Street party

More doom and gloom on the weather forecast, so everyone was wondering if our annual get-together was going to happen. However, yesterday we escaped with only a slight sprinkling of rain - it would take a lot more than that to dampen our spirits!

The kids had a great time chalking on the pavements

Reckoning that strawberries and cream are always a good bet, especially at the start of Wimbledon week, P and I took Izzi Ava to the local pick-your-own in the morning. Here we waddled and waded through the drenched straw between the rows like a family of ducks. Sometimes up to our ankles in mud, it was almost a relief when the heavens eventually opened and we ran for cover with the booty.  By that time though we had three baskets of beautiful plump berries for the party, and the girls had the telltale pink stains around their mouths indicating they probably ate as many as they picked! This wasn't as many as it might have been, as the wet made it very difficult to stay on your feet - every time they had a decent number in their baskets, they'd fall over and spill them and have to start allover as the mud greedily gobbled the strawberries too!

Ava eating one of her hand-picked strawbs

There was just enough time to prepare the strawberries and throw together a big taboulleh salad, before getting ready for the party. Glad rags were donned and the girls decorated with gorgeous glittery tattoos - butterflies, dragonflies and fairies. Once in the swing it was all P could do to disuade me from having a few myself.

Not my taboulleh but you get the idea

It was great to see all the kids out on the street having such a fantastic time. Sadly, this is becoming rarer and rarer as parents become ever more vigilant and protective of their kids. In recent times parental anxiety seems to have snowballed, especially after the abduction of little Madeleine McCann. 

Our street is a Home Zone (a project reclaiming our streets for communities) and I remember Felix playing outside with the other children from when he was about eight years old, which encouraged a lovely sense of community and camaraderie amongst them.  But now many parents feel they can't  let their children out of their sight, and whilst I totally understand why,  I can't help feeling that our children are much poorer for this.  

Summer gets a drumming lesson from her Dad.

Is this a girl band of 2022 in the making?

The grown-ups are at it too - blue grass on the street! Meanwhile the younger ones had found something very interesting...

...hmmmmm, what could it be?

Ruby's wondering if there's anything inside?

Just what's needed with the wet weather we've been having - a Noah's Ark!

It was a lovely chilled day, despite the dire weather forecasts, finishing just in time to watch England put on a gutsy but fruitless performance against the Azuris in Euro 2012. Of course we were all hoping for a different result but being typically British I have to admit that the best team won, even tho it did come down to penalties.

New day today though with the start of Wimbledon and even if you're not a tennis fan it's sort of exciting just to watch the spectacle - the All England Club, the Ralph Lauren officials' uniforms contrasting with the hi-tec tennis gear of the stars, the histrionics of some of them, as well as at times the awesome tennis. If I didn't have a very imminent deadline this week I'd use it as a great excuse to just sit and knit along.  Later in the week though...