Forty-nine today!

Not me (alas) but on this day 26 and 23 years ago I gave birth to my two sons. The joint celebration has always meant that the day been a very special one. Once upon a time I would have to make two birthday cakes and organize separate parties but now it just means a day of family feasting and togetherness.

Today, the morning was taken up with following the ongoing situation in London and elsewhere, since political engagement is fairly major in our household. Four laptops were simultaneously deployed upon the kitchen table to compare notes and discuss the whys and wherefores of the horrendous events.

Later we took a trip a few miles up the road to a favourite venue of ours from earlier days: a reconstructed iron age village set on a mound in a wooded valley. The cluster of wattle and daub roundhouses with their conical thatched roofs basked under a summer sky and the leaves of the surrounding trees barely stirred. It was a scene of perfect peace that we were fortunate to be able to enjoy.

I'm not sure what this giant straw figure represents but it seemed to offer a good enough spot for a photo opportunity - although it's never easy to catch my fast-moving, high-spirited lads in one place for very long. Here they are (with S who's almost one of the family too). And away in the background their 89 year old uncle is zooming off to admire the iron-age pigs, in sole charge of a motorized wheelchair borrowed at the site: "The last vehicle I drove was a bren-gun carrier" he informed the staff member who showed him how to work the controls.

At home again, after cake and presents the day concluded with a splendid meal, enjoyed by all ages, and another August 9th drew to a close.