Day 1.207: Who spots stripes?

There they are!

I was inspired by this post over at the wonderful world of funkypancake to use this particular picture of a very bright rainbow (the photo taken with my phone doesn't really do it justice).

This evening I cooked pork chops and courgette curry and Exile #2 stir-fried some chard. We sat down with this feast and watched some clips from last year's Isle of Wight music festival. Good in parts, hilarious in others - particularly The Rolling Stones who we have now renamed in honour of the Pete Doherty-esque chaos 'Grandfathershambles'.

We were inspired by all this music making to make some of our own and we started working out some acoustic versions of a few songs - something we have done a lot in the distant past and not nearly enough lately.

Day 1.206: Tick - Check

In one of the last shows/episodes of the last season/series of American Idol, Simon Cowell commented that a performance had 'ticked all the boxes' - it was met with genuine lack of understanding from his co-presenters. Of course here boxes are checked.

Especially in our current situation, ticks are also checked (for) and here is one we found on Exile #3 this evening.

No really. It's on the counter in between the points of the tweezers - and it's not the smallest we've seen. No wonder the one that infected Exile #2 presumably went unnoticed. She seems to be making a slow recovery by the way - thanks for the emails etc.

Oh yes, and here is an impressive demonstration of the Digital Macro setting on my Canon SD870 IS:



Happily, although this one looks like it may have had a good meal from our daughter - it seems to be a six-legged larva and not a possibly-infected eight-legged nymph or adult. More information for the curious or freaked-out here. I seem destined to become an expert!

Day 1.205: Honoring Mrs Thacher

This morning we sensed a break in the wet weather and ventured up into the Helderburgs to visit Thompson's Lake. In fact, although we had a nice walk, we barely saw the lake except at the trail head through the trees.

After a short and very gentle hike we visited the wonderfully named Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center. I am happy to report both that we received a welcome similar to that experienced by Albaniana and that we were not the only visitors. The girls enjoyed looking at the animals (alive and dead) and both impressed the staff-member by correctly identifying various birds at the feeders outside.

As you can see from this picture of the girls writing on slates found on the path, it was cool enough when we arrived (in the aftermath of a small shower) for us to think we needed warm layers on. It was not really cold enough to need them however.

This evening, E5N1 and I left the others at home to go to our church gathering. Funnily enough, although all-but-one of the regular households were represented - it was only by males - with twelve women and girls missing for a variety of reasons. Strange how these things happen.

Day 1.204: Recovering gradually

Exile #2 and I started attempting to breathe new life into these dining chairs a few weeks ago. They belonged to my grandparents and I sat on them as a child. Much of the fabric was by now threadbare and the stuffing was leaking out in places. In the end we came up with a method that worked pretty well and this evening while Exile #2 went to the grocery store, I finished the last two.

It was encouraging that Exile #2 managed an outing this evening - she has been fairly ill. Soon after recovering from her last infection and reaction to the medication for it she was back at the doctor with a stiff and swollen neck. At the time the doctor sent her home with some muscle relaxant, however we noticed a faint rash a few days later and after a fight to get an appointment and then several days waiting for some test results, it transpires that - as we suspected - she has Lyme disease. This is an infection spread by tick bites - tick-check is now (has been for some time) a daily discipline for the kids, now we need to remember to look after ourselves (or each other) a bit better too. More antibiotics and hopefully a more than gradual recovery.

This morning I was at a church leadership meeting that started outside and then moved inside to shelter from a passing thunderstorm. It rained hard at home, but in the absence of any audible thunder here, the kids decided to make their own. This evening nature made up for its earlier failings with an impressively loud storm. It still had nothing on this though:

Day 1.203: Where'd you park the car?

At the EcoTarium - an ominous sign - how did they move them all? Fortunately we had parked elsewhere.

As we left there, we had a 'Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore' moment - when we spotted Wembley's twin towers through the beginning of the storm.

Of course then we realised that the towers aren't there any more so they could be here - not that anyone would move such a thing to the US would they? Anyway, really it's Union Station so that's the end of that.