THE Summer tag

Louise at Polka dots and freckle spots  did this tag and so I thought I'd give it a go, it being season appropriate.

1. What is your favourite thing about Summer?

Oh, the fact that I can walk to the park without getting wet feet, without having to wear layers. Being able to get washing dry.  And all those hours of daylight make me so much more motivated. I just smile every time I walk in the park. And sleeveless dresses, shoes without socks, swimming outside, cheerful people.

2. Do you have a favourite Summer drink?

Not really although I always love a still lemonade- you know, the natural one that is ever so slightly bitter and slightly sweet. Plus, my Mum's elderflower and rose cordial with fizzy water is delicious!

3. Is there a special place you like to visit each Summer?

Well, it's definitely not summer unless I go to music camp in the Chilterns. I've only missed one year in the last 18 years so it's a summer institution. Also, now, I feel cheated if I don't go up to Northumberland to stay with my lovely in-laws and take a walk in the Lake District.

4. What's your favourite make up look for Summer?

Ha, make-up??? I don't wear it in the summer (or really at all).  If I did, in the past, I would love to wear bright turquoise mascara. That's all I would wear and it was a fun look! I still have some somewhere!

5. Dresses or skirts?

Dresses, of course!  So much easier! Fun and lots of variety.  You don't have to worry about a matching top- you can make a fun skirt look boring very easily!

6. Festivals or vacations?

Oh, definitely vacations! I've not been to many festivals but I love peace, silence, nature and walks rather than lots of people! 

7. What's your signature summer hair style?

"I wouldn't call it a hair style exactly; if my hair isn't worn down, I just absent-mindedly scrape it back in to a messy knot or pony tail to keep it off my neck!"- totally the same as Louise's answers. Or bunches if my hair is the right length.

8. What is your signature summer scent?

I don't really have one- I just wear the perfume I have which is usually my beloved CK Be (when I actually remember to put it on!) 

9. Pool or beach?

I love both! I adore water.  I like to swim but I much prefer swimming in chlorine rather than salt. BUT, I love all that comes with the beach- walks, breeze, cliffs, paths etc.  If I could swim, I'd choose a river or a lake as there's no salt OR chlorine!
I visited Haltwhistle outdoor pool this week which made me SO happy. It was delightful!

10. BBQ or seafood?

I like parts of sea food and parts of BBQ but neither are my favourite way of eating. I'm more of a veg person.

11. Do you tan or burn?

Both.  I tend to get very rosy cheeks and shoulders but it often turns to tan in the end. I do try to hide under hats as much as possible though!

12. Favourite Summer song?

I don't have a quintessential summer song, I don't listen to that many songs!

I'd be delighted if you were to have a crack at The Summer Tag, if you want to, of course! If you decide to blog about it, leave me your link so I can give it a read!

What's your favourite thing about Summer?

That's the cherry on the cake

I do so enjoy a bit of obvious theme dressing. It is, of course, the type of thing that will make CBC roll his eyes! Ah well.

In this case, cherries.  I've had this Vivienne of Holloway cherry brooch as long as CBC and I have been going out, he bought it for me when visiting there once to get me a birthday voucher.

Naturally, it was my first thought when putting on this Tu cherry-print dress.

Alas, I misplaced my cherry necklace (Peacocks) but luckily the earrings weren't too far!

By the time I attempted a close up on the brooch, my hair was blown all around by the wind.

Ah well, I decided to embrace it, Kate Winslet style! Never mind neat outfit blogging, bring on the messiness!

"CBC, I'm flllllllllllllllllllllllllllllyyying!"

It's been a rather nice holiday so far with trips to the Northumberland coast, a trip to Barter books, an English heritage site, various meals out and waking up late.  Pity we are returning home today.  Sad times. I always hate leaving my northern family.

xxx

Woodham Walter Flower festival 2015 part 2

Here's part 2 of the Woodham Walter flower festival and I think these ones are even cleverer than the first batch!

