Grizedale Arts

Grizedale Arts is a base for experimental contemporary art projects, based in the Lake District, at Lawson Park Farm (see Lawson Park Garden too).

From their site: GA runs a programme of events, projects, residencies and activity which seeks to develop the contemporary arts in new directions, away from the romantic and modern assumptions of culture, and to make artists more useful in this complex and multiple-cultural environment. See the Seven Samurai, for example.

Find their news at the Sun of Grizedale and on farmyard radio (An hour from a mountain very far from you. Almost every Friday from 4-5pm. Spend a happy hour each Friday before you hit the weekend. Listen online to whoever is in our office talking all things Grizedale. Regular topics will include Dr Dolittle talks to the Artists, The Curing of Pork, Strange but Local, In Today's Trug, Cultural Collision of the Week, What a Difference a Day Makes and many more.).

Grizedale Arts have been using the farm since 2000 for hosting artists and projects, but are now developing the whole site as the new headquarters for the organisation. So, we missed it this time and will have to visit Adam and Karen again! They are also building their new home - Build Me a Love Shack:

Ye Olde Lawson Park:

More at Children of Grizedale, including Meet the Architects.

Hurricane Gustav

Hurricane Gustav hit the Cayman Islands. Hope Ian, Justine and Alexander are well.

More:

Gustav hits the Cayman Islands
Hurricane tracker
Gustav in the Caymans on CBC news
Cayman Prepared
Cayman Net News

Boo

Boo (see also Boo at wiki) was a favourite TV series. Now the kids are too old for this! They have this soft toy, which is very nice, even if it has been forgotten...

Royal Navy

And this post is for Ruaridh, who is joining the Royal Navy.

Partick Thistle

Partick Thistle FC - this was the team I supported in Glasgow, on account of not wanting any religion related football team, like Celtic or Rangers. In any case, Ian would have killed me if I had supported Rangers...

The rivalry between Glasgow clubs Rangers and Celtic - known collectively as the Old Firm - is historically tied up in religion.
Celtic were formed in 1888 by Irish Catholic immigrants who began emigrating to the West of Scotland in the 1840s and their descendants.
Rangers, who were formed in 1873, have always been perceived as "the Protestant club" and Celtic "the Catholic club".
More in A rivalry tied up in religion, BBC, 2006

From wiki:
Old Firm
Sectarianism in Glasgow

Hibs Girls

A post for Ciara - Hibs Girls.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs

At the time when Unterholzer moved to Regensburg, von Igelfeld was himself involved in his own difficulties over publication. Studia Litteraria Verlag, the publishers of his renowed and monumental work Portuguese Irregular Verbs, had written to him informing him that they had managed to sell only two hundred copies of the book. There was no doubt about the book's status: it was to be found in all the relevant libraries of Europe and North America, and was established as a classic in its field; but the problem was that the field was extremely small. Indeed, almost the entire field met every year at the annual conference and fitted confortably into one small conference hall, usually with twenty or thirty seats left over.
The publishers pointed out that although two hundred copies had been sold, there still remained seven hundred and thirty-seven in a warehouse in Frankfurt. Over the previous two years, only six copies had been sold, and it occurred to them that at this rate they could expect to have to store the stock until well into the twenty-second century. Von Igelfeld personally saw nothing unacceptable about this, and was outraged when he read the proposal of Studia Litteraria's manager.
'We have received an offer from a firm of interior decorators,' he read. 'They decorate the apartments of wealthy people in a style which indicates good taste and education. They are keen to purchase our entire stock of Portuguese Irregular Verbs, which, as you know, has a very fine binding. They will then, at their own expense and at no cost to yourself, change the embossed spine title to Portuguse Irrigated Herbs and use them as book furniture for the bookshelves they install in the houses of their customers. I am sure ou will agree that this is an excellent idea, and I look forward to receiving your views on the proposition.'
Portuguese Irregular Verbs, by Alexander McCall Smith

Photo by Tim Duncan

Meet the Author - McCall Smith at Edinburgh Book Festival today. And I'm not there!

Alexander McCall Smith 'The Write Place':

Alexander McCall Smith - Botswana
McCall Smith official site

Gold medals

Michael Phelps diet:

Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee

Lunch: Half-kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks

Dinner: Half-kilogram of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks

More at BBC news.

