30 June 2024

And, we’re off (again) – another weekend away – not sure I can keep this up! This weekend we are off to visit with friends near Brighton with an outing (yesterday) to see The Caretaker at Chichester Theatre. As a consequence, this edition of the MPP may be a bit sparse and (perhaps) to the point? Probably not.

The weather for much of the week has been divine and a welcome change from the rains and showers and floods and shivering temperatures we’ve endured over the past few of weeks – at least for a couple of days it’s been scorcio!

Sadly, I don’t think it’s supposed to last very long. Hey ho.

We had a lovely time last weekend. Last Friday, as I wrote, we watched Annabelle performing in The Addams Family. Sunday, we took ourselves to Northampton to see Jessie “starring” in her End of Term performance with her Style Stars group. This is a Saturday morning activity which she thoroughly enjoys – she’s a natural. As the audience, we get to enjoy about three hours of “entertainment” as each of the dance/singing groups take their turn to perform.

I have to admire the young woman who runs these groups – there are little ones (three to five-year-olds), primary-school-aged children (and she works with a number of schools as well as running her Saturday sessions), a few secondary school-aged kids and a group of adults with special needs. How she keeps all these kids and groups in order is a mystery but, with some additional adult help, she manages (just about).

Because each group has to have their turn(s) to perform, the end of term show lasts about three hours with numerous “pauses” as the differing groups shuffle on to the stage, stand around waiting for something to happen, wander off again to reappear at intervals, some in time for the start of the routine, others not quite. Think primary school Nativity play times 50. Once the music starts, they go through their routines, all of which seem to be strikingly similar. Still, Jessie performed flawlessly (she seems to be one of those who actually knows what’s supposed to be going on – many of the children’s faces project a blank, confused expression as they waddle about the stage). Still, we all enjoyed ourselves, numb backsides notwithstanding.

Sadly, no photos allowed during the performances so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Monday, we had another grand day – Jessie was at school but the rest of the family came to ours for lunch, including Ava’s parents who are here visiting from China. They’re such good sports and seem to enjoy themselves when they visit even though our ability to communicate is not particularly well-developed. They certainly have good taste – they loved Penny’s One Pan Tuscan Salmon (another dish worthy of inclusion in the Moreton Pinkney Picayune Online Recipe collection) and Mum’s Pecan Pie was equally well appreciated with second helpings all round.

We were out on Tuesday evening with a couple of our lovely neighbours. We went to see a film in Banbury with pizza after – what could be better? Wilding is about the efforts of Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree to ‘rewild’ the former’s family farm. The farm is on fairly marginal land and, as a consequence, the estate previously relied upon on large quantities of artificial fertilizer and insecticide/fungicide. When Charlie Burrell inherited the estate much of the land was essentially “dead”. So, he and his wife decided to eliminate the use of chemicals, reintroduce fairly “traditional” livestock and let nature take its course. And, oh my goodness has it done so – the transformation is astonishing.

Since we began rewilding just twenty years ago, endangered species such as nightingales, turtle doves and purple emperor butterflies have found sanctuary here. The sheer abundance of life is mind-blowing. Herds of old English longhorn cattle, Tamworth pigs, Exmoor ponies and red and fallow deer wander the landscape, their disturbance shaping the water meadows, shrubland and wood pasture, creating new habitats for wildlife. Knepp’s dynamic, rebounding ecosystem is a story of hope, showing how nature can bounce back if we let it. Thousands of nature-lovers come here to take in the astonishing sights and sounds.

https://knepp.co.uk

A fascinating/interesting documentary which shows that nature, with minimal intervention, can manage the land quite well.

And finally, Lucy sent a brief recording and photo of Annabelle performing in an end of term concert at school. Folks may or may not know, she decided to take up the double bass this year because, why not?

Before you know it, she’ll be disappearing downtown and participating in events such as this:

And finally, finally, Adam shared this photo of a proud contestant in the school Sports Day – a First and two Seconds. Well done Jessie!

And finally, finally, finally, less than a week to go. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees.

Lots of love to you all,

Greg

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.