Its gonna be beautiful man

Yes, life really does begin at 40. Or was it 50? Either way, Domfest was a rollicking success.

Camping in the back garden, beer, burnt meat and footy (us big kids against the little 'uns) was the best way we could all think of spending the bank holiday.

We may all have kids now and be up before we would have gone to sleep in the old days, but the spirit of Glastonbury was there, man.

No, I don't mean everything got stolen and you couldn't find your way back to the tent. I simply meant that when you get a good bunch of people together, you will naturally have a good time.

Happy B-day old man. As long as Heather keeps you running straight, the next 40 shouldn't be too bad either.

Bryn

It really must be tough at this stage of the game.

You cant move without help, no one understands a word you say and you have teeth problems that would send most sane adults screaming for the morphine.

Welcome to totsville.







Bryn of course takes all this in his stride. He is desperate to be up and about, got his teeth early and is keen to be trying new foods. The baby food I tried this evening was grim; bean and sweat potato goulash. No wonder he's looking for better stuff.










With all this frenetic activity comes

exhaustion. I just wish his sister slept as well as he does...

Dig for Victory!

You may well be wondering why no blogs for the last month or so. Well, apart from having our hands full at home, we have taken on an allotment at the edge of town. What once was a field is now, well...a field with some holes in. We share our allotment with Dom and Heather, leaving us plenty of space to grow and some company when the going gets tough. The shed has gone up so when the weather comes in, we can sit in comfort with a cup of tea and complain about the rabbits.

Its a family affair, even this early in the process. The kids want to get involved...(off picture I am threatening Morwenna with a bull whip). Besides, I have always maintained that the re-introduction of child labour into Britain would make the UK more competitive and solve our energy crisis at the same time. And save my aching back. Genius eh?

Precocious children with extraordinary gifts

Or am I just a little biased? At nearly 3 months old , Bryn is quite different to his big sister and wants wants to be up and about. Maybe encouraging him to walk at this age is expecting too much. Here is Morwenna making Christas fiddle look like a cello. Notice I didn't include a video of this, since it sounded a little like a cat being killed. Keep with the programme girl. They say Beethoven wrote his 1st concerto at 3...

More family Bowling

My mum and dad were over for a few days. They would write me out of the will if I didn't put up a few of the photos taken last week. So, if you're out there fa-fa and fa-mor, these ones are just for you. Good to see you again.

Winter way out East

Freezing fog this morning made for slippy conditions on the back roads to Norwich. Dom had to pull a lady out of her upturned car. What a boy! My run into work today was far less eventful, but allowed me a shot of Billingford Mill directly into the sun through crystalline air. Hope you like it.

The New Year

Lots going on in the Bowling household. Bryn is settling in, Morwenna is starting pre-school and lots of people have come to say hello to us all. Ben and Ali (plus bump) have continued the very fashionable trend of moving from Bournemouth up to East Anglia. Good luck to you both, hope it works out as well for you as it has for us. Anna and Thomas have met up with Lilly from Sweden and came up for a week. Lovely to see you all, lets hope its not so long next time.

Christas sister Anna went jetset and came up from Cornwall for the weekend (Iwas sciving in Birmingham). Then Grandad Pete, Jenny and Chester finally made it up from Bristol. Chester the dog was, of course, the star of the show and is often talked about by Morwenna. He was also a great hoover and made cleaning a lot easier that weekend...

Christmas, Family & Friends

As you can imagine, this was a magical Christmas for family Bowling. A proper tree, fairy lights and more presents for the kids than we knew what to do with. Morwenna even made some of the decorations herself. I don't think she really knew what was going on this year, but she is well primed for Christmas the next time around.

Lots of family have come to visit and everyone has been very supportive. Morwenna couldn't be more excited about having a little brother and always wants to hold his hand and cuddle him. Bryn for his part is always trying to find where she is in the room which is easy; she's where all the noise is coming from.

Number 2 has arrived!