Phelps Shatters 200-meter Butterfly World Record in Beijing:

Michael Phelps 12,000 Calorie Diet Test by Fat Guy Nation:

Soup

Yesterday, the soup was not met with approval. It seems it was made of hay (?!), with a milk sauce (?!). These kids have some imagination...

Foyle's War

We've started watching the second series of Foyle's War, with Michael Kitchen. It's very good!

I found out that there is a very dedicated fan that has built his own Michael Kitchen site, a Foyle's War site and even has a Michael Kitchen's mahjong! The things fans do...

More on Foyle:
Foyle's War at ITV
Foyle's War Radio Times
Foyle's War at PBS

Stephen Fry

Having mentioned Stephen Fry, here is a post about him. Some of his books are quite funny and the comedy quiz QI, that we watched while in Edinburgh, is great! Clips here and here and here is QI - Christmas special:

On the QI site there are interesting things, like the arabic proverb The eyes are the spoons of speech...

The duo Fry and Laurie (quite a young Doctor House... ) did Jeeves and Wooster. Here's the TV intro:

Here's the bizarre song Por onde andará Stephen Fry, by Zeca Baleiro, written because Fry disappeared briefly in 1995.

The subtitles are the worst translation ever seen!

More:
Fry at wiki
QI at wiki

Doctor House

Washing machine

The new washing machine:

... to replace the old one:

Maisy

It's bedtime for Maisy and Panda. Maisy closes her bedroom curtains. Tuwoo, tuwoo, says the owl.
Maisy's bedtime, by Lucy Cousins

Ok, Maisy too - another favourite! The books are great for young kids and the TV series has nice music and voices (the narrator is Neil Morrissey of Bob the Builder fame), and is quite calm, so that we can actually do other things without getting annoyed with the noise, while the kids watch TV.

Charley the Crocodile, Eddie the Elephant, Tallulah the Chicken, Cyril the Squirrel

More on Maisy:
Maisyfun

Maisy Fun Club

Read stories here or here.

Mimi à la plage (I couldn't find it in english):

Pocoyo

Having mentioned Engie Benjy (who seems to have resurfaced as a favourite) I had to mention Pocoyo too. Pocoyo is a family favourite! It's funny but calm, normally with a plain white background and with nice voices (Stephen Fry is the narrator...).

More on Pocoyo:
Pocoyo at wikipedia
Official Pocoyo blog

Pocoyo Youtube

Desperately seeking Engie

We've recorded a couple of episodes of Engie Benjy on portuguese TV, a while ago, and they are still a favourite. Luke wants ALL the toys (Engie Benjy, Jollop & Dan; Driver Dottie & Bus; Pilot Pete & Plane; Fisherman Fin & Boat; Messenger Mo & Bike; Farmer Fred & Tractor; Astronaut Al & Spaceship), but we can't find them! Amazon had some but we were not quick enough and didn't manage to get them all. What happened to this series? Everything seems to have vanished!

Here is a clip to give an idea of the TV series:

Roald Dahl

I'm going to fill my hungry empty tummy
With something yummy yummy yummy yummy!

I'm off to find a yummy child for lunch
Keep listening and you'll hear the bones go crunch!

The sort of things that I'm going to eat
Have fingers, toe-nails, arms and legs and feet!

The Enormous Crocodile, by Roald Dahl

Here's Roald Dahl's official site.

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre is not far from High Wycombe. We could go there next time!

Muffins, crumpets, pancakes and scones

Do you know the muffin man,
the muffin man, the muffin man?
Do you know the muffin man,
who lives on Drury Lane?

Fancy this pile of muffins?

What about a delicious crumpet?

... or a pancake?

A traditional fruit scone?

... or a potato one?

Muffin Man in Shrek:

Muffin Man, the movie, and some Traditional Scottish Recipes.

Warning to navigation

Most photos have been added - see previous posts and the albums.

Here is this camera's playground.

The Jacobite

It's a pity we didn't go on the Jacobite steam train, but it was too far up North. Next time!

A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform, packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling

Maybe the kids will enjoy it more, when they know Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express.

