What will we find in the woods today?

Monday morning and the school trip into the woods.  Dropped Ruby off at school and she took the bus with her friends and Rivan and I followed in the car.  It is always interesting to find new places to explore and this was a great wood that we had not been to before - about 30 minutes away.  Dappled shade provided by century old oaks, we meandered through the woods listening to our guide and looking out for interesting things on the wood floor.  We passed a great lake that was completely empty - was quite a site and apparently it had not dried up due to the lack of rain but was a fishing lake and would be filled again when the fishing season started.

They had organised several activities for the kids - finding different shaped leaves and sticking them on their worksheets, bark rubbing and painting without paints - just using natures plants to provide colour.  Rivan was in the rucksack most of the time (he is starting to get quite heavy now and I can really feel it in my hips later in the day) but he got down several times to join in with his future class mates.  A quick snack and drink to refresh the kids energy levels and before we knew it back to the bus and homewards bound.

This afternoon the surplus tomato plants were distributed to our neighbours (our surrogate granny and Mr Mayor) and then planting some flowers to make the front look pretty.  The kids played in the car - taking it in turns to drive to school, whilst I emptied out the old pots and refilled them with life and colour.   Pots out the front need watering as does the new flowerbed in the back garden and with the lack of rain there will be water restrictions soon for sure, so tonight I have started a new routine - to save the bath water from the kids and take this in buckets out to the garden.  The bubble bath they use is very gentle and does not sting their eyes so I am sure that it will not hurt the plants.  It does not take me long, soon the bath is empty and the plants are refreshed.

Tonight is the first night Ruby goes without a nappy - she has had a dry nappy for several days now so we are just going to bite the bullet and take the leap of faith.  I told her that her new friend does not wear a nappy at night as he is a big boy, so now she wants to be just like him.  Who knows how many times she will be up in the night…..

Comments

[minutepapillon]

hum...... off the table, it's more environment-friendly ;D
i was told by my mother in law who saw it on the channel 3 news at 7:30 but haven't been able to track it on the net

[rae of sunshine]

What would it be - paper plates or just eating off the table and then washing afterwards? Not heard of the reports of the Vienne river and power cuts - will have to ask our neighbours and see if they have heard anything - you’re in the Vienne too right?

[minutepapillon]

nappyless at night here too.
using bath water, good idea! I myself am considering giving up doing the washing up ;D U heard the Vienne river was so low they were gonna have to cut down on the electricity production at the central power station as it requires lots of the river water to cool down the system when it's on and people in Vienne will go through long power cuts, or so my mother-in-law just told me. Have you heard of that?