Swinging on GIANT 15 FOOT SWING ROPE!!!

This is Raffay, my grandson! Iona's brother. His passion is making videos and posting them to YouTube. This one, although exciting to watch, produced some grandmotherly concerns as to safety. But apparently - I needn't have worried!

BABIES!

Trying to keep track of what my babies are called is very tricky! I need to do a periodic roll-call with tags to help me remember. I don’t have this problem so much with the older Sashas. Does it matter? Well, it does to me! What sort of a Sasha mother am I if I can’t even remember what my kids are called?

Top row from the left

April, Yasmin, Naomi, Poppy, Freya, Emily, Charlotte, Rosie

Tabatha, Honey, Harry, Peter, Charlie, Max, Julia, Katie,

These are the Götz babies:

Charlotte, Poppy, Freya, Max, Katie

The latest addition is called 'Archie', another Trendon Honeyblonde. 

Here are all the baby boys: Harry, Archie, Peter, Charlie and Max, being very well behaved for their photograph to be taken. ..

... but you can’t expect babies to stay still for very long!

So now, hopefully, when I forget their names, I can check in here! 

THE SASHA ROOM

While everyone is busy at the Sasha Festival in Dulles VA, I thought I’d just post a few pictures of stuff that goes on in the Sasha room from time to time, just for myself, hoping that no one will notice!

The new cabinet.  

My Kiltie, April, likes  the cabinet, as does Kally, who is a Dungarees Girl. April is wearing a little dress made by the talented Marilyn Hotchkiss. I won the little blue dress in the lottery at the Sasha Celebration weekend. The proceeds of the lottery at the SCW always go to a children's charity, in this case 'Safe the Children'.  This year the lottery made an astonishing £2,852, but the most amazing thing is, that this sum has increased 10 fold, yes, 10 fold, to £25,000, due to the kind generosity and ingenuity of Brenda Myers at our Sister event, the big Sasha Festival in Dulles, Virginia, USA, which is being held at the time of this posting. Wow!!! How did she manage that! 

Here is little Max, looking a little lost. He has only just arrived and hasn’t managed to make friends yet with the other babies. 

Luckily Kally is on hand to make him feel at home. Don't I know you, says Kally?  You are a little sweetheart Max. All is going to be well! 

A WEEKEND CELEBRATING SASHA

Dear Iona and Raffay,

Grandpa and I made it to Eastwood Hall and I wished you had been there with us! What wonderful Sashas in beautiful costumes! It was a feast for the eyes! The theme was National Costumes and some of the outfits were simply astonishing! I have chosen just a few photos to give you an idea. The Maypole seems to have been a success, too! The flowers you wove into the wreath were still all there and the ribbons worked beautifully. The Sasha kids were very well behaved and didn’t fall over once! Some of their friends joined them and I think they all had a blast! Notice the Toddler going in the wrong direction? I was glad she didn't get trampled on! 

This Warrior was one of my favourites, although it was very hard to choose, as you can imagine

This little darling stole my heart! I love how she is painted, particularly her eyes

There was also a band. Lukas played the recorder, but look at Gilly playing the accordion. He came all the way from America! In this photo you can just make out the naughty cow who crashed the scene!

Some of the kids who joined in the fun.  The boy and the girl in the hat came all the way from Switzerland! 

I met up with lots of my lovely Sasha friends, but here are two of my favourites: Rosie and Kalaya! They had a great time, winning no end of Raffle prizes and taking part in all the crafts that were on offer with amazing skill. They delighted us all with their happy smiles and sweet nature. It would have been great, if you both could have been there too, Raffay and Iona! It would have been the icing on the cake.

Lots of love, Grandma xxx

SASHA CELEBRATION WEEKEND - Nottingham

Some of the Sashas have decided to take part in the SCW in Nottingham. Only 11 days to go now until the big day! The theme, as we all know, is Traditional or National Costumes and since there is a strong connection with Austria, and the celebration takes place in May, they have decided to don their Dirndls, Jopperl, Knickerbockers and Lederhosen and put on a Maypole Dancing Exhibition, in the best Austrian tradition!

A group photograph was taken so as to have a permanent record of the Sashamania Maypole Dancers, watched by Yasmin and Aania. 'Why can't we go too', asked Yasmin.  

 'At least let us be in the picture'. 

The boys wanted to show off their traditional gear. Well, why not! They do look rather splendid! Apart from Raffay's sock, which is a disgrace! 

A few days later, they had a go dancing around the actual Maypole. A practice run! Nice one, kids! Well done. 

SASHA CELEBRATION WEEKEND: Anna and Iona

Schwesterlein komm tanz mit mir

Beide Hände reich ich Dir

Einmal hin

Einmal her

Rundherum das ist nicht schwer! 

Lukas and Toby James have stopped playing Dominoes and are watching Iona and Anna dance to the duet from ‘Hansel und Gretel’.

Iona’s Dirndl is made by the talented Marilyn Hotchkiss and Anna is wearing a Käthe Kruse Dirndl dress. Phew! The hair doesn’t get half messy when one is dancing!

MAYPOLE DANCING AT THE SASHA CELEBRATION WEEKEND!

INTRODUCTION

I am very pleased to be able to make it to this year’s Sasha Celebration Weekend. Looking forward to sharing a couple of days with some lovely people and some amazing Sashas in what looks like a really nice venue.  Wasi is coming along too. He is quite an old hand at Sasha meetings and he will be able to reacquaint himself with old friends! The theme is National Costumes and with my Austrian background I am going down the Dirndl and Lederhosen route. To make it more interesting, I am aiming to have my kids dance around a Maypole, which is still in the ‘how the heck am I going to make one of those?’ stage. But a lot of other things are coming together nicely.

Only a limited number of kids can come along, for obvious reasons, and that provoked a certain amount of discussion, not to say argument, among my girls.  They ALL wanted to come. In contrast, I could only persuade 3 of the boys to take part (they are the ones who pulled the short straw!). In all, I am planning to take 11 of my Sasha kids, although I have yet to square this with Janet Mayhill Dabbs and Tricia Jackson, who are organising this event. (They truly deserve a medal!)

I had to tell my girls that they would be chosen on a limited criterion: who can stand really well, and, if necessary pose without falling over! From that group I was able to choose 8 girls, a mixture of early and late Trendons, red heads, blondes and brunettes. My Götz girls lost out, alas, but I am taking along Lukas, who is a Götz boy. I shall gradually introduce all the kids who are coming with me. 

MOLLY

A 1972 Trendon puddle eyed blonde, now wigged. She is wearing a Dirndl dress made by Stela Aranghelova. I asked Marilyn Hotchkiss to make her a new blouse. All the girls socks are knitted by Rosie Laird. Dancing shoes made by Lisa Hartley.