dream,dream,dream...

Yesterday morning S got a sleep in while Jack and I walked to the growers markets in the village. Don't know if I've mentioned this but I love a market. It was raining in a drizzly, english sort of way but Jack had a cover for his 'pusher' and I had a waterproof jacket. We headed down to the village via the bridle path (mistake - lots of huge puddles) to the markets.
In Wagga if you get to the markets at 9 o'clock things are just starting up. It's a really good time to arrive and grab the good stuff (though sadly not the CSU ricotta which has been unavailable for months). In Sydney if you get to the markets at 9 you've obviously slept in but there should still be some good stuff left. At the village growers markets you can arrive at 9 and admire the produce and the variety, but you cannot purchase a thing. Not a button mushroom until 10am. Rules are Rules. Even if you are drenched and unlikely to return due to the continuing (unrelenting) downpour. Sigh. One stallholder commended me for coming out in the rain, calling me a plucky mum but still wouldn't sell me anything. Later that day an old school friend of S, Jamie told us that it's the same at supermarkets. They will let you in early so you can browse but not buy anything till it's time. No exceptions.
So with a heavy heart and a very light shopping bag we trudged back to the manor. By the time we got back I was saturated. Jack was dry and warm except for his socks...some of those puddles are very deep. And here's a picture (don't I look happy?) Mum said she wanted to see more photos of me on here but I'm not sure if this is what she had in mind.S had had a lovely sleep and a most helpful dream. Now when I dream I dream of really bizarre things. Just after we arrived here I dreamt that I was birdwatching with Bill Oddie and had my photo taken with him. I thought to myself (in the dream) that this meant I only had to get a photo of Graeme Garden and I had the complete set owing to my parents getting me a signed photo of Tim Brooke- Taylor (that last bit is real).
S on the other hand has amazingly straightforward dreams where he works out mathematical problems or fixes his golf swing and it invariably works. He woke up, had brekky and a shower and then wrote out his dream solution. At least some one had a successful morning.

baaaaaa baaaaaaa black sheep

Jack and I finally got around to eating our dorper gingerbread. Actually I didn't get much. Obviously eating gingerbread is a very serious matter.

Reading

Just to let you know I've decided to list my progress on my reading list. The books I've read are marked with an r. Not sure that I'll get to the bottom of the list as I keep borrowing new books from the library. I just can't stop myself and we have no TV (oh the humanity!) My plan was to read the books I brought with me and post them home as I finish to lighten the load, but every time I go to the library I come back home with more (and some for S too).

Food glorious Food...

Following our successful culinary adventures yesterday we had more good fortune on the food front today. We were invited over to Sue's house for lunch, she's a workmate of S. For weeks we had been puzzled by all the lovely vegetables that we saw in the supermarkets but never on our plates at the manor. Apparently it has a reputation for its abundant use of potatoes, maybe it's owned by a potato farmer's lobby group.
Then suddenly before us on the table today were vegetables of a variety and number that I had forgotten existed. And some were homegrown (some very good asparagus...sigh) and homemade bread. Lovely olives and feta. I felt the risk of scurvy fade away once again. Did anyone notice that I had 3 helpings?
Jack was not at his best. He didn't sleep well last night (in case we decided to sneak off again) and was a real crosspatch. Tired and cranky and giving our lovely host a right greasy.
S was coached in the english pronunciation of yoghurt (YOGit) but he's still struggling with the lingo.
After a quick tour of the garden, where I feared for the safety of the cat and the glasshouse due to the broom in Jack's hands, we went to the park. And very swish it was too. The english take this park thing very seriously. We took some bread to feed to the ducks, but apparently they don't like Soy Linseed bread, but a great big swan did (to a Jack sized person a swan is quite scary, especially when they hiss) and then the others all wanted some too.
And another upside to our lovely meal was that we missed today's manor meal. Pork ribs with potatoes followed by strawberry mousse. Can you call them ribs if they are made from processed pig bits fashioned into the shape of ribs? And a big thanks to Amber who kindly let me photograph her meal before she ate it. Her verdict, "not their finest moment."

And now...

The photo from the post below is very sad. All concerned grandparents, aunts and uncles should be aware that immediately after the photo was taken Jack was given a cuddle and half a chocolate digestive biscuit. Anyway here's a happy pic to balance things out.

Bright Star

There's a daycare place here for the kids of employees called bright stars or far horizons or something like that. We thought that Jack could do with some socialising (as all his attempts in the park have so far been rebuffed) and that S and I could do with some time together. So we booked Jack in for an afternoon. We had already checked out the centre and it looked great. The room Jack would be in had lots of good stuff to play with and some days they strip the babies down to nappies and let them go wild with paint. S thought that sounded great and I think he'd like to do it too (except without the nappy).
So we dropped Jack off about 1pm but were there for awhile filling in forms (favourite food, name of dog etc) and helping him settle in. They seemed surprised that he wanted to hop up on 2 chairs stacked on top of each other and on top of the table (it was very low) while another little girl had her lunch. They said, "Oh is he a bit of a climber?" but they didn't really look delighted. But he seemed pretty happy and so we decided to go to lunch.
We walked to the village and went to a restaurant that served 'Mediterranean' cuisine. After we sat down the waitress gave the table the old spray and wipe treatment and we thought that didn't bode well. Nothing like the aroma of cleaning fluids to get you hungry, but lunch was good. We had hummus, tzatziki, an eggplant dip and marinated broad beans with hot pita bread and also some char grilled lamb and salad. And we had wine. And we ate at a leisurely pace, not bolting food down so we could wheel our cranky munchkin home to bed. It was lovely, garlicky and relaxing. We decided to forgo the dessert menu and got an ice cream to take to the park instead. Today was really lovely weather. Not hot, but there wasn't the cold wind that's been blowing for the last week.
We picked Jack up just after 5. He was outside in the playground. They had huge tubs with veggies growing and apparently he had been helping with the watering. He'd also been giving the slides a workout.
We walked towards him but got no response. I was expecting a hug or a big smile. Maybe he hadn't seen us? So I walked up to him to give him a hug and say hello and I got a "talk to the hand cause the face ain't listening" wave of the hand and he turned away. oh dear. It appeared we were in trouble. So he continued to play and we watched on and got a report on how he'd gone. Quite well but had a teary when he realised we'd left. His little eyes were still a bit red. After a while I was permitted to hold his hand while he slid down the slide but I was not forgiven.
We headed back to the manor for dinner. On the menu tonight was fish & chips with mushy peas. We thought it was worth having a look. It made me think about a book I've just read (A year in the Merde) where an english guy, who is either brave or foolish, tries to introduce his french co-workers to the delights of british cuisine. he gives them steak and kidney pudding, baked potatoes filled with baked beans, carrot cake, stilton and fish and chips. A french guy asks why the english cook their fish in a biscuit and that's all I could think of when we saw tonight's dinner.I won't even describe the peas. We headed back out the door into the village and got a picnic for the park and everyone was happy.Well nearly everyone.

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