Sunflower Seeds - Ai Weiwei

The Tate Turbine Hall gets another visit.

I was a bit gungho to say, 'oh yeah just another example of 'multiples' in their millions - only made impressive by their sheer volume', before I knew that every single one of over a hundred million sunflower seeds laid here at The Tate is a hand carved ceramic that was then hand painted by Ai and his workshop of oompas.

Stats like that put my 140 white leatherette mice in the shade.

View left.

View right.

Bess; thought provoked.

Gracie Cull literally fell from the sky like a vision in pink to join in the critique.

Pianissimo

Haven't quite got the knack that its for fingers not toes.

Cheeky dollop.

Hat

Getting a hat to stay on her head is near impossible but for some reason on Saturday it stayed the course, and indoors too.

Dollop.

Autumn in Grafton Square

The Austrian Princess as her father has taken to calling her in her new duffle. That or Del Boy...

Kick kick rustle kick rustle rustle kick rustle kick kick rustle

The bumble bee wellies get an outing too.

Dink.

Bess gets a kiki

Yes its all wrong; kiki and a NCFC sleep suit with the feet cut off. Sometimes you just have to go with what you've got.

Farmer's market to fireworks

Good bread from the Old Post Office Bakery brings floury joy to the house on Saturday.

Why hold up your baguette when you can balance it on its end and nibble at the other?

On to the Howes Carlshalton branch for freebie fireworks courtesy of the Masons of Stanley Park. In the region of £50k on this display; recommended. All the better with Jo's parsnip soup, fancified baked potatoes and a hot toddler to keep you warm.

Bang

Cheese

Whizz bang pop

Snowsurf

A new game brings endless hours of inexpensive fun. But potentially expensive visits to an osteopath for Daddy.

A spooky woooooooohhhhh

Halloween weekend. Back to Norville for Mike and Bess while I finish my work at BCC. The 9.30pm from Liverpool Street was a bit like a ghost train. I sat opposite an impossibly tall woman who looked harrowed and talked to her phone for half the journey about her visit to a pshychotherapist. It was impossible to tell if there was someone on the other side.... suiting the mood of the weekend perhaps.

Bess hung out with Grandad and Lyn and Lyn's mum, Doreen, before we all headed to Buxton to see the Walshes for a night in the Jackson (5) house.

Driving en route through Felthorpe, we chanced upon a 'squash stop' where a specimen was just 50p a pop. So we took one 'S' and one 'XS' for Bess's inaugural pumpkin scoop off. Splashing out hey.

The results. One happy and one sad pumpkin pal for les enfants.

Madeleine wanted and insisted that she wanted a sad pumpkin.

Fortunately her camera grin off-set this melancholy.

Good work ladies.

Bess: 'Hi-5 me sister'

Later.

Ding dong the witch is dead. I'm charmed as you can see.

Also massive in stripes.