Recovery...

2 years ago, give or take a few weeks, Tanya (we think) got Covid. It must have been Alpha back then. She spent 7 days locked in a room in strict sanitised isolation with her meals left outside. She slept most of the time early on, then read the blog and watched films for the final stint as she began to feel better. She was tired and had a cough for a good few weeks after that as well.

2 years on and 3 vaccines later, we all had Covid. This time though we could all just isolate together with hugs all round, and variant Omicron was much, much milder; so it was more a case of waiting it out rather than wait and see. That said we all reverted to our own version of recovery - Tanya still slept plenty as she had little energy; Emily wasn't herself but just read books so not much change there; Niomi you could barely tell she was ill and played relentlessly; and, as for for me, I grumbled my way through a week of work feeling a bit rubbish till I woke up about 5 days in feeling fine again. Variants of Covid and variations on symptoms.

One thing that saved us both times though was the weather. We've been completely blessed in our isolation periods with glorious sunny weather. And boy does that help.

So two of us are now in freedom, and two still wating on tests. Touch and go tomorrow if we're heading away to Pitlochry this weekend or not. Fingers crossed...whatever though - we're all well on the road to recovery.

Niomi played

Emily read

Tanya 'tried' to sleep

The sun shone

And apparently Covid makes your teeth fall out

Corononundrums...

Inevitably Covid was going to bite. Emily last Saturday; T and me this morning. Niomi had a cold last week which we thought was Covid but all tests were negative - and she's so far avoided catching it from us. T and me started off with Niomi's cold and now are segwaying seamlessly into our Covid - can't tell the difference so far! So there it is, self-isolation here we come.

All is fine though. And we are so very, very grateful for all our wonderful friends and neighbours for shopping offers, school run assistance, doorstep visits, lovely thoughts and messages and lots more. Makes us feel much loved and turns self-isolation into feeling anything but isolated. Thank you all so much 💗.

Still spring is seemingly here and the weekend weather looks lovely - so with any luck we'll shake off our symptoms and spend the weekend enjoying our garden. I've 5 fruit trees to plant so will be kept busy. 

Meantime Niomi decided she's quite able to drive to the shops and do our shopping to help out. She literally got her self ready, grabbed the shopping list and car keys, got in and started it up - and whilst we were keeping one eye on her, she is most definitely one to watch!

Cancelled sleepover - sad, covid face

Daddy with Covid by Niomi

His and Hers

Happy to help - off to do the shopping

POSTSCRIPT 19/03/22

First Niomi did this...

She spend so much time making her best birthday card ever.

Then she did this...

😭 I relly felt for her - she was so excited to be going. Bless. 

Niomi makes it the full house!

Girl power...

The power of Shakti has always flown strong in our house. I’ve never really stood a chance surrounded by 3 strong women – and I regularly just have to stand back in awe of them.

Tanya, now embracing her new decade, has always left me feeling weak at her commitment to wild swimming. 7am in the loch in the middle of January? I could never do that. To ‘celebrate’ her 50th she has just spent the day at the Hot Box Spa on Loch Tay with her tribe of Saturday Super Swimmers having a whale of a time. I could handle the hot box bit, but the slide to a freezing dunk? No thanks. Hats off to the lot of them though.

And whilst Mummy cat was away playing in the baltic water – I took the girls to watch Glasgow City FC, Scotlands only women-only football club. 14 years on the trot they’ve won the league but this year they’re running a close second to Rangers. I have to say the game was really impressive, with players from all over the world, and Emily particularly loved it. Why there’s only a couple of hundred folk watching quality football like that just begs the question. Too long has sport been a predominantly male dominated affair. Much greater investment and opportunity is needed to take even a few steps in equalising this all out. Still Glasgow City went one-nil down against Hibs, before finding their own equaliser and eventual winner. And all in glorious sunshine with not a hint of unpleasantness or bigotry in the crowd. The influence of Shakti…

Oh and yes… the final bit of recent girl power comes from Emily’s new drumming prowess. She’s taken to the tubs like her Mum does to water…and apparently she’s quite a natural!

Surrounded by the power of Shakti I may be. But that’s surely a great place to be.

The Saturday Super Swimmers

Videoclip: Birthday Swimbles

Or you can watch the video here

Pitch Invasion

With Costa Rican goalscorer Priscila Chinchilla

Videoclip: Little Drummer Girl

Or you can watch the video here

Operation Hello 5-0...

Weeks of planning, days of worry; and despite the worst of Storms Dudley and Eunice, I can report that Operation Hello 5-0 was a complete success. 

T's 50th had involved much secrecy; plotting, planning, and, well, outright lying; but all in the name of a good cause. She'd been wondering what might be happening for a few weeks but I'd been playing it cool. Until lunchtime on Friday 18th that is - as that's when it all kicked off. I'd arranged a magical wild goose chase round some of her favourite Kirky shops - collecting clues to lead her from one to the other...for no other good reason than to get her out the house whilst her parents snuck in.

She arrived back a little confused and somewhat windswept wondering what on earth was going on, to find her folks here who'd kindly agreed to look after the kids whilst I whisked her away to a lovely little cottage in Crieff. It hadn't been easy. Being a prolific organiser she kept arranging things for her birthday weekend...and I, being the party planner just kept, well, unorganising them again. But what else could I do?

