I’m back up, having already had the nightly nightmare which means i’ll be up until about 2.30am trying to shake it off. Sigh. Brain transplant anyone? Mine’s free to a good home, or even not that good a home actually, i think it would be better off in someone with slightly less tendency to think. 
So, i polished off Saturday, except to remind T-bird to leave her email address and put aside socks for Amelie, since yet again i managed to forget to get her anything in a group buying session 
Thought you gave me a funny look when you asked me if i had all the ones i wanted T-bird! Have half a ponder on the impact in the future on difference, gender and inequality on my girls given the life and upbringing they have, a thought/conversation i’m totally failing to adequately converse about with anyone because the whiff of a thought i have about it is getting lost in a whole different argument/conversation. Still, another day for that.
Sunday we went off to Belton House again as we were all feeling sad, overwrought and jaded and needed a day together to regroup.
In fact, we all felt pretty much exactly like this.
I remembered a camera this time, but spent a lot of time fiddling with settings while i tried to work out what things do, with the result that not all the family day out photos are quite as i might like, but i’m still gonig to blog them 
Loved this one of the girl. And also this one of all of them.
I discovered how to fiddle about enough that clouds aren’t just a white blur, so now i just have to work out how to keep the rest of the picture light too. Sure it’ll come!
Fran has a real thing for fuscias; she planted out two lovely pots with granny, that are now on our front step and she loves them, so i took this for her.
We spent a while in the posh greenhouse (arborium?) and the girls all talked to the volunteer about the Angel’s Trumpets – he liked them for listening
Fran posed with a fern.
Maddy just posed 
Fran had a strop.
And we all oggled the growing pinecones a bit, deciding they looked totally wrong on all sorts of levels (wrong colour, on a tree, not pointing downwards etc etc)
Josie and i went off to look at flowers; she REALLY liked these red and very dark green ones. So did i actually, though i’m not sure they’d be so impressive if not in a huge lump together, but we might have to get some.
I had another attempt at remembering the story of Moondial…
… and Josie had her last ice-cream for a while 
I really like going to Belton. It’s got a lovely feel, worth National Trust membership all on its own really and just the right distance that everyone gets 40 minutes snooze in the car first. Plus, quite rarely, it’s a haunt of mine from my childhood (school trips and the odd family trip i think). More of our favourite places are from Max’s childhood, given i grew up in central Nottingham while he spent his early years on Dartmoor, and i rather like having that piece of nostalgia to build on with my kids for a change.
I really like fuchsias too, like little dancers. Thought it was a good sign the first time I went to C’s mum’s house and she has loads!
That new camera is nice, isn’t it?
Oh, i’ll tell Fran that, she’ll adore thinking of them as little dancers
Yes, it is nice. I love the pic of Buttercup
And i rather like the way it instantly transforms even average photos into looking just that bit better. Definitely worth it 
Oooh, I *really* recommend Swedish Glace dairy free ice cream – we found it in Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose. Not sure about Tesco.
Got us through the insanity when J was dairy free for a while.
Not quite the same as getting an ice cream from a van when you’re out for the day though.
We do have some of that, but like you say, not quite the same as an ice-cream from the van.
I’ll put some socks to choose from aside for you Merry, knew you were short a pair but couldn’t think how or why (I blame the antihistamines fogging my brain….) If I can find where I put the pattern (I put it away safely!) I’ll run some more up before we go Off the Path and photo them so you have a choice, hopefully someone will be there that will see you soon enough?
Fuchias are really easy to grow you know, I did loads from cuttings at my old house, had huge swathes of them, but totally forgot to take any when I moved so we are fuchia-less here.