Snow Day #4

So J ate an icicle off a car and said that she would throw an ice-ball at me. No school is boring in a way. You invite everybody on the first two days then you realize there is nothing left to do so you watch TV instead.

Snow Day #2, Carillon

The European Dad's hit the Alpine slopes in style, with some serious speed, shrub crashes and drift roll-overs. It was the best fun ever, except the kids decided not to take part and skulked in a nearby amphitheater.

Comfort Food in RVA

When it's freezing outside you might need a little RVA comfort food and so to brunch at Cafe 182... tempted by the Cowboy Benedict but the French toast, an omelette, a stack of pancakes (well 1 really) and a breakfast burrito won.

Back home we did the annual pancakes and for that 4th Snow Day, a true Dutch uitsmijter (single egg though).

Guinea Pigs on Floyd

Experiment: We wanted to see which guinea pig had the strongest sense of smell.

Hypothesis: Oscar (black one)

Conclusion: Well there wasn't really a conclusion since neither one could smell it. We gave them a head-start, but they just climbed right out!

So a-few days later I gave them a hug.

Valentines

J decided to collect the shells on Texas Beach, then she drilled holes in them with additional power-tool support from P and finally they were strung up by me.

A hard night's work for 24 lovely Kindergarteners and we even got a thank you note!

Studio School, VMFA

So back to school with the lovely Matt Lively of RVA mural fame and some great company along the way.

Reductive architectural drawing & collage had me struggling but copying photographer,  Sally Mann (she's from Virginia!) and doing blind-contours got me hooked.

Beaver Lake, Pocahontas

Training up for the 10K in the wilderness and it was amazing and still and silent apart from my thudding feet. Turns out it wasn't that far but the ups and downs certainly took my breath away.

Ate my picnic on the pontoon in the sunshine.

More Texas Beach, RVA

On a mini island at Texas Beach - low water, warm air and bare trees - bliss!!!

Texas Beach, RVA

Pottering along the shore of Texas Beach for shells and other things, after a full English breakfast with home-made sausages plus hash browns for local flavour.

Winter in Yorktown, VA

Still our favorite winter beach and this time introducing the newly arrived English gang to jellyfish-spotting, bamboo-felling and the good old Revolutionary War, lost on this very spot.

Bread on Floyd

Baking on Floyd just went up a level thanks to the arrival of an Empire Red Kitchen Aid. So far Paul Hollywood's post-festive brown loaf is a winner though the New England Anadama bread was universally considered disgusting and the focaccia needs work.