Blogging.

Just spent about an hour writing this.
Will blog about life presently.

Is it just me...

Or is this a slightly odd news story. (BBC News - headline 'Death rates at lowest ever levels in England and Wales')
Death rates going down?! I'm pretty sure it's something everyone does in the end. Is it just an awkwardly worded headline, or are we trying to hide from the inevitable. I mean, it's not like it's going to go out of fashion is it.
"Yeah, people used to die, but it's just not really the done thing any more - it's so passé"
Surely we need to know the truth and know the hope... One without the other is just empty. So death will come, but when Jesus came, He conquered it, and it's Him I'm trying to live my life for.

New camera.

Just had the new camera delivered. Very exciting.
First ever pic:

And then we headed into the garden (slightly gloomy day though...) for some more:
Slight problem I can see developing here though ... that just took 1 minute and 35 seconds to upload... Wonder what a 'large' one takes...


Oh dear, a full 1:47

And finally, how about a 'small' one...

Weird. 1:48. Oh well. Maybe it's a connection difficulty rather than anything else.
Will upload others when I have lots of time to spare!

A little trip out.

Bit of a random post, but hey.
We went to Calke Abbey a while back. It's ten minutes down the road and our regular visits make our National Trust membership worthwhile! Anyways, we took Granny and Pops, and had a nice wander around the gardens and a picnic. This time, for the first time, we went to see the ice house. Basically the oldy worldy version of a freezer, though you didn't plug it in, you collected ice in the winter to fill it with, and kept it nice a chilly for as long as the ice lasted! Pretty natty. Here are a couple of pics:
This first one is looking into the ice house from above (there were kinda skylight holes)

The second one is obviously looking up from inside! (I put the camera phone through the bars to take the first one, if you're wondering!)
Pretty cool.

Not only did we 'find' the ice house on this trip (it's a little way beyond the gardens and we'd never bothered going that far - lazy, I know!) we also came across a hide! Some bloke built it with donated materials and you can watch birdies from it (and deer, if you open the side window).
Here are some deer (though not seen from the hide) and a small boy who seemed quite happen to frighten them off!
Perhaps I should just point out that he's wearing 'short-trousers' it's not just that we haven't bought him any clothes for months...

But perhaps the most exciting thing was this:
Joshua was allowed to ride on the buggy with Granny and Pops AND he got the front seat AND the lovely man who was driving let him press the button on the remote to open the gate at the end of the drive! What a lucky boy! He doesn't look thrilled in this picture, but he was really :) Daddy did still manage to beat them up the hill, but felt a little worse for wear afterwards...

And here are my fave photos from the day:

What do you smell with?

Late to pre-school today, as Joshua was still asleep when pre-school started. He did wake eventually, and we got up, ate and got in the car. On the way there, we had this conversation:
Joshua: Daddy, look how many fingers I have in my seatbelt.
Me: (turning round to look) two.
J: Daddy, look how many fingers I have in now
Me: Sweetheart, I can't keep turning around to look at you - I'm trying to drive and don't want to have a crash.
J: Daddy, look at me, and I'll look at the road to see if any cars are coming.

Needless to say, I didn't think his advice was great...

Then at pre-school, we got out the car and:
Joshua: do we have anything to take in today?
Me: We've got loads of stuff in your bag.
Joshua: No, I mean toys. (there's a 'letter of the week' and if you take in something that starts with that letter, you get a sticker)
Me: The letter this week is 'N', what starts with 'N'?
Joshua: (I can't remember what he said, but it didn't start with N!)
Me: No sweetheart, think of a word that starts with 'N'. What do you smell with?
Joshua: Uh, pooh?

Oh dear. Still lots of learning to do.

His favourite 'starting with' letter is 'P'. Not really sure why, but it is. This means that lots of things apparently start with P (rarely accurate!). We were recently discussing Fireman Sam's vehicles, and Joshua said. 'Venus, that starts with P'.
Oops :)