The Friendly Pumpkin

My orignal pumpkin design was banned for being too scary (it was going to be a very detailed eye; yes just one with tears running down) so I had to make a friendly pumpkin.  As we didn't have any candles I've used flashing bike led lights which do the trick.

Pumpkin and wine

Pumpkin at dusk

I suppose it is still a little sinister...

Oscar

I realised that I don't always say how Oscar's doing, and most of the posts are about things we've done.  It's hard to write everything down about him but here are some snippets; with some pictures to paint a thousand words that I can't think of...

Oscar's vocabulary has bloomed; he seems to know loads of words but as he doesn't say all the syllables it can be really hard understanding what he's saying;  he's also really stubborn, for example he calls penguins pengmums, you can ask him to say peng and guin on their own but ask him to say penguin and all you get is pengmum with a very cheeky grin.

He can count to 12 but does like to miss out some numbers, he likes repeating the same patterns like 2, 4, 8, 10.  He also knows a number of letters but his favourites seem to be w and s.  His latest thing is showing you his left or right thumb.

I collected Oscar from Nursery the other day to find they'd been doing some face painting.  Oscar was pretty happy about it and rather keen to show me.

Just in case you're unsure; he's meant to be a doggy

Oscar's really into tunnels (sorry pardon the pun) and we have a very long pair of disused railway tunnels  that I take him up to so I can take him down one and back down the other (here we'd bumped into some other walkers)

View Both Windsor Hill Tunnels in a larger map

When is he going to get less messy when he eats?

His enthusiasm to put on rubber gloves bears no reflection on his ability to do chores....

Okay I forgot to stop recording but here is is loving being on a swing

Exploring Autumn with Nicky

Something's not right here!

Lyme Regis with Nanny, Aunty Lou and the Boys

As it was half term we met up with Nicky's Mum, her Sister and Luke and Owen in Lyme Regis.  Predictably it poured but we still had a great time.  After a cuppa and a slice of cake we went to the Museum then had a look for some fossils on the beach.

Now Oscar, mind the quicksand!

Here's Nicky hoiking Oscar out of quicksand...  Nanny and Owen scour the beach for hidden treasure.

Luke and Aunty Lou stuck to fossil hunting the the first pile of stones they found 

The fossils were actually round this corner but no one listened to me....

A walk near Mells

Yes bad weather doesn't stop us!  We went for a soak in the rain in Mells, Frome.  It was really picturesque, it wasn't that long a walk but nice to get out as we hadn't for a while.
We parked in Great Elm and walked along the river and back past a disused quarry (which warrants further visits).

View A Walk Near Mells in a larger map

Ahhh, Autumn (before the downpour)

Tree-Ivy love

Nicky's nice and toasty inside her waterproof and showing off her waterproof OS map

Now I'm not sure if there's always a waterfall here or if it was just down to the volume of rain but it made a thunderous sound.

The dogs loved it here, it was great terrain for an active pair of hounds!

Woof!  Stay still for the picture damn it!

Shepton Mallet Fun Run

Back at the start of the month there was a local run; the Shepton Mallet Fun Run.  It comes in either 10k 5k or a junior 1k.  I entered the 10k and Nicky, Oscar and Izzy (Oscar's key worker at his nursery) entered the 1k run.

It all looked like it was going to go well but Oscar was terrified of someone in a giant bear, which was supposed to encourage the kids to run, so refused to run so Nicky carried him for 1/2km before bowing out.  Stupid bears...

I did the 10km but was knackered; I hadn't run for ages so was glad I did it.  It happened to be a crazy heat wave so temperatures were an unexpected 26 degrees centigrade.

View Shepton Fun Run in a larger map

There was a good turn out for the Junior run, prizes for anyone who can spot Nicky, Izzy and Oscar 

The scary pirate bear....

Yes, it was hot but I got a medal and a butty to eat at the end!

Finnegans Wake at the Westbury Music and Arts Festival

Last night we saw Finnegans Wake play as part of the Westbury Music & Arts Festival it was awesome and we really enjoyed it.

They are a four piece band featuring (Grandad) Mick on guitar and vocals, Frank on accordion and vocals, Peter on flute, mandolin, banjo and whistles, and Clive on fiddle, mandolin and vocals.

Videos of the gig are uploaded onto my YouTube account but I've embedded them here too.

Oscar's 2nd Birthday

Wow, Oscar's two years old already.  He's had a super birthday, he had a lot of fun unwrapping presents and some really thoughtful gifts that he's really happy about.
We took him on our friends', Myk and Kate, horse and cart for a birthday ride.  The horse is Barney and we went around Pilton.

The Westbury Music and Arts Festival 2011

Today we went to the second day of the Westbury Music and Arts Festival.  Mick and Helen have put in lots of work organising the event and Mick's band, Finnegan's Wake, will be performing on the 30th and we'll be heading back for then!

We got there just in time to see the Alton Morris Men and Women starting off, they were really great; the bold red, green and black outfits looked super, Oscar was really interested in them but got a little scared up close on account of their green and red face paint.  There were a number of stalls around the church yard with local produce, information and crafts.  The weather was, on the whole, very nice but there were a number of cloud bursts which must have been a pain for the stall holders.

We listened to a bit of Get Reel at The Lopes Arms, we'd seen them before at the Bath & West Show earlier in the year.

Although not part of the Festival our visit was nicely timed with the fairtrade and locally knitted clothes on sale in the church hall that are there on the third Saturday of each month.  We got Oscar a really super jumper and some woolly hats to prepare for the winter.

The stalls in the churchyard

The Alton Morris Dancers in front of the old town hall

Get Reel with some accompanying Morris men (Check out the leather flaggard!)

Oscar with his new woolly jumper

Check out me 'at, bargin for a pound!

Compton Dundon; A walk over Lollover Hill

We haven't been for a decent walk with the dogs since we went to Cheddar Gorge with Klaus and Eli so we decided to go for a walk south from Street by Compton Dundon as, on the OS map, we found a number of interesting areas to explore.  We parked in Compton Dundon Village and walked straight towards Lollover Hill.  As we expected the views were fantastic and looking down onto the flats of the Somerset Levels was something I've not actually managed to do till now.

As usual I recorded the walking route which you can see below:

View Compton Dundon, Over Lollover Hill in a larger map

Surprise, surprise; it's Glastonbury Tor

Oscar and the Dogs all ran about more than usual

Superb colourful blackberries