Boxing Day

Boxing Day was a great day too. Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie came to Pippin Cottage for the day and, after a treasure hunt round the village, we had a splendid lunch at our village pub/restaurant, The Kings Arms (see photo). Then we walked home and played Quirkle (Sophie's Christmas present), Chickenfoot and Uno. The afternoon passed so quickly that there was no time to play Rummikub or Pit. Next time perhaps?

Christmas Day 2011

This year the Peet Family were altogether on Christmas Day for the first time in 8 years and we had the best Christmas ever. Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie stayed with Olly, Sally, Noah, Anna and Libby in their new home in Sherborne and Jenny and I joined them for the day. What a lovely time we had - lots of presents for the kids, a delicious turkey lunch, NO TV but plenty of games (including a Pictionary marathon) fun and laughter. The photos show the serious business of present opening, the children having fun at their end of the table (from L to R, Noah 12, Thomas 10, Anna 10, Libby 7 and Sophie 6)and Jenny, Claire and I observing a tricky game where odd shaped objects had to be placed on odd shaped slopes - very tricky.

Weather!

This time last year our house and garden and the lane outside were covered in snow and the UK was enduring some of its lowest temperatures for decades (see photos taken by our neighbours). This year we have had no real cold weather as yet and our begonias are still in flower - just! No doubt the cold weather will come soon - "daylight lengthens, cold strengthens" as Jenny's grandmother used to say.

Cinderella

Yesterday was Libby's 7th birthday and Jenny and I took her to the matinee performance of the pantomime, Cinderella, at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil. Libby knew the story but this was her first visit to a theatre and her first pantomime. The show was excellent, one of the highlights being two live ponies pulling Cinderella's coach to the ball. Buttons was very good and he mentioned Libby's birthday from the stage. Afterwards we went to Tamberino's Italian Restaurant for a meal and the staff turned off the lights, brought an ice cream with a candle in it and sang "Happy birthday" to Libby. A great day out. Sorry we don't have a photo of the day but we do have one of Libby's birthday last year, when we went to an Italian Restaurant in Ramsgate, South Africa.

Wood carving lessons

About 6 weeks ago Jenny and I started attending wood carving lessons given by an experienced artist in a Victorian school building near Street in Somerset. We quickly learned that wood carving is very different to stone carving, using different techniques and tools. It is also a lot cleaner and needs less muscle power, especially when working with a soft wood such as lime, which we are. Jenny is working on a formal design, whilst I am trying to copy a shepherd scene from a pew end in Beverley Minster in East Yorkshire. We are making slow progress, as the photos show - just in case you are confused our work is in the lower half of each photo!

Village hall floor

The new floor in our village hall had its first real test on Tuesday evening when 128 people paid £10 each to see and hear the Budapest Cafe Orchestra playing their marvellous music on violin, guitar, double bass, accordian, balalaika and more (http://www.budapestcafeorchestra.co.uk/). Feet stamped to the rhythm of the music but no chair legs went through the floor, as happened at an event earlier in the year. The village hall building is a First World War Army hut moved to its present location from Salisbury Plain in 1923. Over the 95 years of its life the floor had rotted in parts as had some of the wall plate timbers under the floor which support the vertical beams holding up the roof joists. So in August the committee and friends (including Jenny) stripped out the old floor, replaced the rotten parts of the wall plates, fitted new joists and floor boards and sealed them. The photo shows the job half done.

English Country Dancing

Last week Jenny and I attended a four day residential English Country Dancing course at a Tudor manor house in north Somerset (www.halswaymanor.org.uk. To my surprise we very much enjoyed ourselves and have already booked for another course next year. We danced in the morning, had the afternoon free, then danced again after dinner, all with experienced callers and a small band comprising accordian, fiddle and flute. Sorry no photos, we did not take our camera.

Photos of our day out with the kids

Day out with the grandchildren

Last week Jenny and I took Noah, Anna and Libby out for the day. First we went to Glastonbury where we visited the excellent Museum of Rural Life. Amongst many other things the children sat on the Victorian "lavatory for three" and made appropriate noises. Then, after climbing a mulberry tree to eat the ripe berries, we walked up Glastonbury Tor and had our photo taken at the top. Next we had a picnic in the Museum grounds before going on to scramble over the tanks and other strange items at Wells Reclamation where we bought one or two nicnacs. Finally we explored the magnificent Wells Cathedral and finished with an ice cream in the refectory. On the way home we played "animal, vegetable or mineral" but Libby fell asleep - we were all a bit tired after our fun day out together.

