant and sports facilities. Interestingly it is the place that the Welsh Rugby International team and coaches use for teaching and coaching sessions.  One of the assistants also told me that the whole of the Manchester United team were there quite recently, and before that West Bromwich Albion used the resort too.

  We met Audrey and Vernon, friends made on our cruise to Crete, and enjoyed a splendid meal together.  Here follow a few photographs of our happy time.

                                          As you can see, The Vale Resort is rather splendid.

Mum soon relaxed in to a life of luxury, bless her!

This is also part of the resort.

This is a very poor photo, sorry, but mum is sitting next to Audrey and Vernon is next to me.

            This link may give you a better idea of the luxury.http://www.vale-hotel.com/                                                                     

Katherine and family

Mum and I look after Tilly quite a lot, and one of the places we have taken her to, is Whitehall Garden Centre. We went just at the start of the Christmas season, so there was plenty to fascinate her.

                                                      We enjoyed the early signs of festivity.

                                                                                 

Books Read

                                      A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini                                   

 A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment.

                                             THE ACCIDENTAL by Ali Smith

Amber—thirtysomething and barefoot—shows up at the door of the Norfolk cottage that the Smarts are renting for the summer. She talks her way in. She tells nothing but lies. She stays for dinner." "Eve Smart, the author of a best-selling series of biographical reconstructions, thinks Amber is a student with whom her husband, Michael, is sleeping. Michael, an English professor, knows only that her car broke down.

Daughter Astrid, age twelve, thinks she's her mother's friend. Son Magnus, age seventeen, thinks she's an angel." As Amber insinuates herself into the family, the questions of who she is and how she's come to be there drop away.

Instead, dazzled by her seeming exoticism, the Smarts begin to examine the accidents of their lives through the searing lens of Amber's perceptions. When Eve finally banishes her from the cottage, Amber disappears from their sight, but not—they discover when they return home to London—from their profoundly altered lives.

                                         THE INHERITORS by William Golding


Eight Neanderthals encounter another race of beings like themselves, yet strangely different. This new race, Homo sapiens, fascinating in their skills and sophistication, terrifying in their cruelty, sense of guilt, and incipient corruption, spell doom for the more gentle folk whose world they will inherit. Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature.

                                               THE WARDEN by Anthony Trollope

                                         The Warden by Anthony Trollope

         The Warden concerns Mr Septimus Harding, the meek, elderly warden of Hiram's Hospital and precentor of Barchester Cathedral, in the fictional county of Barsetshire.

Hiram's Hospital is an almshouse supported by a medieval charitable bequest to the Diocese of Barchester. The income maintains the almshouse itself, supports its twelve bedesmen, and, in addition, provides a comfortable abode and living for its warden. Mr Harding was appointed to this position through the patronage of his old friend the Bishop of Barchester, who is also the father of Archdeacon Grantly to whom Harding's older daughter, Susan, is married. The warden, who lives with his remaining child, an unmarried younger daughter Eleanor, performs his duties conscientiously.

The story concerns the impact upon Harding and his circle when a zealous young reformer, John Bold, launches a campaign to expose the disparity in the apportionment of the charity's income between its object, the bedesmen, and its officer, Mr Harding. John Bold embarks on this campaign in a spirit of public duty despite his romantic involvement with Eleanor and previously cordial relations with Mr Harding. Bold starts a lawsuit and Mr Harding is advised by the indomitable Dr Grantly, his son-in-law, to stand his ground.

Bold attempts to enlist the support of the press and engages the interest of The Jupiter (a newspaper representing The Times) whose editor, Tom Towers, pens editorials supporting reform of the charity, and presenting a portrait of Mr Harding as selfish and derelict in his conduct of his office. This image is taken up by commentators Dr Pessimist Anticant, and Mr Popular Sentiment, who have been seen as caricatures of Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens respectively.^[2]

Ultimately, despite much browbeating by his son-in-law, the Archdeacon, and the legal opinion solicited from the barrister, Sir Abraham Haphazard, Mr Harding concludes that he cannot in good conscience continue to accept such generous remuneration and resigns the office. John Bold, who has appealed in vain to Tom Towers to redress the injury to Mr Harding, returns to Barchester where he marries Eleanor after halting legal proceedings.

Those of the bedesmen of the hospital who have allowed their appetite for greater income to estrange them from the warden are reproved by their senior member, Bunce, who has been constantly loyal to Harding whose good care and understanding heart are now lost to them. At the end of the novel the bishop decides that the wardenship of Hiram's Hospital be left vacant, and none of the bedesmen are offered the extra money despite vacancy of the post. Mr Harding, on the other hand, becomes Rector of St. Cuthbert's, a small parish near the Cathedral Close, drawing a much lesser income than before.

Characters of the novel

• Septimus Harding, the quiet, music-loving Warden of Hiram's Hospital, who has two daughters and is also the precentor of Barchester Cathedral. He becomes the centre of a dispute concerning his substantial income as the hospital's warden.
• Archdeacon Grantly, Mr Harding's indefatigable son-in-law, married to Susan Harding. The archdeacon's father is the Bishop of Barchester. He does not agree with John Bold and stands opposed to his father-in-law relinquishing his office.
• Mrs Susan Grantly, Mr Harding's elder daughter and the Archdeacon's wife.
• John Bold, a young surgeon, a zealous church reformer. He is interested in Eleanor Harding and later drops the suit.
• Mary Bold, John Bold's sister and friend to Elneaor.
• Eleanor Harding, the romantic interest of John Bold, who is Mr Harding's younger daughter.
• Abraham Haphazard, a London barrister of high renown.
• Tom Towers, the editor of the influential newspaper, The Jupiter. He writes an editorial deploring Harding as a greedy clergyman who receives more than he deserves in a sinecure post.
• Bunce, the senior bedesman at Hiram's Hospital, who supports Mr Harding retaining his position.

 

Cornwall

This is a view of a terrace of houses in Mevagissey, taken from the harbour.  We had a stroll up the hill to capture a good view of the open sea, as well as the harbour from higher up.

                                                         Neil and Sarah, came with us too.                        

                                                                               

Here is a curious rock formation close to a sandy beach at Porthcothan.

                                                               

Sea birds were plentiful, all hoping for scraps of fish tossed overboard from the fishing boats, or perhaps a bit of icecream cone eaten by visitors.  This is a herring gull, but we also saw blackbacked gulls and turnstones.
There is a website about the herring gull which you might find interesting.
www.rspb.org.uk/herringgullwww.rspb.org.uk/herringgull

We also visited Mevagissey, another beautiful little harbour, essential as a haven for fishing boats escaping stormy weather.

Padstow was particularly attractive at night with the welcoming lights of bars, hotels and restaurants.

As the tide goes out, seabirds and swans, surprisingly, turn the mud over for anything they can find that is edible.

Here are a couple of turnstones caught on camera.