And so we headed off on the tail end of Eunice, and spent the most wonderful weekend...only our 4th/5th night without kids in nearly 10 years. We'd forgotten what it was like! T managed to squeeze in 3 baths in the luxury outdoor bathtub; we ate amazing food at a leisurely pace; stayed up and got up late; watched films; drank bubbly; read books; went on long walks with no cajoling; and, all in all, just kicked back, relaxed and celebrated T's half way mark! The sun even shone the whole day. Awesome it was...

Then back home we came to more food, cake, presents and some more surprises too. I think she felt truly spoiled by the end of it all and so she deserves. Happy Birthday my gorgeous wife - here's to another 50 years together!

Triple-decker 50

Heaven is an outdoor bathtub!

Bliss...

The view from the bath

Walking along the Earn

Crieff - Perthshire's finest

Happy Birthday T!!

Happy Seven...

Our little bundle of singing happiness turned 7 at the start of February. And you can really see her starting to grow up! Her chocolate making party was delayed a bit due to half term but that did nothing to dampen her spirits. The bonus being she kinda got two birthdays with two cakes! 

Throughout it all though she really did us proud, happily sharing everything as she went. She really is the most generous of souls. But bless her, it was so, so lovely to see her filled to the brim with excitement and happiness. She really doesn’t want or need a lot in this world – passing through without a great desire for many of life’s trappings. Like us all she just really wants to be loved. Melts your heart at times she does. Letting me just sit back and smile at how she has changed and grown over the years… Makes me very proud of her.

Happy Seven Niomi!!

Happy Seven

Chocolate making heaven

Grrr....

Seven year old bundle of happiness

Or you can watch the video here

They say it's just a number…

They say age is just a number, and that is probably true…but some of those numbers definitely seem more significant than others. And 2022 is definitely going to see lots of those seemingly significant numbers in the Rooke family. We’re full of 0’s, 1’s and 5’s this year. Deep breath... As a family we are 5, we’ve been married 10 yrs and Emily is also 10 too…(coincidence??). Then there’s the big 5.0.’s, both Tanya and myself hit seemingly significant birthdays this year too. And so far it looks like Tanya is going to hit hers in better shape than I will, as I’m nursing a very sore 49 year old knee and shoulder (still not needing specs though, and I can still dress myself, so my pride is just about intact!).

And to celebrate all this we’ve got much planned. So buckle up, watch this space…it’s going to be a big one!

And maybe 2022 will be the end of facemasks...

Happy 5 Rooke Family

Videoclip: Happy 5!

Or you can watch the videoclip here

A classic Christmas and then some…

After weeks of not tempting fate, the 07:00 Mercedes shuttle departed Birmingham. It was carrying the Kirkymas party collective – and boy did they do us proud. I’d engineered quizzes, games and songs for the journey – emailed at suitable junctures – so that the Bucks Rookes arrived in fine festive fettle with Rooke Snr in equally fine spirits. And then the merriment began – there was an endless supply of happiness and laughter; food and drink flowed; games, jigsaws, beauty treatments, dancing and song sprung forth; there were trips out to see Santa, some festive craft, and the rest of Kirky's finest; plus an exceptionally lengthy Boxing Day feast at the Broadcroft Hotel. For once I find it hard to put into words just how good our 5 days of Wondermas truly were. But I guess it boiled down to the fact it was filled to the brim with fun, laughter, kindness and love. It was a simply classic Christmas. All you could wish for and much more besides.

And then as the bulk of the party departed – my niece Chloe stayed on to keep us (and particularly the girls) entertained on a high energy journey for a few more days. We enjoyed the best of Scotland's outdoors when the weather was fine and the best of indoor entertainment when it wasn’t. But the Christmas vibe was not for departing and we continued to have a lovely time. Thank you so much to big cousin Chloe for entertaining the girls so much… and come visit again soon!

Phew! A very short pause for breath and then turn the tempo back up for Hogmanay at Methana. We pushed back the tables, ate our veggie steak pies, got dressed up and family ceilidh’d till late - well late for little Niomi anyway. Then Mummy and Niomi disappeared off to bed – leaving the party animals of me and Emily to see in the New Year. A first for our Emily and so a proud moment for me as the bells sounded midnight…

Then New Years Day was a quick cold water dip for Mummy, packing of new Christmas cases and a drive to the East to see the Gurney’s in North Berwick for a few days. And that was more loveliness too. It was all fairly low key but quality time nonetheless including catching up with other old friends whilst there (Keighley’s and Dell-Scotts), and there was plenty of walks on the beach, more lovely food and a sampling of John’s Christmas whisky.

Thank you to all for making this year so classic. Our hearts are truly filled with gratitude as we begin 2022. May the year also bring you all much joy and happiness.

Visiting the big man

The Kirkymas posse at New Lanark

Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil...

The dance collective

Santa's been!!

Lord and Lady Bucks Rooke

My nephew and niece, Will and Chloe

Christmas Lunch

The Jigsaw Queens

My bro 😂

Merry Christmas everyone

Boys won Cranium 2021

Girls did face masks 😜

A splendid affair at the Broadcroft

Big cousin with us McRookes and Sassy at the Whangie

Happy New Year!