Day 13.050: Calm down at the beach

The kids did homework, we had a walk on the beach:

Later, we all played Pandemic Legacy Season 2 (Early March) which would have been perfect timing if it had not been a leap year.

Day 13.049: The week's end

It was quite a week at work - I fitted three phone interviews into Monday and Friday, while Tuesday through Thursday were filled with all-day meetings with visitors from our head office.

It was quite productive, but left me feeling a bit like this:

Actually my colleague's computer last week when his docking station had a fatal crash

But now the work week is over and the weekend starts here.

Day 13.048: Wet and wild

This morning looked like this:

It was pouring down and blowing a gale. Puddles and mud - it almost seems like thaw has arrived (in case you're wondering it's a name I coined for this in-between season nearly ten years ago).

Day 13.047: Pink sky - no filter

I took this back on Day 13.035 a.k.a. Valentine's Day. The sky really looked like this.

Nearly two weeks later, the snow cover is starting to break up and - at least this evening - the sky was a more ordinary color.

Day 13.046: One eye open

E5N1 has had the ability to sleep with at least one eye slightly open since he was a toddler. We don't often see him sleep these days, but today he was home sick from school and - sure enough:

Happily he is doing a bit better at this end of the day.

Day 13.045: Videography again

Since I spent a long time putting it together, I'm going to post this here...


Producing recorded music and making videos are both relatively new to me - so I feel like I have a lot to learn but each time is a bit better than the last - and even if not, doing new things is fun anyway.

Day 13.044: Exile #2's Sunday Column #286

Exile #2 writes:

Yesterday was one of Exile #3's regular events with her dance company at the local library. They dance their current pieces and in between, the head of the school leads the smaller members of the audience in some dance games. The dance company has begun to really settle into their new dances, which is always fun to see, and I happened to sit next to a member of the choir I’ve just joined in town.

The rest of the weekend was a bit more mundane but it has been brightened every now and then by the sight of Exile #4 and her new haircut. It is still catching me by surprise but at the same time, it seems totally her.

Day 13.043: Matching and red

That moment when your daughter comes down to dinner wearing your clothes because she's been playing Ron Weasley in an online thing and you find you are almost matching:

...and then your son comes in wearing a similar shirt and we take a group shot and then notice his face is red and someone points it out and then it keeps getting redder and redder:

Day 13.042: Scissors out

We watched Knives Out tonight and all really loved it - so there's that recommendation.

In other news, Exile #4 had a dramatic haircut this week - here are the before and after photos:

Day 13.041: Sometimes even the storms that "miss"...

...are enough to make the drive home from work interesting and the morning really pretty:

Day 13.040: Did I mention it was really cold?

...which makes the people who were wading more than waist-deep off the beach all the more remarkable:

I'm not sure what they were catching/collecting, but at least one gull was paying close attention:

Day 13.039: Cold at Pine Point

On Monday, Exile #2 and I managed to persuade E5N1 that he could manage a third outing in three days - for a lunchtime exploration of Pine Point at low tide. We had a little wander but it was bitterly cold, so we didn't stay too long.

It's not hard to believe that these sands have been used for both motor racing and as an airstrip in earlier times:

Some finds: we saw several of these weedy balls, but didn't work out what they are. The bottom left picture is patterns in - appropriately enough - mostly pine needles on the sand.

Day 13.038: Narrow gauge surprise

I had the day off work today for the beginning of the kids week off - I'll be back to work tomorrow.'

During yesterday's walk in Portland's East End, E5N1 asked if the railroad museum would be open and I replied that I didn't think so.

A few minutes later - this happened:

I guess it was open after all! Maybe if we'd seen this sign earlier in the walk I'd have been better prepared:

Then again, I think I'd struggle to expect a train to move in any direction - I think it's safe to assume they can only move in two.

Day 13.037: Exile #2's Sunday Column #285

Exile #2 writes...

It has been bitterly cold this weekend, but it is school vacation, so we decided to grab lunch in Portland after church and go for a walk. The sunshine did not feel warm but we kept reminding ourselves that was good to have it on our skin!

The walk was a little longer than we intended, as we reached what we’d hoped would be set of stairs we could use as a short cut and found a fairly terrifying ice formation instead. Someone was coming down on their bottom but we didn’t fancy the potential for disaster. None of us thought to bring an ice ax for some reason. Anyway, we arrived home feeling like we’d stretched our legs and enjoyed some toast and Doctor Who.

Day 13.036: Softest snow day

We had a pretty coating of snow on Thursday:

But it in no way justified the fact that the schools were closed. It was above freezing by about 9 am and - although the snow kept falling - it really didn't cause any issues on the roads.

Today, by contrast was sunny but very cold - and the first day of the kids winter break.

Day 13.035: Heart-shaped brownies

Valentine's Day at Exile central:

Day 13.034: Throwback Thursday - when Exile #2 had more teeth

E5N1 has stopped doing the minimum (60 mins per week) of trumpet practice and is instead aiming to play every day. This gives him even more flexibility in what he plays some days. One fun thing has been downloading music with piano accompaniment and enrolling Exile #2 to play with him. It's amazing what you can find on the internet these days:

It's not a major throwback but I took this at the weekend when Exile #2 had her two top wisdom teeth. Her lower ones were taken out in Oxford around the time we got engaged I think. The top two were removed yesterday and she is recovering pretty well.

Day 13.033: There's a story there

I don't know why this tree had never caught our eye before - it's quite strikingly held up by a network of roots that were - presumably - at one time in the ground.

I'm sure there's a story there, but I don't know what it is.

Day 13.032: Spring and snow

Whatever the groundhog may say - and I've defended him in the past with graphs - spring is not with us yet, but we did happen to encounter a spring tide on Sunday. Spring tides occur twice a month and are the tides with the biggest height difference between high and low tide. In this case, the high tide was only fairly normally high, but the low tide was significantly lower than normal - and that is what we witnessed.

The other thing was the ominous line of clouds (bottom left). I suspect they are the reason for the snow flakes that fell as we walked back along the beach - falling in big loose clumps that exploded when they landed on my glove into groups of very pretty and large snowflakes.

Day 13.031: More icy trees - at the beach

Exile #2 and I made the most of some late afternoon sunshine, a low tide and some time to have a walk on the beach yesterday. It was cold, but lovely.

Surprisingly, the trees were still holding onto their icy coatings, and catching the sun:

Closer inspection showed that the ice had all melted away from the southern sides of each twig and branch (and fir cone), but was clinging on the northern side: