Thanks to a bit of good luck and a lot of kindness we were able to climb the bell tower of St Mary's church in Cottingham. It was kind of my mother to agree at very short notice to babysit the kiddies - it was even kinder of the Tower Captain (awesome title) to climb all the way down the tower to let us in when we arrivied late and he had already gone up. What a nice man.

One quirk of the bell tower at St Mary's Cottingham is that it is accessed from outside of the Church. Nobody knows for sure why the builders (c1400) didn't think it was necessary to install a staircase but we do know that one was later added on the outside.

From the top we can see the City of Hull in the distance. People have no idea how many trees there are in Hull! Holy Trinity Church is clearly visible in the center of the picture (click on the picture for a much bigger version) and we can also make the domes on the Maritime Museum and the City Hall as well as the distinctive triangle outline of The Deep.

Looking south (click the picture for a bigger version) we see the hospital (big and grey on the left) where I lived with Joanne for six weeks while she recovered from her broken leg. On the right you can see the KC stadium (Hull City ground) and the spire of St Matthew's church also known as Leona's "Beaver church" because it is the Church associated with her beavers group.

To the south west we can see the Humber Bridge, while in the foreground (again, click for bigger) we see the ruins of a the farmhouse which was built using material from the ruins of Haltemprice Priory which used to stand on the site.

Looking east we see Skidby Mill, a proper windmill just a few miles outside of Hull. The mill now hosts a museum of agriculture but is also kept in working order and the sails can often be seen going around on windy days. You can even buy the flour they make from the museum shop.

Going back inside the Tower Captain showed us the eight huge bells which are still rung by a team of bellringers every Sunday. We were told that there are something in the region of 5,000 similar towers in the United Kingdom but only a few hundred in the rest of the world. I had no idea church bells were such a uniquely English thing.

Here's a bell that was cast in 1638 and is still in use..

And here are the weights which drive the clock...

Ah, the clock... how I love mechanisms. We were even allowed to help wind it! But alas, I have spent long enough on this blog post and I have to go do some real life stuff now. Our thanks to Ian the Tower Captain who climbed all the way down and up again to let us in and then told us all sorts of interesting things about the tower.

Well, we're back from a wonderful weekend camping with our extended Catholic family in Walsingham - back from a weekend of talks and prayer, fun times and serious moments and best of all, those brief moments when you get to have a cup of tea and a chat with somebody who understands.

How wonderful to discover quite by accident that a well known pro-lifer knows how to tie a sheep shank (actually, he used some fancy variant) and that a local nun plays a mean cello, at least.. I think it was a cello.. at any rate it came in a big case and had strings and she played it beautifully.

We shared a BBQ, walked the holy mile to Benediction, heard a great talk about Catechetical resources and another about Fatima and even met an actual bona fide artist who was kind enough to give me a quick lesson in mixing pigments but sadly, I think actual hard work may be required on my part. Perhaps when the Latin is finished with...

No less than three seperate families insisted on feeding us and on the final night we were invited to dinner in a nice warm cottage but our hosts were so understanding when I explained that I needed to take a photo of the slipper chapel in the golden hour (see above) that they brought the food to us!

My thanks to all the blog readers who introduced themselves and made me feel all special (because you knew who I was) and inadequate (because I couldn't think of anything wise to say at the time) and we look forward to seeing you all next year.

When Leona asked for a Giraffe cake for her birthday I thought it was going to be tricky... then she said she wanted it standing up.

Eat your heart out Lucy Shaw!

Lots more photos of the construction process here...

Happy times...

Baby Thomas was Baptisd on Saturday. Everything that could go wrong went wrong: The Christening gown that my wife was Baptised in and our first two children were baptised in...? Lost. Somebody put it somewhere 'safe' and now nobody can find it anywhere. It turns out you can't buy Christening gowns anywhere these days but eventually we found somewhere but they were all overtly feminine (pink bits, hearts, butterflies) so we went with a kind of suit thing that had Thomas looking very dapper.

Second problem: The shawl that I was Baptised in and our first two children wore at their baptisms...? Left at home by accident! To replace the shawl we had to grab a blanket we happened to have with us which happened to be white. Phew!

Third problem: One of the Godparents was stuck in town and needed picking up so the whole thing kicked off about twenty minutes late.

But after that things ran fairly smoothly...

We finished off with nibbles in the hall and a fantastic crossing of the red sea cake (even if we do say so ourselves!)

Thanks to everybody who came (over sixty of you!) and thanks for everybody who has been praying for Thomas and for our family, we really appreciate it.

