Autumn Sunrise

Both Sunshine and I were wide awake at 6:30 this morning (must have been all that chocolate at his parents last night!). As a joke I suggested that maybe we should just get up and go find somewhere to see the sunrise ... and somehow the idea caught on... Looking it up it appears there's not many good views of the sunrise from Bristol (lots to be found of the sunset), so we thought we'd just hedge our bets and head up to the Observatory overlooking Clifton Suspension bridge. All wrapped up and flask of tea at the ready, we drove up to Clifton in the cold but fortunately dry morning ... sooooooooo glad we did! The sunrise was a bit hidden round the corner behind some trees and a crane, but it was lovely to be up that early in the quiet city and watch it wake up.

We then headed into Clifton village for some hot chocolate and toast and then back home to DIY ...

Mark and Nic's wedding

This last weekend Sunshine and I travelled over to Cambridge for the wedding of one of my closest friends, my man-of-honour, the person who actually introduced me to Sunshine... Mark, and his lovely lady Nic ...

It was a lovely, happy wedding and Sunshine was the official-unofficial wedding photographer. The venue was fantastic; the weather held up; the food was lush; and we got to sleep in a gypsy caravan that night! 

Congrats Bitterjug and Niddynoo, and of course baby Grace, for coming together as a happy family :)

Rest In Peace Dadu...

This morning, on my birthday, my beloved Dadu passed away. I have no surviving grandparents left, which makes me quite sad and contemplative. Still, I am so glad I got to see her in January. We will miss you SO much Dadu. I am sure you are in a better place now and rather than mourning your death we will celebrate your long and wonderful life...

Love you.

We love you our Little Wind...

A year ago today our world turned upside down. I went from being healthy-and-pregnant to grieving-mother in the matter of a few hours.

We heard your heartbeat for the last time at about 9am. A few hours later, you were born, our little angel, our Little Wind, at 2:48 pm - but you had already left us. Its been a whole year but we think about you everyday. We love you more than anyone can ever know. I am so sorry I couldn't keep you safe inside me ... I hope you are in a better place than we could ever provide for you.

At your funeral, the chaplain read this out ...

Farewell to Little Wind

Into the freedom of wind and sunshine
We let you go.

Into the dance of the stars and planets
We let you go.

Into the wind's breath and the hands of the creator
We let you go.

We love you, we miss you,
We want you to be happy and free.

Go safely, go dancing, go running home .

And we'll see you in our dreams ....



Love you
xxx
Mummy and Daddy

Dorset day 2

Today we were not so lucky with the weather, so we drove down to Studland and took the chain ferry to visit some friends in Poole. We sat in their living room; staring out at the fantastic view; drinking copius amounts of tea; and just catching up on life ...


The rain had died down a bit by the time we headed back to pick up Loz. I managed a few springy pictures - look, a robin collecting for its nest; and spring blossoms - before we packed up and headed home, stopping on the way to visit the symbol of fertility that is the Cerne Abbas Giant...


Back home now ... and that was definitly too short a trip. SO going back to Dorset soon ... it was beautiful! Thank you Loz and Marky (and Sunshine) for a smashing weekend ...

Dorset day 1

Weekend away in Dorset with our friend Loz ... we drove up last night to her boyfriend's (who lives in Dorset) and ended up in the most fantastic 'local' pub full of entertaining locals and great music - and its own museum! This morning we headed off to buy some fish for dinner ...

At Lulworth Cove ...

From Lulworth Cove we took the coastal path to Durdle Door ...

After which we walked all the way back and then stopped off for lunch in a pub overlooking Corfe Castle.
From there we headed off for another walk ...

Finding massive ammonites, on the way to some abandoned limestone quarries ...

In the evening Marky took us POND DIPPING! We fund a newt, some lesser and greater boatmen, and a whole bunch of other insect nymphs and larvae (sorry no photos - was too dark). Then we had our fish (grey mullet, yum yum ....) and sat round reading books and watching films ... aaaahhhhh ... just the kind of holiday we needed....

Yurt living...

Well I'll be ... it appears I have forgotten about blogging for a while ... weeeeeeeelll, not really forgotten - just been too busy. And none of what I've been busy with seemed worth blogging about - illustration work, dance teaching etc. Yesterday seemed to be the first day in weeks that I felt like I had time to just go away and enjoy the day ... and so we did!

We loaded up our trusty steed Bramble, and went on a 45 miles tandem ride into the countryside to visit our friends Amy and Guy who live in a yurt that they have built themselves on the egde of a gorgeous little forrest. The only downside was that to get there we had to do a lot of cycling UPHILL. Sunshine had his gps phone tracking thing on (so we could track our route) and it told us that we had climed 900 meters! All worth it though to end up where we did - such a gentle way of life ... sitting in the yurt eating cheese sandwiches, watching bluetits, great tits, coaltits, long-tailed tits, nuthathces, and even a greater spotted woodpecker through the window. We then went for a walk into the forrest and bumped into a startled deer (no photos as he ran off before I could get a the camera out ... you get a llama instead). Lovely afternoon and then fortunately a mostly downhill ride home.

Sunshine and I were so tired when we got home that we could barely do anything last night. Still feeling it today ... but what a great way to start the spring ...

