Firsts

As you may know or imagine, a mother's life is full of firsts. Some good - first smile, first roll, first step, first word... Some bad - first cold, first injection, first projectile poo... And in our household, you won't be surprised to hear that there are a number of silly firsts to be celebrated too. Take the Sunday evening just gone.

It was bathtime for Baby-boo. Husbink was getting the water ready and I was getting Baby-boo undressed. I was ahead of Husbink and so ended up cuddling Baby-boo to keep him warm while we waited for the water (he still had a nappy on, I'm not a total idiot and getting piddled/pooed over would not have been a first). Baby-boo was facing over my shoulder, watching Husbink.

Husbink burped. (This was not a first either.) Baby-boo laughed. And laughed. And laughed. That's right, this was the first time Baby-boo realised that burps (and presumably farts) were funny. Clearly it is wired into little boys! This was also the first time that Baby-boo had laughed so much he made himself sick.

The effect of all this though is that Baby-boo does seem to have found his laugh a little more - he's giggled off and on for a while now but it has always taken quite a lot of effort by us to get the laugh out and it has only lasted a few seconds - he seemed to shock himself with it and shut up. Now he's quite confident of his laugh and giggled his was through baby yoga yesterday morning and found "mummy's crazy hair" very funny yesterday afternoon...

Adventures in Absence

Last week, I left Baby-boo. Twice! Goodness!

On Tuesday afternoon, Husbink had some time off revision and had a play with Baby-boo then a walk while I had my hair cut. :) Yay! When I met up with the men-folk afterwards, everyone was very happy. Baby-boo was so happy that he even agreed to just sit on my knee in Costa and Not Have A Boobie. This is still something of an event in my life. Quite often, he'll forget about eating if he's with someone else and being entertained but once he's with me it's boobie, boobie, boobie all the way.

After Costa, we went to Mothercare and spent yet more money on the little chap including getting him a Bumbo. A special seat thingy that helps with posture blahblahblah. We just got it because my back was starting to die with Baby-boo's continual desire to sit up...while not being able to sit up...

Then on Wednesday night I got Baby-boo to bed just after 7pm and went out to home group as they were having a Passover meal. It was very interesting - following the traditional Passover celebration then a lovely big meal followed by a final prayer and response. Really interesting in it's own right and also a really good non-baby thing. I even managed to do non-baby conversation at points.

The weekend has involved lots of adventures for Baby-boo as my parents have been here. He's had lots of play time as well as several cafe opportunities. He's been to an art gallery and, although I missed this bit, he has smiled at portraits that smiled at him. He's also been to Lotherton Hall to see lots of birdies. Perhaps a little overwhelming when he's not really seen normal birds much to be presented with some fairly wacky ones. It's all meant a lot of sleeps as, as my Grannie would say, it's so tiring enjoying yourself!

Actually, I didn't.

Something has been irritating me about...umm...life? Technology? People? Companies? I'm not quite sure who to blame...

Just now, I switched on the computer, got myself online and saw that my virus software was doing a big update. All well and good, I like it when it updates. This was a particularly big update but they do happen sometimes too so I was not bothered (other than that it was making everything else a little sloooow.) Until the end. When up pings the message "Thank you for choosing to download the XXXXX (virus software) toolbar." What?! I didn't. I don't like it. It gets in the way. It suggests that I was use Yahoo! to search not Google. It takes away the shiny new (ok, not very shiny or very new...) Google page that I had been getting used to whenever I opened a new tab. It generally irritates me. But when I look at whether I can delete it or shrink it or anything else, it emotionally blackmails me "With this, you are sooooo protected. Every webpage you look at is thoroughly checked by my magnificent powers of security. Nothing can possibly go wrong...while you have me!" Ok. Fine. Make my browsing experience a little more irritating and possibly a little safer but don't suggest that I chose this method and Don't Thank Me!

That being the main bit. How many times do you get unsolicited mail/email/phone calls/whatever that start with "Thank you for choosing..." this product, to support this charity, to align yourself with this political party, for recycling your nose hair..... When you did no such thing, made no such decision. Just be honest!

"Hi, This is a piece of junk mail. You don't really want it but we're sending it on the off chance that today is one of those days where you feel like reading everything that comes through the door. It is a good excuse for not doing the cooking/vacuuming/washing up/tidying that you are meant to do. It feels virtuous, reading the post, doesn't it? Well, now we have you in that frame of mind, please can we sell you something/beg for money/play on the heartstrings?

