Birthdays and beaches.

Goodness, it's so wild and woolly here this morning that even the ducks have snuggled down by the edge of the pond, heads tucked firmly under their wings as the garden gets beaten down around them. The predicted storms reached Cornwall during the night and show little sign of abating today, almost making yesterday's gorgeous weather a distant memory.

It was little Lucy's tenth birthday on Saturday - I guess she's not quite so much a little Lucy anymore. Dave and I were sitting over our coffee pot feeling a bit sad that yet another one of the children was now in double figures after 25 years of always having one still in single; luckily Isabella only turns two in May so we're fine for a few more years yet!

So Lucy had a sleepover on Friday night with two of her friends, the first time she hadn't wanted a party. The three girls had planned their weekend with military precision and I had made piles of homemade pizzas, rich with slowly cooked tomato and pepper sauce liberally flavoured with garlic and the thinest of bases just as they like them. This was followed by ice-cream containing chunks of cookie dough. Games were played, snacks consumed, music danced to and the evening ended with all three tucking themselves into bed by 10.30 where I discovered them listening to a story tape in the dark as they drifted to sleep - how easy was that!

Saturday morning arrived and all three piled onto the end of our bed to watch Lucy open her presents - the Babbit was a definite hit and has been everywhere with Lucy ever since she tore it from the wrappings. I won't relay the rest of the day as it contained more of the same, but will show the delicious cake Dave made (heusually is on birthday cake duties these days) - please note the beautiful Spode cake stand so poorly photographed due to the bad light!




Isn't it pretty/ Dave bought it for me one Christmas and it has little vignettes of the four seasons around the frilled edge. I will take a better photo another time as the blue is so much more delicate than it looks here. We use the stand for all parties, birthdays, etc so it is very much the sign of a happy gathering.

Sunday was beautiful. Unfortunately poor Isabella finally gave in to the rotten cold she has had all week and was quite poorly. Late afternoon saw us bundling them all into the car for a quick run on the beach to blow the cobwebs away. The sun was beginning to flit in and out of the clouds and the breeze was chilly, but how lovely it was to see groups of students gathered on the sands chatting and laughing. Families were either walking or playing frisby, and the atmosphere was one of cheerfulness and impending Spring.




Back to the car and a drive around the lanes where everywhere the eye fell were bright fields of nodding daffodils. I love this about Cornwall, the way that the field sweep down to the sea, the wonderful yellow flowers standing out against the blue backdrop of the sea; just look at this...




Lucky aren't we? This shot was taken of a field overlooking Nansidwell Beach. From here we carried on towards the place I wrote of before - Port Navas. Typically, last time I didn't have the camera and this time I had the camera but the sun was slowly slipping lower and lower, hence the rather dark shots. Tha lanes wound down alongside the creek overlooking banks of yet more daffodils...





around the narrow basin where the swans were quietly milling around...





and up the other side past the wreck lying on its side until it becomes at one with its watery resting place...


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The final spot we stopped at is not done justice by this photograph; it is of a filed studded with daffodils which sweeps down toward the river snaking away into thw distance. Fields dip on all sides and a little copse nestles to one side. We stood in the now icy air of early evening with only the sound of the river birds breaking the silence and not a single house to be seen anywhere, quite a rarity for this tiny county. This is the place I would live if I could choose anywhere in the world, in this field looking at this view where only nature sets the scene. Just perfect.





Hope you enjoyed the journey xx