Dadu

Quiet on the blogging front as I was away visiting my poorly grandma - my Dadu. Fortunately by the time I got there she was feeling much better having responded well to the medication she was given. We talked crochet and I shared with her all the work we were doing on the house (via this blog). My sister (in blue - who lives in Australia), and my Aunt, both of whom I haven't seen in 2 years were there too so it was nice to just hang out with the family ...

Dadu - we love you. I hope I have inherited your longetivity genes!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

For the last few years (I think since we moved to Bristol) we've been making lists around the Christmas/New Year time. A list of nice things that we did/happened/achievements; and one as a list of plan for the following year. We also go through the Plans list from the previous year (see above) to see and tick off what we have accomplished.

As we came to the end of the year and I started reflecting on all that had happened I was dreading writing up our "Nice things" list. I couldn't get beyond the fact that this year has been the year of loss; of death; of loosing my innocence in a major way. I've gained so many gray hairs that I've actually started dyeing them ...

In the last 15 months we have lost 5 people very close to us, and if you include all those lost within our immediate and close circle of friends and family, it comes up to a total of 13 ... The universe has taken from us the old; the young, the unborn; the sick and the healthy. I have probably cried more this year than when I was a baby. I've not really written about these things on this blog, partly for privacy; but also partly because I just don't know how to...

But then we came to write out what good things HAD happened to us this year - and the biggest and most important thing was the House. Doing up the house has been our therapy. The house has been the thing that has grounded us and kept us sane. The house is what Sunshine and I have been working on together - our first proper collaboration. It has brought us much closer and made us realise what a good team we are. We owe a lot to this house. To our Home.

Anyways, we had a very very productive Christmas doing DIY and a fantastic New Year with friends and lots and LOTS of dancing. Things can only get better in 2012 ...

Sunshine and I raise a glass (of home-made mulled wine?) to all our friends and family and wish you all a Happy Healthy Joyful Peaceful and Fantastic 2012!

xxxM

Lisbon day 4

Thank you Abbu and Ammu for a fantastic holiday (and some of the photos too...)

Lisbon day 3 (Sintra, Cabo de Roca & Cascais)

Happy Birthdy Abbu! Also the day Sunshine arrives ...

Lisbon day 2

Look at how each of us has a camera in hand ... ;)

Lisbon day 1

Family holiday with the rents ...

Happy 2nd Birthday Sophs!

Its niece Soph's 2nd Birthday in a couple of weeks but she will be holidaying at her grandparents (my inlaws) at the time. So we though we'd go deliver her her Birthday present before they leave on Wednesday for their holiday.

Sunshine and I had been looking for something special for a while - and saw this at our favourite toy shop in Bristol - "Playful", on the Gloucester Road. Soph's dad is a musician and we knew her parents would appreciate having something that made beautiful music however its played - and so we got her this pentatonically tuned glockenspiel from Auris.

Auntie Mithi also made her a card and Sunshine sewed her a carrier to protect her new little musical instrument (don't you just love a man who sews???)


Sunshine (with his designer's head on) decided to film an "unboxing experince" ... as you can see here...

We think its gone down very well - she does a mean rendition of "Twinkel Twinkle Little Star", whilst playing on the glockenspiel. I think she also quite enjoys just hanging out with her Uncle.

Happy Birthday Gorgeous!

Zoo life with Sophs

Today I went on an impromptu outing to the zoo with Favourite Niece Sophs ...

First we had a wonder round the butterfly house...

Then Sophs and her mum decided to see which animals they could run as fast as ... "1, 2, 4 ... go!!!"

After, we went and made friends with some meerkats doing a pile up ...

... followed by watching some gibbons preening ...

We wondered round a bit more and saw some more lovely fauna ...

Finally Soph decided it was time to drive us home.

What a smashing day!

Congratulations The Domakkes!

And what a smashing do it was too ... we were having too much fun to actually take any photos so here are a couple by Sy (I'll upload a few more of our favourites when we get hold of them...)

Sunshine waiting to sign on the wedding certificate as an official witness...

Sunshine and I probably listening to some speeches ...yes, I made an effort to dress up this wedding ...

Yay us!

And not only did we manage to do DIY this weekend .. we also managed to make some apple crumble .... mmmm... so easy to make ...

Freshly baked apple crumble with custard as starter (why wait till dessert???)

And mash ... I luuuuuurve mash... and vege sausages and onion gravy ...

I'm not sure whats going on with the mash pointy-boobie towers there ...

With work and DIY I tend to end up doing the bulk of the cooking round the house ... this was very much a joint effort though ... I love cooking with Sunshine ... must do more baking!

Brecon Beacons

Day off DIY to have a day hill walking with friends in the Brecon Beacons - Black Mountains, Wales.

*Sorry for the image quality - its a rather large image and it obviously doesn't like being compressed by Blogger.

Sand Point with Jeanine

Windy day out with house guest Jeanine and Sunshine at Sand Point.

Homeowners.

As aluded to a few weeks ago, we have now become homeowners! Whoopee!!! Here's me (still in my convention t-shirt jammies) getting the call from the solicitors this morning telling us that it had all gone through ... hello 20 years of debt!

And the first thing we did as new homeowners? We insulated the loft! It already had 150mm old insulation, but we decided to add 200mm more recycled glass stuff that was subsidised under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. You can't beat 7 rolls of insulation for £21 ... It was even worth doing two trips to our local B&Q as we could only fit 5 rolls in the car at one time.


Anyways, now we are warmer homeowners ... next job, underfloor insulation - think that is going to be a bit more messy.