Sunday 17 April 2016

Fanny gets preggers and Cleggy does a Tedx talk!

February and March had some lovely family catch ups - including a day with all the littles at Nelly's house 
and a lovely family walk in Dunham Massey.
whatever....

 weird winter light on the house
 At some point around here our lovely neighbour Ian said he thought that the little stray hanging round both our gardens was pregnant. I've no idea how he knew - she was still tiny and pretty feral. 

But he was right - and over the following few weeks we had a hard time keeping her and Simon the cat apart as they fought constantly. Eventually Simon moved downstairs with Granny and we found ourselves with a pregnant stray cat.

Cleggy took her to the vet to check and he confirmed what we already knew - estimating that she was less than a year old and probably only had one kitten.
Spring was also creative - 
as is often the case when the sun comes back out.
Starting with a new stool cosy

 Then, randomly, I decided that the inside of the kitchen doors needed to be painted fuchsia pink with some wallpaper. 
before... 
during...
AFTER..ta daaaaa
I discovered Gudrun Sjoden clothing- a disaster for my purse
and made  started some more random scare/shawl things
Got a new camera strap
...and a new mug from my friend Joanna - which is my new Sunday mug!
Alfie got dressed up (as Alice) for a party...it turned out his mates did that (never ceases to be funny) trick of telling him it was dressing up...then not dressing up
 Easter crafts were undertaken


 ...and the kitchen branch decorated
 Then, mid March we travelled down to Norwich for Cleggy to do a Tedx talk. 
We were BOTH really nervous, not least as they are always professionally filmed and available to see on the Tedx YouTube channel.
 This is our extra nervous smiling not really smiling face!
 Needlesstosay he was absolutely BRILLIANT. Here's the link if anyone wants to take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUUw1R_w3XU

Alfie came down with us
I am unfeasibly proud of him.
weird seeing all his books for sale!
Back to Fanny - she got unfeasibly fat! We found it hard to believe there was only one kitten in there... and we were right! She was waddling round with the biggest tummy on her tiny little frame.

The night before she gave birth she was really clingy and affectionate.
Luckily she waited until the morning before surprising us with 5 little kittens!
(who deserve their own blog post!)
Fee x

Amsterdam February 2016

Cleggy and I visited Amsterdam for our 10th Wedding anniversary in 2003 and loved it.
 
So when he was asked to do some work there this year 
we jumped at the chance.

Originally we had booked an amazing apartment back in November through AirBnB...but unfortunately I had succumbed to a clever scam and in January found out that we had been conned out of £1400! 
(most of that was the so called security deposit) 
Long boring story - lessons were learnt!

Anyway - we ended up finding an equally special houseboat on the Amstel.
a little bit further out of the city but very close to the tram. 

We were very fortunate that the weather for the most part was sunny - although very (very) cold. 

Only on one day did it hamper our sight seeing - when we found ourselves on a little boat trip in the snow. NOT in one of the nice big touristy covered heated boats - in a teeny tiny open air boat with a very funny guide - and fortunately some blankets and gluwine!

Anyway - here are my favourite photos:

 winter sun
Sarphati Park
Jordaan
 My favourite canal - Brouwersgracht 

 Plenty of lunch/coffee stops (for a warm!)
Little Collins

Cafe in De Pijp
Cafe 't Smalle

Cafe Brecht




Cafe de Taart Van M'n Tante
Pilsvogel
 The day of the boat trip in the snow!



 View of the flower markets from the canal
bridge graffiti


 The dancing houses
kloveniersburgwal

View from the bedroom window - which was below water level
 different every day
walks along the canals - dreaming of owning a boat (natch)


Watching the skaters



 bike envy

 Walking along The Amstel







 Our last night - meeting Cleggy from work at the station and visiting the Red Light District - one of the most beautiful part of the city.


 Street art









 finishing with a glass (or 3, for warmth!) of beer in Dam Square

Then a final meal in one of the oldest restaurants in Amsterdam.
 It was a lovely 5 days - still love Amsterdam as much 
as we did 13 years ago.






 (favourite shop)


 The flower market










Fee x