Britt Pop and Punk:

The Union Flag guitar is sheer genius and so intricately put together! The colours really make it stand out! Plus, I only realised now that that is a punk's hairstyle on the left! Brilliant!!

Choral music:
There were two of these on either side of the altar and I like the obvious allusion to trumpets since lots of church choral music is based on psalms which often talk about sounding the trumpets!!!

Disco:

Oh, how I wish I could get a decent picture of this (I had to edit this and adjust exposure and clarity a lot on this!) but this was suspended above the doors to the church and I was amazed by the cleverness of creating a sparkling disco ball through flowers.  Apparently, this was really difficult to get up a tall ladder and hung up as it weighed a lot.

Latin music:

Again, the colours were majestic on this arrangement and those pink flowers were the key stand out flowers!

Musical notes:

There were two of these outside the church and they were very cleverly arranged with the additions of cut outs.

The conductor:

This was very dramatic taking the conductor's stand to cover it in flowers rather than trying to create a conductor out of flowers which would be very difficult! Definitely a beautiful statement.

The Pink Panther:
I wish I could have taken a better picture of this but the lighting was tricky with the light coming from the outside. Taking a specific piece of music, I loved the use of varying shades of pink gerberas for this.

Barbershop quartet:

This was in its clever simplicity, one of my favourites- the use of the stripy Barbers' poles and use of only white and red gerberas, this one was striking and I realised, having four little arrangements creates the quartet! 

I really can't wait to visit this Flower Festival again! Woodham Walter is definitely the place to visit for a Flower Festival!

Which is your favourite?

x

TARDIS Tuesday: On wondering how to suck one's tummy in!

I am afraid that for this final July TARDIS Tuesday, this will be the one and only time you see this TARDIS blue polka dot wiggle dress.

I do not wear wiggle dresses.  Or pencil skirts. Or anything with this shape.  They do not suit me.

I have a tummy but one I manage to disguise in floaty skirts or skaterdress shapes. Recently, my tummy is a little bit larger than it usually is. Eating too much no doubt.

I do not know how people wear this type of shape. I found it on the famous, much-mentioned charity-shop trip with Hazel and Sophie (yes, I bought lots that day. Yes, I am ashamed).  I was SO happy to find this dress for £1.  It was TARDIS blue, polka dots, retro look, my size. But for some reason, I didn't notice its was a fitted skirt rather than my beloved circle.

Thus trying it on last week,  as I was having a clear out and try of items, I was MOST disappointed.  

 I am reaaaaaaaaaaaaally sucking my tummy in on these photos and do you know, I can't be bothered! If I can't wear it looking like me and feeling comfortable about it, then I shall avoid it. I know people will say, you look fine but seriously, I have a tiny waist and the contrast is huge and the fundamental point is: I do not feel comfortable in it. And that's fine so please, no grief about, "Goodness gracious there's nothing of you, child" which is what I usually get when I make a statement like this!  Also the wretched thing was riding up if I even took one step into an unattractive sausage around my waist and there is one almighty split at the back (deliberate so you can walk)  so I do not want to reveal my knickers. For the sake of TARDIS blue, I am sharing it with you lot. It is a nice dress and I really like it. But not on me.

Sideways shot with very sucked in tummy- I cannot do that!

So, goodbye pretty dress, it was nice to meet you.

xxx

Over to you, TARDIS blue or Doctor Who? The choice is yours!

An InLinkz Link-up

Craft of the week: More adventures in shrink plastic...

 I've not made anything in shrink plastic for these past few weeks but I can now share something I did make which was this pair of Milk Weed/Monarch butterfly earrings for my Mum.

It was really easy to copy these from a photo of a butterfly from the internet- lines and squares I can manage!   What I found harder was getting the adhesive to keep the earring finding attached to the back. Need to try and use that hot glue gun rather than multipurpose glue. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good glue to use for attaching posts to earrings? Preferably one that doesn't involve scary hot glue? 