Chances are you aren't reading this so we'll just slip in a couple of insults or inappropriate jokes cos frankly, who is going to care?"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr................

Rant over. :)

Sorry for the lack of posting. This is mainly because I wanted to do that holiday post that I mentioned before but haven't been in the mood (does anyone else suffer from bursting into Glenn Miller whenever they say "in the mood"?) for it and so haven't wanted to post anything else because then the holiday post wouldn't happen...ah well...

In a total aside, and to leave things on a happy note, have you ever seen a wild puffin? If not, I thoroughly recommend it for the soul, for your well being, for good health and good cheer! I saw my very first puffins while we were on holiday in Anglesey and then we went last Friday to Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve in East Yorkshire and saw lots more. They make me smile so very much. I must look like a loon peering through binoculars grinning madly to myself. Husbink had the camera and took lots of photos but we don't quite have a big enough zoom yet. But I think you can tell they are puffins. :)

A potted history of the Lake District

Since I last managed a post on the subject, we have ticked off three more lakes. Sadly, I fear we aren't going to complete our aim as we are very much running out of time for this summer - but seeing as the inlaws are so very close by, I'm sure we'll manage it over the next few years if nothing else.

We have been to: Coniston (with Mr & Mrs SD for a walk through the woods above the lake, a lovely cafe lunch (there was CAKE) and a poddle next to the lake (with the obligatory man-throwing-stones session); Wast Water was a slight cheat - we went for a bike ride near by and then drove to Wast, had our picnic, a little bit of a stroll, an ice cream...and then left - you can walk all the way round Wast but frankly we think you'd be mad to try (we did see a few people doing it) - one side is entirely scree (the the scree goes on for 900ft under the water too - so the chance of a sudden, cold death is...well, it is very much there, if not huge!); Buttermere for a gentle stroll and a BIG picnic with friends, a very pleasant day.

We've also, in a non-lakes way, had a day out in Dumfrieshire - who knew how beautiful it would be? We stopped at an RSPB place in the morning (though they've had no rain for the past however long so very few birds, but we did see roe deer...and deer were my very first very favouritest animal so I always get a little overexcited...). In the afternoon we went to Wigtown, Scotland's book town which was fun. Lots of books. I think we came home with eight. One for Husbink's dad for father's day. One comfort read/recipe book by Maya Angelou for me. A Sharpe novel that Husbink has been looking for for...years... and some "research" books for my project. Oh and some others...!

On the way home we stopped at a chambered cairn site which, as well as being quite cool in itself, gave beautiful views across Solway Firth. From this side, you would generally think there was no such thing as beautiful views across the firth so it was rather impressive!

Around Derwent Water...Plus a bit!

(Ellie - I'm really sorry if this makes you home/holidaysick...I'll try to not do too many more Derwent Water posts!)

On Tuesday, Husbink had a day off (they'd made a rota boooooob and he was on many, many days in a row) so we decided to go adventuring.

After some qualms over the weather, we ended up driving to Keswick and making our final decision on which walk once we arrived. It turned out to be a gorgeous day in Keswick (though when we were driving home in the evening we heard that just a few miles up the road from where we live there had been severe snow and hail storms, lots of road chaos and accidents! Mad!) so we felt we could risk a bit of "up" on the walk rather than just walking round Derwent Water.

The walk ended up rather longer than we'd intended (around ten miles) as we did the "up" and the "round".

We went up on the east side of Derwent Water (i.e. not the Cat Bells side for those that know it) but we took a wrong turn and didn't quite make it to the heights we'd intended, we were aiming for High Seat but suddenly realised that we were descending again. The walk up was very steep on a section of path that was made of big higgledy-piggledy stone steps. We were overtaken at the top by a couple at least thirty years older than us and their little dog. They were not even "glowing", we could barely breathe.

The steps passed up the side of a stream with lots of beautiful bits of waterfall. To our right was good sturdy English wood.

At the top we were above the trees, on open fell land with scrubby grasses and the beginnings of streams. We had an amazing view of Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake - all the way to the wind farm in the distance (which my MiL hates...I'm pondering doing a series of photos of how beautiful wind farms can be...). As we stood admiring all this, a HUGE plane appeared beneath us - they often do fighter pilot training round the lakes but this appeared to be a supply plane or similar, it was quite incredible as it appeared out of no where.

The next section of the walk took us a little out of our way and further from the lake than we'd really intended though it did have its rewards - the woods we were walking through were gorgeous - mossy tree trunks, rocky outcrops - and we stumbled upon our second set of falls for the day, all the better for being a little more removed from the beaten track. We also met a mountain lion...well, a fluffy white cat that seemed utterly out of place but extremely friendly!

