It's raining cats and dogs

I love those idioms we have in language! I remember, when learning German, I used to love looking at my massive dictionary for examples of uses of words. For some reason, I was looking up rain (which I knew anyway) and I saw that the German equivalent was something different. Can't remember what it was but it was something equally interesting.

Anyway, it's been really lovely having some rain these past few days!!! Haven't we needed it after the massive gap between having rain?!  We went to RHS Hyde Hall and I was happy walking in the rain!

First raincoat use in a while! 

It was wonderful to water the garden from the water-butt after having showered with buckets since May to reuse the water! I hope and pray we get the rain we need to fill reservoirs this year but without flooding.

It reminded me of a poem I wrote for the Toy Press prompt back in July.  I was a bit naughty as the word of the week was either rein or reign and I decided to take a homophone interpretation of it and use rain!

I took the well-known phrase and made a short little rhyme with.

I found out last week that another of my poems has been accepted by Little Thoughts Press in America for their next issue. You can see or purchase (at a pay what you can digital) or a print version of the current issue here.  I am really happy about this- this will be my third time in actual print this year!

Back to school tomorrow for 2 INSET days. I feel quite guilty as CBC and my sister both went back yesterday but very grateful.

As I'm feeling a bit gloomy, I will do my customary 10 things I am grateful for about this holiday.

1.  That I had a magical swim in the river Stour, and at my local pool, and in Hexham and in the local sea and at the Oasis Pool in London!

2.  Got to spend a lovely time taking my Dad out to lunch! And got to spend time with my Stepmum and sister too on a different occasion

3. Had a lovely anniversary walk in the Kent Downs with CBC on our anniversary.

4.  Got to see my lovely blog friend Ang TWICE this holiday!

5.  Made an absolute glut of Fruit Amber with free apples and blackberries (and in fact, honey too as my MiL was going to chuck it out!) to eat over the next week and to go in the freezer! There's about 14 portions in there at least!

6. FINALLY had a year with lots of tomatoes growing, even though I'm scared of cutting off branches! I forgot how much more tasty homegrown organic tomatoes are!

7.  Went back to wonderful Kentwell Hall and the Historic Guest House near Sudbury that we went to in May!

8.  Had a lovely time on holiday with my inlaw family!

9.   Had a jolly time with my niece, walking a beautiful route I've never done before, then surprised my Mum with a visit together! So grateful she got what she needed for her GCSEs (I know, it's hard to believe she was THAT old now!)

10.  I had an exciting cycling adventure with CBC (even if it has given me a hand injury/ssue- pray for me- I hope if it's Ulnar Tunnel/Cycling Neuropathy or Cubital Tunnel that it will go away!) 

There are many more reasons to be thankful but here they are for the moment!

Hope you are well! 

Xx

TARDIS Tuesday -The Woman Who fell to Earth

 I'm incredulous that I have not shared this cosplay since December 2022. Really???? I've definitely worn it. The whole thing. In fact, the coat in this outfit is probably my most worn Yaz Khan item- it's my car travel coat as it is so cosy, roomy and comfortable for a long car journey.

Let's look at the inspiration, worn in Yaz's debut episode:

An unnamed pink woolly sweater, a Zara shaggy coat, blue skinny jeans, red gloves and Dune Pacey burgundy boots.

Nothing has changed about this outfit- I love it as it is even if it is completely not my usual colour scheme!

Last time, I took photos in the same spot but there was no pond here before! We have newts! CBC is excited about this!

It's a good all round, cosy day outfit!

Here are some things I am happy about:

1.  The newts! CBC and I are super happy about the newts! We have named some of them: King CaNewt, Olivia Newton John, Isaac Newton.  Looking for them is fun.  Weirdly, on Thursday night, I came home and found a newt on the front door step. It seemed dead as it didn't move but it was gone teh next morning.

2.  We had a wonderful Kensington Chamber Orchestra on Saturday.  We played Mendelssohn's wonderful, Reformation Symphony, composed to celebrate the centenary of Martin Luther.  The last movement is based on Martin Luther's A Mighty Fortress is our God.  Before it, is a beautiful flute cadenza/fantasie, which Mendelssohn bizarrely cut from his second version of this Symphony but it is gorgeous! It only appears in one edition of the symphony. I was very happy I got to play this. Listen to it here from  20:10ish....

3.  I found out this evening that my school choir got through to the final of our local Primary Choir of the Year competition.  Yay, we got through two years ago also! Very happy!  

4.  I made my first nettle soup of the season. I also included a load of goosegrass in it too for extra vitamins and three cornered leek  There's loads around at the moment. I also made some delicious croutons to go with it from some old bread that had gone hard.   We also made some yummy honey and sesame parsnip chips to accompany it as we had to use up some old parsnips!

5. I started a new Katherine Rundell book called The Good Thieves which I am really enjoying so far.

6. I had 5 people in the audience on Saturday- CBC's Mum, brother, partner AND even a French cousin and his girlfriend! It is really nice to have people there to watch you when performing!

7.  We're finally using up some very old flour in the cupboard!

8.  I went over to my Godmother's on Friday night. It was lovely to see her and her daughter!

9.  Very glad I made up lots of apple and blackberry for the freezer. Most of it was free apart from the energy and honey (which was a present!)I am still eating it!

10. I'm a bit nervous about it, but I'm playing 1st flute for Orchestra of the City's next concert, rehearsals start on Wednesday! Fingers crossed it will go ok! It's exciting to have the chance to do this!

xcxcx

Good, memorable or new things 2025

 I am a bit late with the New year posts but post them I will, despite my tardiness!

