Nattatasha designs!

Here is Florence modelling the latest in children's wear for the summer! Having abandoned my knitting needles in favour for the sewing machine I have branched out into vintage style dresses for anyone fortunate to be between the ages of one and three. All Florence needs now is some sunshine and a party to go to!

The Black Horse, Great Linford

Had a lovely lunch in the sunshine with Robert, Rachel, Rebecca and Henry more often referred to here as my loyal Spalding fans! Dark glasses and glamorous hats were the order of the day as you can see from the photos of the boys and the girls!

Who's this then?

Dad has been playing with the gadget we bought at Christmas which converts slides to photographs and has been going through some old slides and negatives. Had a bit of a giggle going through the ones he has done which included Mum and Dad's honeymoon in Libya and some gorgeous looking baby! Now I don't expect any giggling from any of my Godchildren!

Happy Birthday Dad

While we were in Spain we celebrated several landmark days! Dad was 21 again, Mark, well we try to forget that one and it was our 5th Wedding Anniversary. We had several lovely lunches out, ate far too much and returned home to sleep in the sun. Perfect!

The London Eye and Thames Boat Cruise

As part of our day out in London we had free tickets to go on the London Eye. Amazingly Mark has never been on it before so although it was the third time for me it was a first for him. Quite an unusual situation for us to find ourselves in! The views were superb and Mark was able to point out many landmarks and buildings of London. The boat cruise was fun too but they nearly forgot to take us off at the end and we were close to cruising again!

Drove down The Mall on our way home where they were only just finishing removing all the temporary TV studios from the royal wedding. Tried to pretend I was Kate Middleton as we drove round the statue and on to Clarence House but just couldn't channel her vibe!

Corrigan's for Lunch

Mark and I spent the day in London and had lunch at Richard Corrigan's restaurant in Mayfair. We had a delicious lunch the highlight being for me the freshly baked Madelaine's that came straight out of the kitchen in the baking tray, dusted with icing sugar, as a petite four. There wasn't much petite about them and I could have easily eaten four! Fortunately the waiter kept coming past our table!

Massive Blog Update!

Thoroughly chided by my Spalding fans for my long blog absence here is a massive update before the real adventure starts on the 14th June.

Way back at the beginning of May I went to a local falconry centre and spent three wonderful hours learning about many birds of prey and flying a selection of birds. Unfortunately the Harris Hawk wasn't interested in my bits of day old chick and wouldn't fly to me but I had more luck with the owls. I was amazed at how light they were and how delicate the balance between life and death related to temperature and a carefully measured portion of food for their weight.

The weather was glorious and the birds flew well enjoying the warmth and I guess the opportunity to stretch their wings. Would love to go again and perhaps next time have more luck with the hawks.