UK summer trip

The Titanic moment

Kingston Lacy

Cuddles with Ava

The Bankes Arms pub

Lyme Regis, visiting John and Lula. Lucius was very proud of her adopted pup

We considered buying her one of her own

Colors in 'The Cobb'

'Lula, heel'

Flushed cheeks on Ava and Reuben's trampoline in London at Ava's birthday party
(wearing the magical skirt crafted by Ava)

Tea in Libertys

The Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Garden, London
with a hidden inner garden designed by one of our favorite garden designers, Piet Oudolf

Ah, back on the beach at last at Branksome

Good sharing with sweet Naomi

Lucius, Matt, Elsie

Florence and Elsie show Lucius how to behave properly in the grocery store

Chettle House fair

Lucius having a raisin rush in the tea tent

A handsome pair

Picnicking on the grounds

Wetsuit

My summer wetsuit arrived a couple of weeks ago, and Elaine + I have been nerding out on it. The build quality is amazing; with strong exposed stitching and internal reinforced stress points. The panel and seam placements have been simplified for comfort and reduced fussiness. The body is lined with merino wool, making it super comfortable, lightweight, fast drying and insulating. Each suit takes 6hrs45mins to put together, which equals fine-crafted these days.



And it's got a Geoff McFetridge fish on it.

St Jean De Luz

We took a day trip to St Jean De Luz, a small port town on the Basque coast. It's a rare spot with the bay protected by a stone harbor wall, calming the waves enough for...

...running into them, again and again

This was taken moments before someone got (gladly) very wet

So we stripped down to her swimsuit for squeals of delight whilst running in circles through the oncoming waves, again and again

Surfboard + Head =

Chocolate

The cows came and went as swiftly as Spring itself. They're now spending the summer in the Pyrénées to avoid the heat

This was our favorite, Chocolate, named by Lucius. By far the friendliest and the prettiest. She'd come to the fence to eat wildflowers from our hands. We look forward to her return in the Fall

Pickleswim

Party

Recently, we had some of Lucius's mates from playgroup drop by to share some cake and balloon fun in celebration of her 2nd birthday

Luca gets to grips with the Radio Flyer
(and Lucius was tres cool about sharing her toys)

Katie working at the desk under Lucius's (and HKitty's) watchful gaze

Lucius, Camille, Luca + Katie get 'loudy'

Presents!!! she unashamedly squealed

Helveticake

The festive Victoria sponge was dutifully demolished

Ella, Katie + Lucius winding down after lunch

Western Whip Snake

With the weather here hotting up, the wildlife is everywhere: butterflies, bees, lizards, crickets and snakes. Spectacular patterns, up to 1.5 m. long, completely harmless, and thankfully quite shy.

Could I kindly get in the compost to give it a good stir...

...on second thought, we'll just leave you be
(Caleb, this post is for you)

Easter

On a mysterious, misty Spring morning we went out to see if 'the brown bunny' had left us some treats...

Tucked away here and there we found eggs galore

and had them for breakfast with toast and Marmite (using her sweet new egg cup, thanks Dave and Wendy)

The Brown Bunny also left us some chocolate. This delicate little nibble is Lucius's first encounter with the stuff

(Next day) This is the second

Pau Article

Here's a link to a pretty amazing article about our local 'city'...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/apr/30/pau-france-race-circuit