Salmon for Supper

After fishing for months, for little in return, D finally caught the big one last night - a 6lb 7oz Wild Atlantic Salmon.

Invasion of the Pumpkins

Several months ago I chopped back the pumpkin plants thinking it would contain them - bad move - they retaliated & took over the whole tunnel to the detriment of everything else planted. Davey has banned me from planting them next year but I'll probably sneak 1 or 2 plants in anyway! Going to try my hand at pumpkin pie & soup tonight.

Slave Labour

Almost 81 & still working like a Trojan - I don't think he'll ever retire! Dad's latest project is laying a path to the polytunnel with the help of his young apprentice.

Update on the Good Life

One of the hens was sitting on 18 eggs. Don't think she could cope with that many so we've moved her to the small ark on her own & have left just 8 eggs for her to sit on. The Jersey Giant is clocking under the hen ark for the 4th time - the last 3 times her eggs have disappeared in spite of her sitting faithfully on them. As there have been no sign of egg shells, I assume that Shadow has got into the pen & eaten them. We're hoping to get a boar soon for Holly to try & get a litter of piglets before Christmas. 6 Black turkeys are on order so we hope to get them in the next week or two. Sweetcorn has reached the roof of the poly tunnel & pumpkins are taking over the rest of the poly tunnel. We're going to plant potatoes tomorrow - we're a couple of months late but it'll be an experiment to see if they still grow. Might try a few in the poly to see what happens. Not sure that I'd like to live the Good Life for real but it's nice to try & imitate it in some small way!

Impending Sex Education for 4 Year Olds

As a mother of 5, the only questions that I can recall being asked about the facts of life are:
1) Where do babies come from &
2) How do they get out of your tummy.

"Questions that only the education system can handle & we'd better start teaching them at 4 years old or our children might grow up not being able to handle relationships!!"

I wonder who has decided, once again, to raise issues that are not really anything to do with concern about our children but rather from their own desires to see our children taught that their perverse way of life is acceptable & that those who oppose their views are narrow minded & religious fanatics. The above questions can be & have been answered for centuries by loving mothers in a way that the child's natural curiosity is satisfied without the child being bombarded with facts that are really not necessary. This new debate, which I have no doubt will eventually find it's way into the curriculum unless Christians start taking a stand. One reason given for the impending changes are that nowadays children are watching things on TV that may be confusing for them. No one has yet said that as parents we ought to be overseeing & protecting our children from watching anything on TV that needs an explanation. Today's children are being exposed to things that no other generation has been exposed to - men with men & women with women. Personally, my stomach turns if anything like that were to pop up while turning over programmes - I certainly don't want to have to explain it to my child or have it taught to them as normal when it's very much abnormal. Even if people don't believe in God, nature itself shows that women were made for men & not men for men. Britain used to be a great country but not anymore - I wonder what catastrophes are in store for it in the future.

France 11 June - 26 June

Planned to update my blog while we were away in France but we couldn't get an internet connection. We got the boat from Larne - Cairnryan on 11th June. Friday we visited Howletts animal park, near Dover, where 'Roar' is recorded. Took Dover - Calais boat & arrived at 10pm - the time had moved forward 1 hour rather than back, as I had thought, so it was a bit of a panic as we realised we were in France with no accommodation booked. Fortunately, after 45 mins of driving around Calais (praying) trying our best to not go unto a road that lead directly to Paris we came across a site near the boat. The guy had just locked up but he agreed to reopen & let us stay for the night. Next day we headed around the coast & spent the next 4 nights in various campsites. Euro Disneyed the Thurs & Fri (Davey's 50th birthday). Had Davey's birthday dinner in the Euro Disney car park sharing 3 sandwiches, crisps & sweets. Visited Val d'Europe (supposedly largest shopping centre in Europe) on the Sat. Next few days were in campsites then we got the train into Paris & visited the Louvre (to see the Mona Lisa), L'Arc De Triumphe, River Seine & the good old Eiffel Tower. When we asked the kids which part of Paris they enjoyed most they said feeding the birds in the park - nice to know our efforts to educate the children are going so well! Travelling back through England we stopped for a surprise visit with Dave's brother. Took the kids to Eureka & next day (Paul's 8th birthday) to Bronte Land. As with every holiday, it was good to get home to see the green, green grass of home.

Blogging Your Life Away

It's 5.30am & already I've spent 1 hour on the internet - checking & sending emails. When I wake up early it's often the 1st thing I do. Recently, I decided to spend less time - maybe just checking in two or three times per week. So far, so good. Then this morning I decided to refine 'my favourites list' & came across an old blog which I go into from time to time. What she has to say hit home - even though I spend alot less time blogging & surfing than I used to, it still takes up too much of my time. Time which could be better spent as anyone who visits me will know :-)
I'm not going to stop blogging - I plan to spend some time touring over the next few months & want to document it but I think Cindy's advice is good & sound. www.dominionfamily.com