cuter babies

NO MERRIC DOES LIKE GUINNESS BUT HE'S NOT DRINKING MINE!
SCHOOL PICNIC OCTOBER - SUNNY!

PUPPETS ON A BOAT ON THE THAMES @ RICHMOND

NEW CUTE BOOTS AND FOUND HAT!

and then there were more with some scenery thrown in just to prove I'm not a doting daddy

our cute babies

just a small selection of the enormously cute and photogenic little darlings with friends, etc.

CANARY ISLANDS

MID TERM BREAK WE DECIDED TO GET AWAY FOR SOME SUN TO LANZAROTE, A STRANGE VOLCANIC ISLAND WEST OF AFRICA WITH PALMS, CACTUS AND BOUGANVILLEA, NO NATURALLY OCCURRING WATER,VERY CHEERFUL LOCALS AND A BUNCH OF BRITISH, SITTING AROUND IN BRITISH LOOKING PUBS, DRINKING BRITISH BEER AND WATCHING TELLY! THEY ALL WORE ENGLAND FOOTY JUMPERS, AS IF TO REMIND THEMSELVES.

WE TRAVELED ABOUT IN A HIRE CAR TO SEE THE INTERIOR, NORTHERN AND WESTERN - LESS POPULATED - COAST. SOME STUNNING LANDSCAPES WITH ONE ESPECIALLY NICE BEACH AND A TERRIFIC FISHING VILLAGE, ARRIETA WHERE THE PEOPLE WERE FRIENDLY AND HAPPY TO HELP. THE KIDS LOVED THE FISH AND CHIPS!

LOCAL ARTIST, HENRI MANRIQUE HAS HAD AN EFFECT ON THE LOCAL ART SCENE BY PUTTING UP HIS OUTLANDISH AND INTERESTING ART EVERYWHERE! HE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH PICASSO AND MATISSE IN PARIS AND SPAIN

THEY GROW GRAPES FOR WINE ON LANZAROTE, VERY STRANGE METHOD!

MERRIC'S PRIMARY SCHOOL IS DARELL, WE CALL IT DAZZA, NATURALLY. ITS A 10-15 MINUTE WALK AWAY; ITS ARTSY AND CREATIVE HAS HEALTHY EATING PROGRAM AND PE AND EXERCISE CLASSES, THEY TEACH A THING CALLED PHONICS, THE SOUND OF THE LETTER? HUNH! A GOOD FRIENDLY NON-BULLYING POPULATION, VERY MUMMY ORIENTED, ONLY A COUPLE OF PART TIME DADS IN THE PICTURE. MIX ON THE PTA AND GETTING INVOLVED LIKE ALWAYS

family home, wotton, surrey

John Evelyn's birth place and home. Now a conference and hotel complex, he did the gardens and collected an extensive library as well as wrote books and finished the diary. still owned by the evelyn's from the Godstone, Nutfield side of the family. the manor dates from 1100's as a moated building; evelyn surname is first listed publicly as WILLIAM AVELYN fl.1440; george the patriarch from 1550's made billions in gunpowder! bought property at nutfield, godstone, wotton for his sixteen children

house and home

following our less than recent transhumance through the orient we now reside at richmond, surrey, in a quaint little up and down 2brm, one reception, with conservatory [foto attached], there are thousands of exactly these all over england, ours is nicely close to parks and open space and with terrific views at the top of richmond hill to the great south east.[more fotos]

the place reeks history from its every pore, 16th cent. gravestones, tudor palaces, ghosts.

merric is doing five days at school and loving it, lainie one day at nursery around the corner, moggie slaving her fingers to the bone at high holborn and commuting to derby every second week