We eventually made it back to the edge of Derwent Water and decided that seeing as we were already at the southern tip, we might as well make it all the way. The last section was a little bit of a slog as we were getting just a little tired but well worth the sense of achievement to finish the walk.

We caught the ferry back to Keswick from Nichol End (you can't quite get round the top end without going a long way from the lake) and arrived back to the car utterly wiped out but very happy.

I'm not sure if I've said in a previous post, but our aim is to visit every lake in the district this summer. We've been umming and ahhing over what the rules are and what counts as a visit but we are now decided: 1) We have to "do" something substantial there - a driveby or a ten minute stroll does not count 2) we must touch the water - little fingers acceptable!

So Derwent is done. We thought Ullswater was done but having added the "must touch" rule, a return trip is required!

Lanty's Tarn & Keldas

I've had a busy, busy week seeing lots of lovely people. Husbink has had a busy, busy week being at work! (Which is going well, he has joined the cricket team :) )

Today, we decided to start on our plan for the next few months and visit every lake in the Lake District. We haven't made any particular rules about this except that driving past in the car doesn't count, we have to do something...

We had been planning a proper big(ish) walk to try out various new bits and pieces but the weather forecast didn't look too promising so we didn't leap out of bed at the crack of dawn to get underway. Instead, we ambled out around 10.30 (when it was still not raining) and drove to Glenridding on the edge of Ullswater (tick number one!).

The walk itself was a good 'un, not too long or too hard but interesting enough and we certainly are feeling the effects of the fresh air (even if we did away all the good effects of the walk with the HUGE hot choc we had when we got down again, it had been raining...)

There were beautiful views of Ullswater and Helvellyn - still with snow above about 500m. We saw a red squirrel just as we were approaching Keldas and on Lanty's tarn there were three goosander (brilliant for the name if nothing else!) and a comedy heron (perching in a pine tree). (Aside: I went with Mrs SD to the RSPB place at Leighton Moss on Thursday (great day, the place but of course more seeing Mrs SD) and saw a spoonbill, lots of shovellers and a crested grebe. You'll all be very relieved to know I didn't have the camera then!)

There were two beautiful becks on the walk, clear bubbling water bouncing its way down to the lake. The deep greens of the mosses along the walk was glorious too, especially against the dull mist of the day.

We did get a little soggy on the second half of the walk as the clouds finally gave way and the weatherman got what he'd predicted but it wasn't so unpleasant as to be a problem - and justified the aforementioned hot choc!

We Wish You A Merry Easter

Once again I find myself having written plenty of blogs in my head but none actually on the compooper. Ah well, I fear such is life.

It has been a lovely snowy Easter up here in the wild northern reaches of the UK (and I gather probably a lot more snowy in many other areas). We've woken to a beautifully icing-sugared lawn two out of the last three mornings and the hills (for no longer do any of the peaks in the lake district count as mountains - cue Hugh Grant film...) are lovely and white - some are WHITE others are patchy white, lovely and mottled.

My parents visited over the weekend which was good but tiring.

Today we went out with the ever delightful Snoo and Hub, sampling the delights of Cockermouth, a marvellous tea room (cake, cake, CAKE) and a very bank holiday Keswick. I'd never been to Cockermouth before (though it had always appealed). It is a very pretty little town, in quite a rural, working sort of way. We wandered the main street for a while (enjoying a very good toy shop...I always want lego...and playmobil...stunted childhood?!) before heading out of town to a tea room at a working farm. Fantastic. I was very giddy to be seeing Snoo and Hub and then to see so much cake too...I was a little silly...

We headed to Keswick to achieve a few things but also to go down to the lake and enjoy the snow-topped hills and the sparkling water. Sadly it turns out I wasn't getting on so well with the camera so the pictures really don't do it justice.

Tomorrow, Husbink starts work. Maybe I will hear from the agency too. How much do I not want to!? But doing something would be good...

It's all about me!

One of the things which was marvellous about our time in New Zealand (amongst a long list of things) was the amount of time I got to myself on a routine basis.

I am an introvert in the sense that my energy comes from time on my own. I like to be with people. I love meeting new people, sitting down with old friends for big chin wags, the occasional big party... I am very happy standing up in front of large numbers of people and speaking, leading, whatever... But if I don't get time on my own I break.

