Friday 28th September - 'My Day Off' as a list

My Friday as a list;

1. Wake up (before the alarm, regrettably)
2. Do a Suduko
3. Rub it out because it went wrong
4. Write up yesterday's diary entry with irritations assistance from the cat.
5. Get dressed, take morning pills, discover I forgot last night's pills, never mind as that will save me sorting them out for tonight, shall I, shan't I shall I do my teeth? Oh all right then I will.
6. Downstairs for breakfast
7. Walk to the local school for Child Protection Training. All children are now safe from me.
8. Walk home.
9. Answer email queries about this and that
10. Do on-line repeat prescription form
11. Discuss schedule with Himself; shall we go out for lunch? End up staying in.
12. Wash the patio door windows
13. Do piano practice and admin.
14. Chase parent about piano exam entry, make the entries including captured parent's child.
15. Meanwhile He makes signature dishes of flakemeal shortbread and ginger biscuits. 
16. Cook eggy bread, fried tomatoes, add some swiss chard from veg patch. Followed by tea and ginger biscuits

Afternoon

• Gardening; dispose of old lettuce plants in compost bin. 
• Stir up and refresh earth in lettuce tub, squishing scores of slugs eggs as I go.
• Extract tubful of earth from the base of the compost bin, relabel lettuce tub as 'broad bean tub' and plant broad beans.
• Chuck all the stuff that didn't end up composted - mostly tea bags and a few food labels, one ancient chicken bone.
• Go upstairs and change all my clothes (on account of sitting in flowerbed in order to rummage in compost bin) 
• Clean the bathroom basin as I filled it with earth from the garden when cleaning my nails
• Fiddle with telephone, transferring music files
• Install and test sound recorder on phone
• Transfer more music files
• Discover really bright idea for teaching James Bond Theme to beginner guitar class (shall I do this next week, or save for upcoming lesson observation? hmm)
• Write this blog post
• Do more piano practice because I need to get four sessions done before Monday to avoid shaming myself on the practice challenge chart at school
• Go to the evening drumming workshop - I weighed my djembe on Thursday afternoon. One whole stone - more than 7kg. That explains a lot

Evening will probably be

• Prep for tomorrow's teaching
•  Enjoy the rest of my day of!!!!

 

Yesterday (23rd September)

We went out in the afternoon and did some more cutting-bits-off-the-rose-bush. The one in the front grows tall (about 6 feet) with thin straggly ends and then half a dozen huge pink roses which wave wildly about in the gusts.

Reluctantly, we removed all the flowers except one. We should probably have taken that too. There are still a few buds left. It seems drastic, but there is the risk that the movement of the whole bush, rocking in the wind, will weaken the roots.

I put all the flowers that had any life left in them in vase.

In the evening, I lit some of the candles and we enjoyed a sort of pre-Christmas moment.

My camera phone was completely unequal to the task! That bright white square is actually the round lamp. The whole scene was much dimmer in reality.

I thought the roses would have dropped all their petals by this morning but they have survived.

Sunday 23rd September - Wedding Anniversary

I've had the calendar reminder popping up on my phone for several days, but not got around to doing anything about it. Yesterday I admitted as such to Him, and was relieved when he replied 'Me neither'.

Great minds think alike. A good friend sent us a card, so the day wouldn't have gone completely unmarked.

Last night after supper I was suddenly gripped by terrific stomach pains. The answer seemed to be to go to bed early - which I did, and over the course of an hour they subsided . Meanwhile, He set about clearing some space on our crowded shelves for a beautiful Belleek porcelain lamp which we had bought together in Northern Ireland.

We have decided that it is our joint wedding anniversary present to each other.

 

N. WILT thou have thys woman to thy wedded wyfe, to lyve together after Goddes ordynaunce in the holye estate of Matrimony? Wylt thou love her, comforte her, honour, and kepe her, in sickenes, and in healthe? And forsakyng al other, kepe the onely to her, so long as you both shall hve?

The man shall aunswere,

I will.

Then shall the Priest saye to the woman,

N. WILT thou have this man to thy wedded housband, to lyve together after Goddes ordynaunce in the holy estate of matrimony? wilt thou obey hym and serve him, love, honour, and kepe him, in sycknes and in health? And forsakynge al other, kepe the onely to him so long as ye bothe shal live

The woman shall aunswere,

I will.

Yes, I know it says 'obey'. Let's subsitute 'listen to' - it would be closer to the truth!

Saturday 22nd September - Book Catch-up

What have I read recently?

Majorie Allingham - The Fashion in Shrouds (featuring Albert Campion)
Another detective mystery where I only just realised before the last page who actually dunnit. It's not a favourite - too much introspection and rather weird analysis of relationships. I know it was written in the early thirties, but how's this for a marriage proposal

'will you marry me [he asked] and give up to me your independence, the enthusiasm which you give your career, your time, and your thought?.... In return - and you probably won't like this - in return, mind you ... I should assume full responsibility for you. I would pay your bills to any amount which my income would afford. I would make all decisions which were not directly in your province, although on the other hand I ... might discuss everything with you if I wanted to; but only because I wanted to, mind you; not as your right. And until I died you would be the only woman. You would be my care, my mate as in plumber, my possession if you like. If you wanted your own way in everything you would have to cheat it out of me, not demand it.... It means the other half of my life to me, but the whole of yours to you. Will you do it?

