Ten Tors

Julia spent this last weekend tramping 35 miles across Dartmoor visiting Ten Tors and camping the night on the moor. She was part of a team representing TS Dartmouth and the sea cadets(hence the naval caps!), there were two other teams from  Dartmouth Youth Service, one 35 and one 45. They all did really well and thoroughly enjoyed the experience! The only sad part was that team manager Chris Long and his family fly out to New Zealand on tuesday. Chris worked so hard training the kids and he will be sorely missed. 

Bye bye to the Longs, have a great time in New Zealand!               

Approaching the finish line!

TEN TORS SUCKS!!!!

After the medal presentation, a pasty awaits!!

Bugari

Last month we bid a fond farewell to 'Jireh', she has only gone to Brixham, so I'm sure we will see her on the river at sometime.
What has that got to do with the title of my post you may ask?and what is Bugari?
Bugari is the maker of Phil's new piano accordion, partly purchased with the proceeds of Jireh's sale.
Anyone who knows Phil could be forgiven for thinking that he already has plenty of piano accordions! But the number had decreased to 1 (well 2 if you count the 12 bass model which the girls asked him to keep in case they wanted to learn!?@?), anyway the new accordion arrived, had its first professional outing at the Dart Music festival and is giving Phil lots of pleasure!

Concentration is essential when trying a new instrument!

Knitting

Despite the warm weather( a beautiful sunny Easter!) I am still knitting away. I have three things on the needles at the moment!
This one (don't know why Blogger turned it round!!?) for Phil, which would have been finished for his birthday if I hadn't had to unravel it completely because it was too small!! The great thing about it is that it has no sleeves!! So should be finished soon.

The next thing is my cardigan, the wool was bought with my Christmas money from MIL, this is even more nearly finished but I had to lay it aside for Phil's birthday sweater!!

And finally- a little something for Sophia but not in a baby size, 2-3 actually!

There, that is just some of what is keeping me busy! I will post about my sewing projects when I have taken some more photos.
Back to the needles!!

Sophia(again!)

 

Over the half term holiday Hannah and Sophia came to stay! She enjoyed sitting in the garden, picking up the stones! She is wearing one of my creations: Twiggy 

(http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/twiggy-3)

Here she is with her two Aunties!

Lydia is 18!

Lydia was 18 last Sunday! She and a group of friends from Portsmouth and Kingsbridge spent the weekend at a cottage on Pitt Farm.Then she came home for a birthday tea with Mum,Dad and Julia.

Lydia and friends at Pitt Farm

Didn't have a 1 and an 8 so had to put 20-2!

Lydia and friends after the murder mystery dinner

Lydia and Julia at birthday tea.

Yarn Along

I am joining in with a Yarn-Along for the first time! I am knitting a 'Mr Greenjeans'(for me!) in  Cascade Quatro, and I am reading( among other things) Spinning,Dyeing &Weaving Self-Sufficiency by Penny Walsh.

Home education

Recently on the Deut 6v7 list an enquiry was made asking who has a blog, specifically a home-ed blog. I didn't post about 'Thoughts on Pumpkin' , apart from anything else there isn't a lot of home-ed on here!
We had a visit recently from some old friends and found myself( and Phil) talking about the benefits of home education. Which got me thinking about a good explanation for home education from a Christian perspective.

Here goes! If you think of your children as seeds or seedlings(there is a gardening theme here!), you can plant them directly into the soil and some will do very well but some will struggle or get eaten by slugs!(not literally in the case of children!). But if you want a better chance of a good crop you plant your seeds in a pot or tray, you put them somewhere warm, you water them and care for them and when they are big, and strong enough to survive in the garden you plant them out. You still look after them and protect them from the slugs(!) but they have had a good start in life. I think for me that is what I am doing with Julez and is what I did with Lydia. Not trying to isolate them from school or the world, but nurturing  them and preparing them to go out into the world/sixth form when the time is right.

I don't want this to sound like a criticism of those who choose not to home educate but just a little insight into my thinking! ( I wish I knew what to do about those slugs and snails who ate my french beans last year!I will try and do better this year!)