To the moon and beyond

I love my Readly app, for a monthly charge of £9, GO and I have access to hundreds of magazines.  From the weekly 'sleb' rags like NOW and Heat to more specific 'lifestyle' magazines like The Lady and Countrylife. 

It even has German magazines, so when Mamilein talks about something she has read in Bild Der Frau, I can instantly see what she is talking about. 

While reading a magazine it had half term fun suggestions.  One place was the Winchester Planetarium.  

I have always loved the idea of space, in fact I love nothing better than lying in the garden and watching the stars.  One of my new favourite memories is lying on a blanket in Purbeck with GO watching the night sky.

With GO having the whole day off, we decided to pay the planetarium a visit.  It was full of children.  

Unlike when you go on a school trip there wasn't one adult to mind children, it was more like one child to three adults.  Yes it was busy, but it was manageable. We only had to wait for a couple activities, but we were there for the planetarium so we didn't really mind. 

We went to watch the space explorers show.  It was live so there was a real life Astro physicist speaking.

He talked us through all of the satellites that are currently in space, what they do and what they have discovered.  It was fascinating.  "What did you learn?"  GO asked as we left.  

I was a bit overwhelmed with information.  We had learned about Pluto being downgraded to a dwarf planet,  the three criteria for being classified as a planet, the many plans for seeing more satellites further into space and that no matter what is happening on Earth, Russia and USA will always work together when it comes to the International Space Station.  

The fact that really stuck with me though is that the satellite Voyager has been in space for nearly 40 years, it is about to leave our galaxy.  It is not due to come in to contact with another planet for another four million years (it has no power and is just travelling with the force of its long dead thrusters).

To round off a lovely day we headed into Winchester City centre on our park and ride ticket (£3 to park all day, a free shuttle bus to the science centre and back to the car park.  

We then hopped on another free bus to the city centre, what a bargain!!), we bimbled around the lovely old streets.

I had visited a few years ago with Mrs F, but we had stuck to the main high street and the shops.  

GO and I went behind the main shops and found the cathedral and lots of little shops and paths the ran alongside the river Issit.  

It was a beautiful city and as dusk fell it had a very romantic, nostalgic feel.  It reminded me of Canterbury.

Maize Maze & Pumpkin Patch

GO had a late start, 4pm to midnight, so we decided to visit an old haunt of ours, Millets Farm.

We used to visit most weekends, it has a garden centre, a fresh farm shop and a maze.

 Over the years it has expanded almost beyond recognition, for the better.

 It has a pick your own sections (including pumpkins, yay bucket list), a petting zoo, a falconry display and constantly changing seasonal attractions this week a Halloween circus and an outdoor activity clothing company. 

Our main reason for visiting was the maize maze.

This year it has a wizardry school theme.  As you make your way around the maze you collect stamps/letters to answer questions and break the code at the exit.  

There isn't a prize, just a great sense of achievement. 

Within the main maze there it a midi maze.  We actually spent longer in here than in the main maze, because I lost GO.

 I couldn't swear that it wasn't intentional, but when we reunited we each had answered different questions so we retraced our steps so the other could answer the questions.

 At the exit were the answers, we got different answers correctly but still ended up with the same final score, 4!  Two chief warlocks at your service.

Spoiler alert 

The answer is below 

Getting some fresh air - fat girl walking

Saturday morning, first day of the half term break and I woke up full of cold, feeling yucky.  I had the lurgy that everyone had recently had, including GO.  I thought I was immune, how wrong could I be!  

I took a couple of days to recover, I needed it.  The clocks going back were helpful, without trying I got extra sleep and still felt like I hadn't wasted my day.  

By Monday I was beginning to feel a little stir crazy, so I went for a walk.  I visited Waddeson manor (my favourite manor), rather than walking around the rose garden and aviary, which is the route I normally take I veered off to the right and had a fabulous time.  

The carpark was rammed, there was almost no room on the shuttle bus but on my walk I only met two people.  It was a chilly but sunny day, it hasn't rained in a while so the leaves were all crispy.  It was a perfect autumn day.  

I missed GO, but I needed the exercise and when I got home I was very grateful for it.  I even found a cave.  

I decided to walk back to the car which was a pleasant downhill stroll, I jumped through and rolled around in the leaves.  

On a side note, there is a huge bird that "lives" by the aviary, when I passed by the statue was gone. It must be away for the winter, I thought, it's only made of plants after all.  As I drove home I took a detour to the dairy,  when I arrived it felt like I shouldn't really be there so I pulled into the gardening workshop to turn around.  There standing proud amongst tractors and lawnmowers stood the bird! Not as glamourous a winter retreat as I had imagined!

Best Biscuits Eva!

To get ready for The Halloween/me leaving party the children made some biscuits.  As there was an egg allergy the ladies had found and egg free recipe that used condensed milk.  I was sceptical but after trying them, they were soft, vanillary and light and tasted amazing.  I had decided to give them a go, I don't always have success with biscuits, so we'll see what happens.  Bonus to this recipe, no raw eggs so the dough is munchable.

115g caster sugar

115g butter

6tbl condensed milk 

200g sr flour

Mix butter and sugar

Add milk and flour

Chill in fridge

Bake for 8-10 mins on 180

Yet another last day

So yet another last day, it happened to be the Autumn half term, the Halloween half term.

So the staff decided to have Halloween party.

As always I embraced the idea and bought myself a pumpkin costume.

I heard two things that made me laugh a four year old asked "are you a potato?"  And an eleven year old said "oh, look a walking plant!"

Avian the staff and parents have been very generous, considering I was only there for a few weeks.

I got beautiful flowers, cards and chocolates.

And my little friend Marjorie (not her real name, she calls me cocopops) gave me a bracelet that she bought with her pocket money. 

One Day Left

And I can't wait. 

2 days left

And I've finished parents evenings, woo to the hoo!

Spectacular Sunrise

I always post beautiful views driving home.

This morning drive to school, had a slight detour so I could capture this stunning sunrise.