A little think.

I've been pondering this recently. Which phrase better describes me?
I want to be needed.
I need to be wanted.

Ok, so as with (I suspect) all humans, there's a bit of both in me, but which one actually applies more? And when I've figured it out, is that the one I want to apply more, or would I rather it was the other one?
Maybe they're too different to be compared (but they sound so similar...) but hey.

What do you think?

Fresh start.

Had a lovely birthday on Monday down in Worthing (thanks to everyone who helped make it a great day!). Great time catching up with friends too - here are a couple of pics from our trip to the beach with some friends ... The first one is the classic 'sun in the background over the crashing waves' shot. And believe it or not, this is not very long after Joshua's had his haircut. That's as short as it's been for ages!



The second is a wonderful picture of my brave little boy (!) running away from the waves. I know it's a fun game to play, but he's clearly a little less hardy than his mate, who's still ten foot closer to the sea than he is and hasn't even started running yet. Having said that, if you look closer at the photo, you'll see that Joshua's already failed dismally in a previous attempt - absolutely drenched trousers! His mate's mummy wasn't overly impressed with me either ... I was taking photos of them (as you can tell!) and saw a wave coming in. I legged it up the beach, staying perfectly dry, but leaving them to get wet. Oops.

Great to catch up with people at Worthing High too! Lots of new faces though ... weird. I now don't recognise half the school!

Then we got back home and I discovered this:


Yes, a tree fell over in our garden while we were away. Well, there's a bit of a 'did it fall or was it pushed?' debate, but the less said about that the better. It's funny, I was stood there thinking, 'oh no, that's our best cropping plum' (ok, call me sad if you like). And then I looked up at the sky, saw what a great spot the tree had been planted in and immediately started thinking, 'I wonder what else we could plant here instead'. If only all loss was so easily dealt with! And of course, there's the other advantage that we've now got more wood to burn!

I'm also now trying to work out what things need to be planted in the next couple of weeks. Our new fruit trees are on the way, so they'll go in. But I've got serious amounts of seed to go in, with what is currently quite limited planting space. I think more stuff may have to come out... Oh dear. Joshua and I planted some more tulip bulbs (WAY too late!) and some dogwood cuttings today too, so hopefully they'll make it... If not, it doesn't really matter, they'll just compost down over time!

And last but not least, we had a lovely lunch today with friends here. They introduced us to a game called 'chairs'. There are 24 little (like, two inches tall) plastic chairs that have to be stacked in a tower, with only one touching the ground. It's more fun than it probably sounds (think Jenga, but building from scratch, with plastic chairs...) and I spent some time crafting the amazing tower below ...

Little things please little minds ... as they say.

Can't keep up.

Just realised that the last post was about something that happened a week ago ... which makes it a week since the last post. Not that I suppose anyone has been desperately saddened by this lack of postage.
Having said that, given the last post was about slowing down, you might think the lack of posting was deliberate. But it wasn't. Most likely explanation is that I've not had the time (ironic, hey?).

The less fun things done in the last week include:
Actually paying my tax (having done it online, got it wrong, then encountered a bug that meant I couldn't correct it and had to pay too much as a result)
Counting over £420 in coins. Ok, so it was for a good cause, but there's only so long that sort of thing is fun for. (About seven minutes, if you're wondering how long the fun lasts)
Being late for youth club (like, about an hour late)
Being so tired I wonder how tired you have to be to die.

The ace and enjoyable things this week, (or some of them anyway):
Hearing from mum that the doctors say the chemo's worked and she's doing well :)
Going all the way to Shrewsbury for the ISFA (Independent Schools Football Association) U15 Semi-final (the team I've been following at school!) and seeing the boys win on penalties! Great match on the whole, though we squandered some good chances. We definitely outplayed a team from a school that's well-known for good football. What's more, the final is happening just down the road from us in the nearest town. Complete coincidence - it was going to be there whoever was in it, it just happens it's us, so it's like a home fixture!
Buying some trees for the orchard. Then, discovering that Roger, our amazing gardener, has already dug the holes for them!
Going out for a drink with Anna! (It's a rare thing during term time, and so was all the lovelier).
Preparing the driveway for the 80 lavender I've ordered.
Almost finishing sorting out my desk.
Finding £54.12. (well, sort of - it's a receipt that I can claim back and I thought I'd lost it ... well, I had ... but now it's found again)
Cutting down most of a tree during lunch one day.

Am currently also enjoying playing the guitar a fair amount (like, every day or two...) and enjoying much of my time with Joshua.
I'm going to try to add a video here ... it's very short, but I laugh every time. Listen out for the 'my nose' bit. Don't worry, he wasn't hurt!