Author: Anne Fox

Tony lost half his workday today because of a bomb scare. No, it’s not what you’re thinking. The story is that they were storing a dangerous liquid at Kalø and after 20-30 years it had begun to dry out. Apparantly this liquid becomes even more dangerous and liable to blow up the drier it gets. (Don’t forget that they have explosives and so on for the canon nets they use to catch birds). Anyway one of the technicians found this bottle of dangerous goo today while looking for explosives for their next bird catching expedition and realised what it was and how dangerous it could be and so the police were called, the bomb squad were called, the ambulances were on standby and Tony and his mates had to stand outside all afternoon watching the remote controlled robot going in to remove this stuff. And just as Tony was unlocking the car to go home there was an almighty explosion as the experts had taken this stuff to a field below and blown it up in a controlled explosion.

So Tony will have to go to work tomorrow anyway to finish what he could not get done this afternoon and this is why it pays to tidy up and not forget about potential bombmaking equipment for 30 years!

There was a special offer of a violin in the neighbourhood discount supermarket for just under £30 and Mia wanted this. We advised her that the quality may be dubious but she agreed to buy it with her own money anyway. I couldn’t believe that we’d got not only the violin but also the case for the above price. I thought there had been a mistake at the checkout but no that was the deal!

After one of Mia’s teachers offered to fix the strings and tune it, it seemed to work passably well though it is the bow which seems to be the weak point as Mia’s bow from her rented violin works well on the new instrument while the new bow seems to have areas of weakness where it just won’t play the note. Not bad for £30 even if we end up having to buy a new bow.

Mia is dressed as a Christmas pixie in the picture because it was the last day of school and she was distributing sweets dressed like that together with her colleagues from the school council. She had a friend to stay that day who desperately wanted to try out what it was like playing a violin. Of course Mia is the expert on that in our house and she was a severely critical teacher to her friend. But Johanne was persistent and prepared to overlook the harsh comments. ‘It’s no good, you always make the same mistake!’ and so on.

Mia had her second and final performance in the choir at the local church this afternoon. One of the draws was pop and nibbles with the vicar afterwards.

Yesterday we had a phone call just after 7pm from a lady who thinks that a stray cat visiting her may be ours. So we all went off in the car to her house to take a look but unfortunately for everybody concerned it wasn’t Hazel.

Thank you for voting in the Edublog awards. I don’t know what you did but it worked! We won in our category. I listened in to the live online awards ceremony but rather ignominiously could not make my acceptance speech as my audio settings were wrong!!!

Obviously you don’t want to live in Birmingham. What would your song be like? You’ll get the gist after the first two minutes of this 8 minute video. More explanations at the end if you get that far.

These are growing at the moment somewhere within the confines of number 54 but the question is where exactly would you find these delicate little fungi? Prizes for the best suggestions.

The gingerbread house was bought at Bonn Christmas market where Anne was last weekend as part of her trip to Remagen in Germany. Last year the girls got a DIY version but this year there were only ready made ones. They seem to like it anyway.

Gwen has tried riding the palomino twice more but without Vivi’s expert help with the saddle, things didn’t run smoothly and she soon gave up when she could feel the saddle slipping. We’ll try again but only when Vivi can help with the saddle.

Today Mia had a tooth taken out at the dentist. It wasn’t as bad as she’d feared plus she should have had two out but got away with only one as long as she does her best to get the second one to fall out spontaneously. The problem is that the adult ones are knocking at the door and don’t have room to come out. Part of the anaesthetic was laughing gas which really did make her laugh.

Gwen finally got to ride one of the neighbour’s horses at the weekend. It has been talked about for many years but only happened on Sunday for a short ride up the track round our house and back. Woody is a stud, literally but has not got the stallion temperament you would expect, fortunately. However he is not used to this riding lark so was a bit confused when they put a saddle on him for the first time in about two years. Gwen coped admirably and hopes to be able to ride him some more before the mares come on heat again and our neighbour has to make some money.

The picture is of the bowl of gougères which Gwen made at the weekend according to Monique’s recipe and which got the seal of approval from Monique (on the basis of appearance alone obviously). It seems strange to be  in Denmark eating something which we have only ever consumed in Auxerre or Chevannes until now.

The whole family has been evaluated in some form or other over the last two weeks but mainly this week. Last week we had a parent’s evening for Mia where we were told lots of nice things. Today we had a parent’s evening for Gwen where we were told lots of nice things. On Tuesday Tony had his annual talk with his boss (though it is only the second time in all his time at Kalø¸ that he has had one) and today Anne had her annual talk with her boss (though it is onlythe second time in ten years that she has had one). And to top it all, the cat lady came on Wednesday to check that we were treating the cat OK and that she didn’t have to go back to the shelter.

Mia had a great session with the scouts this week. It was billed as a first aid training evening at the local emergency services station but turned out to be mostly trying out the ambulance by screaming round the forecourt with the sirens blaring. Tremendous fun by all accounts. Not much about the Heimlich Manoevre though.

At the moment this Swedish hunk is what Mia’s class are going mad about. Press the play icon to see and hear. Key words are Boten Anna and Basshunter.

Picture: Rosemary eschews the elaborate cat baskets in favour of the waste paperbasket kept by the stove to start fires.

Tony is on a flying visit to the UK and Mia is on scout camp for the weekend so Gwen and I are alone. I picked the last grapes on November 1st and have just been making redcurrant jelly with juice collected in July and since stored in the freezer. We went out to the coast today to our secret place for sloes and there were loads even though it is rather late in the year so we got a good bag full and if Tony comes back with some gin we can get the Christmas sloe gin going as soon as possible.

We have had snow, hail and frost but none of it causing mobility problems. Now that is a bit early.

Gwen has just been introduced to instant messaging and is corresponding with a Spanish girl in an effort to raise the standard of both their written English. Perhaps that is too muchto hope for but both were keen today on their first ‘meeting’.