Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing

- Helen Keller
(now become The Grouts family motto!)

Bedtime really annoys me

I was sorting through some papers when I discovered this by The Ig and couldn't resist recording it here. Previously I wrote a little poem for Izzy really about her aversion to sleeping. Hmm....see what I mean:

Bedtime really annoys me and this is why
When you're having the bestest of fun
Down goes the sun
And crys an adult "Go to bed right now!"
Then they go all stern and say "Or else...!"
So off you stomp up the stairs
And clamber slowly into bed
I bet it's dark and lonely there in your room
"Yes it is! And grown ups get to sleep together!"
"How unfair!"
But this is another thing about bed times
Are you ready? For the grand finale?
So this is what the Dad's do...
"Snore snore" in unison they do
Honk and wheeze
Creating a breeze
Honk and wheeze
Ha! ha!

Roll on 2012!

No matter how hard I try and think of New Years as just another day, I can't. I can't ignore the feelings a new start. I don't declare resolutions out loud, in fact I deny making them but I lie...I do, in my head. And I know I'm not alone (you know who you are). They're there lurking at the back of my mind ready to attack when I haven't kept them. But it'll only be me kicking myself since I didn't officially make any resolutions...did I.

We have a tradition in the Grout household to go for a beach walk on New Years Day and after a quiet New Years celebration (me, hubby, sofa, glass of bubbly, Jools Holland), I was ready for a brisk bit of fresh air. I remember when we did this a few years ago, it was gloriously sunny and I was inspired by a series of shadow photos....oh those were the days.
These are our 1st January 2012 pics taken at Mudeford Beach on my camera phone. I tried taking one of the mad dinghy sailors but they disappeared in the grey...

No frisbee throwing, no shadow pictures and definitely no picnicking, this was more snuggling close to keep dry under the brolly. But tradition maintained and very satisfying it was too.
Now for a spot of lunch at The Captains Club...

Pitiful...isn't it

This is our garden...
You know I'm desperate for a proper garden so I can love it, nurture it, have summer BBQs in it, lie lazily and read a book on it and most importantly, I (I mean we) can finally get a dog - but that's a blog for another day, coming back to my current excuse of a garden...you would think with all that green enthusiasm I could do better than this sorrowful trough.

In my defence it looks much worse now - there's nothing resembling colour anymore but the real problem is I just can't get my head around Winter planting. I didn't take any pictures in Summer but you would have to take my word for it, it looked great even...Charlie Dimmock would have at least smiled. But I just seem to lose the momentum come Winter. However, watch this space, I am determined to rectify this situation before the year is out and definitely before Spring cos that would just be cheating...

Everyday is a new day

Everyday is a new day.
Everyday the first day.
How fast your curious mind wants to grow.
Never enough time to explore.
Too much to learn but still thirsty for more.
What will quench your curious little mind to finally exhaust you to sleep?

Sleep is your friend yet you fight Her so hard.
Sleep brings the gift of rest to calm your busy mind.
Welcome Her with droopy eyes and a yawn and let her comfort you.

But it's not fair you cry so desperately,
To face the darkness, the shadows and the bumps in the night.
Don't you know it's just your curious mind at work again?
Even imaginations need rest too.
To grow another day.
Because everyday is the first day.

Make mine a skinny decaf

I do love books and I love a good coffee.
And I especially like coffee shops in book stores, it's the perfect combination for me. Having just stated that I'm not actually in one right now (couldn't find one in Winchester) but was still inspired to write...

Book stores are a dying breed aren't they, which is a shame. I guess I'm contributing to this trend as I do buy rather a lot on the Internet (well it's so dangerously easy what with Amazon Wish Lists and One-Click). However I can honestly say that I do make an effort to buy a book from my local Waterstones even though I know it's cheaper online, sometimes you just have to get it there and then and why not feel a little less guilty in the process!

But there's nothing better than browsing shelves of books, collecting a few you'd like to peruse and then grab a coffee, sit and immerse yourself for a while.

I've flicked through books on the Titanic; biographies of people I wouldn't really buy a book on but am strangely drawn to their baby pictures; popped into some strange destinations; learnt my sailing knots and decided on my next crime novel after the Steig Larsson trilogy, all while enjoying my regular extra hot skinny decaf cappuccino. I do remember scanning a rather small unsuspecting book on palm reading, a rather alarming read since my  future seemed doomed and left me wondering whether it was even worth buying a coffee? Or I might as well and have the full fat muffin...I mean what the heck?

Note to mothers (if you don't already use this strategy), this books with coffee also works brilliantly with children, namely 8 year olds who can't make up their mind on which book to choose and she's only having one. Somehow sipping a nice hot drink on a comfy chair (well any chair to be honest) makes the whole lengthy selection process much less painful. The coffee, by the way is for the mums, I'm not advocating feeding caffeine to children as the means of hurrying them up...just in case that wasn't clear.

So right now, no 8 year olds, no shopping, no more cold, it's Cafe Nero that has (or had) my attention and I bought my own book (and laptop).

Romantic Ruins

Who'd have thought a bit of tragedy would lead to such romance? The tragedy? Well a poor demolition guy was killed back in the 1700's (not really focusing on this fact) but leads me to the romance as it's because of this that a now overgrown ruined abbey was left alone.

Netley Abbey is a beautiful place and has…just something. It's one those places where you have to be there to take in the atmosphere, feel the weight of history and imagine the beauty that once was and yet still is. We only discovered it quite recently and by chance, tucked away in the woods off a main road above Southampton Waters and decided to go exploring with Izzy (who had plenty to climb on and jump off!).

I've seen ruins before and shamefully admit that had the attitude of if you've seen one, you've seen them all. But this was very apparently different for me. I think it's the two towering arches regally standing their ground at either end of what would've have been the main hall. There's enough of the abbey still standing to allow your imagination to wonder and even though the main road is not far away, it's blissfully peaceful. No wonder the Abbey became a haven for those 18th century romantic writers, poets and artists…John Constable painted here, Jane Austen found inspiration and now, I've discovered it and it's definitely one of my favourite places to just be. Next time I'm bringing a flask of tea and a good book.