Working hard/Hardly blogging

As usual, this blog goes dark when too much is going on. 

So, here's what's been going on over here at Huff House East: Too much.

We've been celebrating quietly 

Toonamint turned eight

Tamsin's whole life has been gearing up towards her First Sleepover Party, which, in our house, is allowed when you turn eight. She's been so excited. She watched Ailsa's June birthday get pushed back to September, though, so wasn't completely unprepared when, at the end of November, we weren't allowed to invite friends into our home, even for cake. But, cake we had, and we've promised that the very instant we're allowed to open our doors, we'll invite her two besties over for a night of sugar and giggles (and probably no sleep). 

She is still delightfully silly, despite being a mature young lady of eight. We like her a lot.

Party Llama cake

Huff Holiday Season

Snacky dinners:
when the cheese plate gets taken a bit too far.

Christmas was quiet, too. 

Just us, which has been the norm for the past three years, but this year, we were going to host all of Chris' family. That didn't happen, and neither did any of our planned outings, because everything's closed. However, again, should things reopen, we have a voucher to use at Legoland. Don't tell the kids (we didn't). 

But, Santa came, we were spoiled even rottener than usual, we feasted, we sang... it was still a good Christmas.

Family selfie in front of Fortnum and Mason
on our annual Christmas Lights Walk.

Tween turns twelve

Vaughn turned twelve without enough excitement, but with plenty of presents and food. Again, give us the word, UK government, and we'll have some of his friends over to eat pizza, play video games, and... well, that's all that 12-year-old boys like to do, really, as evidenced by our new 12-year-old boy. 

He's even more awesome (and stubborn) than when we brought him home from the hospital when he was three days old. Snif. 

Cake: good. 

Pirate cake inspired by his new Sea of Thieves video game.

Back to school homeschool 

Everything is totally normal.

We moved to "Tier 5" of Covid-19 restrictions* just after Christmas, and since then have spent all day, every day together. I've been sitting at the table with the kids, trying to keep up with my own contracts and projects (and usually putting in hours after they go to bed, because there's just no way to do both), while Chris has been manning the printer. He is reprising his classic role of Sandwich Maker, and doing swimmingly, as well as taking on the title of Snackmaster.

Where were you when you got the news?

Everything else

There is nothing else. Well, that's not quite true. The kids walk Ziggy before school, and have various exercise stations around the flat, including Vaughn's new punching bag. The older two were proud to have passed their Grade 1 piano exams in the fall, and all three are keeping up with piano lessons via Zoom. And, once a week, I get a full hour** to myself*** to teach my ZoomCamp, an intra-living-room workout class for my bootcamp participants. 

We have no plans for travel, as we're not allowed to sleep overnight away from our own residence, but...no, that's it. No plans.

Finally, this blog may end up getting transported/commuted/rolled into my writing site (http://karenhoughwrites.com/), so stay tuned and I'll send an update when that's a go.

* Tier 6 is rumoured to involve being confined to underground burrows 24 hours/day and having to grow one's own mushrooms for sustenance

** it's never a full hour before someone walks in

*** see above (sigh)

A Cup of Tea and a Change of Scenery

Mourning my second office

Wait. If I don't drink coffee, does that mean that I'll never be a real writer?

Between pandemic fears and homeschooling horrors, only a very few things have remained constant. I had to give up my running group, and the bootcamps I teach, first due to physical distancing regulations, and then due to my-children-are-always-at-home.

I had to give up the luxury of my "second office," Starbucks. I didn't work there often, no more than once every three weeks, but I had to give up the idea of having another option besides sharing the dining room table with the three kids (distracting and bickering-y), or my beautiful old secretary desk (more than arm's-length away, no direct line of sight to children not doing schoolwork).

Way back before March, a trip to my "second office" always started with a nice long walk with Ziggy. First stop: the dog park, involving as much frolicking and racing around after balls and other dogs as possible. I didn't play; I was weighed down by my Writerly SatchelTM, that held his favourite (small) blanket to lie down on and a chewy stick and some treats to keep him occupied so I could work. I also brought along another relic of the time before COVID: my reusable cup. (I've had to chug down still-steaming hot latte too many times from giant Starbucks mugs when Ziggy's decided he's had enough and wants to be outside again.) Now, the environment is back to dealing with disposable cups.

