Nature Calls

Just found this old video in the dusty recesses of the Archie Archive - from about 6 or 7 years ago when he was knee high to a grass hopper.
Back from a walk to town and back as it was so nice out - bright sunshine after a nippy start. Got a couple of DVD's to watch including Avatar from the library, to see what all the fuss is about. I really hate the idea of every film being a 3D blockbuster. Also - 3D telly - what's that all about? Hope it goes the same way as Cinemascope and Smellivision!

Leslie,Carl, Bethan Visit

Hazel's old college chum Leslie drove up to see us for the afternoon from Walsall yesterday. We had planned on a picnic but the weather was a bit iffy so we erred on the side of caution an had a buffet lunch indoors. I made an asparagus quiche and salad and also there was sausage rolls and warm crusty olive bread. Hazel made a rather disastrous meringue which hadn't cooked properly and was a bit gooey in the middle despite being in the oven over an hour. It was Delia Smith's recipe so we blame her! I got some small meringues from the co-op and we had strawberries with them and double cream. By this time we needed a walk to get rid of all the pounds we had added so went to Marbury to see the bluebells and enjoy the smells and sounds of the woods and meadows. Short edited Flip film above gives you an idea.
Then to Granma's for tea and cake and put on the pounds we had just walked off!

Tiny House

New animation that Archie had to make for A level course at college.

Tatton Biennale

Two boot sales today at Hartford and Antrobus. Not many bargains but plenty to rummage through in the bright Spring sunshine. Star buys were DVD's of Burn After Reading , a recent Coen Brothers comedy with John Malkovich and George Clooney etc. which is worth seeing again. Saw it at the cinema when it first came out. Hazel got a few things including a bag of needles, buttons and poppers from the 50's or 60's. Also a lovely gadget for measuring the distance between bowls - the crown green kind, to see who is nearest the jack. I expect all these things will appear on her blog in due course.

In the afternoon drove over to Tatton Hall to see the sculpture Biennale in the gardens. There was also art in the house but didn't have time to do that as well. Hazel's ex students Ryan Gander and Austin Holdsworth had made things for it. We met Autsin by chance on the way round as Hazel was rattling the doors to the small mobile cinema he was manning. Austin jumped out of a bush and said "There's always someone isn't there!" which was quite funny.
The gardens looked very beautiful at the moment with all the rhodedendrons and daffs and bluebells etc. Some of the sculpture was good too. A small selection in the short film above. I did the "magic" edit mode so the Flip camera does it automatically and splices segments together. Its a bit jumpy but gives you an idea of what we saw.
Austin made the water pumping sculpture you see briefly which has a pineapple and partridge inside those cannisters being "fossilised" over time. Ryan made the bird of paradise that loos like a mask in a glass case in the window of the house. That's Lord Egerton (who's family used to own Tatton )driving around in his jalopy. His old 8mm films were edited for the small cinema on a loop.

May Day Weekend

Lucky with the weather yesterday as they predicted torrential rain but it didn't turn up until the evening. Went to town with Hazel early on to do the usual round of charity shops and the market. Didn't buy much. Found a DVD of "Coffee And Cigarettes" in the Hospice Shop - a Jim Jarmusch film that I hadn't seen before.
In the afternoon Hazel and I drove over to Marbury to walk through the bluebell woods - the short Flip film above does not do it justice. It was quite stunning as always and amazed it was so quiet with just one or two people walking dogs or on mountain bikes etc. You'd think the place would be packed on a Saturday to see such a sight as it doesn't last for long.
In the evening we watched the Fantastic Mr. Fox animation which was OK but the American voices didn't seem right really for a Roald Dahl story. All the baddies were played by veteran English actors though - why is that? How come we are so good at playing baddies or is this just how the rest of the world sees us?

Today it was a bit cooler to say the least but at least the rain held off for the boot sales at Verdin Park and Vic. Stadium. Verdin was best with quite a few stalls and hardy folk shivering behind their piles of tat. I bought two old battered tin toys - a duck and a car. A quid each which I thought quite reasonable. Hazel bought lots of odd bits including a 60's hair trimmer as used by Flash Gordon, a Bakelite needle case and some plants.
Good to get back into the warm after the windswept car park of the Vic. Stadium which only had about ten stalls. Nothing there.
Hazel has made some delicious choc chip cakes. Yum!