Husbink's work pattern in NZ meant that I had a lot of time to myself. I knitted. I baked. I read. I prayed. I cleaned. I thought. I wrote. I walked. I pottered. I cycled. I achieved.

I'm now at about the two month mark since we moved out of our house, started that last adventure and found ourselves back in the UK. In those two months, I've snatched an hour here, an hour there...but the cracks are more than beginning to show. Combine the lack of alone time with all the unknowns about the future and the like and I'm beginning to look like one hell of a crazy lady.

I don't like that this is the case. I don't mean I don't like that I'm going slightly mad, that should be obvious enough. What I mean is, I don't like that I have to be this "demanding". Husbink often makes jokes about me being high maintenance. The jokes relate to the whole preening aspect (my last hair cut was 9 months ago...I haven't bought shoes in about a year...my skincare routine is slapdash...) but in this respect, the alone time, the introversion, it is a very true statement. I really, really need it and if I don't get it, all kinds of hysterics ensue.

A few nights ago, we returned to Husbink's parent's after a few days in Scotland for Husbink's interview (we will not hear anything until March 26th at the earliest but it could be mid-end April). I thought the few days away would have boosted my coping ability a bit - I even had an hour and a half to myself while Husbink was at his interview. Instead it seems that that little taster of what I need was too much and I really shut down on return to a house with five people in it...the panic attack was barely below the surface and I really wasn't sure that my body could actually handle it. All I wanted to do, on a cold, wet, windy night, was sit in the garden by myself for hours and hours and hours. I've come out of it a little over the past few days and can hold conversations again. Just.

I feel desperately self-centred for being like this and it feels feeble to realise that one of the reasons I was so happy (and more to the point increasingly healthy (though clearly there were other things at play their too)) in NZ was all this time for me. How selfish can you get?!

I have managed to veer away from the impulse to run home to my mum (who I could then in no uncertain terms tell to leave me alone and only speak to me once a day) but it does feel like a very thin line I'm walking just now.

Keeping On With Whatever

I've tried to blog a few times in the last week. I have one half written post that I hope I'll finish one day but I know that now is really not the time so...here I am, attempting to fill you in, keep you amused, something like that.

Life is a big long waiting game at the moment and I am not good at doing nothing. However, once I start doing nothing the lethargy sets in very fast and I find it hard to do anything...

There have been some good times in the past week or so. Husbink's birthday was good (except that going out by ourselves did allow me to vent more than I can around here and so there was a half hour interlude of floods of tears in a pub...). We saw "Be Kind, Rewind" which was no where near as funny as all reviews had led us to believe but still a pleasant way to pass some time. We also ate a good meal in vaguely comedy circumstances - we moved table three times in the restaurant for one reason and another...

We have seen friends. Two friends from Leeds who are now in Carlisle allowed us to watch the rugby with them (despite them not liking rugby at all, bless them). They also took us to their church the next morning which was good - very interesting use of building (used to be a shop).

We have seen Husbink's best man (in the pub, where else would we see him?). It was very good to chatter with him and Husbink assures me I only cramped their style a little bit. Hopefully he is taking us climbing on Friday which will be very good. As long as we don't disappoint him with our badness. He does caving and the like all over Europe so is a bit good...

Yesterday we spent the day with le welsh and le tart in Manchester (we had to go to Manchester to visit the GMC...they wouldn't believe that Husbink was who he said he was without a visit...but at least it means he can work again). We had a very lovely day wandering and eating and mooching and drinking.

Today we are back to the waiting game. Husbink has an interview on Monday for all of Scotland. That is the only interview so all chance of a job rides on this. We swing from optimism to pessimism to who-gives-an-ism with regular abandon.

Ah well, what can you do?

Photo Journalism

At long last, here is the holiday post. My brain is still somewhere else (mostly through having a cold rather than jetlag now but...hmm....yuck...) so this will be a LOT of photos and a few words. Hope you enjoy. :)

Our first campsite was not too many hours from home but just far enough to know we were on holiday. And it came with a swing and a lake view. Good-o.

The journey the next day took us past Mt Ruapehu. Always good to see.

We made our way to Waitomo where we saw caves, gloworms and giant angora bunnies. Good times.

Raglan is a chilled out surfing town with artsy fartsy bits on the side. And beautiful sunsets.

