Land of the Young

The grandchildren were here this past week.  In photo above, granddaughter is in center, grandson at right.  At left is their friend. Within minutes of arriving they dove into the playhouse (an outlying one-room cottage we renovated several years ago--it's filled with dress-up clothes, art supplies and games) and emerged to perform a skit they made up called Celebrity Beach Party. Very funny, these kids.  I think Celebrity Beach Party was my favorite skit.  I didn't so much enjoy the one with the farting bear.

They also like to do 'movies': they come up with a sequence, pose stuffed animals, I take the photos, and we set up on the Mac as a slideshow.  Some of their skits were: Four Doggies; Animals at Play; and Friends on the Dock.  My four-year-old grandson likes for the animals to engage in fierce battles; the girls prefer that the animals all get along.  We used both indoor and outdoor settings.  Here is one photo from Animals at Play:

They are climbing the fence into the raised vegetable bed.  They want the blackberries.

I'm still finding remnants from their visit:

And:

Sure going to miss those kids!

Revelation in the Spooky Cupboard (7, conclusion)

Ta da!  At last, I've caught the critters inhabiting the spooky cupboard:

A Walk in England

One of my daily walks here in England is a circuit of the TASIS school's campus.  Here's a little commentary with it:

Spooky Cupboard/Chalice (6) is back. . .

Oh boy, the spookiness is back at Casa Creech. . .

O

Taking a Break . . .

I saw signs like this one, "Sono in giardino" ("I'm in the garden"), in a village in southern Switzerland. Hung on an outside door, it directed visitors around the back to the garden, where the owner was puttering or reclining. I found this sign in the local Migros there and brought it home to use, most often, on my office door.

When I use it, it usually means I am taking a break--maybe in the giardino, maybe elsewhere.  Oddly, though, I also use it to mean the opposite:  'I'm working; don't disturb.'   When my husband sees it, he disregards it anyway. To grandchildren, it is invisible.  And that's okay.  It's still a nice sign.

Fine, Fine Young Readers

I rarely have the chance to catch readers in the act of reading one of my books, so these two photographs are treasures. The girls are triplets.

Spooky Cupboard 5x

Aye yie yie. The tiny silver chalice, first discovered in a spooky cupboard in England, has now reappeared in North Carolina. . .