My satchel is a gorgeous old leather Roots bag that I found online after a trip to Florence in which we ran out of time to find me a new purse (I don't buy expensive purses, but decided that, if I were to have a souvenir, it might as well be something that I'd use for years), but then I also refused to buy one in the airport, on principle. I got home, with my leather-purse-pocket money still burning a hole in my...well, my pocket, and decided I'd rather have one from Roots instead, a Canadian brand that I've always loved, but by whose prices I have always been horrified by. But, I had permission, pocket money, and while new ones are still far too much for my thrifty self, they last forever. Mine was from Ebay, at a really decent price - £50 pounds instead of £300. Yes, it's used, but in a someone-else-broke-it-in-so-it-looks-just-right way. Sold.

Right, then. It easily holds the dog blanket, dog snacks, dog balls, reusable cup...oh yes, and my notebook, pen and laptop.

Nonexhaustive representation of contents of the Writerly SatchelTM

I'd go in to the Starbucks close to the park, set up my mobile hotspot from my phone, and sip my chai latte or London Fog while Ziggy worked away at his chewy.

Did I get more done in Starbucks than at my desk? No, but I got things done. I blocked out distractions (that weren't Ziggy, at least), and got to feel like a writer in public. Satchel: check! Notebook: check! Laptop: check! Look at me, I'm writing!

Here at home, there is less of that pride. Hey, we're all sitting around the dining room table, the kids on their school iPads, me on my laptop, all trying to work, trying to stay focused, trying to drink my tea before it gets cold. (Ziggy, however, is much more relaxed.)

Teatime

Green tea is for the morning. I start with a cup of flavoured green tea from my growing stash of tins and teas. Dragon Fruit, Berry Blend, Sencha Rose, Mint. Around ten, when the kids take a break, I choose another, boiling the water, then letting it sit while I fill up my little Nessie tea diffuser with loose tea, waiting for the temperature to drop to about 97, then steeping it for two, sometimes three minutes.

Camping tea is necessarily different. You pour boiling water into your mug,  pop in your teabag, and leave it there till noon, topping it up with hot water every half an hour or so.

After lunch, anytime up to 3 pm, I switch to black tea. Plain PG Tips, Assam, Ceylon or Earl Grey, each with a splash of milk. It's warming and heartening.

After 3, the caffeine will keep me awake at night. Herbal (no milk), any one of a giant selection from my tea box, keeps me company on the couch after the kids go to bed, and helps me not miss wine too much during the week. Late, late-night tea is always my Insomniac Blend.

On weekends, I splurge and make myself and the kids lattes.

It's fine, lovely, in fact. I love the tradition and ritual of tea, and I love that my kids love it too. We make a pot of Masala Chai or London Fog or Monster Mash, and serve it with biscuits. They add their own milk and sugar -- probably too much, but that's ok too.

The new normal

We joke about "savings from Starbucks" -- that, on top of saved transit fares and lunches on the go, and any other sundry amounts that get spent when you actually leave the house, we're also not spending £12 a week on coffee (him) or £9 a week on tea lattes (me). Plus the £20+ it costs to stop there "for snacks" for the kids on the way to the park or while running errands on a Saturday. 

I shudder. That's who we were, and who we never wanted to be.

I justify ordering from Hebden Tea (£20 of tea, free shipping) and buying him nice coffee beans, that he grinds up in his new manual burr grinder and brews every morning before joining us in the dining room too.

We miss leaving the house, and offices, whether cafés or real. But here, we are safe, we are healthy, we have tea. That will have to do.

Update on Huffling Home Schooling

The first thing you'll want to know is whether I've killed my children or husband yet.

I have not.

Proof of Life, as of Friday, anyway. Husband is (probably) just off-camera, honest.
(Image: author's own)

That doesn't mean that I don't want to, or that I'm not going to eventually, but that currently, right now, they are all alive and well. Pink-cheeked and healthy, in fact. Irritatingly so. And breathing through their mouths. And always right there.

Maybe you're also wondering how my novel is coming along, and whether my freelancing work is fun to do while locked to our dining room table from 8:30 - 3:30 every day because the kids' breaks don't match up and everyone needs constant supervision and we can't get to the park except on weekends because we're strictly adhering to the "one-hour-of-outside-per-day" edict.

