Cinderella’s Castle

Esme was looking forward to a sleep over at “The Goggo House”; collectively Hanne Lene and I have been called “Goggo” since she uttered her first words. High on the list of her priorities were:
1. She gets almost undivided attention when she is here, and although Jess and Isaac do their best, they also have to look after her two year old twin brothers; and
2. She was dead keen to play with Cinderella’s Castle again. The last time the grandchildren were here, Esme wanted the Castle to herself but the boys were just as keen and kept trying to join in.
Jess and Isaac offered to bring her over, along with her brothers, Rosco and Aubrey, and stayed for lunch in the garden. I love young children’s innocent no nonsense approach; on arrival Esme said to her parent’s who were just unbuckling the boys’ seat belts, “Couldn’t you just leave them in the car?”
As it was, the sun was shining, and we had coffee and a really enjoyable lunch on the terrace in the back garden. A little later, Jess and Isaac and the boys set off and Esme had her wish fulfilled. She took pleasure in all the thrilling functions that a pink plastic Cinderella Castle can offer: mod cons such as battery powered lighting, a tiny turntable whereby Cinders could appear to be dancing with her prince and more besides. She is a great, spirited little soul and a lot of fun to spend time with.
When I got a bit of time off for good behaviour I spent a little time watching the pond. I was excited to see a diving beetle and a newt surfacing, and a couple of dragonflies darting around just above the surface. Last night there a pair of bats were flitting around excitedly just above the water. It doesn’t seem to take much to sustain the natural world and appreciate it at closer quarters.