'Yes [she said] so quickly that she startled herself.'

WHAT!!!   The nerve of him!
But, I suppose, he was only stating out loud what most men had expected, demanded, required from  their wives for hundreds of years, until comparatively recently. When you see it written down, baldly, like that, surely even then, someone must have seen how one-sided such an agreement was, and how defenceless it left the woman!

Deep breath.

What else.

I am reading 'A Time of Gifts' for the current Book Club nomination, and, quite by chance, downloaded this;

It was only £1.99 on Kindle, and I have already fallen in love with his 'The Lost Words'. I clicked 'buy now' because it was cheap, and because I like the cover picture. Then I discover it is all about being given a copy of 'A Time of Gifts' by a close friend, and the power of giving books as gifts. It is very short, 'an essay' as he says, but full of good phrases and ideas.

I finished an early Peter Whimsy - 'Clouds of Witnesses' by D L Sayers that a friend gave me as she found she had two copies. It is a bit too much 'what ho, what?' but I enjoyed it all the same.

I have also listened to yet Albert Campion audiobook; 'The China Governess' which was not nearly as scary as 'Hide My Eyes' and did its proper job of lulling me to sleep - not because I was bored, but because that is the usual effect of listening to any audio book or World Service Radio or podcasts. Which is why I listen to them.

There must be others, and when I have remembered what I have been reading, I'll post them on the Pages.

Friday September 21st - Making a Wreath

Hi there! Christmas is a-coming!

I had a happy hour or so at our local fabric shop with a good friend, learning how to make a scandi-wreath.

Wossat?

It's one of these;

A load of strips of material tied along a string - well, three pieces of string knotted together. The main skill seemed to be in choose where to put the bells... 

Friend and I spent the rest of the morning looking in various shops for ideas on where to source the fabric strips to make more of them, but without buying quantities of pristine fabric and snipping it into bits. I was thinking that, with the addition of some tinsel or fairy lights, it would look nice and festive.

I've been neglecting this blog for a couple of weeks. There have been circumstances. Nothing bad, just all-consuming events.

Such as the start of term - hours of admin, chasing paperwork, being pursued for paperwork, being told Not to do this, or to hurry up and Get On with that. Two weeks of term have passed, and my timetable is more settled.

Apart from 'can I change my day to Friday?' 'No, I'm not teaching anyone on Fridays.' 'How about Monday then?' It will take about three phone calls to see if can be arranged.

And 'I need you to add in an extra pupil on Saturday.' (Note the different tone of voice - that's The Office, not one of my home students. Hopefully They will make all the phone calls. So long as I have ten minutes to nip to the Ladies or drink my coffee. Choices, choices.

Did I mention a Great Family Get-together all of last weekend? We only rolled up for Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday. The Mega-Family-Get-Togetherers started on the Thursday, staying in a scattering of hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, and then joined the second part being a coach trip to The Family Seat (now an expensive hotel-spa) for a couple more nights, though probably not paying £200 per night at the hotel-spa! It was good to meet first and second cousins and their various removes. Not to mention Uncles and Aunts and more distant relatives. 

I've also now just finished week 3 of an on-line course with futurelearn on writing fiction, which, as you can imagine, is fairly time-consuming.

The final straw may be putting myself down on the practise challenge chart at the school; I haven't been doing proper piano practice for some months now, and the shame of not earning a sticker each week is certainly a potent incentive. I have promised myself that I won't cheat. Better get back to that Chopin; there's a young lad tomorrow who want to know if I've reached bar 9 yet.



   

Sunday 9th September - NI Trip (3)

Now we were heading towards His hometown, completely changed now, of course - everywhere is. I don't know if I would be able to find my way about the large village, now a large commuter area, where I grew up.

We have friends there; there was a time when we saw each other everyday at work, and most weekends, but again, thirty or more years ago our lives went on different tracks and we have only caught up with each other recently.

So, we unloaded the firewood, and settled to a good evening of 'catching up', starting with going to  Buncrana, just over the border, for an evening meal at a lovely place overlooking Lough Swilly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncrana

Buncrana is the place where John Newton composed the hymn 'Amazing Grace' after surviving a serious storm; he later became a clergyman and was a curate at Olney in Buckinghamshire.

We were so lucky with the weather; it hardly rained at all while we were travelling around. I think we had just the one, maybe two days with rain over the whole week, so we saw the countryside from East to West at its very best.

On the was back, we stopped briefly at the Seamus Heaney Homeplace Museum and exhibition. We didn't have time to go round - but after we left, and while we were driving through the little roads to get back on the main road, it struck me how very rural Northern Ireland still is, even that close to the main towns.

Sunday September 9th - Round up of NI Trip (2)

We also stayed with cousins on the other side of the family - more wonderful hospitality!