The answer to both:  It is not.

It turns out that they cannot play together for more than seven minutes without needing intervention: not outside in the jagged-stone-covered courtyard, not with a board game on the living room floor. They can't participate in their daily PE With Joe session without someone watching and telling them to actually try to do the exercises instead of correcting each other (by which I mean, telling each other "you're doing it wrong") and trying to get away with doing the least exercise possible (new record for fewest pushups done in a 30-second interval: three). One of the three can't make it through more than ten minutes of schoolwork without...well, without not doing their schoolwork. They can spend twenty minutes on a task, then, when I look over their shoulder and point out that they have only written one sentence, and that sentence didn't even answer the question the teacher asked (and probably started with "Because"), they get angry, erase or delete, and start again...and usually, they answer the same question like that at least three times for each. Another one of them still can't hold a fork properly. 

Oh, and the tears and screaming!

And the kids' tears and screaming!

It makes for long days. 

It's interesting to spend so much time with these three little people, the apples of my eye that I dreamed of teaching right from wrong, kindness, consideration and manners and realize that I must have failed them in every single way because they have none of any of those things. It can't just be the influence of the media, the school system and their nasty little friends -- the usual things we blame -- that makes them terrible, because they haven't seen any of them in six weeks now.

It has to be something that I did. For this, World, I am truly sorry.

In the meantime, I will continue to not kill my family, or at least try my very best. 

Note to Family Services: this is not a cry for help. However, I hear you offer a service in which you show up and just take one's children. Much appreciated if you could send a pamphlet my way.

Tuscany for a Family of Five

Under the Tuscan sunset: a magical evening (all photos author's own)

Our fortunate family of five recently had the opportunity to explore Tuscany for a week in August. We are very grateful to be able to access a set of subsidized chalets across Europe for our holidays (over the last two years here, we've discovered Austria and Croatia as well), and were excited to experience Italy, especially in "farmstay lodgings" on an estate winery, the Castello del Trebbio.

(note: if you're reading this on a mobile phone, turn it sideways - the formatting's gone wonky)

A good start

Within a few days of booking, we received an email from Alberto, the manager of the estate, with a comprehensive welcome package attached. He gave us recommendations for activities, dining and touring. He asked us to confirm the number of occupants (five) and ages (our kids are 6, 9 and 10), and offered to set up some activities and reservations for us. We responded fairly promptly, and then all we had to do was eagerly await our trip!

Getting there

What a view.

Chris wanted to drive (hey! it's only 19 hours in a car with three kids!), but when we crunched the numbers (food, gas and hotel), it was cheaper to fly and rent a car. Thank God for math. We flew into Florence via Zurich (with a 5-hour stopover)(see? cheaper). While waiting for the next flight, I spent a lot of time on a website called visitflorence.com, which had walking tour suggestions, driving-in-Florence information, parking queries...really everything we needed was there. I referred to it several times over the week, and highly recommend it.

We arrived in suffocating heat - it was 36 degrees when we landed, and 37 degrees the next day - which made sightseeing unbearable (without gelato, that is - something that was quickly remedied, and of course, became an almost-daily experience). After a few hot, sweaty hours of exploring old Florence, we took the tram back to the airport, picked up a bright blue Jeep Renegade (practical for a family of five, unless you're in the skinny streets of Florence!), and drove out of the city, up steep, hairpin-turning hills, to the Castello del Trebbio.

Green water? No problem.

The Castello del Trebbio

Set in the Chianti Rufina region, the beautiful 12th century castle has been witness to historical battles, family dramas and conspiracies. It is still an active winery and is inhabited, though the owner allows tours at set times. Several stone outbuildings have been converted into five apartments and two stand-alone villas.

Our apartment (Panicale B) slept the five of us nicely, with a large loft containing a queen bed and ensuite, a second, main-floor bedroom with two twin beds and an ensuite, and a pullout couch. And air conditioning, thank God! The kitchen was modern enough to feed us breakfast and lunch every day (grocery stores were a twisty 15-minute drive away), wi-fi was included, and there was a large TV with Netflix. As well, we found puzzles and games in various cabinets to occupy us in quiet times.