We made our way to Northland and set up camp in Paihia for five nights. We had beautiful weather for a few days in which we swanned about and didn't manage much. Then just as we felt like really exploring, the weather turned against us. We made it out to Urupukapuka island for a day trip and walked pretty much the coastline of the island. sandy beaches one side, big cliffs t'other. Oyster catchers too. We also managed to visit Treaty House at Waitangi, the site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi - the starting point for modern New Zealand and Maori/Pakeha relations. The butterfly kept me entertained while Husbink spent double the time in the museum as I did. This is normal.

We moved on from Paihia and went further north staying in Kaitaia for a few days so that we could do a tour of the far north, taking in Cape Reinga with its lighthouse, the meeting of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean, sand dune tobogganing, and Ninety Mile Beach (really it is more like 90km but who is complaining? It's a beach that is also a state highway, what more do you want?)

We made our way down the west coast of Northland. It was beautiful. Hokianga Harbour and around was gorgeous. We also saw the giant Kauri trees. Not as tall as Californian redwoods but they go straight up, no tapering so they are just this huge, huge mass. You can just see me at the bottom of the picture to give perspective.

Heading down the country again, we stopped at Parachute festival for a day to meet up with lots of friends and see our friend Kez perform. He was great.

We made our way further south and visited the site of Hobbiton from the Lord of the Rings. We didn't do the tours, just stopped for a coffee and a few photos. Driving round the whole area looked so much like The Shire. Which led to a lot of "ssssssshhhhhiiiiiiire" and "bagginsssssssssssss" mutterings from both of us.

And that was that. Our final jaunt done and dusted. It was a good one. More relaxed than sometimes. As beautiful as ever.

A jolly holiday

Despite never quite managing to achieve that "Christmas feeling", we've had a very jolly few days.

On the 23rd, I sang in a choir at church in the morning. It had been quite traumatic in the run up as it really felt like everything wasn't going to be ready on time. It was, just. And now I've stopped humming the tunes relentlessly, it almost seems that it was enjoyable.

In the afternoon, Husbink woke up early from his mid-work-nights sleep and we walked up the firebreak in the hills behind our house. It was pretty hard work at points and my legs were shaking by the top but the sense of achievement and the views made it extremely worthwhile. Coming down was a little hair raising in places - I "chose" to sit down a few times!

Christmas Eve was hectic - Husbink sleeping off nights, sorting out chips in the car windscreen (turned out replacement was the best option so we have a shiny new windscreen now, doubt that will last long on NZ roads!), baking, having the owners of our house come round for a look (as they are back from the UK for a week for the first time in about three years...), doing various house jobs and trying to stay awake for a midnight service...

Christmas Day was lovely. Mostly very chilled out (a little unchilled initially as there were just soooo many people at our friends house and all trying to get to different places to see other parts of families and so on...). We ate, we went for a walk, we got very frustrated with various little puzzles, we ate more, we drank a little, we came home and watched my Christmas present from Husbink's sis (the BBC version of Wind in the Willows from last Christmas, it was good). And then we had a Very Big Sleep. Mmmm.

Boxing Day took us by surprise by starting off very sunny - which frankly was not what we wanted. We were really looking for a good excuse to spend the entire day lying on the sofa watching DVDs, munching goodies and so on. Fortunately, after we had forced ourselves out for a little bike ride, the weather turned and we had a miserable afternoon that totally justified watching Harry Potter and eating cake. It was the first Harry Potter which I haven't seen in quite a while and it was fun. Though a lot of the fun was both of us sitting there going "gosh, wasn't book 7 brilliant!" and other such things. It would have been extremely irritating for anyone else to watch with us.

And now, Husbink is back to work and with just two weeks left in the house, I'm full steam ahead sorting and packing and so on. Crazy days.

It was the best of weekends...it was the worst of weekends...

(Actually, that isn't fair. But it was a very contrasting weekend.)

Laaaaaaate on Thursday night (so much so that it was already an hour plus into Friday) my brother arrived from Sydney. Husbink was working nights at the time and so Friday morning was taken up with much needed sleep (and much creeping about on behalf while the men slept on...we really don't have enough rooms for guests!).

Anyhoo, after the brother woke up, we left Husbink sleeping a little longer while we went out in search of a marvellous kiwi brunch. We found it, we were happy. :)

Finally, Husbink was up-and-at-'em (actually I must say, Husbink managed to get up without all the prodding/shouting/bacon wafting that it usually takes to get him out of bed when he's just finished nights. I was extremely grateful and it was one of the things that really helped my weekend get off to a good start) and we could head away to Martinborough for three nights of relaxation, wine tasting, good meals at restaurants, wineries and the place we were staying (courtesy of us - my bro's bbq skills, my salad skills and Husbink's holding-it-all-together skills all came to the fore).

