Gallery 2010 - Early

1) Wednesday 6th January 2010 - we wake up to the heaviest snow fall we have seen in this country for 25 years. Compare these picture of Milla in the back garden to those take a few weeks ago in the last "bad" snows of December 2009. This time the snow comes up over the top of her Wellington boots.

2) Milla juggles snow - into her own face. What fun!

3) Back Garden of our home

4) The back Garden of 5 Richard Gardens.

5) More cavorting by Milla.

6) Side gate.

7 & 8) Back Garden.

9, 10, 11 & 12) Back Garden.

13, 14, 15 & 16) Milla enjoys the snow.

17, 18, 19 & 20) Milla enjoys the snowman Daddy made for her.

21, 22, 23 & 24) Here you go Dady. Let's play snowballs!!

25) OK I won't throw it...

26, 27 & 28) View to the front of the house and Liya's car.

29, 30, 31 & 32)

33, 34 & 35) Scenes from the front of our House and Richard Gardens cul de sac.

36) View of Totteridge Road that runs past the outside of Richard Gardens cul de sac.

37 & 38) Totteridge Road.

39) View looking towards Richard Gardens from Totteridge Road.

40) View from the same spot looking left towards Kings Wood.

41, 42, 23 & 44) The Totteridge Road and Common area.

45) Totteridge Road.

46, 47 & 48) Back in Richard Gardens again...

49) Liya's car enshrouded...

50, 51 & 52) Yana and her snowman and sister.

53) Milla, Yana and Mr Snowman - January 6th 2010.

54) Saturday February 27th - Milla and Mummy at the last exhibition at the High Wycombe Environment Centre. Originally titled "Post Carbon Living" it was renamed "Acting Locally". Mark donated a prize for the competition. Milla and Liya are in front of a Transition Town High Wycombe poster and Milla is reading a Transition Town brochure (or "Papa's books" as she call this stuff).

55) Mother's Day Sunday 14th March in Windsor Great Park on the long walk.

56) Yana gave her Mum a "Bath University" hooded sweatshirt that Liya is seen wearing here.

57, 58 & 59) Enjoying the brisk walk.

60) Milla enjoys a choo choo at a Merry-go-round in Windsor.

61, 62, 63 & 64) Round and around - such fun to be had.

65, 66, 67 & 68) Sunday 21st March - Cliveden House

69, 70, 71 & 72) Sunday 21st March - Cliveden House

73, 74, 75 & 76) Sunday 21st March - Cliveden House

77) Sunday 21st March - Cliveden House

78 & 79) 2nd April - Irena comes to visit from Kazakhstan and everyone starts cooking.

80) 10th April - Milla gets ready for a Fancy Dress Party

81) Milla as Snow White

82) 7th April - All change at Krofire House. Inside the attic a new box and bits of wiring appear - the Inverter for the Photovoltaics

83 & 84) 8th April - On the roof various panel mounts are bolted on.

85) 9th April - scaffolding in place and panels being bolted into place.

86) Photovoltaic ready to go whilst the Solar Thermal Tubes await arrival of the new Hot Water Cylinder.

87) Overview of the works from the back garden.

88) 10th April - close up of how the panels are bolted to the roof.

89) 10th April in the Attic. On the opposite wall from the Inverter goes the pump for the Solar Thermal panels.

90) 14th April - old 100 litre domestic hot water cylinder stripped and ready to be removed...

91) ...and it's gone...!

92) A comparison of the new and old hot water tanks.

93) The new tank installed.

94) April 15th - all the pipes lagged and the Airing Cupboard shelves restored.

95) April 14th - Nigel-the-plumber puts the finishing touches to the evacuated tubes on the roof (for the Solar hot water).

96) All finished. Photovoltaics on left, Solar Thermal on right.

97, 98, 99 & 100) Overview of the completed Solar Panels.

101, 102, 103 & 104) 16th April - UK Aware show at Olympia 2 in London. Milla and Liya check out all the ethical eco-gadgets.

105 & 106) Milla learns to drive efficiently with the Energy Saving Trust at UK Aware.

107) 17th April - Cousin/Neice Naomi, Milla, Grandad Brown and Liya whilst visiting the Alleston's for Auntie Sarah's Birthday.

108) Milla enjoys the swings of Suffolk at the Alleston's country retreat.

109) Swing, swing, swing...

110) Time to chase those chickens around a bit.

111) Ooooh - a guinea pig!

112) Girl meets chicken.

113) C'mon Mum!

114) Digging the Garden with Auntie.

115) Bethany swings whilst Liya admires the hard work.

116) Naomi & Bethany on the swing.

117) Milla tries out her first hammock.

118) "Do I dig up these green things Mum?"

119) "No."

120) Milla enjoys a spot of gardening.

121) Naomi on the swing as Grandad snoozes in the background.

122) Milla and Naomi with the chickens.

123) Milla performs ink-blot test on chickens...

124) ...diagnosis: they are all cluckers.

125) More Gardening.

126) 18th April - Sunday in Windsor Geat Park as we watch the horseys.

127) Milla out for a run in the park with a stick.

128) C'mon Mum!

129) Milla rolls down the hill.

130) Milla and Mummy and not a plane in the sky. Icelandic volcanic ash had shut the airports for a week. The first and last time we may well see skies this empty.

131) Sunday 25th April in London - the same day as the Marathon but we were not there for that. Here we in at Marble Arch and a really big horses head.

132) Yana goes running after Milla as she goes chasing London buses.

133) Liya salutes.

134) Liya, Yana and Milla at Marble Arch.

135) Across the road to Speaker's Corner and an exhibit of the "Tree of Souls" from the Movie "Avatar".

136) Then a T-Rex at the day's main attraction - "Dinosaurs Unleashed" on Oxford Street. Milla went nuts. Right up her street! Yana lifts Milla up to meet her first "real" T-Rex.

137) A real T-Rex!

138) Wow - it moves and roars!

139) Milla runs around accompanied by Yana.

140) Daddy! I couldn't be more excited!

141) The Girls get to draw onto virtual dinosaurs and see the result on a real one.

142) The result - "Milla" (in cyrillic)

143) Let's have another go!

144) Result: "YANA"

145) An Anklysaurus.

146, 147 & 148) Outside with more dinosaurs moving and roaring.

149 & 150) More dinosaurs.

151) Mummy, Yana & Milla enjoy the monsters.

152) Ooh - little dinosaurs!

153) The girls pose with the living fossils.

154) It's Steggy!

155 & 156) The ladies meet Stegasaurus.

157 & 158) And, yes, they really did move. Spot the difference between the pictures.

159) Mummy & Milla watch really BIG Dinosaurs unleashed on Oxford Street.