Born on the 10th of December at 8.21 AM, weighing in at a respectable 7 pounds 9 oz, Bryn shot into my hands unassisted. He was born at home in our birthing pool, with Rachel at hand in our front room in front of the fire. More about Rachel later.

Christa's pregnancy had been uncomplicated and the birth was too. At about 4 AM things started to get going, so we set up the pool and made some calls. I got Morwenna ready and took her down to the childminder at 8 AM. By the time I got home, he was crowning. With no sign of a midwife, Bryn was born. When I lifted him to the surface, he was already checking his new surroundings and clocked mummy before he had even drawn his 1st breath. Everyone safe and well.

Rachel is a Doula, a group of unqualified women with lots of birth experience. As always , the Greeks had a word for it; to Doula is to 'mother the mother.' As a group, they are becoming increasing popular as NHS midwifes are increasingly under strain. Having requested that we sign a document stating that we understood that the NHS couldn't guarantee provision of a midwife, we looked for alternatives to the paramedics that the NHS would provide for us taxpayers.

I shouldn't get on my high horse, but all the statistics show that childbirth is the most dangerous times in a young woman's life, and that home births are statistically safer than hospital births, therefore, due to the cost of intervention, cheaper too. Ironically, there was an infection (C difficile) at the Norfolk & Norwich, closing many wards, so we couldn't take him in for a check up. Our family G.P came out and checked him over instead. Whats wrong with the old way of doing things?

Morwenna was amazed to find a baby brother when she came home and has been brilliant with him. Look at her face when she 1st sees him. She is bringing him all her old toys , holding his hand and making sure he is wrapped up in lots of blankets.

It's a dream come true and all down to Christa being an astonishing woman and mother. Those readers who missed their children being born have truly missed out. Those men who have yet to have the honour will see a courage and determination in their partners to be proud of. As I have.

Next photo competition

I cant leave a photo of blisters as the last pic on the blog, so have added this latest submission to the local photo awards. I took this photo of Nevada falls on a climbing trip in Yosemite valley six years ago. Hope you like.

I've got blisters on my blisters

Ouch! 1 hour and 48 minutes later, I finished. The start of the run was delayed since the weather was so bad people were crashing their cars getting to the Norfolk showground.

That meant that we had to wait in the wind and rain for things to start. Conditions were so wet I'm sure most of ended up blistering in unusual places. Thanks for the "vaseline your nips" advise Susie.Spoken like a lady who truly understands the trials of long distance running...Morwenna allowed me no rest when I got home. Sensing vulnerability, she paid me back for all the times I splashed her.

Thanks to friends, patients and family that supported me. All told, we have raised over £400 for The Big C. Well done to all of you and thanks again.

Norwich Half Marathon

Nearly 1 year ago, Dominic and I were sitting in the pub. Like many statements of sheer bravado, real ale fuels the fire quite nicely. Leaning across at me beerily, Dom said; "I've decided. I want to do a marathon before I'm 40." How old are you now I asked. "39" he said.

Without a moments regard for the hours of training, blisters and sweat, I agreed. We set our sights (in the clear light of day) on 2 half marathons 1st. Sensible, we thought. Well, the day is now upon us. Both of us now have injuries. Most recently Dom's old rugby injury has put him out of the running this year, but I'm just about ready.

December the 2nd, I shall be completing the Norwich Half Marathon in about 1hr 45mins (I'm just thinking positively!) Keep your fingers crossed for me, or even better, make a donation;

www.justgiving.com/alexbowling

Dancing Queen

This little girl is set for the stage. Thanks to Grandad and Grandma she now thinks she is somewhere between Stevie Wonder and the girls from ABBA.

Only one week til baba number two!! All going well, we are looking at December the 7th.

Fear 'stops child development'

"Some parents are afraid of letting children play unsupervised. Youngsters are missing out on their childhood because we over-protect them, a child play expert claims." Thus says Tim Gill on the beeb today. Well all a can say is Tim, Morwennas no-fear attitude is giving me a heart attack.

