Summing Up Sunday: 6th November

Well, it's seemed like a pretty busy week at 2CC!

J went away with a friend for a couple of days to London, which sounded like great fun. There's a new part to the Tate Modern (the New Tate Modern - imaginative).

Looks amazing outside, huh?

A box of mirrors - you can see J's phone straight opposite. Really cool!

Sam facing Shelob?

The old turbine hall with some sort of sound installation

And inside!

Great food, fancy hotel, good company and kind enough weather. Nice treat for this time of the season. J went to two shows: one about cancer which was a combination of hard and a little cringy/OTT; and Amadeus at the National Theatre. We all love the film, and the actors were amazing. Just found they're doing a live cinema version in February - maybe A and E will get to see it too?

Then, it was A's time for fun and she flew up to see M and wee S in Edinburgh. She's still there 'til Monday, but having a good time in spite of the weather. (She almost lost her watch but miraculously found it - hooray!) They went to 'The Slug' or dynamic earth (we've all been countless times, but it's forever amazing).

See why it's called The Slug?

Unfortunately Edinburgh's high winds meant no fireworks for A&co, but E and J went to Puxton Park at the last minute for a fantastic display. No photos, as it takes away from watching them and, unless you're a professional photographer, they never come out very well anyway. Brilliant display. And a huge bonfire.

Today, J went off to do some apple-juicing at a friend's farmhouse. We still have a lot of apple juice from last year...

And we had our first frost.

How were all your weekends?

Summing up Sunday October 2nd 2016

Much outdoors, despite the official start of Autumn:

New uses for the Storm kettle

Shadows lengthen from the West

A skeleton of a tunnel arises on 1 in 4 allotment in Clevedon

with foundations dug by many hands.

And a visit to the butterfly house before it shuts before the winter:

A hidden treasure of North Somerset!

What have you all been up to?

Summing Up Sunday 18th October

What's been happening at 2CC this week?

BIG EVENT OF THE WEEK

Jacob, our stud ram, has arrived! He comes from Shepton Mallet and is staying for six weeks (which is two cycles for the rams). He's only five months old, so we'll see how he gets on. (Best quote: 'he has some very large, er, apparatus at the back!' - E)

Here's where he came from:

Two lovely sheep-y women asked lots of proper questions about pedigrees etc. which made A and J realise they never got our flock's in the first place. Oops. Jacob's paternal side are all named after people from the bible (Jacob), and his maternal side are all named for foodstuff. (Jacob's Cream Crackers)

The ladies are getting used to him, and he ate from the trough with them for the first time this afternoon.

What else?

• A and J went to a salsa party which involved a lesson followed by a party. Sounded like it was fun!
• Reading - J on 'The Gracekeepers', A reading poetry, E moving between 'The Virgin Suicides', 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe', and Michael Morpurgo's 'War Horse.' Good feedback all round!
• Disappointment at the Man Booker announcement; E must have missed something. Have to admit, it's still not that enticing to get through that many pages for something that sounds intrinsically nasty...
• Popoki is growing! She's not really a kitten any more, more like a small-cat. Spayed and microchipped on Monday! (You wouldn't have known she'd been under a GA, starting from Monday afternoon, she has been the most manic we've ever seen her!)
• A brief felting 'workshop' with a neighbour that wasn't entirely successful... At least A managed to get something presentable! The herd wick's fleece didn't felt easily at all, as we had been promised. And alpaca wool definitely needs quite a lot of sheep's wool with it to get the lanolin. Oh well, it's a learning process.
• A and J went garden centre-ing (along with grocery shopping) and got some colour for the winter months ahead - wall flowers, cyclamen, pansies and pinks.
• E finished stitching together her wooly project, so just a border to go. Watch this space...

5/15 on The Guardian Quiz. A mediocre score. We should have stuck with our first thought - the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Master of the Mint!

Happy Sunday!

Summing up Sunday 11th October 2015

Main event of the week: The Lottie Project (see earlier post) which raised £145! (yay!)

CB: E has finished sewing in ends!

A and E went to the North Somerset Butterfly House, amazingly warm and very beautiful butterflies. One landed and travelled on E for most of the way around.

A finished and sent an amazingly odd sewing stand for k s birthday - devilishly hard to make as I couldn't get my head around the 3d nature of the whole thing and right up to the very last minute I wasn't sure it would actually work.

A went out to Hugh F-W's Canteen in Bristol for a surprise birthday lunch for d, a very old friend indeed. It's interesting how friendships last phases of life and our lives do seem to have quietly woven in and around each other's careers,families and book-reading.

J cut wood until the chainsaw gave out,

J and E are currently watching a very amusing Noel Coward farce "Relative Values".