I realise it's totally counter-productive to my life's work of sitting behind a laptop thinking the most negative thoughts I can muster until my head hurts enough to distil the negativity in to pure hatred, but there you go. I've been learning to draw.

You can see an early example here but more recently I've been doing a beginners course and spending more time drawing. Since I'm supposed to be blogging about nice things now and then, I thought you might appreciate a bowl of fruit...

A rose...

And a buggy...

Not likely to turn up in the Uffizi any time soon, but I'm happy. It turns out drawing has nothing to do with rare magical powers that a few rare individuals are born with and is actually just another skill you can learn and practice. Who knew?

The bad news: I'm supposed to practice... regularly. Since when do I have time for that?

Ella has left me home alone with the kids this weekend while she goes off to live her rock and roll lifestyle... Baby Thomas is being breast fed but mummy has left us a freezer full of milk and I've got lots of help!

The wooly hat? I have no idea...

More pictures here.

It's been a while since I did one of those nice blog entries.

We originally had planned to go up to Scarborough and maybe meet up with another young family (I know - more than one in the same diocese!) but the weather man said thuderstorms. Alas when we woke up this morning we had to face some thunderstorms of our own from Leona who was expecting a trip to the seaside (perhaps next time mummy will not be so rash as the promise her one!). Leona insisted that she didn't care if it was raining, she just wanted to go to the seaside.

As all parents know, when little girls say things like "I don't mind the rain" what they actually mean is that as soon as we arrive they will say it is too cold and ask to go home. However, Leona happens to have the kind of Dad who thinks every childhood ought to include at least one trip to the seaside in the rain so we decided to go to Hornsea (it's a lot closer) and we could always just have fish and chips in the car and then just go home.

Besides which, the weather forecast for Hornsea was a mere chance of rain which is a lot better than thunderstorms in Scarborough.

So, after an early Mass at St Wilfrid's we were on our way and we arrived in Hornsea in the rain. Leona (rather predictably) said "awwww, it's raining". She even managed to sound a little suprised as though we hadn't spent all morning saying "It will be raining". Leaving mummy and sleepy kids in the car myself and Leona set out in search of fish and chips. While we were on our way something great happened - the wind blew the clouds away and the sun shone through and it was really, really hot. We had our fish and chips in the sunshine!

Had a fun time playing in the sand...

Paddled in the sea...

Ran away from the sea...

Daddy even swam in the sea (yes it was very cold!)

Then we built a sand castle...

It was around about now that Leona really did say "I'm coooold" which was hardly suprising considering the breeze that had begun to blow the scary looking clouds down from Scarborough. We packed everything up and ran for it!

Of course, we couldn't leave without having an Ice Cream first...

Mmmmm. Pink flavour. Mummy and Daddy had green.

So, it would seem that the moral of the story is that if your little girl expects to be taken to the seaside then you had jolly well better take her to the seaside and the weather will take care of itself.

Many thanks to everybody who has been praying for us, we really appreciate it.

It's been a long and difficult pregnancy, Ella has struggled with pain in the pelvic bone and has been housebound for the last few weeks. I've been coming home from work, putting the girls to bed and then doing housework. Washing dishes at 1am is not a happy place to be - but Ella had it worse. She is a hero.

The result is a baby boy, 6lb 12oz born this morning at 6:51am. He shares a birthday with Bob Dylan...

I will skip to the photos (that's what you really want) and then I can get some much needed sleep!!

Good night!

Begin with some Mars bars which you can, if you wish, arrange in the shape of a log pile house. "Where are going to little brown mouse? Come for a feast in my log pile house...".

Put them in a bowl with some butter...

Put that bowl over a pan of hot (not boiling) water until they melt. Then, take them off the heat and have your glamorous assistant give them a stir...

Throw in some Rice Crispies and get some more stirring done...

Then, put your mushy, caramel, rice crispy mix in some little plastic bowls. Dribble some melted chocolate around the edges and then put some little chocolate eggs inside...

Voila!

Now all you need is a little sister to devour them for you..

I suppose you'll be wanting the recipe...

3 Mars Bars
3oz Butter
3 Cups of Rice Crispies
1 Bar Cooking Chocolate (for drizzling)
Mini Eggs

If you have an amazing brain, you can use mathematics to double or even triple the quantities. Melt the Mars Bars and butter together then take them off the heat before stirring in the Rice Crispies. Make the mixture in to nests, bars, or whatever shapes you fancy. Put some melted chocolate on top and eggs if you feel like it.

Nice!