Botallack

It was an absolutely beautiful day yesterday but, instead of the beach we crossed the peninsula to have a saunter around Botallack.  This is my favourite stretch of coast, it's so dramatic and I love the remnants of industry.  I think they remind me that nature always takes over again in the end.

these are old mine workings

this is the arsenic labrynth where arsenic was collected (from roasting the tin), apparently Victorian women used to eat it and rub it into their faces and arms to make their skin look paler so they didn't look as though they worked in the fields!  But it seems to have had a myriad of uses, including fly papers and eczema medecine.  The poor man who had to collect the arsenic would (ironically) cover his face and arms with clay to protect them and stuff cotton wool up his nose. 

These are the engine houses and there is the most stunning sheltered spot down there to enjoy the sun and watch birds.  Yesterday we saw a peregrine falcon (we don't see too many of those), two choughs (which I love) and a raven.

I wish I knew more about mushrooms or, at least in this case, toadstools.  I could guess that these examples might be poisonous!

and relaxing in the sun enjoying the beauty of it all.

celebrating the diversity of home education

This morning I saw a link on our local home ed list to this article all about the proud  success of a fourteen year old home educated boy having been accepted at Cambridge.  After reading about this great acheivement I went through to see what my thirteen and ten year olds were doing

this is what I found

and no the banger is not in his mouth

I tried to upload the video but it just wouldn't work so I'm afraid you will have to imagine the end result

now, I and most other home educators know that we can pass this off as science, explosions, experimentation, animation, modelling, sculpting, art...  But I don't expect a letter from Cambridge in the next year or so!

A day trip

Yesterday we felt soooo lucky as three of us set out for a special day trip. Two couldn't come with us because they are inclined to sea sickness and most of our day was spent on the water...

We took the Scillonian to the isles of Scilly for the day. The boat takes about three hours to get there and we were late setting off but little A saw a minkie whale on the way and all of us just loved being on the sea, looking at all the familiar places on the coast of Cornwall from a most unfamiliar angle and gradually watching the land slip away, until, for a while, we could only see the sea. Then gradually the Scillies appear out of the mists becoming clearer and clearer. We couldn't have wished for more perfect weather or sea.

We landed on St Mary's and then had to rush to catch the wrong boat to Tresco because ours had already left. Once on Tresco we marched to the beautiful Abbey gardens, had a spot of lunch and whizzed round the gardens for half an hour.

In the gardens is a museum to figureheads from wrecked ships, a strange place. Although the colourful figureheads are interesting I rather like the lost arms whose ships cannot be identified, there is something poignant about those limbs holding prayer book and rose.

No sooner had we arrived at Tresco than it seemed we had to set off back again but none of us minded getting back on the water. There is a magic about the isles of Scilly that is best appreciated from the water and as we sailed from Tresco to St Mary's we passed an island of herons and another island of spoonbills. Once back on the Scillonian there were porpoises and gannets diving and feeding and finally an utterly stunning sunset to end our perfect day trip. We still can't believe how lucky we were.