Beer of champions

Mark finished the marathon in 3 hours 19, hurrah! We were watching in parliament square but we missed him going by, I think we were distracted by Nell McAndrew and the carrot costume.

Logan's first ever blog post!

Logan sent the post below from my mobile this afternoon. Boy's a genius!

0th,

It's all happening at the zoo...

Iconography

Came across this interesting article by Jonathan Meades on the overuse of the word icon. Something rather relevant at the moment with the publication of the Guardian World Factfiles this week. Not that we used it inappropriately or anything. Oh no.

Plus, when else do you see pics of Jesus and Marmite nestled together so nicely?

Cheeky face

Fooling around with Daddy

Run Lola run!

Mark, like the madman he is, is going to run the London Marathon in little under two weeks. He's been a superstar, fitting training around Logan stuff - I don't feel like a marathon widow at all!



Mark's raising money for two charities, Asthma UK and Southend United Community and Educational Trust. He's set up a Justgiving page for the first (he can explain the significance of it much better than I can, so check out the page), and he's waiting on the second one to join Justgiving but of course you can sponsor him the old fashioned way if you want to give to the Southend scheme.



Both causes are close to his heart, and to mine by default (Logan is toying with taking up asthma too so it's even more important now!). Please give something, it'll really help spur Mark round the course and get even more sweaty and horrible than he is planning on!

Logan can find a muddy puddle even in this sunshine

Enjoying the sunshine

Had lunch at Kenwood House, miraculously the sun came out so Logan spent the afternoon running down hills on the heath (and in the Flask pub...).

Happy easter!

I can forgive Lindt for spelling my name wrong, they're yummy.

no chance of justice

Blake Morrison has written a powerful piece in the Guardian today, about the way the media treats young murder suspects. I'm not surprised by the tabloid treatment of the case so far but I am disgusted and saddened, I always have a little bit of hope that things will be different next time.

Silent movies

Paul Merton was on Jonathan Ross's radio show on BBC 2 this morning (guest hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate in a nice Doctor Who plug for BBC1). He was talking about the silent movies he is curating and confirmed that falling over is, indeed, funny.

Listen here - the show also features Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbins round about 1 hr 26, a classic record that I used to listen to with Dad (not the appalling '90s band!).

And check out the tour (which includes clips from Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd); the Hackney Empire gig on May 10 will be accompanied by a five-piece band.

Logan and Boris

Marina Hyde is unimpressed by the concept of baby celebrity lookalikes in the Guardian today. All I can say is thank goodness Logan doesn't look like Boris any more!

More pretty flowers

Ah, the joys of spring!

Magnolia spotting

Mum and I were Magnolia spotting all last week, it seems to be the tree du jour around north London, but it's really come into it's own this week. We have Magnolia wallpaper at home but it's not this impressive!

Clowns!

Logan is obsessed with stickers at the moment. Grandma gave him this book (which terrifies me but doesn't seem to bother him - he hasn't seen Stephen King's IT yet, obviously - "we all float down here...").

The idea is to stick facial features on each clown to suit his mood - a happy one, a singing one etc. One of the clowns has had his clothes stolen (!), so you're meant to make him look sad. Below is Logan's interpretation (a Dali in the making?)...

Bits and bobs

Too busy at work to post much, but these should amuse you.

Firstly, I saw a magpie attack a squirrel this morning in Highgate Woods. Is this normal?!

Carole forwarded me this video of sheep farmers (I hope!) getting all arty, which is absolute genius. Shepherding must be boring work if this is what they get up to! (not at all dodgy, btw)

And finally, that sound they play between scenes in Law and Order, which apparently is the noise made by prison doors opening? The door to my office does that. Not the best way to start the day!

Off to play footy with Daddy

Friendly neighbourhood snail

Did a spot of gardening in the sunshine this morning. Logan was pretty helpful, and fascinated by the snail eyeing up our orange seedlings.

Logan's first social engagement

Mum bought Logan this natty jumper in Soup Dragon in Crouch End, to wear to Lauren's first birthday party - Logan's first ever party invitation! It was fab - cake, jelly and ice cream, balloons, party bags, bubbly for the grown ups, what more could you want?



Birthday girl!



Lauren and Logan face off in a balloon showdown!



Cutey pie!

The incredible journey

Had a really fun week with Mum while Mark was in India and Singapore. We went on an epic walk to Crouch End (ok, it felt epic but it was actually only 2 miles. But there were hills, lots of hills!) - this is the view back up to the Broadway from our starting point.

Mochi, yum

First Yo Sushi experience

I've always been tempted by Yo! Sushi but I wasn't sure I'd find anything to eat there, being veggie and all. How wrong I was! I convinced Mum to try it even though she didn't like the thought of raw fish, and it was a revelation.

I particularly liked the pumpkin pancakes (above) and the firecracker rice, and of course the mochi for pud. And just the whole ritual of eating there - the novelty of the conveyor belt, the water taps and soy sauce and ginger in a pot on the table, endless refills of green tea, all of it. Can't wait to introduce Logan!



Here's Mum gamely tucking in!

The Beast in a jam

The news focus this week is the G20 summit, and the protests surrounding it. Obviously it's a serious subject worthy of proper, intellectual discussion, but let's leave all that to the exprts and instead, enjoy this video of Obama's mammoth car failing to park at Downing Street.

If you insist on flying over something akin to the Batmobile (it allegedly carries machine guns and pints of Obama's blood, for use in an emergency) you really should consider the scale of British cul-de-sacs first.