Welcome Home James Andrew

James Andrew Larkings
born 5:34pm 19th February 2010; 3220g; 49cm long

Your imminent arrival caused the rest of the household to rush about in the early hours of the morning. Despite showing such strong signs that you were keen to arrive, you refused to co-operate so some 15 hours later alternative arrangements for your arrival had to be made! But all was well.

Apparently you were hungry for you have not stopped eating since you have arrived; In fact you banquet like a Roman Emporer - multiple courses, with stops for naps, and the occasional vist to the vomitarium!

And then you sleep - for two, three and even four hours at a time. Long luxurious sleep that is undisturbed by the excited shrieks of your brother, the beeps of the hospital equipment or the general noise of the household. Your mother is happy for she sleeps too.

Occasionally you wake up and rail against the "darts and arrows of outragrous fortune" that this new world contains. Hunger = Bad; Digestive processes = bad; the process of being dressed or wrapped = bad; no longer being able to feel the edges of the world = bad.

But then, when fully satieted and safely in the comfort of your parents arms, or lap you uncurl and explore your new world. Looking with wondering eyes at all that it is now made of; bearing with equanimity the overly-generous love of your big brother as he brings you toys and food, or tries to play with your fingers, toes and nose.

And we look back at you, wondering at how you could be so perfect and tiny; wondering what sort of person you will be and what you will be like; all the while praising God for your safe arrival and asking that he will watch over you and be will you all of your days.

Welcome to the world baby James. We are so blessed to have you part of our family.

Wedding Anniversary

OK it is not Wedding Wednesday but it was our wedding anniversary yesterday (points to those who can guess/work out how many years)



It was a very hot day (not dissimilar to today) - so pity the poor boys in their woollen kilts - but by the time we had been married and gone to get photos taken a storm was on it's way and up on the hill it was very windy. The girls weren't too flustered by this but the men were not so used to dealing with short skirts and high breeze!



These pictures are a testament to my parent's garden before the drought- for some years it was claimed that the last time it had been green at home was the summer of my wedding. That silver birch behind the beautiful bridesmaids did not survive the drought.


[For the record - we spent our wedding anniversary...... at work! Although we did eat out at home for dinner!]

The time has come

I have finally succumbed to the lure of the blog. For months I have been enjoying a strange, voyeuristic delight in peering into other peoples lives through their blog. It did, however, seem rather one-sided - here was I, knowing so much about their lives (albeit that which they were happy to publish for all the world to see) and I was just "Anonymous", perhaps someone they hardly knew. So I decided to rectify the situation.

I actually decided to start a blog about two months ago but it took me that long to come up with a name - and I suspect that I will not be asking for a birth certificate just yet, it case I change my mind! The phrase "cabbages and kings" comes from the Lewis Carroll poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (found here http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html for those that want to read the in context) which my grandmother used to quote. This idea appeals on a number of levels; Lewis Carroll was a mathematician who wrote satirical nonsense, and the concept of blogging strikes me as the sort of "talk of many things" with the ordinariness of life (cabbages) and occasionally talking about the grander things of life (Kings.) Somehow I suspect that any sporadic blogging that I perform will be more of the nature of cabbages than kings!

So Hello, It's nice to meet you. We must catch up soon