Linking to Creative Mondays with Claire Justine.

xxx

Woodham Walter flower festival 2015

I was lucky enough recently to be asked as part of my newly established quartet, Harewood Ensemble, to be asked to play at a Flower Festival in a church in an Essex village called Woodham Walter.   After the performance, we went to have a look around the flowers which were utterly sublime.  If you are around in July next year in the Essex area, I would really make the time and the effort to visit this annual event as the displays were truly excellent. It is truly the most exquisite set of displays I have seen over the years.  The event is supported by sponsors for each display which is lovely for people to feel they have contributed and to be acknowledged on the display name as well as the arranger.  The church had well organised it with performances and a tea-tent which sold cakes and tea in addition to preserves and there seemed a steady stream of people coming to look.  

The theme this year was Music and I really do think that the displays were clever.  As there are a few photos, I thought I'd share these in two posts:

Flamenco:  details such as the clever displaying of a guitar, shawl and fan added to the presence of this fine display with its oranges and yellows which made me think of Seville oranges and lemons.

Calypso:  The exotic blooms on this display were really fitting for representing the vibrancy of the Calypso and those pine-cone looking flowers reminded me of maracas!

Classical:  The white simplicity was stunning and I feel really reflective musically of an era that tried to achieve a simple elegance in the music with a focus on structure.

Jazz:  The orange and yellow flowers and the form they took really reminded me of a saxophone and the desk stands and dramatic black drapes really made the flowers stand out.

Bollywood:  Clever, clever use of colour in this bold and riotous explosion of colour- really suited the style of music.

Rock n roll:  these displays made me think of girls in full-petticoated skirts dancing around to the music.  Such ebullient colours really reflect the youth of this music.

Lullaby music:  the white drapes and an emphasis on the simplicy of whites, baby-pinks and baby-blues showed the innocence of childhood.

Opera: With a stunning scene at the feet of the pedestals of these two main white displays, I was put in mind of two primadonnas commanding the stage.

Baroque: the ornate elegance of the floral display reflects the architecture of the Baroque era and that clever sculpted violin shows the development of the violin and makers such as Stradivari in the Baroque era.

Part two will follow soon and there is one with sheer genius in the second set.

xxx

Turquoise tigers

Hello there! How are you? Well, I hope.  Thanks for all your positive comments on my last post. There are, of course, difficult times or frustrating lessons, but the overall feel is positive!

Today, I am not sure why exactly I am sharing these except for the fact that this is the type of scruffy outfit I like wearing in the summer when I'm not doing anything particularly smart or of consequence. I was wearing this on a Sunday doing some gardening, I wore it for church too on a morning I wasn't really bothered about dressing up.
The skirt has spots and tigers over it and I found it with Sophie and Hazel on our Ipswich charity shop crawl. It's lovely floaty and light and has tiny pleats in it. The cardigan is another old charity shop find and with its weird-pockets becoming the hem, it's not one I wear for smart occasions.  The necklace is the same colour and also comes from a charity shop. To stick to a simple 3 colour palette, I wore these bronze lace-ups to tie in with the tigers.

Nothing particularly stylish or noteworthy but it works for me!

We had a wonderful Lake District walk today which I will tell you about soon but it is SO nice to be up north again with my lovely family.  We returned from the lakes and J made a delicious roasted vegetable risotto with a box of veg we bought at Doddington Hall farm shop last weekend.  It's funny, but since CBC has become a non-meat eater, I find myself loving the vegetarian choices like this.  As you've often noticed from my food posts, we didn't eat much meat anyway, but I find myself often nowadays finding meat a bit hard going- I can't seem to get through it.

We're hoping to do a few fun things up here in Northumberland as long as the weather holds out- the forecast seems to suggest rain is imminent and all-powerful. Or something like that! Delightfully, a dear friend from my home town is moving to Hexham this week so we are going to meet up! I hoping for a bit of Farne island action too as well as a trip to the Cheviots too. And a trip to Haltwhistle outdoor pool which I've only been to TWICE in my entire 6 year relationship with CBC and visits to here!

Hope all is delightful with you.