It's so good to catch up on news, and with a year between visits, and a gap of around forty years before we started going back over, there is a lot to catch up on.

These cousins live in a more rural part of the country, in a farmhouse.

With a farmhouse kitchen - again a living/dining/kitchen. From this Aga comes another endless stream of delicious food - fresh fish, huge joints of lamb, eggs, bacon, toasted wheaten bread, potato farls...

Am I jealous? Hmm. And with this view from the kitchen window, who would ever feel the lack of a dishwasher? It's a far cry from suburbia.

We stayed the night, and work to the sight of scores of swallows flitting between the trees in the paddock outside our window.

After a hearty breakfast we got back into the car (which was heavily laden with a great sack of firewood in the boot from their own woodpile) and travelled across the country to our next port of call.

Sunday September 9th - Round up of NI Trip (1)

Round up is what one of our cousins in NI is using to deal with the pernicious weeds in their new bungalow.

We stayed with them in their rented bungalow, while the one they had just bought when we were staying with them last year is 'renovated'.

'Inverted' commas?

The bungalow they move into will have almost nothing in common with the standard picture window dwelling, almost completely enclosed by with laurels, conifers, brambles, bindweed and crocosmia.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/110418/Crocosmia-x-crocosmiiflora-Red-King/Details

I had always thought that this was called montbretia, and was a highly desirable addition to the garden (might put some in when we have the garden done) but beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.

We had a great time staying with the cousins, and joining in with their enthusiasm as the 'new' bungalow took shape. I'm particularly envious of the 'big room' - a large, kitchen/dining/sitting place with floor-to-ceiling windows looking into the garden. A sort of combined conservatory, kitchen, lounge, dining room, just what I've always dreamt of.

While we stayed with them, at the beginning and end of our time in NI, we met quite a few of that side of the family - more cousins, and their children, and their children's children and enjoyed their wonderful hospitality.

We also did some sightseeing - a 'wee tour' around the Mountains of Mourne and a day at the Ulster Folk Museum.

I'm a bit low on photographs, but will rustle up some soon. 

Sunday 2nd September - a 'tragedy' averted

Almost a year ago, a kind friend gave us the most amazing fortieth wedding anniversary present; a voucher for a Full Cream Tea at a local Very Smart Hotel.

The capital letters are required.

Today, almost a year later, we redeemed the voucher. We went there for 1pm; a full cream tea makes a very satisfactory lunch.

I was quite tempted to take photograph of the table with the cake stand and teapots (I had White Peony Tea, he had Darjeeling) and tea strainer and everything. But I couldn't quite manage to bring myself to do so in the rather lovely surroundings of the dining room, so you will have to be content with a rapid scribbled sketches;

I had to sketch all the food from memory as we had eaten it all, including an extra plate of sandwiches, offered free of charge and gratefully accepted.

There were

sandwiches - a finger each of smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber, superior version egg mayonnaise, and ham and mustard on brown, or white, or granary bread, fresh as fresh could be and the crusts carefully trimmed

cakes - one each of blueberry and elderflower tart, chocolate brownie, passion fruit macaron, strawberry cheesecake

scones - a fruit and a plain one each, supplied with just the right amount of clotted cream and jam

I felt a bit like one of the judges on Bake-off Creme de la Creme, looking at the delicious little cakes, all layered and decorated and set out so temptingly.

Afterwards we wandered around, inside and outside the castle (had I mentioned that it was a castle?) enjoying the views and the atmosphere.

 
It was a perfect day out, and a brilliant last-day-of-the-holidays for me.

An the 'tragedy'? It would have been too, too awful to have missed this opportunity. I had a reminder on my phone to make sure that we would use the voucher before it ran out. It has been a present that has lasted nearly a whole year in anticipation, three hours in indulgence, and will last for many years in memory.

New Year - 1st September 2018

New Year? Yes, the new School Year.

I'm still a teacher - which means that I 'manage' three different kinds of year; Calendar Years, from January to December, Tax Years, from April to April, and School Years, from September to July (where did August go?)

I suppose that means I can make three different sets of resolutions... no, bad plan.

I've just these two days left - Saturday and Sunday - before I have to start wearing my watch again, and plunge into Teacherworld, wherein I will be submerged util December, with a short break to come up for air in October.

Most of my timetable tangles are resolved now; just three schools and three piano pupils to go. Just an overwhelming list of emails to send out, pupil packs to assemble, TeacherBags to clear out and the last few sheets of old paperwork to shred.

We don't have a shredder; I rip the paper into tiny fragments and stir it into the compost bin for the slugs and worms to feast upon. Yum yum.

End of August - here, there, everywhere

We've been visiting friends and relations in Northern Ireland and Yorkshire, catching up over the last year since we saw them (and the last fifteen years!)

How lucky we are to have so many, and living in such beautiful places.

 I'll post more, once the pictures have been downloaded from the camera.

Meanwhile, I'll just say again, how lucky we are - the hospitality and generosity of friends and family has been wonderful!