Esrum Abbey from the outside - because it was closed :(

Here's a perfect river for playing 'Pooh sticks'

And here are a lot of pooey sticks, waiting their turn to float under the bridge.

Though Esrum Abbey was closed when we got there - due to a glitch on their website,
it looked as if it could be interesting and educational and seems to invite a lot of classes to visit.  

This was a poster of the Mediaeval fair they hold in the summer. It says at the end
of June on the website but it also says 2014, so better give them a call before turning up
in your codpiece and moccasins!

This is outside the cafe, which judging by the website has ambitious food and holds culinary events.

This is a kind of cage in the river near the water mill where they help
raise the something small and squiggly you can see in the photo below,
ready to let them go and help populate the riverways. 

They look like fish to me. It impressed me at the time, anyway.

Ah yes, here we go...they are trout.

This is one of the outbuildings.

On a nice day, not like the horribly icy cold day we chose because of the looming deadline,
you can apparently see grebes, kingfishers and all sorts of things - though I expect they are all tucked up warm in Percy the Parkkeeper's house, right now, don't you.
The map in the top right-hand corner shows where Esrum is on Zealand.  

Well, well, well!

This is a photo of a lone wolf snapped close up as it searched for shelter.
Actually it's Jake's hood but believe me, he was looking for shelter.

This shows the inside of the Abbey. I'd have liked to see that!

Giddey Up! Well, giddy with hypothermia, anyway.

Looks like it could be fun jousting in warmer weather.

Look, mum, no hands! No gloves either.

And here's the shield you wack with the pole as you ride by on the horse.

There's a sophisticated herb garden and vegetable patch that supplies raw ingredients
for the cafe menu no doubt.

And this contraption has ropes hanging from it.
Guess the kids had better behave well while they're visiting :o).

Another out picturesque building.

Another horse, though this one was a Medieval torture instrument.
In the background there's a children's barn with dressing up clothes. 

And as we slithered across the icy car park, I snapped a couple of far more comfortable looking beasties.

This is her good side!

Have a hearty Christmas

Plaited hearts like this are fun for all the family. 

In Denmark, you can buy packs of glossy paper already cut out
in the right shapes, ready to make up.

Here's a close-up.

But you can also make one yourself by following the video made by a
friendly craftyperson on Youtube.
click here to see how

Here it is being plaited.

And here it is, complete with handle glued on like a basket,
hanging on the tree.

They can hold very small biscuits or sweeties
- though not for long in our house.

  Short Christmas Tale

Way back when Zachary was a toddler and I'd only lived in Denmark for about three years, I tried making a heart like this for the first time. Like most Danes, Zachary's daddy had made lots of hearts when he was a child and was feeling ambitious that day. He started by making a normal heart to show me how then cut out a heart with about 8 strips in it. Wow. Of course they were very fragile, thin and fiddly. But after an hour or so he had finished it all but for the very last strip. He was having dreadful trouble with that last strip. It didn't seem to want to fit. He needn't have worried. Baby Zachary soon fixed that. Toddling over with a big smile on his face, he reached right up and helpfully ripped it off. Oops, that tore it!

Oh well, ho, ho, ho. Why make life difficult?!

You'll find loads of other amazing and intricate patterns if you search for 

'flettede julehjerter skabeloner' in Google. 

Watson came in from the garden the other day
with this lovely bespoke moss decoration
hanging from his beard. Nice one, Watson!

  Tonight he was feeling silly and decorated the floor with a serviette.
I think he's trying to tell us it's time to get out the tinsel.

Jake's big brothers (Fuld Effekt) have a new video to promote their upcoming EP

It's in Danish but not too many swear words (as far as I can hear).

And yes that's my car being borrowed again :o).

(Left to right: Claus  - can't take the credit for him or Speakr,
who does a lot of the driving - but Zac and Alex are great big brothers for Jake) 

Click below for the fun to start! 

Fuld Effekt in my car :o)

Make your own non-slip socks

You'll need:

Some socks

A paintbrush

Some rubbery glue or left-over latex (like we used)

Rolled up newspaper to stuff inside the socks to stop the glue from gluing both sides together

Make dots for your toes

But don't do what we did next..

Because if you cover large parts of the socks with glue...like this

And do several layers, it looks cool...

Really cool and when it dries it's very good for stopping kids from slipping over
BUT
The bits covered in the glue DON'T stretch.

So you end up with the heel halfway under your foot.
WHICH IS WHY

You should
MAKE LOTS OF DOTS INSTEAD
which is probably more fun for kids anyway.

Bonfire night. BE A HERO! And GREAT NEWS for hedgehog lovers

Tomorrow afternoon, spread a tarpaulin/sheet by the bonfire, move the wood and stuff onto the tarp, checking for sleepy hedgehogs. All done? Take the chance to put nice DRY newspaper in the base of the fire as you pile the wood back up. Have a GREAT NIGHT and a clear conscience that there won't be a family of hoglets in there somewhere smile emoticon.

GREAT NEWS

Our 'luxury' hog house under our kitchen window
(complete with pretty blue paddly/drinking pool)
now has a hoggy resident!
We are THRILLED to bits.

He/she is still coming out at nights and we could hear him
gnashing away on catfood behind the litter bin
while we handed out sweets and hot chocolate from my
witch's couldron to hordes of Viking Halloween guests.

I've spread out a punctured airbed on top to keep out the weather.
I intended to nail it down but hoggy is asleep during the daytime
and I'd hit my thumbs in the dark. 

This is the inhabited side, with little footprints.

This is the other side. We are not sure if anyone is in there,
because Jakob was so surprised to see the first hoggy under the hay,
that we put the lid down quickly.
We didn't want to disturb the dear little thing.

Tonight Dr Watson plans to put a piece of paper down to
see if anyone leaves any footprints.

Six hoggies (Mummy + three babies, and two middle-sized)
have been coming for food since about the end of August,
so there are plenty of potential tenants.

Watch this space tomorrow for news.

No footprints outside the right-hand side yet...

Legejunglen - GREAT for a rainy day

Free for the adults and unlimited play once you've paid for the kids.

Laura (6) and Petra (1.5) were ready for an adventure the day I
took them to the play jungle in Slangerup. 

It is huge - especially by Danish standards.

But as you can see by the shutter speed, it soon became clear that Laura would be up,
down and off to the next challenge long before Petra made it past the first hurdle
- with me following up her rear.

I'm going to post this while I walk the dog and then put up some more photos.
He's crossing his legs, and not being the most tech-savvy blogger in the worls,
I wouldn't want to add 'washing the carpets' to my list of things to do today :).

WATCH THIS SPACE

Phew, that's better. And I've cleared up the hedgehog poo outside 
ours and the neighbours' too. 
There must be an industrial application for hedgehog poo - 
it has EXTREMELY effective adhesive qualities.

Good job they are so cute.

Anyway, back to the play jungle and the first ball pit.

The biggest slide was certainly the volcano.

Laura was great at finding handholds.

Petra seemed to think she could toddle on up there - look grandma, no hands!

Wow. Halfway up!

Near the top!

And parachuting down again. Good idea to wear leggings!

And no the person who left more than a CO2 footprint wasn't us, 
but it did make us think about getting angles of trajectory right!

Come on Grandma, you can do it!
Our next post will show more fun obstacles, including this 'mangle', which I was pleased I managed to get through. Headfirst, and fairly quickly. I didn't have much choice as both kiddies had shot through it in a matter of seconds and were heading off into the interior intestinal tract of the monster playground.