The view was breathtaking from every window and door: hills, valleys, vines and olive groves. We ate our meals outside on a covered porch with spectacular views, not least the entertaining little geckos that frolicked in the sun. Out the back door, the pool and deck again boasted stunning views. The pool was a good size, holding about eight people and their floaties. The water was bright green for the first three days of our stay, but by the fourth day, it was blue again. It didn't slow our kids down at all!

Exploring Castello del Trebbio

Hufflings stand in front of their respective vintages

We took a long walk around the property, up and down the steep hills, through olive groves and along paths to the grapevines. We couldn't walk through the vines (the estate had electrified fences to stop wild boars from eating all the grapes), but it was still very cool. We even found wild boar tracks!

Alberto had made a reservation for us at the Castello's restaurant (La Sosta del Gusto) at the first seating, 7:30 pm. (This is very early to eat in Tuscany, we discovered repeatedly.) We sat on a large patio with fairy lights strung overhead as the sun set over the mountains around us. It was magical. The children were served first (from a basic children's menu of burgers, chicken nuggets and pasta), so became bored well before we finished our prima, then secondi, then dolce. They rallied when we told them to explore some more, and especially when we said they could (gasp!) go get their tablets while we finished our quite-probably-could-have-been-romantic meal.

Alberto also booked us on a castle tour, in which our charming-and-multilingual guide Constanza showed us around the beautiful building including the Conspiracy Room where the assassination of Lorenzo di Medici was planned, then took us down through the cellars and dungeons where their winemaking operations are in progress.

More activities

After the tour, one group stayed in the courtyard for wine tasting, while the rest of us went into the Castello's kitchen for a hands-on pasta-making class with a very large, gruff chef named Jerry. The kids were delighted by him. We all donned the provided aprons and learned how to make our own pasta (from scratch) and two simple sauces. Once everything was prepared to Jerry's satisfaction, Constanza led us into the Castello's ancient dining room for good conversation and a delicious dinner with wine pairings (the kids got sips, too!). We did their bottles justice, and took the recipes home with us.

Constanza was kind enough to call a local stable to set our children up with a horseback riding lesson. Sylvia from Tenuta dei Cavalieri gave each of our beginners exercises and drills that had them literally turning in circles while their horse walked around the ring. They're already pestering us to go back next year so they can go to their camp.

Other spot-on recommendations from Alberto:

Day trips:

Grotto of Santa Brigida - we couldn't find it on a map, but a local man kindly led us to the ruins of a church bombed in 1944. It's a quiet, magical place surrounded by stone and statues.
Collodi and Pisa - blog post here.
Florence - again, I recommend relying on visitflorence.com, but there's so much to see! We also did a Florence city trail from Questo.

Restaurants: 

Toscani da Sempre - the best meal we ate in Tuscany (and that's saying a lot!)
Pizzeria da Nappino - relaxed, family-friendly pizzeria (and wine, of course)
Ristorante al Trebbio - the perfect meal for our last night in Tuscany

Conclusion

We're tempted to make the trip again! Although we know our time in Europe is limited and want to explore as much as possible of this part of the planet before we move back to Canada, it was truly a perfect holiday. We brought home wine and olive oil (and lots of mosquito bites - pack bug spray!) and so many good memories. Our hosts (and, indeed, everyone we met) were so helpful and gracious, that we are considering another trip to Castello del Trebbio next summer.     ~Ciao!

La dolce vita! Saluti!

Huffling Holiday in Tattershall Lakes, Lincolnshire

Alternate title:  We went to Tattershall Lakes and all you got was this lousy blog post.

(This was not posted after the eggcitement of Easter, so I'm posting now.  Enjoy!)

A view from the Lucy tower at Lincoln Castle

Party of five

There are unique challenges to travelling with a family of five especially when one of them is Chris.

The world is not built for that fifth person.  Restaurants, hotel rooms with two double beds, rollercoasters... all of these easily hold a family of four or less.  But when you add one more person in, whether they be small, pale and ginger-haired, or tall and somewhat cranky, things just get harder and/or far more expensive.

Where to?

Over the 12-days-too-long Easter break, we took another caravan holiday, this time with Chris along.* 

We started with choosing the where. Lincoln had been highly recommended to us, and even though I was hoping for someplace warm, we were concerned enough with the fallout from April's Brexit deadline (kaff - at the time of booking - kaff) to decide that we should see some more of our host country.

