Lovely piccies from my half term sojourn to Catalonian France!

Was SOOOOOOO not impressed by the Boutique Champignon- an entire shop devoted to mushrooms!!!!!! The sheer madness!!!!!!!!!!

Books

As November reaches its mid-point, with lots of things to say, but not the time and energy to craft it into some sort of coherent post, I instead look at my book progress- it has certainly slowed down in the latter half/third of the year (and I curiously can't work out which 2 books I have omitted to mention in my online record- my paper copy has 93 books on it!)- busier social life and constant work fatigue (manic business!) has rendered me less diligent in book progress- I however will plow on in order to achieve my target (like Steph/ven who has already achieved his and is storming impressively forward in his target list! I think I have also suffered from reading several books that do not capture my interest sufficiently- the below entries weren't so interesting as would be hoped (no. 91 is a book I am reading with my H.A. year 5's- it was the best of the lot!)- I am currently reading Swallows and Amazons (lent to me by another pupil) and whilst I am enjoying it, it hasn't intrigued me vastly, and I started Cranford and got 3 quarters of the way through and just switched off- pity as the BBC adaptation was great! I therefore need something to recapture my reading thirst! Any suggestions????

89. THUD- Terry Pratchett.

90. A wedding of cousins – Emma Tennant

91. The week of the jellyhoppers- Pauline Cartwright

Funny Kids bible mistakes

Another thing I found that I wanted to share. I don't know where it came from, but the person who collected these together is a GENIUS, so if that was you, hope you don't mind me quoting it, but it is so funny it should be shared!

Kids explain bible
The following statements about the Bible were written by children and have not been retouched or corrected (i.e. bad spelling has been left in):

'In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world, so he took the Sabbath off.'

'Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree.'

'Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.'

'Noah built an ark, which the animals come on to in pears.'

'Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.'

'The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.'

'The epistles were the wives of the apostles.'

'One of the opossums was St Matthew who was also a taximan.'

'St Paul converted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.'

'A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony.'

'When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.'

'When the three wise guys from the east side arrived, they found Jesus in the manager.'

'Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.'

'St John, the blacksmith, dumped water on his head.'

'Jesus said the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you.'

'He also explained, "A man doth not live by sweat alone."'

'It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.'

'The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the 10 amendments.'

'The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.'

'The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.'

'Moses died before he ever reached Canada.'

'Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.'

'The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.'

'David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.'

'The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals.'

'Samson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah.'

'Samson slayed the Philistines with axe of the Apostles.'

'Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.'

And my personal favourite:

'Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.'




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88. The Corner Shop - Elizabeth Caddell.

Winter no more

There was a lovely old lady, Sylvia, who used to come to my church. She was so sweet, so wise and lovely. Sadly she died last year, aged 90. However, right up to the month or so before her death, she would e-mail a contribution for the church monthly magazine, From my Friendship book which always imparted wise, poignant, beautiful, well-thought-out words. I was searching through my paperwork/books in a bid to downsize and found this article which really express how I feel about hope and knowing that I never can give up, because there is always Someone with me who I can trust in, and felt I wanted to share it.

Hope means such a lot to all of us, doesn't it? Every day there is something to hope for. It could simply be a surprise letter or phone call, or perhaps a visit from someone we haven't seen for a while. Maybe some warm sunshine for a special day out or for pottering in the garden. For those who are not feeling well, the hope of improvement; for those facing exams or interviews, the hope of success.

Someone once said, 'I live on hope and so, I think, do all who come into this world.'

These words I once read are also descriptive and somehow more comforting: 'In the kingdom of hope there is no Winter.'

What a lovely thought! May we all continue to live and to flourish in that beautiful place.

Sylvia

Makes me laugh!

I have this like-dislike relationship with Terry Pratchett. Sometimes, I really like him and get him, other times I am not so keen and just can't get into his stories. Some books are better than others. I like the ones about the witches, and the nightwatch. Usually, I don't want to read another one for a while after reading one and then it is refreshing when I do read one. However, every so often, he comes out with classic lines that make me chortle. Here's one in my current read:

p19 of THUD!

"Pleased to meet you sir," he said crisply, standing to attention. It really was an awful garment, that pullover. It had a queasy zigzag pattern, in many strange, unhappy colours. It looked like something knitted as a present by a colour-blind aunt, the sort of thing you wouldn't dare throw away in case the rubbish collectors laughed at you and kicked your bins over.

Hee hee!!!

I am finnished!

Hola!

