The end of the holidays

We’ve had a good week, this week, small daughter and I.  I’ve been on a mission to distract her from Minecraft which is showing signs of becoming something of an obsession even though I’ve been impressed by some of the buildings she has created and the imagination that’s been involved.

I’m not sure that some of the distractions have been exactly what she would have chosen herself; there’s been some bedroom-tidying and new school shoe-buying, although she was quite happy to be rewarded with hot chocolate after our shopping excursion!

Walking the dog in the rain at Orrell Water Park wasn’t her favourite thing to do either, although the rain eased off after a while and she enjoyed jumping across these stepping stones to explore the path on the other side.

We found banks of pale yellow primroses …

pale blue Pulmonaria (lungwort) …

and delicate wood anemones.  I’ve never seen these before so it was a treat to find them growing freely along the banks of the brook.

We found gates to walk through …

and bridges to trip trap across, although luckily no trolls leapt out to bar our way.

Small daughter was very taken with the views across the fields, particularly when framed by the hedge.

And we both enjoyed speculating whether this coot* woke up in a different part of the lake every morning when the wind blew the nest.

Later in the week, we decided that it was about time we went to my Dad’s house for tea again.  He usually comes to see us but every now and again we like to have a change.  Small daughter decided to go with Grandad whilst he picked big daughter up from college so I headed out into the fields with the dog.  He’s had some nice walks this week; I enjoy walking these fields again where I’ve walked with other dogs over the years.  Mostly, the landscape and the paths are still the same although some of the small puddles that I remember are now considerably larger …

and some of the trees that I used to climb have now become part of the path themselves.

Back at my Dad’s house, small daughter has gone to find my old farm set.  I spent many hours playing with these horses and now small daughter enjoys setting them up for herself.  You can still buy the same Britain’s farm animals and horses now, which I think just shows the timeless appeal of this sort of toy.

We’re creatures of habit when we go to Grandad’s for tea: sausages, fried egg and chips.  Dad has a chip pan and makes us Proper Chips – they’re so much nicer than the oven chips we have at home and because we don’t have them all the time they’re a real treat.

We rounded off the week with a trip into Liverpool.   My husband’s cousin has come to stay with us for the weekend and when she comes to visit we often go to the city to do some sightseeing and a bit of shopping at Liverpool One.

My husband was held up on his way to pick us up from outside the Anglican Cathedral so we went inside for a look around.  We were greeted at the information desk by a very friendly man who gave small daughter an animal trail guide book and we followed the clues to find all kinds of animals around the cathedral.  I bet you wouldn’t expect to see hedgehogs, sharks and monkeys there – but we did!

Small daughter was very taken by the beautiful west window with the sun streaming through and I think she would have happily stood and looked at it for a much longer time than we had.  My photographs can never quite do justice to the richness of the colours or the sheer scale of the window, but it’s certainly something that you want to take the time to admire.

I’m rather sad that the holidays are over now, although I am looking forward to getting back into routine next week.  It won’t be long until the next holidays and by then I’ll have planned even more distractions!

* Thanks to Mrs Tiggywinkle for spotting my (ahem) deliberate mistake in calling the coot a moorhen! 🙂

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16 Responses

  1. Amy at love made my home says:

    It sound as though you have been doing some really great things! Lots of great distractions!! How great that your daughter can play with your old toys, that must be so lovely to see! xx

    • Winwick Mum says:

      It's a really nice thing to watch, Amy, and now she tells me that she wants to keep the toys that she grows out of "for my children to play with" and I like the continuity of that too! xx

  2. Unknown says:

    Well done with coming up with some distractions to keep your daughter busy. Your walks looks lovely and the wild flowers are beautiful. I love it that your daughter is enjoying playing with toys that you had as a child, my boys loved the Britains tractors and other farm vehicles when they were young. xx

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Britains toys have been around for such a long time and I'm really pleased that you can still buy them. My brother had the tractor which I used to borrow sometimes for my games and luckily for me, he had no interest in my horses so I didn't need to lend them to him! xx

  3. Anonymous says:

    What a marvellous way to spend the holiday! Beautiful pictures of your walk, and I love that you know so many names of plants. How brilliant that she wants to keep your farm setffor her own children. We got mine out for Little R recently and he loved it. I think we have the same farming lady with heavy bucket!

    • Winwick Mum says:

      I wonder how many people still have the same farming lady in their houses! I expect she's very tired by now as she's been carrying that bucket around for such a long time! Knowing the plant names are an occupational hazard of being a gardener! I was taught to use Latin names as many plants have different common names in different parts of the country and it's easy to get them mixed up. After a while you don't think about the name being in Latin; it's just what the plant is called 🙂 xx

  4. Helen Philipps says:

    What a lovely week, with a nice variety of 'distractions'! I enjoyed seeing the toys and reading about your walks and visits.
    Happy weekend.
    Helen xox

    • Winwick Mum says:

      It's always interesting to take a familiar walk with a small person as they are much more likely to want to go off the beaten track – or at least, my girl is! I like that she's still easily distracted by these outings – got to make the most of it! xx

  5. Mrs Tiggywinkle says:

    I rather think that moorhen is a coot! This is a lovely post, Christine. I really enjoyed your walk, the farm, Dad's dinner…thank you for sharing. x

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Oops – you're right! Coots have white faces and moorhens have red ones, don't they? You often do see them together, though, and there are moorhens on the water there too, although none in fabulous floating nests like that one! Thanks for the correction, I'll change the post! xx

  6. Christina says:

    I am glad you enjoyed your holiday. Minecraft is a world to itself, very addictive. My son is mad about it but luckily still likes a walk with the rest of us, sometimes at least. I never even noticed that coots and moorhens aren't the same…. I just thought it was one of those peculiarities of English language us non native speakers don't get, using two completely different words for one and the same thing. Silly me. I am going to look at our local coot/moorhen (nesting on the canal) tomorrow and decide which it is. We do love the troll under bridges game in my family, Richard makes a great impression of a troll, making the little ones roar with laughter. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x

    • Winwick Mum says:

      I had been warned that Minecraft was very addictive but for some reason assumed that as a girl, small daughter would be less likely to want to spend every waking moment playing with it. Silly me! I've come to conclusion that as long as I watch the time she spends, it's a useful imagination game, but sometimes distracting her can be very difficult! xx

  7. Angel Jem says:

    Five weeks to the next break! Not that I'm counting already 😉
    I love the idea of chips from the chip pan. We do not like oven chips, so I'm prepared to get chips now and again from the chippy!

    • Winwick Mum says:

      I'm not overly-fond of the chippy chips that we can get around here so we don't go to the chippy that often. I don't know why the bought ones are often soggy and greasy when my Dad can cook them so that they're crispy and non-greasy in his chip pan. Perhaps he needs to open a chip shop himself! xx

  8. The House with the Blue Door says:

    I love the wood anenomes – they are so delicate and a real sign of spring. It looks like you had a lovely walk, despite the rain, and those chips do look delicious 🙂
    Cathy x

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