There was an incredible sunset this evening, one would have thought it an improbable backdrop if seen in a film.

Bananagrams of the week: squally, extant, fatwa, cleat, dally, agony.

Terrible Guardian Quiz - can't even remember!

Summing up Sunday 5th October

What we've been up to: 

First ever pub quiz for the Blaxter Tristrams - 66/100 for J and E's team, and 71/100 for A on a rather odd rival team... Think we came about 8th or 9th. Not our finest hour, but we knew some odd ones - for some bizarre reason E knows the real first name of Tyger Woods! 

First and last visit to Chew Valley Sailing club. Sadly not enough wind to do anything at all. There has been mention of an extra session next week to make up for the disappointment, so watch this space...

Last of the courgettes picked, garden going over. Apples dropping like crazy. Still rudbeckia and sunflowers going strong.

First week of term for A, first lecture to the new first years. Busy times.

First (of hopefully two!) celebrations for Hugo round the corner. Small boys, pizza, cake and sparklers. Lots of laughs.

Last week of the garden blog without Orchard S, as she has returned from her European travels. Two beautiful little needle felted presents of a sweet bunny rabbit and some acorns.

Last vaccine for little Popoki... After spaying, she'll be allowed out into the wide world. Scary stuff! The cats are all beginning to get along a bit better though, long may it continue.

Last (almost!) ends sewn in of a wooly something being completed (it will be done, it will be done!)...

First visit to local Yeo Valley Farm - beautiful sunshine and beautiful prairie style planting in the garden bit. When enough Yeokens have been collected, a trip to their canteen will be in order!

First prize for the lowest score in the Guardian Quiz - a spectacular one, with the only correct answer by J about the safety lamp being invented Humphrey Davie. 

First go at getting Glastonbury tickets for J - no luck at all, didn't even manage to get onto the site. Still, there's the resales later...

Summing Up Sunday 27th September

Autumn is definitely coming. But let's all celebrate with this last bit of extended sun - hurrah! It's so nice that it's sometimes difficult to get anything done, as the outside just calls to you...

A bits and bobs sort of week. J and A out to WWW Walkers on the Sunday - making the most of this glorious Indian summer we're having. A and E with support MJ went out to Clevedon beach on Saturday morning to collect... pebbles! (There is some sense to this, I promise!)

M2 is having a sale in order to get money for a polytunnel at the shared allotment, after finally getting planning permission. So money must be raised... There's a sale on the allotment on 8th October (scary how quickly October is coming!) and there's been a little flurry of activity over things to make. Here's a little preview...

Popoki's still growing, and the adult cats are gradually getting used to her. She still likes to clamber all over them and try to play when they just want some peace, but we're hoping she'll learn... (She hasn't so far - poor Kosh is pretty clear that she doesn't want to play (hissing, growling) and the little one comes back for more! I would've thought she'd realise by now what they're saying, but there seems to be some sort of communication error...)

Other than that, life as normal. Books to be read - we've got the whole of The Man Booker prize on order, although I don't know if any of us will be able to stomach 'A Brief History of Seven Killings.' We'll give the others a go before the October announcement.

26 books - well, we're really not doing well with that challenge. See what we can do. Even if it ends up being 10 books, then that's better than nothing!

Summing up Sunday 20th September

Not so good weather this week, sadly. A lot of rain, and a lot of fog. Still, we've had some wonderful evenings making the most of the last sun.

A has been on her wonderful Shibori dying course - which she talked about here! It's amazing what complicated things you can do with what originally seems like a simple process. And the blue is amazing. Of course.

J has spent the weekend visiting T and H in Cambridge - playing Norwegian Train Game, having breakfast out and visiting museums.

A and E went to visit S's orchard in the mist this morning (S is away all September) and came away with some veggie-ful spoils:

E has done a couple of craft projects: a bag for a 4-year-old just starting school, and a peg bag for M.J. 

Popoki continues to grow! She's got more of a run of the house now, which is good for independence, and the big cats are slowly getting used to her. She doesn't make things easy when she has endless endless energy, and you can almost hear her yowling: play with me play with me play with me! Such a joy to have though.

The Man Booker Shortlist was announced on Tuesday... to much disappointment. Two out of five books were damned by the book group, and one wasn't even read! At least the Anne Tyler made it through. The question now is: are we really going to read them all?

No Guardian Quiz - we forgot! Happy Sunday x

(We really need to get a move on with 26 books. It isn't that we haven't read lots - we have, honest! - it's just coordinating reading books from the right categories at around the same time. Might just have to start posting whenever one of us has read one, time's a ticking!)

Summing up Sunday 6 September

What a lot has happened this week! Lots of firsts...

