Friday, March 18, 2016

Happy things this week

This week has been truly exhausting.  Despite OFSTED being over, I've had a mad week. But there have been many good points.
 Having got back to school at 23.55 with the children from the Albert hall, it was thus a very nice surprise to receive a beautiful bouquet from my headteacher to say thank you for the hard work involved in the Albert Hall. I was very touched.  I love Hydrangeas- so pretty and I've never received such a beautiful bouquet I love so much.  They also got one for my colleague who came and even nicer, sent my Mum a bouquet to say thanks for helping out too. She's helped out on a lot of school music trips over the last few years and it is so nice this was acknowledged.




The Albert Hall concert was also a happy event.  I have such affection for the music organisation that runs it- they are responsible for the musician I am today and for so many happy memories. And of course, it is the 10th or 11th time I have taken part in this particular concert.
Although some of the boys I was standing behind KEPT turning round (and I had to keep hissing, "TURN ROUND!" through the concert), the children were largely good, sang well and enjoyed it.

It was SO nice to spend the time with my Mum too. I value time spent with her greatly, especially nowadays and it was really nice to share this same experience with her that I did the first time I sang there (she helped run our school choir). Because it was so late, I stayed at hers and it was really nice to stay at hers and fall asleep chatting and then wake up next to her. She kindly gave up her bed for me and slept on her airbed. We had lots of laughs and she even made me a cup of tea and porridge that next morning reminding me of the cup of tea she made for me every morning when we lived together.
Here we were at 1am just before going to bed. Both going for the comedy shirts!
The next day, I was HUGELY appreciative of the music, electricity and technology workshop we had come into school as I was SO tired and it was nice not to have to lead the class but help out. The workshop was really intriguing too!
Except, that I was left with 100 pieces of fruit and veg that had been handled by kids and stabbed with crocodile clips to conduct electricity to be used as a fruit piano.

 So I went home and made carrot soup out of about 10 carrots (with onions) whilst watching Doctor Who series 4 (peeled, removed all burnt electricity bits and chopped into little pieces)
 And then did the same to 20 apples which I stewed.
The soup was tasty.

Now, I've got to deal with 20 lemons, oranges and 10 carrots. My Irish colleague took home all the potatoes for me.

What other happy moments have you had this week?

xxx

17 comments:

  1. Your mom is the best and I'm so glad she was there to help. I love the musical shirts. Too bad you didn't had a photo of the veggie piano. I never heard of this before...
    I hope you get some rest this weekend.
    Hugs,
    JB

    I think you look a lot like your mom.

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    1. That bouquet is so lovely and I think you deserve it and your mom too. Nice carrot soup. I would have made a carrot cake with all those carrots... just teasing... ♡
      JB

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  2. What a lovely super cheerful post. Right from the amazingly beautiful Hydrangea bouquet to the little flowers on the soup bowl. How nice to spend time with your Mum. That is a sweet sweet thing. And Albert Hall!!! Most impressive. I re-seeded the lawn this week in anticipation of a rainstorm. I know that doesn't sound very exciting but getting my hands in the dirt makes me supremely happy. I also planted some Hydrangeas!!!!

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  3. Fruit Piano sounds like a nice name for a band. Very adorable shot of you and your mum, so glad you get to spend time with her she looks fun. Wishing you happy things for the weekend too!

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  4. Make orange and lemon curds with the citrus, mmmm!

    xx

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  5. Lovely photo of you and your mum.
    How lovely to receive those flowers. Little thank yous like that really do go a long way and I think people in management so often don't realise this.
    Lisa x

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  6. Glad the music event went well and the bouquet of flowers was a lovely gesture of appreciation. It's a wonderful venue and I enjoyed seeing the photo of you outside. The workshop sounds intriguing. Thankfully it gave you a breather after your busy day in London at the Albert Hall and the bonus was plenty of ingredients for your soup and stewed apples. Reading this post and knowing you enjoyed spending time with your Mum has made me happy. Have a restful weekend!

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  7. Ooh did you use a Makey Makey to do the fruit piano? I wrote an article for the SEN Experience about using a Makey Makey with the kids at my old school. Sounds like you had a lovely trip, things like that are always so rewarding (and exhausting)!

    Liz x
    Distract Me Now Please

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  8. Wonderful
    Wonderful
    Wonderful

    Such a lovely post to read, and thank you for sharing some lovely photo's.
    Love the one of you with your mum, and those flowers look lovely.

    All the best Jan

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  9. hi dear! I'm happy to hear your mother and you got to spend some quality time together. This is really precious these days. Even better you did it while keeping up an old tradition. I'm also glad that the childen in the choir behaved and sang well.

    Last week I took my sister in law to an opera performance in Mostar. To tell you the truth, the opera wasn't that great but I didn't say this to anyone because I think it is admirable that they managed to put on an opera in the first place ( it was a small production, somewhat improvised). I'm always prepared to support any kind of artistic effort, I even buy books from new authors that aren't my cup of tea just to support new writers. Anyhow, I was happy I went even if I didn't like it. I saw that people were generally moved and most of them probably never heard opera live so that must have been a lovely experience for them.

    I love live music. These days people don't care that much for it, but for me nothing compares to a good concert.

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  10. btw that carrot soup looks yummy. I love carrot soup.

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  11. What a beautiful bouquet! And that soup looks good too! I also like to watch a show or listen to some fun music while preparing veggies for dinner!

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  12. what beautiful flowers! it's always nice to receive something by way of thanks - even when you don't do it for the praise. And lovely that they sent some to you Mum too.
    Well done for using up all that fruit and veg!

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  13. Anonymous1:39 pm

    Oooh, such pretty flowers! We have a hydrangea shrub outside our bedroom window and our own in a pot xxx

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  14. Your mum's shirt though, seriously. AMAZING. The flowers aren't bad either ;-) Your tales of music school trips reminds me of when I used to lead the Young Voices trip, always fun but I would always find myself hissing SHHH inbetween songs to the unruly ones! Good times!

    On a brighter note, hurrah that Ofsted have gone. Hope the result was as good as you hoped!

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  15. If an irish colleague can't figure out a dozen ways to use a potato, the world's gone mad!
    I love the shirts and how nice to spend time with your parents.

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  16. Mummykins9:46 am

    There is the Vegetable Orchestra somewhere. I wish I could eat carrots as love them but intolerant to them. I must try again sometime and see what happens. I've had that music shirt 15 years now and it has graced many concerts.

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Greetings! Welcome to the maaaaaadness! I am so glad you came to visit and leave me a pretty comment!! Would you like tea and cakes? The books are over on the shelf! I have sofas a-plenty so leave us a friendly comment and I'll pretty much guarantee I'll come a-visiting to you at some point soon!! This blog-post will self-destruct in 2 minutes. Go, type, type, type!!!!! (and put a hat on!)