New Year

A Happy New Year to all. On the day before New Year's eve we were at the Kings Arms again - this time with Olly, Sally, Noah, Anna and Libby, for a splendid lunch (see photo). It was a very wet day so we could not do the treasure hunt round the village and came straight back to Pippin Cottage to play hide and seek, Pictionary (again!) and UNO. Next day Jenny and I went to Bristol and explored the ancient Cathedral, the city museum and the M Shed (a new exciting museum). Then we went to a party at a neighbours with a lot more bellringers and their partners before we all made our way down to the Church to ring out the Old Year with muffled bells. At midnight we took the muffles off the bells and rang in the New Year loud and clear. Then we had a few glasses of phizzy wine - it was all great fun. That's me in the orange jumper ringing my bell - I must go on a New Year diet and get rid of that excess weight!

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.