The little stranger/friend?

Isn't that terrible. I put it on my list of books, can't remember the title and can't find the dam' thing to check. Wasn't that impressed. Not v scary, despite the reviews I'd read. I am not terribly scared of the supernatural.  Reality is much much much scarier.

Spring continues

Serious sunshine for ages now. We have hired a gardener - for the flower garden. I have been known to call it the walled garden in moments of grandiosity, but it's not a walled garden, even though it is surrounded by a wall. He has basically given us 2 new beds so far just by clearing out all the undergrowth that had grown up, so we celebrated by buying a load of plants and trying to start a herbaceous border. Well, bed. The world's shortest herbaceous border. I like nice packed flower beds where you can't see the earth. That means that I even forgive ground elder (nice leaves) - though not couch grass.

I have also planted peas, beans, lettuce, kale, chard AND cleaned out the water butt. So ner ner ner.

I also let the children stay in their pyjamas all day today. I am a BAD MOTHER.

Easter

What a fantastic Easter! The weather was so great. We went over to friends in Rutland and the kids formed a pack and went feral. Then we went on alone to Holland - on the ferry! Overnight! In CABIN!!! and took the kids to Efteling, which is the most wonderful place. We did loads of rides, the sun shone, the kids were fantastic. The hotel had a swimming pool and we had sprinkles for breakfast.

I love Holland. The coffee is just the best, there are bikes everywhere and the sky is so big. We went from Hoek van Holland to Breda past acres of greenhouses with little corners with a couple of sheep or ponies in them.

It always feels like a country that assumes that you are a grown up.

Kids loved it too, loved being abroad, loved being in a hotel, excited about all sorts of little things. And everyone was lovely to them.

Did NOT want to go back to work. Would quite like to quit now and go and do something less stressful. If I didn't love living here so much I would be thinking about changing jobs, I think, but Yer Man has just managed to establish himself, the kids are settled, the house is great, the vegetable patch is good (got my potatoes in...), I'm acquiring friendships. I don't really want to move, I just want work to be a bit more sorted and a bit less frenetic and scary.