The first mega adventure for 2 small boys  involving the storm kettle and a cave for the first time - A borrowed Hijs and Bram for a long afternoon adventure involving the strawberry line and tunnel, a climb through Kings wood, up to wavering and to the secret spot and the hidden cave ( which had bones in - we thought they were bear bones or even zombies but Hugo inspected them on our return and declared them to to be sheep!), boiled the storm kettle and had sausage pot noodles ( Jodie's suggestion) instant tomato soup and chocolate biscuits... We drew pictures and stuck leaves in our adventure books to document all of the bits of the journey and the 4 and 6 year old legs didn't complain once even after several hours...

First ever Ticket to Ride Netherlands with the right pronunciations - Hugo and Natasha our wonderful Dutch neighbours played ticket to ride with us and we learnt how to talk Dutch! We won't remember the pronunciations easily but we had a good go and Natasha won spectacularly.

First family therapy after the summer break - it was good to see Jeremy again after his summer holiday in France, and although we entertained Sue at 2 Coombe cottages with gluten free scones and jam one wet Wednesday afternoon a few weeks ago it did feel like the first real session after a very long time.

The first choir practice - We had the first official practice  after the summer break and our triumphant appearance at Tracey's wedding. This time in st Mary's church and with the big band we are singing with in a few weeks time. It was a big big sound and E had to wear ear plugs to cope with it although she only had a single one with her! It does sound amazing and not like our usual sound so it looks likely will be a great concert (18 sept - church in Whiteladies Road) 

First birthday garden party for a very long time - a return to As birthday format of a 2 Coombe cottage crafty weekend with Heva Tam Molly Belinda Michael and Annie with willow weaving and an outing to the Ethicurean for a fabulously artistic celebration of vegetables meal. 

First basket made by Molly - a triumph!

First glimpse of the sun after a very long month of grey - true to tradition A's birthday is always sunny and the sun definitely appeared. It was glorious. 

Summing Up Sunday 30th August

Another week at 2CC!

In The Garden: last of the cucumbers - but the plant did about nine! Great tomatoes, even though the plants look very sorry for themselves. Gladioli nearly all over, maybe three to still come. Dahlias still strong - beautiful reds, yellows, light pinks, bright pinks and deep purple-y red. Lovely. Sunflowers grow-grow-growing, apart from one that was sadly severed by its own tie. (Note to self: leave even more room for stalks to expand.) Too much rain to have much fun outside, and the garden needs a bit of tidying, but still very productive.

Outings: an exciting week! J went to London (two plays - one mediocre, and one very good), gallery-ing, Mexican food-ing, wandering, reading, looking at the magnificent view from hotel window. A and E to Wells for charity shop clothes, but sadly none found. Then, the unexpected Banksy trip by E, J and C (chum for the afternoon) - so lucky to get in, as we never imagined that we would! Excellent. A more charity shopping on Saturday and struck gold! And A to a lovely outdoor wedding on Saturday afternoon/evening. Packed packed week!!

Purchases: 'fairings' from London (notebook and tea, so very good automatically); two charity shop dresses (A); trowel and hoe set for a £6 bargain in Wells charity shop; then an almost new (second-hand) Settlers of Catan on ebay, but were outbid at the last minute (I think that there's a real knack to ebay); twenty six books bought (... er. Yeah. How did that happen? Oops); new secateurs! (there must be some huge party house in a secret part of the garden where all the old ones live...)

Kitten Updates: still very very sweet! Growing day by day, if everyone is to believed. (Hard to tell when you see her every day.) More confident and spending much more time in the rest of the house - desperate to get around in fact! Contact with the other cats is continuing at a slow pace... no one is that impressed so far, but hissy/spittiness is getting a bit better.

Visitors: twenty-two month A (I made this blanket for her as a tiny thing!) and her mum visited on Friday. A was completely uninterested in Popoki, but she thought the toddler was terrifying! A had friends round for a laugh on Friday night. KH visited E on Tuesday for a lovely craft session.


What a mammoth week! What has everyone else been up to?

Love from 2CC xx

Summing Up Sunday, August

Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? A sort of low level business of summer time is the general sum-up. Here are a few bits and bobs:

We have welcomed: Popoki (Poppet) joined us from Alysun and Tim's house a week ago. She is black and white and now 8 weeks old, and despite a lot of conversations and scent swaps with Kirry and Koshka our resident cats, is a complete surprise and horror to them. She is very sweet and living a life of luxury in E's room whilst she gains confidence and K and K get more used to the idea.

The Garden has been growing: mulberries by the bucketload! Tomatoes (although E managed to snap a brilliant one...) Sweet peas on and on and on - 4 bunches on Friday!

The serpent radishes have finally radished and we had a bowlful of little glistening pods as a salad last night.

Dahlias, sunflowers, rudbekia...