Here's Harry Potter at Warner Bros. And the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer:

Down to Earth

Did you think that your feet had been bound
By what gravity brings to the ground?
Did you feel you were tricked
By the future you picked?
Well, come on down

All those rules don’t apply
When you’re high in the sky
So, come on down
Come on down

We’re coming down to the ground
There’s no better place to go
We’ve got snow up on the mountains
We’ve got rivers down below

We’re coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

Did you think you’d escaped from routine
By changing the script and the scene?
Despite all you made of it
You’re always afraid
Of the change

You’ve got a lot on your chest
Well, you can come as my guest
So come on down
Come on down

We’re coming down to the ground
There’s no better place to go
We’ve got snow up on the mountains
We’ve got rivers down below

We’re coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

Like the fish in the ocean
We felt at home in the sea
We learned to live off the good land
Learned to climb up a tree
Then we got up on two legs
But we wanted to fly
When we messed up our homeland
We set sail for the sky

We’re coming down to the ground
There’s no better place to go
We’ve got snow up on the mountains
We’ve got rivers down below

We’re coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

We’re coming down
Coming down to Earth
Like babies at birth
Coming down to Earth
We’re gonna find new priorities
These are extraordinary qualities

We’re coming down to the ground
There’s no better place to go
We’ve got snow up on the mountains
We’ve got rivers down below

We’re coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

We’re coming down to the ground
There’s no better place to go
We’ve got snow up on the mountains
We’ve got rivers down below

We’re coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

We’re gonna find new priorities
These are extraordinary qualities

Down to Earth (from the film Wall-e), by Peter Gabriel

Wall-e

Just seen Wall-e (see also this). Great!

More at Wall-e at youtube.

Presto!

Just seen Wall-e and the wonderful Presto. Sneak preview:

Double Trouble

Super Nanny says:
If disciplining one child is a challenge, then disciplining twins is an endurance sport. While one child is sitting quietly, the other is likely to be poking his brother’s eye, pulling his hair or throwing a tantrum… Fast forward five minutes and it’s the same scene in reverse.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Isn't it funny
How a bear likes honey?
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
I wonder why he does?
Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne

We missed Pooh country this time. We'll have to come back!

When the kids were babies, we used to hum (for hours...) the Pooh's song to put them to sleep.

More on Pooh:
Just-Pooh.com
Pooh the Bear - a pooish website
The adventures of the real Winnie-the-Pooh
Pooh at Disney UK
Pooh at Disney.com

Buzz like you!

Another thing renamed: Buzz Lightyear becomes Buzz Like You.

That's not flying, that's falling with style!

Toy Story 2 Trailer:

Here's the Toy Story site. Play To Infinite and Beyond at Nasa Kids' Club.

Busy Water

Busy water - the kids have renamed fizzy water!

Day 23

Plan:
Leave the Lake District and head for Luton.
Bye Bye, Britain!

What happened:
Another rainy long drive all the way to the airport. And then a rush to return the car, pack the car chairs, check-in and ... wait for a delayed flight! Arrived home around 10 pm and the kids went straight for their toys and played with everything very enthusiastically, showing them all to Grandma, as if they were new.

Flowers

Day 22

Plan:
Early departure for the Lake District.
Possibilities: World of Beatrix Potter Attraction in Bowness-on-Windermere; Windermere Lake Cruises, from Bowness to Lakeside, and Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, from Lakeside through the Leven valley (timetables); the Lakes Aquarium.
Meet Adam? Sleep in Bowness-on-Windermere.

What happened:
The early departure was not as early as we would have liked it - 10 am. Then a long drive (5 hours, with a couple of stops), with rain and following a bus down narrow winding roads. But the Lake District is very pretty!

Arrived in Bowness and went straight to the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction, which was great.

Then to the shore for a cruise. Unfortunately, it was too late for steamers and we had to settle with a blue cruise in a launch. It started pouring when we went, so it was not too much fun - we couldn't see much and there was nothing for 2 restless kids to do...

Met Adam and Karen for dinner, in a nice restaurant where children were welcome (as opposed to the one we had tried before...).

Peter Rabbit

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries; but Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden and squeezed under the gate!

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter

Ignore the american accent and enjoy the story:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit in film - 1/2 and 2/2

Today: The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction

World of Peter Rabbit - official site

Wild parties

As for Jamie, we hope we didn't cramp his style...