Much love,
xxx

End of year gratitude

And so it ended.  Another teaching year has finished. We crawled towards the end, thankfully without OFSTED showing their noses!  Since the last time we had the dreaded inspection was 4 years ago in the very last week, Thursday and Friday, we had no hopes of escaping but thank God, they did!

It has been a great, great year in many ways.  There are so many proud moments and things I have loved.  I have loved having my new Headteacher- he is a great person and he has continued to support music.

I want to record, treasure and remember highlights from the year so I am recording them here. Here are my special moments of the year.

• WW1 choir which had 52 children from ages 7-11 singing an entire concert by themselves of WW1 songs which they repeated in a Elderly Care home and a Senior Special School.
• Christmas performance in the church- premiere of my new song, excellent part singing, huge parental audience who actually listened!
• Borrowing a pair of Timpani from my old Primary School for my little year 5 girl to play in Pomp and Circumstance.  Her eyes and her comment when she first saw them arrive were a sight to behold.
• The performance of Pomp and Circumstance (Land of Hope and Glory) with added Timpani and Snare Drum made me really proud.
• The whole summer concert in fact made me so proud. My children were fabulous!
• Most lessons with Year 5- I have to say that they are amazing kids and I am gutted I only have one year left of them- they make it a pleasure.
• 30 days wild feature in Singing Assembly this June.  This really has created an extra bond for the children with me.  A week ago or so, a year 6 teacher came up to the staffroom to say a mob of children were looking for me because there was a Red-admiral butterfly in the quiet area and would I please come?  I was dragged by the children to go and see it on the Buddlea and we all stood and talked about it for a good 10 minutes before I was allowed to leave. The boy I talked about still comes to tell me what he has seen and another girl has had much success with her bird feeder.
• Getting my year 6's performing on the Javanese gamelan- was great!
• The enthusiasm of Year 2 comparing Benjamin Britten's Sea interludes.
• Having my deputy head tell me that my summer observation was, "The best she'd seen me do."
• Having my Headteacher tell me, "It just proves to me that's the reason why we need a specialist music teacher in school," after my Spring observation.
• Christmas KS1 nativity- 180 kids singing 8 songs off by heart that you taught them and REALLY singing out.
• Making it into the paper again with the recorder festival! Ha, my kids always manage to get into the photos!
• Having a little girl who was a shy little mite singing solos in the summer concert to her Mum, she's come so far. In fact, all of them singing solos willingly. Having that confidence makes my heart soar.
• Getting my year 5's super enthused over chords and chromatic clusters this term!
• Running my first parent workshop successfully.
• Making my school blog updated regularly with children commenting and using the site regularly and saying it's useful
• Having a year 4 comment that he "LOVES fugues!"
• Finally managing to crack the 'Medieval plainchant' composing aspect of year 5- it's taken me 3 years to get it right so they compose it effectively (could be those magical year 5's though...)
• Discovering today that I had actually paid off my student loan over a year ago and I am due over a year's rebate!
• Managing to stay relatively patient with obnoxious year 2's.
• Managing to go through "Threshold" 

There are many more moments but this is for me rather than you so I will leave it there.

The last day, we had INSET and had a nice lunch out together.  It was sad saying goodbye to Year 6 but life continues. There's always a nice cohort.

I received a fair few flowers and presents which always surprises me.  I thought I'd also put them here as a nice record. 

 Chocolates galore and some fancy earrings.

 A cute mug.

 I found this stuffed in my pigeon hole- when I thanked her later, my piano-player, she said she was worried it would all tip out as she tried to stuff it in!  Just the message on the top meant to much to me.

A nice selection of cards.

 Ha, this present was brilliant from my Deputy Head.  It was in a cute box and she kept asking me if I had looked inside the box yet.  Finally I did and it made me squeal in delight!

