I have five children, but it’s not often that I have them all together at the same time. Most times I have them in shifts, as they all have pretty hectic social lives. Including Baby E.

Today was the exception, with all of them here in da house in full force. Our tiny house, that struggles to keep bound at the seams while the five of us prize ourselves into every inch of its cramped inner space, suddenly had to accommodate not only Tamara and Cherie extra, but also Derry’s friend Tom. Sure, I had to bolster some outside walls with hastily improvised buttresses, but bless it all, somehow she made it through.

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Last weekend my daughters came over to stay. Since the weather was good we took them to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. That is one big place – or at least it is on a first visit. I suspect that after a few visits you’d get to know where you were going, but it’s spread over such a large area that it’s actually pretty tough to work out your bearings when you’re unfamiliar with it.

It’s a working farm too. Everywhere you go, amidst all these fantastic cast sculptures set in the rural valley, there are sheep looking at you. In fact there’s rather more sheep droppings than you’d be comfortable with. What Baby E decided to do about this was fall right on top of a particularly fresh and gooey one, and slide a little so that it smeared over quite a large area of her jeans. And we didn’t have a change of clothes for her. So, we just had to take off her jeans and vest, and she spent the rest of the trip in just her top. I guess we’ll be better prepared next time. (more…)

I’m on the Isle of Wight right now, and I hope to post some stuff that’s going on here soon. I have a few pics and stuff. But in the meanwhile, indulge me for a moment while I go all doting dad over my daughters.

First of all, here’s Evelyn, my beautiful baby daughter.

And here’s my two older daughters, Tamara and Cherie.

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