I can see the moon

This weekend was the last chance this lifetime to see the Orionids meteor shower. The next visit won't be until around 2061. So my friend from work, GC, decided to let his kids stay up to watch them.

He did a little research on the web and found a few recommended local sites that would have good views without too much light pollution from nearby buildings.

Around midnight they got in the car and drove to a local park. He turned off the lights and got out of the car first to see where they might stand.

It was pitch black outside, no light at all....
...until another car's headlights were flashed and he saw some others enjoying the late night solitude of the car park. Only they weren't exactly stargazing, they were gazing at something though.

He dives back in a car mumbling some excuses to the kids and drives straight home.

That's go to be a first, taking your kids dogging.

Here we go gathering nuts in October

We stayed at a friends house on Saturday, just a chance to catch up with them.

We arrived in the afternoon and they led us to a County park nearby, Shorne Wood. The rain had been thumping down in the morning but it was quite sunny when we went out so a walk around the woods seemed a good idea.

I haven't been there before but it was easy to see that Shorne Wood has had a bit of a facelift recently. There's a new gift-shop/cafe there with a few interactive display cabinets. They're very keen on green energy so the displays had some narration that was powered by turning a crank in the wall, quite clever and the kids liked it. Solar panels on the roof and a wind turbine int he car-park too.

We strolled about and the kids had a quick go in the playground before we went deeper into the woods. Chestnuts everywhere so my friend (A), my daughter (L) and I collected about fifty to bake and eat later. L loved this and stuffed her pockets with them. There we're loads of mushrooms too but yu're not allowed to pick them in this wood.

Near the car-park there's a small garden and in there is a wooden carving called 'The Green Man'. Apparently you stick you hand in his mouth and make a wish, a bit like that thing in Rome. Anyway I had a go and made a wish, still didn't get any this weekend though. Oh well.

Assembly

F (5) had a class assembly yesterday that parents could come to, I couldn't go, work, so my wife and Mum went along. All the kids were doing a little piece about themselves and it focus on personal attributes.

"I have blonde hair," say some of the kids together.

"I have brown hair," say some more.

"I have ginger hair," says one little girl.

F gets her turn, "I have brown hair and I wear glasses," shes quite proud of this as she's the only one in her class with specs.

Then, "My favourite colour is indigo, my favourite food is grapes and when I grow up I want to be a fairy."

Could you get any cuter?