So far, we've cut a very small slice out of England, from the Isle of Wight to Portsmouth to Oxford to Salisbury to Kent (camping!) and Dover (ferry to France). So going North was in the cards.  Of course, I want to go to York.  Haworth, moors, Secret Garden and Brontes: all of that must happen over the next two years. But, friends said that Lincoln was like York, but smaller, quieter and less expensive, and closer.  These were all good things.

The dream

I wanted a family-friendly place, ideally where kids could run free outside and I could sit with a cup of tea (and/or mug of morning wine), preferably with the dog. We found a few Airbnb caravan rentals in Lincolnshire, and from there, discovered the Tattershall Lakes Country Park, which is what British people call a family caravan resort.** We chose a large, dog-friendly caravan (sleeps eight!) in a resort that includes a pool, a splash park, kids' activities, entertainment, a pub/bar and short drives to historic castles and cathedrals, and a large green space, which the Brits call a wold for some reason.

Lincolnshire or bust

The drive there wasn't too bad.  It was quick-ish, about three hours including a stop for lunch.  The kids had snacks and books (and tablets), and I even got to catch up on some reading while Chris drove the long stretch going towards, simply, The North.

We got there, checked in (they had the package and keys ready for us, which surprised Chris to no end, oh he of little faith), and pulled up to our caravan. It was not in an ideal location for aesthetics or noise, as it was the first one back from the road (they were lined up in rows), but it was close to the pool, activities, and playgrounds, so that was fine.

The Eurocamp caravan we went to in October was cheap, reasonably nice for the kids, dog and I, and it was fine.  Just fine.  During the trip, I had twinges of "Chris would hate this" but I put those aside, because I was pretty sick, and he wasn't there anyway.

You know how you can think your house is neat and organized, but then you invite someone over and you suddenly see every room from their perspective and realize that you are living with so much clutter, and perhaps what you see as "great" or even "perfectly fine" looks, well, not as good?

The caravan was a good size, reasonably clean, and reasonably priced.  That is all.

A free air show!

We knew that RAF Coningsby was close by, and that we'd probably get to see some cool planes.  Well.  So. Many. Planes.  Taking off and landing right beside us, it seemed.  Some older ones (possibly spitfires?) and some fancy new ones (typhoons, Chris said).  They did loop de loops!  They did barrel rolls!  They did that thing where they zoom straight up then shoot straight down and pull out at the last second!  They did a lot of low-altitude flying.  It was amazing, and loud.

A Typhoon at MUCH higher altitude.
Photo credit: SAC Cathy Sharples

To bed, perchance to sleep

At bedtime, we tucked the kids in, and went to sit down with a glass of wine.  It was starting to get really dark, and ... ROAR.  The sound of a plane doing low-altitude flying made it impossible to talk or hear anything.  ROAR again.  That was probably a barrel roll in the dark. (Do they do barrel rolls in the dark?)  Fis looked at me as if to say, well, you can imagine what he looked like.  I picked up my phone and quickly googled "do planes fly at night at Tattershall Lakes".

Ah.

Yes, yes they do.  There was a very cranky TripAdvisor review to that effect, and the resort's response was that you can check the RAF schedule online, because it was public, etc.  So I did.  Hey, did you know that only four times a year, RAF Coningsby holds a week of night training, from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise?  Imagine Fis' face now.

Lesson one:  air shows are fun during the day.

Here, we discover a very important distinction

The kids, somehow, slept pretty well despite the planes.  Unfortunately, however, our caravan next-door neighbours did not, and stayed up until 3 am, partying.

Lesson two:  There is a difference between British families who go to France to have a holiday in a caravan park and British families who stay in Britain in a trailer park.

The next morning, the kids got up at...I don't know, I stayed in bed...made themselves cereal, and took the dog for a walk around the trailer park. So, by the time I got up, they were happily seated in front of the TV, having discovered the magic of being unsupervised. Baby Daddy is not appropriate viewing for a 6 year old.  Also, it's now their favourite show.  Back to Chris' face.