We cycled hither and thither - Saturday afternoon from winery to winery (we fitted in six); Sunday we cycled out of town and along a gravel road called "River End"...we thought we'd try to find the end of the river...it turned out to be a stagnant pool...rather disappointing but the cycle was still fun! Of course, the ride ended at a couple more wineries... This exercise *almost* justified a third of what we consumed over the weekend!

We found some spectacular wines and wineries - for anyone interested in experimenting with new wines, I'd advise some of the following (possible to track down in places in Australia, limited availability in the UK...so really, you should just come here and see for yourself...)

Alana Estate - has to be one of my favourite places in the world. Staff are welcoming, friendly, knowledgable (in a want to share their enthusiasm with you way rather than a hoity toity snooty way). Restaurant is also fantastic and the food and wine matches are done superbly. We are more than a little gutted to have left NZ before their summer concert series really kicks off.

Stonecutter - a new experience from this weekend, Stonecutter give the impression of making wine by accident, but it turns out rather superbly, especially their Syren Pinot Gris and regular Pinot Gris. I suspect rather more thought goes into it than they let on!

Tirohana - all round good stuff. Again, another winery that we had failed to visit on our previous excursions. Friendly staff, good wine and of course, with an ice wine on the books, I'm never going to be sad.

Haythornthwaite Wines - Possibly the most fun of the weekend, run by Susan (who was busy wrapping up wine for Christmas presents) and Mark (who was a lot of fun and very informative), Haythornthwaites produces some fantastic wines with a lot less pretention than they could justify considering the quality of the wine. I had been sent there by Alana on our first visit to Martinborough as Haythornthwaites is one of the few Martinborough wineries to produce a gewurtztraminer however they had always been closed until this time... Sadly, they had no gewurtz left...until I mentioned it for the sixth time, at which point Mark admitted he had three bottles out the back and could we twist his arm a little more? I haven't tasted it yet but I was rather chuffed to have acquired it! The rest of their wines were very pleasant and Mark made us taste their two pinot noirs alongside each other (young vines in the left hand glass, old vines in the right hand glass) which was very interesting.

Vynfields - Their wines don't amaze me, all fine but nothing wow. However, should you ever be in the area, it is a wonderful place to lose an afternoon. And they make very tasty platters to soak up a little of the alcohol. (They also don't seem to have a website of their own.)

Benfield & Delamare - a bizarre little place. The wines were fine, the staff eccentric!

Margrain - you aren't going to go wrong with a Margrain wine. Sadly, it seems they know that and their cellar door staff were worse than lacklustre. While other staff would have persuaded us to part with a lot of cash and lose an afternoon there (beautiful setting, pretty good food), they effectively shooed us away. Buy the wines, don't bother with a visit.

Martinborough Vineyard - probably Husbink's favourite in terms of the wines. Certainly the Te Tera Pinot Noir is something very special. Staff took a bit of thawing but we were quite late by that stage and I think they were getting bored of the tipsy Sunday avo hoards. We even went back on Monday morning to buy more. Definitely a label to look out for.

And finally, Ata Rangi - we didn't visit these guys this time, but their superb value rose still hits all the right spots!

So what could possibly have been the downside of this weekend? Horrific (yes, I'm aware I'm over using this word at the moment!) hayfever. In some respects, not the worst hayfever I've ever had, its persistent, red-eyed (no, I promise it wasn't just from the wine), tight-chested, blocked-nose, itchy-mouthed present put a certain dampener on the weekend. Not least because by this morning I was feeling so sleep deprived and cranky (add the "monthlies" and a bit of a hangover into the mix too) that all I wanted to do was kick my brother onto that plane, Husbink out the door to work and get some sleep. ON. MY. OWN.

I knew I'd regret it if I didn't make the most of absolutely every minute with my brother so tried my hardest to push on through. An apologetic text is still called for though!

I am now home alone and within the next few hours I intend/hope/pray I'll be sleeping like a baby.

(Confession: The picture is actually from our first trip to Martinborough, last January. We took a weekend off taking snaps, my bro doing a good line in finding comedy places to put his tiny-weeny-smaller-than-a-phone camera to take pics of all three of us. Once he's sent them through, I will enlighten you further...perhaps! The reason I felt a need to confess was because the weather wasn't quite so picture-perfect this weekend, but that actually worked quite well for all the cycling and boozing, at least we didn't add heat stroke to the reasons for dehydration!)