sep, 9th - cricket and cows....

day 944 / 43:

so, i guess A. and i are starting to try and relive our youth with Limi (at least she'll escape the eighties perm and street dancer shoes)........over the weekend we took her (and Claya, who was definitely more interested in lying under the trees looking at the leaves) to the Henley Agricultural Show. it was a brilliant mix of livestock, a horse gymkhana, vintage tractors, homemade produce and other visitors with either their 2.5 kids and a dog or 2.5 dogs and a kid....depending on what version of domestic bliss they are living.

after the show, we dropped in to watch A.'s cricket team who were playing a match close-by (A. is currently on paternity cricketing leave)....it felt like your stereotypically English day out....we even had scones!

hope you weekend was just as good. first day of school tomorrow. eeeek.

jul, 3rd - weekend....

day 507:

we spent our weekend in quintessential Summer English style....watching Wimbledon and then cheering A. as he played some cricket.....{it happens every year, see day 148, day 152 etc.} 

i volunteered to do the tea.......i've escaped taking ownership for a cricket tea for years....but choosing now to launch myself into mass catering was probably a bit naive.....so, while A. frolicked (in a manly way) around a green field....I made 50 sandwiches (two types), two salads, sliced ham, broke baguettes, piled up these brownies, dressed scones and tried to make everything look un-mass-catered....all the while singing endless rounds of row-row-row your boat or twinkle-twinkle and trying to stop Limi from unpacking every cupboard in a foreign kitchen and drink the industrial disinfectant......

no pics of the tea....for obvious reasons.......but the compliment was being asked for the recipe for my brownies, slow-roasted tomatoes and potato salad (the secret ingredient was tarragon)...

spied this most amazing car outside the clubhouse and assumed that it was owned by someone on the field.....

but next minute, some grandparents came over the hill with their three grandchildren.....the kids all piled giggling into the bucket seat at the back and they laughed about the fact that it was downhill all the way home and therefore they may even overtake a cyclist......it just reminded me that the joy of life is not in the fancy times but in the good, happy and interesting times with family and how these kids would grow up remembering this amazing car and rolling down hills between green hedges....what great memories to look back on.

Limi was far more interested in this guy who was waiting patiently for his owner to finish playing.....

and exploring every inch of the grounds......

although i may dream about being bowled over by a giant ham and i'm nursing butter-bread-wrist....it was worth it.

hope you had a wonderful weekend. x

sep, 19th - cricket smicket....

day 219:

last cricket game for the season....

which means that Summer is officially over!!

although one spectator was more interested in her book!

jul, 14th - cornwall and cricket....

day 152:

"Cricket makes no sense to me. I find it beautiful to watch and I like that they break for tea. That is very cool..."
Jim Jarmusch

"I do love cricket - it's so very English."

Sarah Bernhard

"in England, watching cricket, much like playing it, demands stamina, patience, and warm clothing"


Dee

jul, 10th - secret garden....

day 148:

on the way to Cornwall, the team stops for a game in Somerset (think apples, green fields, cider). 

the pitch is next to the grounds of Glencot House which is an amazingly-eccentric hotel with beautifully-quirky gardens…..

Alice in Wonderland meets the Faraway Tree…..

as soon as Limi can appreciate it…we can create a magical story…..

***

once upon a rainbow…there was a beautiful canary trapped in a cage. to free the canary you have to find the sparkling chandelier hanging from a tree and clink the crystals three times

this opens the path to the trickling stream….if you follow the stream you reach a talking looking glass under a gigantic oak tree

but!!!! beware the hungry Queen who sits on her throne....s! and likes to bake canary pie….

If you ask the looking glass:

‘please most ancient looking-glass(in the wise sense rather than the vintage) tell me the way to the grand-piano-key(s)’

the looking glass will answer:

‘ oh little one…..take three skips to the right, hop up the steps, pass through the gate and you will find the grand-piano-key(s)’

‘blow out the candle and strike the g-chord and the statue will change back into a canary and be set free....’

what a magical place!

jun, 13th - grass between the toes.....

day 124:

another Sunday of cricket and bare toes on grass!

jun, 7th - girls can too....

[Limi at her first cricket match yesterday]


day 118:

when we were convinced that we were having a boy (day 1)...i think that A. had already started measuring up the cricket bat and promising that if I let our son play for Australia instead of South Africa, he would let me warm my cold hands on his warm belly forever more....


he dreamt about taking our son to his cricket matches on the weekend and instilling his love of the game from an early age....i dreamt about long, kid-free Sundays spent covered in bubbles, paint or the duvet. 

having a girl stopped these thoughts in their tracks but...i come from a non sexist family...my mum did a brick-laying course and built our braai/bbq and my dad enjoys cooking (and that's not just limited to bbq-ing meat)....so i've never felt constrained by being a girl. although Limi can't realise A.'s dream of playing for the Men's Australian cricket team there are some things that i feel that she should learn to do just as well as any boy:


- throw a ball (there's no physical reason that girls can't throw balls...even though my brother disagrees....we're just not taught!)
- kick a ball without breaking a toe (same reasoning as above)
- change a tyre
- explain the off-side rule....in fact be able to talk about a sporting match without commenting on the clothes or the men's calves
- work a drill


finally...


- learn how to keep score for cricket as soon as she can talk and write....a cunning way to reclaim my Sundays!!