Out and about in Tattershall and Coningsby

We took a short walk over to Tattershall Castle, no more than ten minutes away, and four of us enjoyed the walk.  Vaughn complained that it was "too far". Then, inside the huge, mind-blowing, somehow built-by-hand-800-years-ago, yet still-magnificent building, he decided that it was terrible because it was "dusty" and "probably dangerous". It is possible that he was not flung from the tower because he refused to get anywhere near the edge, because he also decreed the safety barriers "not safe enough."

Yet, backlit, they look angelic.

Afterwards, we walked for another 20 minutes into the town (because we missed turnoff into the grocery store) (and boy was he cranky), had sandwiches from a nice little bakery chain then swung by what the kids declare to be the Best Candy Store Ever and gave them Type III Diabetes.

Lesson three: You already knew this, but nothing can't be fixed with candy.

Lincoln Cathedral and Castle

Lincoln was a forty-minute drive away, so we bundled up Ziggy and went to this beautiful medieval city that has charm, character, steep hills and wonderful, reasonable, not-London prices for lunch at a lovely pub,  Ziggy came with us up Steep Hill, and the kids and Chris were interviewed on BBC about how steep they thought it was. They even made it onto the local evening news, which we caught later, back at the caravan.

Lesson four: Don't leave your trailer looking anything less than camera-ready.

You can see the camera crew at the top.  (Spoiler alert: Steep Hill is only the fourth steepest street in GB.)

The Cathedral and Castle were magnificent.  I can't even describe how spectacular and amazing some of these old buildings are.  The concept of someone having placed every stone, carved every figurine and gargoyle, all by hand hundreds of years ago... it just really puts everything into perspective, such as "I have no talent and have wasted my life".  Also, it bears questioning about the truth behind separation of church and state, as they are literally a three-minute walk apart.

A prisoner and the prison matron get ready for a hard Victorian day.

Anyhoo, the kids had a great time exploring both, but slightly preferred the castle, as there was an Alice in Wonderland-themed trail to follow which ended with chocolate. See lesson three.

The rest of the stay

The family resort was clean and full of families and their dogs.  They offer lots of activities for the kids, but unlike our Eurocamp experience (which had all activities included), there was an additional charge (between £8 and 12) for each, so we let the kids each choose only the one that they wanted most.  Vaughn chose laser tag, Ailsa chose the high ropes, and Tamsin chose zorbing, which we mistook for the water zorbing, so she sort of got two activities for the price of one.  We had to prebook, and they filled up quickly, but they were all happy with their choices.  They spent a lot of the rest of the time playing at two of the park playgrounds with other kids - just what I wanted.

And then she jumped for the trapeze.

The onsite restaurant and pub had London prices (not cool), but offered free entertainment for the kids and grownups alike every evening, from dance parties before dinner to on-stage game-show-type activities, to bingo.  We even saw a Little Mix tribute band (who have three new star-struck fans).

The pool was ok (not great, but ok), but required us to book a (free) time slot ahead of time, and the steam room and sauna were not as clean as they could be.  The brand new splash zone (also free, no booking was required) was absolutely incredible and beautiful and clean the first time -- the kids ran and screamed and splashed for well over an hour -- but there was something wrong with the temperature control when we went back another day, and they were cold and miserable for the fifteen minutes they could stand it.

So fun!  But so f-f-freezing!

As well, for a very dog-friendly place, there was nowhere to exercise Ziggy off-lead, which wasn't great and left him a bit anxious.  A fenced-in area for the dogs to play would certainly be an asset to the park.

Overall, it was clean and well worth what we paid, which was £382 for five days, but maybe not, when we added in the extra costs for activities or the exorbitant prices for food and drink.

Lesson five: you get what you pay for.

The long road home

Holidays are always a great idea until the last day, when you have to come home and everyone's upset about it. We managed to pack up fairly quickly (the booking agent said to "do nothing -- just lock the door and walk away", but we did the dishes and swept anyway) and took a detour to an exotic animal sanctuary and another nice pub on the way home.

Goats totally account as exotic when you're talking ill-advised housepets.

Would we go back?  Probably not (I think we've now "done" Lincoln), but I don't regret going.

Would I recommend it to other families?  Yes. It's a very reasonable price, and if have your expectations managed (it is a caravan park) and you are ready to pay for the extras, there is so much to do. But check the night flying schedule ahead of time.





* to be filed under "It sounded like a good idea at the time". Like all travels with Fis.
** I call it a trailer park.