Saturday 3 November 2007

Half Term Holiday.





Oops! Should have turned it round!







The half term holiday has been a week later in Cornwall than anywhere else in the country from what I can work out. I have no idea why, but there it is. Here at Poltisko Farm it has been a mixed baggage of a week consisting of a medley of family, work and play with not a little exhaustion added to the pot - Isabella and clocks changing; need I say more? I can only ask yet again WHY? Why must we struggle to establish what seems to be popularly referred to as a 'sleep pattern' in very young children and babies only to have to re-negotiate the boundaries as the clocks leap forth and back with gay abandon? I tell you, I was having my own one-woman Hallowe'en without the aid of make-up here! Looked as though someone had cast a spell on me.... mix one bloodshot eye with the peaked visage of the seriously sleep-deprived and top the whole with the matted unkempt hair of a manic harridan and stir (by expecting her to think of FUN things to do!!!!). Yep, a vision to behold. To be fair to the dear child (restrained eh?) she was also suffering a belated reaction to MMR innoculations in readiness for the impending hour change, but all thoughts of the 'pattern' I had previously 'established' flew out the window along with my wits which I believe have been sighted in a mangled mess in the duck pond!

HAllowe'en itself was actually quite fun. I choose to forget all negative connotations when it gets to this time of year and just enjoy the chance for dressing up and partying. Matty (my sort-of daughter - we hate the term step-daughter as it's so formal) came to stay for the week and her boyfriend popped down too for a few nights making it a household of only eight this year. Smaller than usual but good enough for a party. Dave as ever rose to the occasion dressing up in gypsy fashion complete with eyeliner and dangling earring (!) while I put together a variety of outfits for the rest of the gang - ghosts, ghouls and Isabella in a fairy tutu I made for LAuren about 18 years ago. The usual games were played - penny in the flour, bite out of the apple and so on. Unfortunately the photos always resemble those dreadful shots of hostages on their knees as you can never see the apple itself. Great fun to play though and followed up by fortune telling sessions with Gypsy Dave in one room and Gypsy Pipany in another, glass in one hand and cards in the other. Hmm...

The rest of the holiday has, as I said, been fun although a haze of increasing tiredness has cloaked it all. Walks on the beach (bliss), games in the kitchen (lovely) and today a wonderful mellow walk through the carpet of golden-hued leaves in the woods with Dave, Sam, Isabella, Lucy and Elias - sanity returns. I suppose one good thing about getting up at five in the morning is that by nine I have done most of the housework, prepared the evening meal and even managed to bake a lemon cake and shortbread on Thursday, and made sloe gin and blackcurrant gin on Friday! Well, I was feeding the ducks and the air was still with a hint of chill; as I walked back down the path trying not to let the honking of the ducks drive me insane I noticed there were still sloes on our tree. Up I climmbed catching afore-mentioned nest of hair on spiky branches until I was so tangled that it took me about twenty minutes to free myself BUT I picked enough sloes for two bottles of the good stuff. I have to have something to look forward to!!!

Well, back to the sewing and the thought of a restful evening - fire lit and glowing beautifully, a lamb korma prepared yesterday now warming through in the stove and a film to be watched with the children; lovely.

See you all soon xx

17 comments:

  1. Glad to hear your dear child had the MMR!

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  2. Sounds a great week (apart from the 5 o' clock starts!). We never made much of Halloween when my kids were little but I am always ready for an excuse for a party. Hope you get your warm and cosy evening.

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  3. Know what you mean about little ones and clocks changing - always took us a good week to get straight. Lamb korma and a real fire - sounds like a perfect November evening to me!

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  4. what a lovely positive blog ...even the harridan at five in the morning sounded a tad less than evil...know what you mean though...even the animals get totally confused.

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  5. Sounds like lots going on at your place all the time! I remember the difficulty with sleeping patterns and the time change - we'll see how our wee grandson does in the coming week, as our time changes tonight. Your Hallowe'en sounds like it was fun - much like what we do here!

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  6. It's been half term this week here in Wales too. I quite agree with you abuot the time change, it throws me all out, let alone the littlies! Why do we have to do it?? I love the idea of preparing the evening meal in the morning, I must try that. Your cosy evening by the fire, curry and a film sounds so nice.

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  7. The French term for stepdaughter is Belle fille, which we think is much nicer!

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  8. Mmm lovely! Sometimes I think I'd like to be living your life Pipany!

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  9. Ditto Faith! Hope your evening was good, it sounded like it was going to be .... I so remember the horror of the clocks changing when I had babies - even now it throws K a bit still, 5.00 am is not much fun.

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  10. Hello Dear Pipany,

    Lovely blog, I agree with Faith, I would like to live your life too, and oh, and to be able to sew, your products are really lovely Pipany. Good idea about preparing the meals in the morning, might try that.

    Camilla.xx

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  11. Loved your hallowe'en party - sounds exactly like the ones we have....though we didn't do the fortune-telling this year... Good of Gypsy Dave to get into the spirit though - I only once managed to get Adrian into spooky gear - he was the most reluctant, depressed Dracula in the entire afterlife.

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  12. I feel exhausted just reading what you do, Pipany! You must be made of stainless steel or something. Your party sounded great, though know what you mean about the hostages.

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  13. I had teachers from Cornwall in my holiday cottage for half term. They loved the fact there were no children around up here!

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  14. Ooo I do miss half term, such a welcome break. There again I don't miss the weather.
    Cheers

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  15. Oh Pipany you sound so busy,wow all that baking at such an early hour...good for you. Halloween sounded fab.

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  16. I suppose all teh Korma has goen now pooh misssed it! P can you email me your website address I cant fidn it on your blog!!

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  17. Have really enjoyed catching up, your sewing room sounds idyllic. We went to stay with my parents back in our old village in Carmarthenshire and the older boys were most disappointed to find their old friends were still in school as their half term was different as well.

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