Over There - Twenty Third Day

Here is a view of the nearby pub, from the front porch.

It really is 'just across the street'. They have really good hamburgers.

Over There - Eighteenth Day

This is the story of the hedge at the back of the garden.

1. There was a wood fence, behind which was a hedge about 8 feet in depth. The view over the fields was blocked. Mark started by removing the fence panels and posts.

 Next, we started removing the hedge. This is Hedge Day 1.

 After Hedge Day 2, it was about half gone.

 By Hedge Day 3, only the breeze block wall remained between us and the view.

 Finally, Hedge Day 5, just a bit of the wall remains. It awaits a future burst of energy. The dirt mound behind the wall was filled with all kinds of rubble, including pieces of asbestos-concrete roofing material.

Arthur did his part to help, by tending the Garden Waste bags full of Hedge Clippings.

He and his Dad took a stroll around the garden before bath time.

Over There - Fifteenth Day

We all went for an outing to the Devon Railroad Center. It is the site of a former railroad stop at the village of Bickleigh. There are small trains to ride, and model train layouts installed in old passenger rail cars.

 There was a small "drive it yourself" train for kids. Ada and her half-cousin enjoyed the ride.

Ada also demonstrated her skill on the climbing wall in the playground.

 Her Dad likes to give her other kinds of wild rides!

 Afterwards, we had lunch at Fisherman's Cot pub in Bickleigh. It is situated on the bank of the Exe River, next to a nice old stone bridge.

Ada sorted the ice cubes from her orange juice. She likes multiple straws in her beverages.

 Everyone had a good time.

Over There - Eleventh Day

The weather turned really nice over the weekend. Mark took full advantage, and made huge progress in cleaning up the back yard. Three of four old fence panels - Down!

Meanwhile, Arthur was working with Tissue Origami.

Over There - Tenth Day

On Sunday, Ada was ready to head to Nanny's house for an egg hunt.

So was Arthur.

The egg hunt was a great success. Nanny has a wonderful yard for hiding eggs.

(The Easter Nanny had the foresight to make a map, so all the chocolate was eventually located.)

Arthur enjoyed sitting on Nanny's stairs with Mimi. "So this is what Baby Jail feels like!"

Later, Arthur practiced standing and leaning on the table.

"Look, Mimi! No hands!"

Over There - Forth Day

The first week or so was chilly and rainy, so Mark kept us warm with the stove.

We went shopping in nearby Nailsea.

Ada's Grandma Nanny gave her a very nice art kit for Christmas. One of the best parts were some Frozen ink stamps. She soon had Elsa stamps all over herself!