Great weekend

Jenny and I recently enjoyed a long weekend with two good friends at the Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel in North Wales. The hotel provided fine food, good service, generous and comfortable accommodation, excellent live music and entertainment and a host of leisure activities in the grounds and fitness centre. Although we have known Elaine and Graham for 45 years we had not seen them for about 8 years so there was a lot to talk about. In between talking and laughing we managed to visit the castle museum, play croquet and miniature golf, take part in the general knowledge quiz and "name that tune" competition, visit the nearby "marble church", Colwyn Bay and Conway, with its ancient castle. The weather was fine, if a little chilly at times, and we really enjoyed the weekend.

Seeing is Believing

"Seeing is Believing" (registered charity number 1100559) is a collaboration between the International Association for the Prevention of Blindness and Standard Chartered Bank. Our younger son, Ben, works at the head office of Standard Chartered Bank in London and is very involved in the bank's fund raising for Seeing is Believing. The photo shows him and some of his work colleagues recently raising sponsorship money by running a strenuous course round the streets of London - he's the one third from the left, the guy second from the left is blind and is being guided by the others. Many of the people whose sight is saved by the charity live in Africa and Ben's work sometimes takes him there. Just today he returned from a business trip which took him to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Busy Weekend

The weekend before last we went to stay with Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie at their home in Bedfordshire. Saturday was a very busy day. In the morning we watched Thomas play football with his school team, then the school team played a match against their fathers, including Ben, which the fathers won - surprise, surprise. It rained hard throughout the morning and both players and spectators got very wet. In the afternoon we watched Sophie dancing and singing in her dance club's summer show and in the evening we watched Clare doing both ballet and tap dancing in the adults' dance class show. Both of them danced beautifully and the shows were very professional. Unfortunately photography was not allowed so no photos this time - even of the football (too wet).

Back in England

At 8.30am on 1 July, Olly, Sally, Noah, Anna and Libby pushed trolleys holding their 10 huge suitcases out of the arrivals area at Heathrow Airport. They were smiling, despite a 24 hour journey which had involved a two hour ferry ride to Freetown Airport, a long flight to Brussels (via Banjul in the Gambia) and another flight from Brussels to Heathrow. Waiting for them in the arrivals area were Jenny and I, Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie and Wendy (Sally's mum) and Dave (Sally's stepfather). Two hours later we were all back at Pippin Cottage where a weekend of celebrations and feasting began. Photos show Olly and family coming through the arrivals area, a group photo of most of us (Olly and family towards the right, Thomas, Sophie and Dave towards the left) and some of us having breakfast the next morning. Olly and family are staying with us at Pippin Cottage until they find a place of their own in Dorset and the children will be going to school in Sherborne. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they make the difficult transition from the poverty of West Africa to the relative affluence of the UK.

Only a few more hours

In 11 hours time Olly, Sally, Noah, Anna and Libby will be landing a Heathrow Airport after a long journey from Freetown, Sierra Leone via Banjul (Gambia) and Brussels, Belgium. We will be there to meet them, along with Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie and Wendy and Dave (Sally's Mum and stepfather). Then we will all drive in convoy to Pippin Cottage for a weekend of re-union and celebration. Claire, Thomas and Sophie have not seen Olly and his family for five years so there will be much to talk about. Jenny has been cooking for weeks and the larder and deep freeze are full of lovely meals. We've made the landing into a small bedroom for Noah (see photos) and a local craftsman has built a big wardrobe in the bedroom where Anna and Sophie will sleep - Jenny has wanted another wardrobe for some time and the return of the family was a good reason for finally having one. It was only finished a week ago since when I've given it three coats of paint, as the photos show.

More excitement

Extracts from Olly's recent email:

"We are so excited (to be returning to the UK) ... the kids are talking about about nothing else. Anna asked this afternoon if England is beautiful ... obviously they can't remember much.

We are looking forward to doing normal things - playing in the garden, going to the supermarket, watching Britain's Got Talent. And buying sweets. And fresh fruit. And milk. And soft bread. To think, CH village shop has probably got more fresh fruit and bread in stock than every supermarket in Freetown combined."

Many of the ordinary things we things we take for granted, sweets, fresh fruit, fresh milk, good bread and watching TV and much more are not readily available in West Africa. And you can't play in the garden (or play football or any ball game) on a ship, even the largest charity hospital ship in the world, the Africa Mercy.

These photos of a market in Liberia, West Africa, give an idea of what "shopping opportunities" there are there.