We have had lots of: rain, thunder, lightening, slugs (huge brown and orange ones) :( 

We have made and played: a new fence in the field; a tablet stand and laptop case for T's birthday; an amazing mulberry Bundt cake in a new birthday tin;

several games of scrabble, Bananagram, and  new Ticket to rides (Nordic and Holland). (Banangram best words: philatelist; yodelling; oxidises). 

First game of chess against S that was actually a near win! (E)

We have been reading: 'Dominion' by CJ Sansom (everyone for book group, really compelling); 'The Chimes' (J); 'The Illuminations' (A); lots of YA books (E - Cassie Claire's Mortal Instruments, The Coldest Girl in Cold Town, reread of The Fault of in Stars, The Darkest Part of the Forest, Demon's Lexicon trilogy, I Capture the Castle etc etc)

We have been visited by: lovely S our family therapist to sample our gluten free baking, S and C bearing Sally Lunn Buns from their holiday on Bath, and C to work extremely hard with J in the orchard project and putting up a great fence...

We have been going: up hills in the pouring rain in swimming trunks, coming back wringing socks out (! J and C); round and about the garden and field (all); to poetry group with the theme of 'Food' (J and E, as A wasn't well enough); America, Amsterdam, Exeter (E in book world)...

On the net: brilliant cartoon here based on JK's speech at Yale. Inspiring words beautifully brought to life

Guardian Quiz: 6/15. Did you know that Lennon and McCartney met at a garden fete?

Happy Sunday!

Summing up Sunday August 2nd 2015

The week held:

Kittens, several visits.

Saying Goodbye to Church Road.

Visiting the lovely livestock of Brecon Show.

Canoeing, learning to meditate, taking B and G to Court Farm (A) 

Starting a NetGalley challenge! Very exciting :) 

Summing Up Sunday 19th July 2015

This was a week in which everything GREW: the first sunflowers, the first gladioli, the first tomato and LOTS more currants and gooseberries.

And today was Book Club (Flight Behaviour, Barbara Kingsolver) hosted by our members who have moved to Bath, so it's their turn to host once a year, and we visit for a summertime weekend lunch. 

We harvested the mini carrots and beetroot:

and pickled them:

and added a courgette:

and added vinegar, salt,  honey and fennel seeds:

and then had some of the soft fruit:

The book discussion was good too.

Apart from that, two family visitors over the weekend, lots of time spent in the sun, a private visit around a show garden! (... next door's), and frantic crocheting as one baby came a little earlier than expected!

Happy Sunday.

Summing Up Sunday, 12th July

A went to Cambridge to visit T and H (and to a VetEd conference) for a few days. Looks like they had a good time!











J and E played a mean game of Scrabble with M and J's mum (and another with A on return); sat in the field and felt the space around us; spun/crocheted/cross-stitched; read in the garden, and enjoyed it being summer.

Everyone has been reading lots; the garden has been grow-grow-growing, and A found two cauliflowers she never knew about! These are the Persian buttercups (thank you Mr FX):

Everyone been to see new kittens (!), amidst worry about our 13-year-old Kirry-cat who has a mass on the side of her neck. J removed it on Friday, so it's a bit of a waiting game...

No Guardian quiz - we're rather out of the habit!

Looking forward to: book club for A and J next Sunday; a potential party for A on Saturday night; a YA binge for E; the peas being picked; the long summer evenings, and a new edition of The Train Game.

Summing Up Sunday: July 5th

Best Event: It's A Knockout - J got covered in foam, soaked in a thunderstorm, climbed some plastic mountains, jumped through hoops, dressed like a Telly-Tubby and did a four person sack race, all in aid of Pet Savers charity BSAVA! Despite the rain, a really fun day for both participants and spectators. AND Coombe Cottage hay from Maidens' Piece for the first time - really exciting!

Best purchase: A's new sparkly shoes from Rieker! Even more sparkly than they looked online!

Enjoying: 'The Gilmore Girls' - somewhat to our surprise. It's pretty old, and has surpassed our expectations. Rory and her mother, Lorelei, are an odd American family muddling their way through life and work with mostly funny, sometimes touching energy.

Reading: 'Flight Behaviour' (A - reread of a brilliant novel), 'The Miniaturist (among others, E - one of Mr B's reading spa books, good read), 'Gut' (J).

Best things in the garden: the rose tree (again), and the first beautifully stripy courgette!


Travels: London for a 90th Birthday (J), RSPCA to see cats and kittens (A/E), visiting J's mum bearing flowers and playing Scrabble.

Best News: Lacey has a new home!

Crafty things: painted runner bean poems afoot, hats being tie-dyed, pots being painted, more bunting being made, cross-stitch still being crossed...

Happy July xx