Saturday 29th July - "It escapes, irretrievable time"

Time flies, knowledge will increase
An example of the phrase as a sundial motto in Redu, Belgium.

Tempus fugit is a Latin phrase, usually translated into English as "time flies". The expression comes from line 284 of book 3 of Virgil's Georgics,^[1] where it appears as fugit inreparabile tempus: "it escapes, irretrievable time". 

(Image and quote from wikipedia)



BB and I were enjoying a quiet morning and first-coffee-of-the-day. No 1 Son was still upstairs - he's over for the weekend.




I was completely surprised to hear a man sneeze upstairs!

Burglars!

How did they get in?

Then I remembered that No 1 Son is now of the age now that when he sneezes, he sounds exactly like a man.

Monday 24th July - It's Raining

Rain - like I said ages ago, I have a different view of rain now that I have a vegetable garden on the go.

I planted some seeds a week ago, and they have all come up! The radishes were first, but the pak choi, spring onions and beetroot have all got little shoots now.

spring onion

pak choi

spinach

beetroot, I promise...

radish

The peas and beans are growing like mad - we've had several meals of french beans so far. The peas never seem to make it into the saucepan, as we both like eating them straight from the pod. Freshly-picked straight from the pod! That's a revelation! I'm looking forward to home-grown sprouts.

peas

french beans

 

brussel sprouts beginning to form

Slugging, however, is going to have to become a regular activity. As you can see, they have been eating the peas and beans, and getting altogether too bold.

Slug on outside - us on the inside! 

I grab them with the silicone tongs and drop them into the garden recycling bin. Every time I open the lid, I discover them clustered around the rim, but they are too slow to make a dash for freedom.

The last lot of spinach bolted (I read that hot weather makes this happen) so I'm about to plan more, and some lettuce as well as we have actually had to BUY lettuce this week.

And how about this tomato! What a beauty!

The bay tree is surrounded by tomato plants which appeared from nowhere - proof positive that tomato seeds can survive composting. I've yet to see any evidence that they will produce fruit.

Vegetable gardening has been fun - so far - even with all the watering back in the dry weather.

Sunday 23rd July - A Whole Month since the last post!

Where has the time gone?

In increasing chaos as the end of term rushed towards me like some kind of Dr Who - Science Fiction - Special Effects - whirly-whirly-whirly thingy.

Every lesson I taught seemed to generate changes to the diary and a flurry of urgent emails and phone calls. At the end of the day I was in no fit state to attempt to type any coherent sequence of words. But at last, I have finished all the school lessons (and end-of-term assemblies and instrument checks).

                                                           


I've got six more piano lessons, two end-of-term socials and a drumming workshop scheduled for this coming week, none of which require any forward planning. That is, apart from turning up at the right place at the right time with the right accessories - be they sheet music, djembe drum or money.

I'm awaiting the results for three piano exam candidates. I don't hold out much hope for two of them but the third should be a properly good result. I've gone through all the results of all the exams I've entered pupils for since 1997 and discovered that, on the whole, my results are good enough, all things considered. So I'm not going to get upset over these two. I did as much as I could - that's my side of the teacher-student relationship.

Anyway - after nearly three days of  zoning out, saying and doing almost nothing, going nowhere, neither listening to nor watching anything much, I'm beginning to feel human again. Blogging will recommence!

(All clocks copied from www.awamon.co.uk)