Right Now ...

... I'm finding the going to be tough.

I'll be back next week.

All Things Mandarin

Yesterday, I accompanied The Boy Child, 13 other pupils from Year 5

and assorted staff members to a Mandarin Taster Session at a local school.

It was huge fun!

There were three sessions: language, art/culture and dance.

A few boys were silly during the dance session, but that notwithstanding,

all the children and adults enjoyed the afternoon very much.   

Rituals

When The Brainy One travels abroad for work,

a few things happen in our house.

 I change our bed.

I love a freshly made bed.

More so if I don't have to share it for a night or two.

Is that selfish of me?   

 I also get into that freshly made bed earlier then when TBO is home.

The ritual involving The Boy Child is that he gets to choose what we have

for supper.  It invariably involves pasta, Parmesan and my home-made

hidden veg in tomato sauce.  Last night, I added diced salami and

 quartered cherry tomatoes.   

What rituals do you have? 

Memos: Mail: Me

The only bright spot in a week of envelopes with windows in

was the arrival of my sub copy of The Simple Things.

Plans to read it over the weekend didn't materialise, 

but I'll be rectifying that error today.

As for the weekend, we drove 25 miles out into the countryside 

in order to dog walk in the woods.

It was beautiful and we hardly saw another soul.   

Sywell Aerodrome

On the Saturday of the Easter weekend, we drove up to Northamptonshire

to meet my brother at Sywell Aerodrome.

 To be honest, there's not much there unless you are an aviation enthusiast.

But it turns out that lots of people are, as it was fairly busy. 

 The flying highlight was the arrival of a privately owned Spitfire,

 which drew the crowds like a moth to a flame.   

We had a great day and it was marvellous to see The Boy Child 

and his uncle build on their relationship.

And even if you're not an aviation enthusiast, I'd still recommend a visit.

There's a beautiful Art Deco building which houses a bar, restaurant and hotel.

The volunteer-run Museum is also worth an hour of your time,

and you never know what just might fly in.

  It's also dog friendly.

  

What a Pair

We caught up with our great nephews over the Easter weekend.

Although it was difficult to find all three boys awake at the same time, 

we did manage a family photo with Los Pequeňos.

As you may have noticed, Pequeňo Dos no longer needs additional oxygen

(that's him on his Gruncle's knee), and they are pretty much nigh on impossible

to tell apart.  They are now six months old and doing so well that it's easy to forget

their frightening entry into the world.

The Boy Child loves having baby cousins and you can see him with the twins here. 

Month in Numbers | March

Did March turn out to be marvellous?

Let's take a look:

55: the number of minutes it took for the orthodontist to attach my braces. 

330: the number of lengths I put in at the pool - the biggest total of the year so far.

6: the number of separate donations made to either via freecycle or to a charity.

27: the number of layouts I made during the month.  It sounds a lot, but the majority of the pages

were divided pocket pages and quick to put together.

30: the number of times I went out with the dog to the park.

  Most walks were around 90 minutes from start to finish.  

20,040: my largest daily step count.

72: the total number of leaflets I dropped through letterboxes re a proposed development.

Month in Numbers is the brainchild of Julie

and you'll always find a warm welcome over at her place. 

 Not to mention entertaining posts about a varied list of topics.

Go on over, stop by and say hello.

You can see my previous Month in Numbers here.

Autism | Five Years On

I'm back from the Easter break and ready to mark

what has been a huge milestone for my family.

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of learning formally

that The Boy Child has autism.

I wrote a blog post back then and, having re-read it just now,

I find that I was far too cocky in my assumption that

autism is just a word. 

It is so much more than I first realised.

Autism affects every corner of our lives and we're still learning to live

with this unwelcome and unwanted intrusion into our family and home.

The biggest thing I've learned is that autism, while ever present,

comes in peaks and troughs.

It ebbs and flows.

Some days are easier then others, 

some days are harder than I ever could have imagined.

Some things for The Boy Child are easier.

Some things for The Boy Child are definitely harder.

The Brainy One and I attended the dreaded annual Statement Review meeting 

before the Easter holidays and learned that things were worse than we'd been lead to believe.

Later this year, we have to apply for the Secondary school we'd like The Boy Child

to attend from September 2018 and I desperately miss the wise counsel of this lady.  

The next few months are set to be challenging, but surely not as difficult as the last five years.

Wish us luck,

The Roman Walled City of Chester

When I was a child, a day out in Chester

was both a treat and a joy.

 We did the same thing pretty much every time we were there.

A walk around the walls.

An hour in the cathedral.

Lunch in one of the city's first family friendly pubs.

We're just back from a long weekend in Chester,

and I re-enacted those days for my own family.

Chester is, in my opinion, one of the United Kingdom's

most beautiful cities.

If you've never been, make a plan to go.

If you already know Chester, make a plan to go again.

Secret London | The British Dental Association Museum

Tucked away behind the madness that is Oxford Street

is the tiny museum of the British Dental Association.

Given that the Boy Child had a dental check-up on Tuesday

and I am into week three of braces wearing,

the timing seemed perfect for a visit.

 See those real teeth? 

taken from dead soldiers on the battlefield at Waterloo.

Gulp.

 Pre plaster casts and plastic models, 

real human skulls were used for illustration purposes.

Gulp. 

But it's not all gore.

They do have a very nice line in Public Information posters.

The museum really is very small, but worth dropping in for 10 minutes.

It's free to enter and open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1-4 pm.  

The Harry Potter Studio Tour | Part 2

The Boy Child wasn't the only one who enjoyed our visit.

The sets were magnificent!

~ the Great Hall ~

~ Potions Classroom ~

~ Professor Umbrage's office ~

~ scale model of Hogwarts castle ~

The attention to detail is astonishing and the set designers

must have put in thousands of man hours getting the sets just so.

Those guys are worth so much more than a name check at the end of a film

when no-one is really paying attention.

Also, I think it's going to be great fun the next time we see one of the films,

to shout out, "we've been there!"

(The Boy Child has seen the first four films; 1-3 are rated PG. Four is rated 12 (as are 5-8), 

so there was a lot of humming and haaring before we decided to let him see it.)  

The Harry Potter Studio Tour

And so to the world of Harry Potter.

 It would be no exaggeration to say that The Boy Child

absolutely loved every minute of it.  

 Having mastered his first broomstick lesson,

 he hopped aboard for a quick flight over the quidditch pitch. 

 Followed by a lesson in wand control and appropriate stances.

He's even more convinced that he'll be going to Hogwarts

when he turns eleven next year ...

Memos: Mail: Me

Just one piece of Happy Mail this week,

and one that I kept for a few hours of reading on Sunday afternoon.

Along with the House & Home section of the weekend FT 

and a short story from Diana Gabaldon on the Kindle. 

 The weekend, aside from the reading, may have also included

several hours spent with these characters.

The Warner Bros. Studio Tour, London was our birthday gift to 

The Boy Child this year and Saturday was the day ...

... details to follow.