This morning JJ flew out to Frankfurt. We left early to get him to the airport through the rush hour traffic, only to get there very very early for his flight. We dropped his bags and had a very pleasant breakfast in the airport before sending him through the security to see his Dad. We are slightly worried as about a week ago, his Dad called, explained he wanted to give JJ power of attorney over his accounts, but wouldn't say why. We suspect that he worse (he has been ill for a while) and has been told to put his affairs in order but for some reason won't tell us.
Later K turned up and we watched a film (it was so unimpactful I can't remember what we watched) and then we went to see the new Harry Potter film. It was brilliant, far better than the book which was one of the weaker ones I think but there were a couple of things I didn't like. Poor Cho didn't get an apology which seemed a bit harsh and also they never explained the arch that poor Sirus fell through which, as it had been quite a while since I read the book, was a bit hazy for me. Also this seemed to make Sirus definitely dead, when the book seemed to leave the question of if he was really dead open. I also didn't like the final confrontation with Voldemort, it just seemed spectacular but contrived and false, for example, conveniently the rest of TOOP conveniently didn't seem to notice the battle going on in the next room, despite having yelled after Harry as he ran out, until right at the end.
But all in all, I really liked Luna and if I weren't straight I would jump Tonks bones right this second! And watching the film now knowing what happens in the last book adds another layer of poignancy.
Well it was my birthday today and, after a snuggle with the dogs and JJ first thing, we set off far to early for JJ's tastes to go and meet Mum, Dad and K for the day. They had recently been to a sculpture park and really enjoyed it so I decided that I quite fancied it too so we were going to the Hannah Peshar Sculpture Gardens. The weather was beautiful - it has been unseasonably warm this year and it was more like July than April.
When we arrived at the gardens (after a very winding and picturesque route) we realised that it didn't open for another hour and a half so we headed off to Cranleigh for a second breakfast. Mum and the others weren't far behind us so we took over a coffee shop with our noisy raucous ways and John and I had a delicious breakky while th others looked on in envy. Once we had eaten and exchanged pressies, we headed back to the gardens, only to find out that they were open by appointment only until May! Luckily another group had made an appointment so the owner was there and was happy for us to go round too.
The gardens themselves were gorgeous with the blue bells in full bloom and primoses peeking out from every crevice (and thank goodness we managed to persuade mum NOT to roll naked in the blue bells) and the sculptures just added an additional beauty to the place. We were all particularly partial to the angel stood at the top of the slope and the croissant shaped "Moon Swing", the bobbing fountains that were activated by movement and the superman garb stood in a tree. I think JJ was quite inspired by the sculpture that he dubbed "Beef Curtains". We also agreed that the many torsos scattered around the place were very uninspiring as was "infinity", which was instantly dubbed "Turds on sticks".
I could write all day about the pieces but it is possibly easier to just have a look at the pictures that I took below.
Having wandered round the gardens for about 3 hours we decided to head off for a pub lunch - the first place that we stopped at hadn't had its vegetable delivery for the day so we went on to another place whos name completely escapes me but it was ideal. It had a large and uncrowded garden at the back and, as it wasn't on a busy road anyway, all you could really hear was bird song and the mumble of other customers. Mum and Dad has fillet steak which I am told was gorgeous, K had rump steak, I had a cheeseburger which was way too big but delicious and JJ had eggs benedict which he hadn't had before but he really liked. We then chased it with treacle tart (cos it would be rude not to) and were bloated beyond belief.
Having stuffed ourselves we headed to Guildford to hire some row boats and go messing baout on the river but it was 1/2 hour before they closed so they weren't hiring out at that time. Instead we headed to Mums and, after wandering around the garden and admiring the neighbours new chickens, K, JJ and I decided to go to see Blades of Glory.
This was a very funny film and I think better than the hilarious Talledega Nights, but whereas we came out of Talledega Nights saying "And what about that bit when...." and "o and you remember when...", with this film I found that I didn't.
Having droppped K home we then headed home ourselves only to find that Sherbs Houdini impression had confused the pet visitor as he shut the back door wen he left for the first visit but for the second found that Sherb had let them out into the back garden.
After a quick check of the email we headed upstairs relatively early so JJ could get his beauty sleep in preperation for the big day tomorrow.
OK - I have just watched this film and I have to say that I can't understand why people didn't like it. I thought it was a beautiful, whistful story, with elegant acting and a wonderfully sweet ending. And Shyamalan may have cast himself in a prominent position, but it be frank if I hadn't known that it was him I wouldn't have had a clue that he wasn't an actor.
I have to say though, I did feel sorry for the scrunt at the end - all I could see was a grass covered german shepherd!
New year's eve 2009, I was 6 months pregnant and getting ready to go to a party when I had a major stroke, paralyzing my left side. Luckily, largely due to my then boyfriend's quick thinking the baby and I were fine. Now, I have a second child but only one working hand, making it doubly hard to knock their heads together!
