Winning and Losing

The Lovely MissE did not win

but a great time was had by all

and, as MasterM said,

"It was the Finals

so they were all winners."

Good Luck to the Lovely MissE

If you had asked me in January

for a list of things that my son would never do

I would have included...

flower arranging
learning to knit
attending a hairdressing competition

Today the Lovely MissE is in the

Redken Urban Talent competition

as a model

It is the national finals in London
and my son

has managed to get a ticket.

I am beside myself with curiosity...

what will he wear?

how will he sit still for so long?

will everyone think he is a hairdresser?

It is a lesson for me...

I must always allow my children to surprise me.

For Youngest

Here is a Magic Feather.

You don't need it,

but, as Dumbo discovered,

sometimes it is nice to have something to hold.

******

Here is a Get Well card from us all

No Excuses!

*****

Here is something to watch
if you have some spare time

recommended by MissM

my YouTube advisor.

It is just like surfing really

*****

Here is a Get Well gift.

You will need it

for your surf board

next summer.

A Real Estate Problem

Here at ChezMagpie we have £2M to spend

and we are looking for ideas

This seems ideal.

Central location

Parking

and a Bedroom.

What more could we ask?

We could get our groceries from Fortnum and Mason

and Poppy could promenade in St. James' Park.

But MrM is not convinced.

He thinks that Poppy might not be happy

in the third floor study/bed.

MrM has a cunning plan.

He suggests this as our main house:

AND this as a city pied a terre:

AND this for seaside holidays:

AND we would still have some spare change for this:

I am tempted to go with his plan.

It is a lot of curtains

and I am sure that the toothpaste

would always be in the wrong place

but I think we could make it work.

One Hundred

I have made it to 100 posts

which is amazing

because I have never ever kept a diary

past January 10th.

I would like to thank all of you

who visit and comment

and I offer you my best pictures of cabbages

which I hope will appeal to everyone.

Angie at Children in the Corn

Jane at Snapdragon

Ginny at The Flour Loft

who grow things

bb at say la vee who appreciates whimsy

Val at dottycookie who will laugh at eccentricity

Carrie at Third Times A Charm? who needs help with slugs

Tracy at Pink Purl who comforts with caring comments

Carolyn at Willow House who can relate to rugbymania

Jane at Yarnstorm who loves colour

Breadbox who is MrMs's favourite contributor
Anne from Happy to be Here who has a teenage son...nuff said

Alice in Connecticut who monitors sartorial standards

And those without blogs

Paula and kmkat who are always welcome

GMS who knows that I did not grow these cabbages myself.

And everyone who drops by.

And everyone who lurks.

THANK YOU ALL

And last - but most important -

I thank my family for their tolerance

of my camera and my teasing.

It wouldn't be anything without them.

England v South Africa

MrM and MasterM are off to Paris to watch The Big Match.

The Easy Part

• Buy tickets 2 years in advance
  
  
• Buy Eurostar tickets exactly 4 months in advance
  
  
• Ask for permission from The Headmaster
  for MasterM to miss school
  
  

The Tricky Part

• Ask MrsM to get the Euros
  (and hope she doesn't forget)
  
  
• Find binoculars
  (thank goodness MrsM has weekend to put house back together)
  
  
• Persuade MasterM not to wear South African shirt
  
  

The Hard Part

• England wins.
  
  
• Unlikely.

The Even Harder Part

• MrM has to tell MasterM
  that he has a ticket for The Final.
  
  
• But only one.

Procrastination

There are blackberries on the other side of this gate.

I was going to pick them today.

When I go back into this field

it will be almost winter

and the blackberries will be long gone.

It doesn't matter.

There will be blackberries next year

But there might not be cows.

Jolly Hockey Sticks

I hated hockey when I was at school.

I hated everything about it...

ugly studded boots,

muddy fields,

freezing rain against my legs,

soggy woollen socks,

teachers screaming incomprehensible instructions.

It is all so different now.

dry Astroturf,

comfortable trainers,

warm stylish tracksuits,

teachers who want to encourage participation.

MissM thinks it is good fun ...

an opportunity to have a laugh with her friends.

I wish I had known that.

Humble Pie

I'm in deep trouble here at ChezMagpie.

MrM is not happy.

It would appear that I have
completely misrepresented

our anniversary meal.

MrM does not deny

that he received over 20 texts from MasterM

during the course of the evening

but states that it is completely unreasonable

to expect him to eat and drink without knowing the score.

The technical term is
CRUEL AND UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR

.

Now I am not going to argue with him

because he is the one

who will book the tickets for Venice next year.

And I am thinking of you lot out there in Blogland.

If I don't go to Venice

you won't ever find out

what Italian women wear to Rugby matches.

And I think you need to know.

So, I am issuing a complete retraction

and I am off to eat slabs of Humble Pie.

Remember, I am doing it for you.

Sunshine...

...enjoy it while you can.