Wednesday 30 November 2011

we are back... if a little off kilter.


So the lappie broke ages ago, and i could not update this status as kate hogs the internet and tv...

so after what seems like an age... i have plumbed in broadband to the back room and am trying hard to make it a child free zone. it took about 5 minutes before kate was in here trying to annex the room for herself! oh well back to the drawing board.

Monday 22 August 2011

Party



well we managed to out do ourselves yet again on the food front at anther Graves party, but the weather behaved, the guests were lovely, the food and drink went down well and Mary and I had a great time without any stress. It did take an age to clear up.... and we still have a house full of Pork right now, but i would do it all again if I had the chance.
Went to the docs for my knee again today and feel totally relieved by the verdict, I will have to do some demanding exercises to build up strength in a particular muscle, and that will probably take 12 weeks, but then i should be able to walk, jog run without pain and with out fear of this happening again, can't tell you how good that sounded to hear... have been doing the exercises whilst watching england white wash the indians in the last test match.
To all those that made it to the party I hope you had as good a time as we did, it was lovely to see everyone and just a dissappointment it was over far too quickly!
total BBq count is now 43..... so not far now!
Leon

Thursday 11 August 2011

the caravan again








well, i can't believe it's a year ago since we were here, but it's true, and yet again wales came up trumps for a great few days, just wish we had more time there to be honest, love that place with a passion and our friends even more. cheers dudes for a great week. leon xxx

Monday 18 July 2011

Ghana





too much to say about it here, but it was lovely to be back there , i still miss it. somehow have been forever linked with this far off land.
L

Monday 4 July 2011

bbq 26


so have decided to write a cook book, not for general publication of course, but for my lovely children in years to come so that they can recreate the dishes that they grow up with.... there will be a place for this lamb recipe i do for sure, as it was lush...

Wednesday 22 June 2011

the beast arrives

it has taken a lot ( and i mean a lot!) of digging, but the men arrived on time and worked like demons and had this up in about 2 hours - and now , years of fun for both Ed and kate are just starting.

kate has already had a pretend picnic under it and has used the slide as a bargining chip over bedtime like an old pro.
bring on the summer parties, bbq's and outdoor life. ( and spying on the neighbours from our Nazi control tower " Keep avay from the vire" " gee mack I was just getting my baseball" and all that.

leon

Saturday 18 June 2011

naked picnics

it's just a phase I'm sure

slow worms

So we seem to have some sort of magic over slow worms, and where ever we go, slow worms make their home. However we are in the middle of changing the garden around and I had to move 6 of these beautiful creatures fto new homes when we moved the boat .

Kate and Daisy



angels in our garden

Tiki monster



there is simply not enough love to give is there Tiki x

edwardo

the boy is growing fast

The conservatory







from conservatory ... to servatory (kates word for it)

Chilli plants growing up








Last year (if you look back on this blog) i tried to grow chilli plants... and i had nothing , nothing from 30 seeds. This year, i trippled the number of seeds, did nothing different, and now have 90 chilli plants taking over the house. So i have been giving them away like no tomorrow. But the 40 or so i have left are starting to fruit.... bring on the hot stuff. I feel like a proud dad once again... grow my children grow!




BBQ the story so far















so after having 22 BBQ's so far it has started to get a bit silly, i am trying to up the ante by producing the most serious dish out in the garden. i think I might try to do a chocolate fondant out there soon. L





Saturday 21 May 2011

So life seems to continue to flash past our eyes,

Ed is already 3 months old! He has settled in well to his role, he clearly understands that Mary loves her sleep and that he should try and keep down the number of wake ups to a minimum if at all possible, he has developed a lovely smile ( but it is a bit delayed - it takes a good ten seconds between getting eye contact with him before he can process the information and then preform the smile). He is still rather large, but a little bit more sensible than the 99.6 percentile - we might even have somehow produced a tall human ( no idea how ) so he is enjoying the use of clothing of far older children than his own age group .... but I think Tiny and Emma were perhaps taking the micky out of him during a recent shopping trip when looking at 6 and 7 year old clothing!

Kate has and is adapting to the role of sister, the death grip hugs on her younger brother have reduced and she is starting to enjoy school even a little (it has taken a while!) she still refuses to be any older than two and three quarters, and also flatly refuses to stop wearing nappies - which may well be coming to a final battle, as I have stated that the current pack of nappies is absolutley the last pack I buy.... hmmm wonder who is going to flinch first. She has amazed us by her drawing when we are not around, when we help her she simply scribbles, but alone she can produce drawing that actually look like things - clearly i must intimidate her with my awesome talents.

Mary is surviving on her limited sleep, and is enjoying being mum for the second time and certainly finding things easier this time through... the biggest worry is the impeding doom of redunancy - but Mary is well versed in the ways of dealing with these things and doesn't seem at all worried, whilst i worry for the both of us. She has joined some baby groups and is making new friends and enjoying all that Ivybridge has to offer.

Millie is having to adapt to old age, she has certainly slowed up in the last year and although still gives it her all in the park it's the recovery stage that seems to talk longer and longer. Having said that she has lost weight and she still has a brain like a laser, she can still steal french butter faster than you can say sacre bleu. We had a bit of a wierd week with her when she yelped really loudly when she got up late at night, and then walked around with her tail clamped between her legs for three days. We could not find anything or work out what had happened, but she seems to be back to normal again now and ruling the sofa.

Tiki seems to be invading my dreams at the moment, i have had 3 dreams about her in the past month, the most recent of which she made a play for top dog by ripping millie apart... not a good dream to have on a sunday night! She is also trying to win the world title of "most in the way dog of all time in any universe" it's interesting how she can actually get in the way three or four times as i try and cross the kitchen - she runs in circles around me so she keeps tripping me up which ever direction I turn.

And me - well I am in a pit of dispair about not being able to run, I have had a series of injuries that have stopped my plans for half and full marathons this year and I haven't run for the whole of Eds life. School has been mad and hard work and depressing also, but things have turned a corner and i am trying to a) catch up on all the stuff I haven't done B) enjoy the rest bite a little and C) prepare for the onslaught of next year , which will be worse than this. Home life however always come to the rescue and the family are just brilliant and an instant antidote to the day at work. I have continued to have BBQ's at almost every opportunity and I certainly feel my powers of outside cooking getting better than ever before. I keep having plans to extend the house and spend money that we don't have somehow. Then I remember the impending doom and stop myself. More than anything else I want to find more time in my life, but no matter where i look I never seem to find it, Mary says staying up late looking for it doesn't work either. So with that i mind, I'm off to colour in ( and probably be told I'm doing it wrong and that I should use boy colours!)

Leon xxx

Family reunion

So a lovely weekend with both sides of the family - here is a piccie of the Barker side - great to see everyone, but such a shame it wasn't longer - could have spent hours catching up with everyone.


Friday 22 April 2011

the plymouth eye





so the girl loved doing this, no fear what so ever... and not bad views of plymouth to boot.

leon

Braiii time


okay so maybe it's the weather that has sent me mad, but i am on a mission to have at least 50 BBQ's this summer, so when ever it is sunny, we are eating outside... here is last nights offering..

Thursday 21 April 2011

marathon girl





i think it's enough to say that she is simply a legend, and i look forward to running my own first marathon soon enough.

leon

Tuesday 19 April 2011

easter holiday









so not all sun, but certainly lovely food and views. good to be home, but worth the trip and loved the sunsets... more cheese please!
leon

Monday 28 March 2011

skype with emma


Monday 14 March 2011

and more...