I hope the next year is as successful as this one!

xxx

Toy story

I got the idea from my blog friend Gem who blogs over at Gem's country life dream

My oldest and pretty much only kept toy is Pinkie, my Pink-panther. He was given to me by my Uncle and wife apparently when I was about two and I have always loved him best, more than any other of my cuter or better made cuddly toys. He's so sad and lollopy looking. He leans his head to one side and just looks at you in that way- he's really easy to hug and he just tucks under my chin nicely if I want to hug him in my sleep.  He was always the toy that I hugged closest to me when I set up my soft-toy defence zone against the scary Haemovores from Doctor Who when I was around 7 onwards.  Yes, there was a time when Doctor Who really scared me. Those Haemovores haunted me for a good 3-4 years of my life but Pinkie was always there as my defence.

He even had a younger son at one point- a family member won me a tiny Pink Panther at a school fete and he hung around as Pinkie's side-kick for a while. He was cute but lacked Pinkie's character and longevity.

CBC is always a bit mean to Pinkie because he is rather moth-eaten and I imagine he hasn't had a bath for 25 years. I can't bear the thought of subjecting him to the washing machine.
When I lived in Bali, I really wished I'd taken him along. Instead, I took Sirius Black along because he was a bit smaller.

A while back, I bought an experiential daily reading, devotion and act of faith book called 'God 360' which my friend had recommended as it was by her friend Andy Flannagan.  One of the first few devotions was to:

"Give a precious item you own to a local charity shop or cash converters. It doesn't have to be expensive - just something that has sentimental value to you or will be hard to replace...
In the next one to two days, experience what it felt like for God to 'let go' of us, running the risk that we may never return. We enjoy having freewill, but any of you who are parents will know that, at times, you would rather cancel your offspring's freewill for a day or two to save them from themselves. However, the remarkable truth is that the story doesn't stop end there.  God buys us back."

It continues, but I'll leave it there.

I did the first 3 devotions in the book but this one- I couldn't do it.  The thought of giving Pinkie to a charity shop fills me with utter dread and sadness. Because I know he wouldn't be there to be sold. He would be deemed as worthless, dirty, old, saggy, past his best,  They would put him in the rag bag or worst, just out into the rain with the rubbish.  He may be saggy, old, faded, ugly, but to me he is something very precious, handsome, special and wanted.  I guess there's a lesson in there too about how God views us.

As I went upstairs to look for Pinkie for photos, I realised I hadn't hugged him for a while. In the chaos of the spare room, rather than finding him propped up in place of honour against the pillows, I found him squashed under a large box and under a mound of clothes. I felt truly ashamed. In his dotage, he should be treated kindly and respectfully and with love.

I am aware I sound a sentimental idiot, but surely I am not the only one with an overly sentimental attachment to a soft toy.

Over to you, who is your most beloved toy? Would you write a post about yours? If so, let me know, as I'd truly love to read it.

This photo is from my student house in my final year at university. My ex-boyfriend had arranged all my soft toys in a line together which I thought was adorable! I took this photo with me to Bali.

xxx

TARDIS Tuesday does the Sound of Music!

Howdy there folks!

Technically, this will end up as TARDIS Wednesday but how sadly unalliterative! 

Sometimes, I will put an outfit on and know it looks horrible! This morning, I knew that today's TARDIS Tuesday wouldn't win me any style/fashion prizes but I always carry something through to its conclusion.  CBC took one look and me and said, "You are going to wear THAT???" 

At school, I was told I looked like I was wearing an Austrian traditional costume (Dirndl, I presume they were implying!). Presumably I resembled a horrid curtain-bedecked runaway extra from the Sound of Music.

Not my finest hour.

"But..." you gasp, "What does this have to do with Doctor Who????"

Come closer and I shall tell you.

 Let's adopt a snooty pose?  Familiar?
No, ok, then I'll explain.

The Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, was my inspiration  for today.  He was in fact my TARDIS Tuesady inspiration a while back where I debuted my Ang-Almond customised Question mark shirt. His lurid coat has always made me think of my Vintage Madras-checked dress with its rainbow of colours and the checks and the crossover neckline reminding me of a waistcoat.   If it was cooler, I'd have added the aforementioned shirt underneath but it being too hot, I added a pussy bow blouse instead which is a nod to the bow tied at his shirt neck.

