Jenny's stone carving wins prize

Back in the depths of last winter Jenny began carving a replica of a huge neo-Hittite Chimaera or Sphinx, the original of which we had seen in the National Museum of Turkey in Ankara last summer. The block of stone with which she was working weighed 64 kilos when she started but as she chipped away it was reduced to 49 kilos. Last weekend Jenny entered her finished stone carving in the "sculpture" section of our Village Gardening Club's Summer Show and she was delighted to be awarded second prize, being beaten only by a ceramic peacock. We have now built the stone carving into a wall in our garden where we can enjoy looking at it every time we go to that end of the garden.

Longleat Safari Park

When Ben and his family were staying with us recently we all went to Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire. Set in the beautiful parkland surrounding Longleat House, the family seat of the Marquis of Bath, its more than just a safari journey through the wild animals. There's an adventure castle for young people, a hedge maze, pets corner, parrot show, Postman Pat, miniature train ride, boat trip on Half Mile Lake, a tour of Longleat House itself and much more. The boat trip takes you past Californian sea lions, two hippos, flamingos and an island on which Nico, an elderly gorilla lives alone since his mate died last year. But he's not too lonely, he likes watching the passing boats and has a TV set, complete with Sky programmes. (How does he operate the remote with those huge hands?). The photos show Jenny, Sophie and Claire sitting on the steps on the magnificent 15th century Longleat House, waiting patiently for Ben and Thomas to bring the picnic rugs, and an upclose photo of Nico taken by Jenny - the electric wire stops him coming too close! If you want to know more about Longleat visit http://www.longleat.co.uk/

Back to School

It was back to school two weeks ago for our grandchildren Noah, Anna and Libby on board the MS Africa Mercy, currently in Benin, West Africa. But that was no problem, as they were eager to get back and very excited at the prospect of meeting their new teachers, all volunteers who had flown in at their own expense from various parts of the world in the previous few days. The Mercy Ships Academy is situated on Deck 7 of the MS Africa Mercy and provides a good education through to age 18. The 50 or so pupils are the children of medium and long term Mercy Ships volunteers who live on the ship and they enjoy all the facilities that UK schools have apart from a sports hall and playing fields. They start school at 8am and get no half term holidays!

Noah and Anna love to read the books (and watch the DVDs) that we take out for them on our annual visits to West Africa and Libby just loves everything!

Fun on the beach

After the sea kayaking Jenny and I spent some time with Ben, Claire, Thomas, Sophie and hundreds of holiday makers on the long sandy beach at Woolacombe, North Devon. We did all the things that holiday makers do - playing ball games, eating ice creams and building sand castles. Then, as our family has done many times in the past, we tried to delay the progress of the incoming tide by digging a system of trenches and using the sand to build fortifications, topped with drift wood sticks. The photos show the beach, Sophie and Thomas digging, our "fort" holding back the tide temporarily and a couple of "big boy" diggers. Then it was time for dinner and an overnight stay at the Devon home of Claire's parents - many thanks to them for offering us a bed - we were too tired to drive home.

Kayaking photos

Thanks to Ben, I now have two photos of out sea kayaking expedition, taken on his mobile phone so a bit grainy but very welcome all the same. One shows me ready to launch my kayak - the strange black "apron" round my waste is a spraydeck - designed to fit snugly round the edges of the cockpit and keep water out. In a capsize the spraydeck has to be pulled quickly off with a special strap, or you are trapped under water! The other photo shows me ready for hot chocolate on the beach accessible only from the sea. Thanks, Ben.

Sea kayaking in North Devon

For my birthday last month Ben and Claire gave me a sea kayaking session - an ideal present as I have always enjoyed kayaking but have not done much on the open sea. So yesterday Ben and I, together with Rob, our guide, launched kayaks from the beach in the picturesque hamlet of Lee, near Ilfracombe in North Devon. Conditions were ideal - the high cliffs protected the sea from the south easterly force 4 wind so the waves were relatively small. Visibility was excellent - we could clearly see the Island of Lundy 12 miles away and the coast of Wales across the Bristol Channel - the Gower Peninsula (25 miles) and Pembrokeshire (35 miles). The water was clear and about 16C - not too cold and the sky was overcast so not too warm either. This stretch of coast has one of the biggest tidal ranges in the world (about 26 feet or 8 metres) and the tide was at its lowest as we started our journey west. Under Rob's direction we spent some time "rock-hopping" - using the currents, tide and our paddles to steer quickly through narrow channels between exposed rocks. We saw scores of sea birds of many varieties before landing on a small beach, inaccessible by foot. Rob got out his stove, served hot chocolate and boiled an edible crab's leg he had found. The journey back was exhilarating - we each lowered our skeg (like a small outboard keel) to prevent us moving sideways and, assisted by the wind and incoming tide, paddled quickly back to base. So quickly that we almost overshot it. It was all great fun - the only down side was having to carry the canoes 400 yards from the car park to the sea and back again. Sorry I have no photos - its almost impossible to hold a camera and keep it dry whilst wrestling with a paddle in a rocking kayak. If you'd like to know more about expeditions with Rob look at the website of SeaKayakingSouthwest

Plums are smart

"Plums are smart" as Bob Mortimer famously said in the Reeves and Mortimer TV comedy show. They are tasty too, as I can testify, having just eaten some of the 26pounds (12 kilos) of fruit which our plum tree has given us this year. Gathering the plums was great fun. Claire, Thomas, Sophie, Jenny and I each held a corner of a large bed sheet whilst Ben rocked the tree vigourously. Most of the plums landed in the sheet but some hit us, which was more painful than you might imagine. Others fell over the hedge into the lane and were retrieved and washed carefully. The photo shows just part of the crop - the rest are in the deep freeze waiting to be converted into jam, pies and puddings.

Hedge cutting time

Now that the young birds have flown their nests its time to cut our garden hedges. Every time I cut our high hedge I say a silent "thank you" to my Dad who 35 years ago gave me a stepladder he no longer needed. The ladder is strong and stable with a large platform two metres above the ground and a safety rail to stop you falling off. I must have spent hundreds of hours on that platform, cutting hedges in the five house we have lived in. On one house move, which took us 200 miles (320 kilometres) north from Warwickshire to Southport, the removal men forgot to take the ladder out of the large box over their cab. We thought it was lost for ever but it turned up in a storage depot in Worcester (south of Warwickshire) and was returned to us some months later. So, thanks to Dad, whose birth centenary it is next month.