We'll let you use the word "hot" today...

I often give Geoff a hard time about the word hot - having grown up outside DC, I find it's not really hot until it hits at least 25C/80F or so, and not "very hot" until nearly 32C/90F. Geoff sees things differently, so I like to tease him about it. Of course. But today was hot. Lovely, but hot. Not sure what the high temp was - probably about 25 or 26, but it was sunny all day and just, well, great. Tomorrow looks to be the same. They are predicting a summer full of weather like this - please please please let them be right. It's about time we had a good summer!

Scenes from my day...

Alex decided to play a big game with all his stuffed toys today. He has a lot (as you can see) - he really adores them, and although most of them have rather basic names (catty, bear, dino, froggie, brownbear...) they often have personalities and complex familial units. At least he plays with them!



And then, we have dinner - pizza night. The advantage to making your own is that no one argues over toppings. Needless to say, neither pizza nor wine was left at the end of the evening...

New shirt

I was commanded to take a photo of her with the new shirt (and new socks), so of course, being the obedient mummy I am, I did. The other daughter, would of course run screaming from the camera (or more likely, make a face and hide behind her hands). Yes, they did come from the same parents, not that you'd know it...

Scenes from Cannizaro Park

Alien in the garden

Here's my little alien, set to go off to school today... They are having a special writing week at school, and arrived Monday to find an alien spacecraft crash-landed in the school field. Activities this week have been based around that and around the book Aliens love Underpants; today there is an alien fashion show - there were some really cool costumes at school this morning - most of them showing a little time and ingenuity on the parents' part, rather than a lot of money spent - always the best, I think. One girl had her hair done brilliantly - little knots on top of her head and each one was wrapped with a coil made from coloured pipe-cleaners, so it looked like she had a head full of springs - really clever. We were going to paint Alex's face green, but his class has a swimming lesson this morning, so that option was out.

The older kids have had a spy mission theme, which has also been going well, I think, but doesn't involve dressing up...

Olivia's Sunflower

Planted as a seed at a Brownie day in February (I think - must have been, as my mother was here at the time) - and now, ta da! Not a super tall one, but very pretty. Sarah's is behind Olivia and is only just beginning to bud. There is also a bean plant (obscured by Olivia) which Alex planted in school, also in bloom. He already has plans to harvest the beans...

A night out...

From a rather good (and very unexpected) cover of Girl from the North Country onwards, it was a good show. A good mix of new and old, and if some favourites were left out (Mrs Potter, A long December, Omaha - not that I expected them to play it, mind you) others were included (Anna Begins, A Murder of One, Miami). Sarah and I were both pleased to hear them play Accidentally in Love, the incongruity of which always - still - amuses me. Verdict: highly enjoyable and my goodness, I wish I had as much energy as Adam Duritz...

• Girl from the North Country (Dylan cover - I hope someone youtubes this! (ok, apologies for turning youtube into a verb, lol))
• Cowboys (Sunday AM)
• Anna Begins (August)
• Children in Bloom (Satellites)
• New Frontier (Hard Candy - and I have to say, even in concert, this song still sounds like a dorky 80s throwback)
• Good time (Hard Candy)
• I Dream of Michaelangelo (Sunday AM)
• Recovering the Satellites
• Miami (Hard Candy)
• A Murder of One (August)
• Speedway (Desert)
• Accidentally in Love (Shrek 2 soundtrack)
• Rain King (medley with Mr Jones and I get by with a little help with my friends; featuring Blind Pilot and the Hold Steady) (August)
• Holiday in Spain - encore (Hard Candy)