Amazing autumnal weekend spent playing Finnish orchestral music at my favourite camping destination! Blessed with relatively mild (for the location at this time of year) weather, and with coming in a car therefore permitting carriage of vast quantities of clothing and bedding, I was not at all cold. The music was amazing, we played Sibelius Symphony no. 6, which evoked images of vast desolate Finnish landscape in my mind's eye and Rautavaara's Cantus Articus- which is a concerto for orchestra and bird song- very beautiful. I first heard the Iceland Symphony Orchestra play it 10 years ago, which was truly awe-inspiring and memorable- you can listen to some extracts of it here at Amazon. It was a fantastic experience! Means I am very tired for the week ahead, but happy and relaxed, having escaped educational stress from the manic week I have just endured!
Read a good book- Chocolat (see below)- interesting book, bit weird and uncomfortable in places but quite enjoyable! Hmmm, what next?
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86. A vicarage family- Noel Streatfield
87. Chocolat- Joanne Harris

Stupid things I have tried to do this year so far.

Determined that I was going to teach recorders to Year 3. Horrid, difficult, frustrating, ghastly sounds!!!!!!
I am persevering, really want to stick with it, but it's horrid in the process especially in these early stages. Particularly as hardly any of the parents of my children have bought/ or thus far will buy their offspring an instrument, which would really help them to progress and practice despite my very friendly letter! Still, I did feel there was some progress today as most of them (barring the predictable 5 or so who don't) put their hands in the right place without being prompted to swap hands, were able to play a B pitched right, mostly covering the holes correctly. They're struggling to coordinate tongue and fingers when transferring to A, which is difficult but I hope it will improve!
*Sigh*

Thoughts that cross your mind when you've had wet playtime and lunchtime AND KS1 assembly!

Half term

The holy grail which felicitously, interminably dances on the horizon.
It ever rhumbas in a seductive, teasing manner, drawing tantalizingly close,
then the next, a coy knowing gloat from afar.
Its arrival, a spirited festivity celebrated by youth and experience, mercifully
stealing the melancholy scent of jade away.
Educators chart its progress- a tacit advent calendar.
We greet it, the intrepid conqueror restored from the crusades.
All hail thee!


3 weeks!

Cutest meerkats, more books and barndances.

I'm loving the comparethemeerkat adverts! So cute so "simples"!!! But so memorable. Have you chosen your meerkat there?

Booklist is slightly confused- my Word copy indicates I was already up to 85 but my online list seems to be only at 83- not sure! Stephen asked what I was going to do to mark my centenary- I am going to choose books with fitting titles I think!
I really recommend the Malorie Blackman one below- really shocking but well written tale of racism- very thought-provoking! The 2 latest Meg Cabot books were lent to me by a girl in my class, as I saw she had a Meg Cabot I hadn't read and was very interested! She then lent them to me- was slightly worried when I read them though- really really not appropriate reading for a 9-10 year old- definitely one of MG's adult books, not one of her children's ones. Wasn't sure whether to approach it with the parent, as she had bought it for her daughter, but maybe not aware that it is very adult. I did ask girl about it, but she seemed ok with it.

Had a beautifully exuberant weekend with a riotous barn dance on Saturday evening! I've probably once again shocked the folks of deepest darkest Essex village with my over-enthusiastic yet highly rhythmic dancing- someone recognised me from having played at a local cathedral last year which was quite funny! We danced every dance, had enormous amounts of fun, laughed lots. Sustained one injury as someone stood on my ankle- button came of shoe fastening and a touch of cramp in calves throughout Saturday night/Sunday morning sleep but otherwise very delighted with the events!
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84. Queen of Babble in the big city – Meg Cabot
85. Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman

The PHANTOM IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am sooooooooooo excited!!!! The Phantom of Manhatton is here!!!!!! I heard from my friend, who plays for musicals and sessions and had played through some of the new material, a while back that Andrew Lloyd Webber was writing the Phantom of the Opera sequel. As a huge Phantom fan (not just the musical but the original book), I was rightly excited! Now, I have read Frederick Forsythe's book Phantom of Manhatton and I of course presumed that ALW must be basing it on this, since FF based his continuation of the story on ALW's version rather than Gaston Leroux's (wherein, the Phantom perishes). I like the book- I like the ending in the fact that I always thought that the Phantom had a bit of a rough deal and I think he gets a chance in FF's continuation! Anyway, I waffle. This merry evening, I received an e-mail from The really useful group entitled, a Message from the Phantom. Along with a note from the Phantom himself, they sent this link which confirms my theory! (the visuals fit in with FF's plot!). Can't wait!!!! Sooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Want to go and see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Can't believe I've only read 2 books in about 5 weeks!

82. An infamous army- Georgette Heyer
83. Queen of Babble - Meg Cabot

Year 3 commences!

So tomorrow I begin with a new class. Mental note: No smiling till Christmas! It is exciting but of course scary! I do feel sad that the summer is over, but I am going back to school with a surplus of happiness (due to exciting holidays and lovely lovely person I've been spending time with, just to be enigmatic!) so this should hold me in good stead.
I hope that this will be a successful term in which my class and I get to know each other well and set up excellent relationships! I want to really keep on top of everything but even more calmly than before with no panic or stress!
I'm going to do recorders with year 3 for the 1/2 term I have decided! Should be fun! Everyone else, I am working through exactly what I am going to teach them.
Wish me luck!