Image borrowed from Tansyrr

The best part of this outfit is one you can only notice close up.   Colin Baker always wore a cat brooch on his lapel. In fact, these were his own, not the costume department and was his own eccentric addition to the outfit. He had several.

In my recent experiments with shrink plastic celery brooches, I also made a white cat brooch as my second attempt. I was quite pleased with it- it's quite plump!

The final touch was adding these red polka dot ballet pumps from Primark. I've had them ten years and I adore them- I'll be gutted when they finally die.  They are a nod to the polka dot necktie as he did sport a red spotty necktie in later episodes.

Outfit details:

Madras check dress: M&S via Charity shop

Unironed pussybow blouse: French Connection via Charity shop.

Shoes: Primark 10 years ago.

Cat brooch: made by me.

Earrings: Cath Kidston

So...over to you. 

Are you sporting some cobalt (obvs called TARDIS blue), do you have a cat brooch or feel like attaching celery to your bosom?  Fancy doodling question marks over your vest or wearing a Clara Oswaldesque Topshop dress?  Then this is the link for you...

Linking to Claire Justine's Creative Mondays

An InLinkz Link-up

Rose window

 I've sung in a few cathedrals and large churches over the years including St Paul's Cathedral, Hereford Cathedral, Canterbury, Derby but I was ill the weekend I was supposed to sing at Lincoln cathedral.  I've since stopped singing with the London Cantata Choir who I used to dep for cathedral choirs with which is a shame as it was a wonderful feeling to sing in a choir in these magnificent buildings.  It was my type of singing- rehearsal with a lot of sight-reading and then the services.  I love singing psalms. You get a stave of music and all the lines of text which you have to sing in a free manner, rather like speaking but singing- there are rules about when to change pitch which I always used to love as it was a bit of a brain challenge.  It reminded me of being a choir girl as a child, spending every Sunday morning and evening singing hymns and choral even-song.  I am filled with joy when I hear a cathedral choir or a traditional choir sing now.

It was thus wonderful to visit Lincoln cathedral with a proper SATB choir (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)- the choir boys were on holiday so it was a depping choir for the wedding, rather like I used to do.

 I wasn't prepared for how utterly glorious Lincoln cathedral was.  It was impressive standing before it before entering on Friday night for the wedding rehearsal. It was so large but not imposing and beautiful.

 The detailing of the stone work was truly amazing and I was overawed by the craftsmanship and what man achieved before machines.

 The doorway was intricately hewed with decreasing-sized arches in ornate patterns.

The odd gargoyle  or face was to be seen which reminded me of Sibenik Cathedral in Croatia last year.

 Inside, my hopes were met in the sight of a myriad vivid stained glass windows of epic proportions.

 Seeing all these different old testament names such as Melchizedek (he will be a high priest in the order of Melchizedek) with such designs was a new experience for me.

 The vaulted ceiling was impressive and there was a glorious lightness despite the fact it was the evening.

 Perhaps my favourite stained glasses are the ones with tiny coloured details like the one above, jewel-like.

 Various old testament stories were depicted here.

 The cathedral front was being set up for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar the following day after the wedding which I'd have loved to see.

 Rose windows like the one below are always a typical sight in a cathedral

 Very hard to capture on a Point and click camera though mine does have some great settings!

 Here is the sanctuary in the choir stalls part of the cathedral where the wedding happened and they signed the register of marriage upon there.

 The light streamed in and I wandered gladly.

 This window was at the very back of the church but there had been a evening prayer in there so I couldn't get too close.

 We took a walk out through the cloisters and took in the views from the quadrangle.

 The cloisters were really stunning too and in the daytime, you can sit and look over this in the cafe.

 As we entered back in, I noticed these beautiful windows.

 Here are the choir stalls where the wedding took place. There are all sorts of Bishops' seats around the edge with names in gold leaf above.

 And finally, here was just before the wedding before my camera died!!

I hope you've enjoyed the brief, but sadly unhistorical tour around Lincoln Cathedral! I thoroughly recommend visiting it!

xxx