I never taught her this!

Here she is in October having an outdoor bath in cold water!

Below you will see her 'helping' wash the vegetables. We caught her licking the grease out of the grill 2 minutes later, but it didn't make for a good photo...

Life Begins @ 2

Morwenna had her second birthday yesterday. Thanks to all of you sent cards and presents. Whilst she was aware that a special day was coming, the presents were still a suprise. All post through the door was apparently for her (including the bills) and since christa's birthday is this weekend lots of parcels addressed for her may well have Morwennas grubby little hands opening them on Sunday.

Happy birthday tune on her new organ...what else would you expect?

You have to listen hard though-this isnt the Monroe version mr. President

Home sweet Home

The logs are in, the smell of woodsmoke and simmering fruit floats around the house. Small jobs that have been neglected take on levels of importance that cannot be dismissed. I even Spring clean arse about tit! Anyway, in an effort to stop our front step from wobbling, I took it up and this is what I found. I'm told that this is a common use for tombstones with typos by a stone smith patient. He could be telling me this so I dont get the willies. Anyone else heard this? Still, as a mark of respect we have left the stone face up. Most people don't seem notice it anyway.

Morwenna has taken to pulling faces. Most of the time its someone else's face she is pulling (ouch), but this picture shows she thinks its quite fun pulling her own occasionally.

Mum and Dad came over after a trip to Italy. This picture at least shows she can still pull the cute-little-grand-daughter out of the bag when she needs to.

Here is Morwenna's 1st video contribution to the blog. Turn up the speakers; I bet even George Formby couldnt play the ukulele so sweetly at this age. Only problem is as soon as she sees the camera, she wants to see the image. "I look daddy, I look." Honestly, the vanity.

Naughty but Nice

Another Cornish holiday. We were certainly spoilt with the weather. No real floods this time! We went down via Lewes for Susie and Robs Cooke's wedding- more on that to come soon. Also managed a quick stop off in Bournemouth and Taunton to see Joe and Sam.

Fishing, swimming, the occasional coastal kayak trip and lots of time with the Brawdley family was the sum of the weeks activities. There is always a nature moment to be had in Cornwall. This time it was whilst swimming out to the islands off Portreath towing my fishing gear. A yearling seal was very surprised to see me and took many passes past me to see I wasn't either food or a mate. Still, she followed me back to the mainland after an unsuccessful hour fishing. No doubt a curious seal spoiled my chances of any bass that afternoon. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

As always, its heaven to be way out West, but life always pulls us back to reality. Thankfully reality is just as much fun our holidays. Autumn has reached East Anglia. The fruit trees are ready early year due to the damp muggy conditions. Time for some jamming...

Cornish holiday

Had a great week off at the end of June. Drove madly after work to get to see fatfreddysdrop/ in Bournemouth with Marc and Vern. Great night lads. Then on to see a very pleased Lucy in Bath. She was diagnosed cancer-free the morning we arrived. She took the news in the same down to earth manner that she had when finding she had cancer in the 1st place. Big respect.

Stayed with Pete and Jenny in Bristol before spending the morning pulling veggies at the allotment and trying to get a decent note out of Pete's trombone. The kids did a better job than the rest of us.

Stayed just outside Falmouth with the Broadley tribe for the rest of the week and had a great time exploring Cornwall. Cycled, walked, swam, surfed, kayaked and fished ourselves into a west country frenzy. Seals and dolphins were spotted aplenty, but alas no fish.

Of course the real reason we were there was for Franky and Artur's wedding. Trevarno gardens proved to be the right kind of venue for the special day. All was very relaxed as we Brits welcomed Arturs family and the Brazilian contingent. Soon enough we were grooving to the Latin beats put out by the DJ's. Vicky looked after all the children that night and gave us all the opportunity to let our hair down sans kids. Thanks goes to all those who helped us out over the week. It was a great trip and we wont forget it.