Exciting news

Jenny and I are just about coming down to earth after hearing two weeks ago that our Mercy Ships family is returning to the UK in July. For nearly 8 years Olly, Sally, Noah and Anna have been Mercy Ships volunteers, living, working and going to school on hospital ships. They have served in 14 countries on three continents and are currently in Sierra Leone. Libby joined them when she was adopted from a Liberian orphanage in 2005. Please think about them, and pray for them, as they prepare to return to the relative affluence of the UK after the poverty of West Africa. Photo shows the family (and Jenny) together in South Africa last Christmas. If you would like to know more about Mercy Ships, or to volunteer yourself, log on to http://www.mercyships.org.uk/

Family weekend

Ben, Claire, Thomas and Sophie have just left us after a lovely weekend together during which Claire's parents were also with us for two nights. We played croquet, both on our small lawn and the official croquet lawn, French cricket on the Millennium Green, Chickenfoot on the kitchen table, watched the Formula 1 race in Monaco, the Manchester United v Barcelona football match, Britain's Got Talent, and Peppa Pig., ate quite a lot and drank some lovely wines in moderation. But most of all we talked, about the past, present and future, especially making plans for when Olly and family come home in July (see next item). The weather was dry Friday, Saturday and Sunday but this morning the heavens opened, the rain came down and there was nothing much to do but look at our screens and research a car for Olly when he returns.

Royal Wedding

Wasn't the Royal Wedding exciting? Wasn't the bride lovely? And all that pageantry, music, bands, horses, soldiers and ceremony? We played our part - early this morning I hoisted a union flag on an improvised flagpole in our garden (my parents bought the flag for the Coronation in 1953 and its a bit frayed with age). Then we went down to the Village Hall where the BBC TV broadcast was shown on a big screen. Some people brought picnics and cream teas were given out free of charge! It was all good fun.

Youth Theatre

Friday and Saturday 8 and 9 April saw the third Youth Theatre production in our Village Hall, once again directed by Jenny. For the previous 7 weeks 20 young people aged between 8 and 13 had come to the Village Hall for two hours every Friday evening to take part in the lighthearted musical "Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo", written many years ago by Flanders and Horowitz. There was singing, acting and dancing to learn, posters, tickets and programmes to design, a sound track and costumes to make, refreshments and raffle tickets to sell and the young people tackled all these tasks under the helpful direction of a team of adult "mentors". They enjoyed taking part and the audiences loved the show (three performances) so once again a successful and worthwhile exercise.

Summerhouse

We have now put the finishing touches to the summerhouse that we erected last Autumn. The two side walls are lined with matting made from thin bamboo or thick grass, I'm not sure which, and the back wall has two brass plates and a picture of the seaside on it.. A rug on the floor and an brass topped table for drinks, books etc make it feel homely. All these items were bought for next to nothing at auctions over the years. Already the summerhouse is catching the full afternoon sun and it is warm enough to sit there with the doors open. The view out takes in part of the garden, at present with spring flowers and bulbs. We are pleased with it and intend to spend many happy hours there in the evening sun.

Got it!

After several days and nights without any sign of mice, I opened the pantry door this morning to find one in a trap I had put there. Perhaps it is the clever mouse, perhaps not. I have decided not to send its brains for medical research

Clever mouse

The loft under the thatched roof of the oldest part of our house provides a relatively warm refuge for mice during the cold weather. Mice are attractive little things but they are also dirty and unhealthy so every winter we put traps up there, baited with lovely organic, crunchy peanut butter and we catch several. Mice rarely get into the house itself but the other night was an exception and we were woken at about 1am by a mouse trying to chew its way out of our bedroom via the bristles on the draught excluder at the bottom of the door. The noise was amazing. When I put the light on to investigate the mouse ran under the bed. Ah, I thought, an ideal opportunity to catch the mouse and I got a baited trap and put it near the hole it had started to chew. Before long the noise started again, I shone a torch on the mouse and saw it was chewing very carefully right next to the trap without actually touching it. It will get careless before long I thought and settled down to await the thwack of the trap as it closed on the mouse. Instead the chewing continued apart from brief periods when the mouse went exploring and on one occasion ran right over my shoulder in bed. Eventually I gave up, opened the bedroom door and the no doubt the mouse (which was again hiding under the bed) later went on its way. Next day I baited the trap again and left it on the landing. This morning we discovered that the mouse had eaten all the peanut butter from the trap without setting it off. How did it do that - these traps are very sensitive? When (or should that read "if") I catch this clever mouse I will send its brain off for medical research - its obviously much cleverer than I am. Watch this space.

Sophie's birthday

Last week our Bedfordshire granddaughter Sophie celebrated her 5th birthday with a party in the church hall and an entertainer! Here she is looking lovely at the party with her new hair style. Sophie is great fun and likes parties - starting with her own christening party nearly five years ago. She also loves school, which is good as she has quite a few years of it to go yet!