I thought I'd try and write a post remembering any particularly good, new or memorable things things this year.  I did feel quite anxious and blue for a lot of last year, be it hormones/age/personal issues/family issues and when I went to places like music camp, I did feel like I didn't have much of note to tell anyone. This is not to be or seem ungrateful, I know I am so, so fortunate, have many blessings in life, but sometimes your brain does tell you things and your body and mind can take over.

So things like this post, are reminders for me of the many things I have done!

• I was filmed for Anglia Ruskin university as a model music lesson for the undergraduate teaching degree.
• My Year 6 class and I were photographed by the Aurora Orchestra for their Music education programme area/publicity.
• I picked cured and ate hundreds of cobnuts
• I rescued hundreds of apples from the tree down the road
• I found lots of new to me mushrooms in Germany
• I Cat-sat for an internet blog/insta friend in Hebdon Bridge and had a perfectly lovely time!
• Managed to ID some Sarah Jane Adventures clothes thanks to pestering a Welsh-cosplay owner AND find said items online.
• I have written around 150 poems. This was the year of the poem.
• Had a poem published for the first time on an online magazine
• Had a poem shared on BBC radio.
• I managed to apply for and get a 4 year music scholarship for one of my pupils so he can learn the flute for 4 years for free.
• I had a new flute trio arrangement performed in a recital.
• I got to play 1st flute in Shostakovitch's 6th symphony. I don't get to play Shostakovitch very often, let alone 1st flute, and it was an utter dream to play!
• I played at Gray's Inn for one of their events. This was unusual and fun!
• Celebrated the 60th anniversary of my old church, Christ Church.
• I returned to my undergraduate degree university for the 50th anniversary of the music department. I had a lovely time, played Gamelan and even saw my photo up on the big screen from when I represented the University at the Park Lane Young composer's symposium at the South Bank centre, playing a recorder piece written by a PHD student. It was such fun to go back!
• Completed more of the Pennine way!
• Completely wild-camped for the first time, on Windy Gyle. Arduous and freezing but an experience!
• Had an exciting holiday in Madeira!
• Foraged lots of beautiful plums and cherries in August!
• Went to my orchestra's Christmas party for the first time!
• Visited some new woods in Northumberland in the Summer.
• Visited a Doctor Who exhibition in Hexham!
• CBC bought me 'Magical Misery Toad', a really cute plushy, cuddly toy. It was an unexpected sweet present!
• I got to speak lots of German in er...Germany!
• Returned to the amazing spa in Bad Wildbad!
• CBC made us a pond in our garden!
• Discovered the fantastic Veggie restaurant, Sababa, in Southend!
• Went to the Cliffs Pavillion for the first time to see Cinderella, the panto!
• Saw the amazing production of Into the Woods at the Bridge Theatre!
• Genuinely delighted CBC with his Christmas present purchased from Vinted, of a Blackwatch Tartan suit to complete the trousers he already had!
• Played a ton of Qwirkle games!

I'm sure, now I think about it, there are loads more, but there were some cool things here!

Happy things

As I have often discussed (and I know I am preaching to the converted here!) that to count ones blessings, joys, small victories, happy moments, frissons of the day is to make one's self happier and more contented.So here are a few recent ones...(some of these were written a few weeks ago so the timing may sound odd)

• I was really nervous about my school appraisal.  I was going to have to meet with my Headteacher to go through it and he's notorious for being quite particular with it. I sent through my filled out review and appendices of evidence.  His opening repartee was, "Out of all the appraisals I have read and gone through in the past two days, yours is the most succinct and to the point" and he ticked my targets off with no further comments and gave me some lovely praise on the things I'd done. We also talked about targets for this year which sound quite cool and linked to our school development plan. I was so happy. My colleague had told me that they had done theirs on Chat GPT.  I told him how mine had gone and jokily said, "Screw you, Chat GPT!" to which they roared with laughter!
• We held our second session of Orchestra today and I took all the glockenspiels, metallophones, harp players, timpani and untuned percussion players to work with them alone whilst the conductor took the flutes, violins, celli, recorders, clarinets and piano. I was so pleased because what I did really benefitted them and they all felt really pleased and proud of themselves with what they had achieved.  This made me feel good.
• I am taking some kids from school to watch the LSO in November and so I held the first if 2 workshops to prepare them for Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz.  I invited 48 children.  Suddenly realised that we would not all fit in the music room so was on standby to see if we had to cart instruments over to the hall.  Well, 32 students replied and so I had the perfect number.  One child, who I was absolutely certain would not be allowed to come for reasons, was able to come! The euphoria on her face when she told me that her mum had said YES was an utter joy for me, as much as it was for her!  
• I held the first workshop on Wednesday and we had a really good session- the children were super positive about it, you could tell they were delighted to be working with children who were of a similar level of competence who wanted to be there and get on with it- we all had a lovely time and time flew!
• We are trying to work on diversifying our curriculum, representation of our communities in books, activities etc and I was put on the perfect team for - racial literacy- the book side of it.  We have a Barnado's charity shop near us that often gets donations of brand new books from bookshops and often they have a sale on them. I went in and they had a flash sale where ALLbooks were reduced to 50p and I managed to find 12 books, 10 of which were ALL written by writers of diverse backgrounds or featuring characters from diverse backgrounds, 3 of which were signed by the author!  I also found a few others in the charity shop- it was great I was there JUST when these books were!
• Last Wednesday, I had a rehearsal with Orchestra of the City- I had forgotten my stand- I texted the fixer- he said he'd bring me a spare. I realised I'd forgotten my piccolo too!  Luckily, I have a spare one at school- the one I had since I was 11. It turned out that, even though it is not such good quality- it was perfectly in tune on the really quiet high notes at the end of Also Sprach Zarathustra which we were playing.  The next Wednesday, I'd also forgotten my stand.  The fixer brought one as he had a feeling I might forget!
• The concert for this was last night- film music and Also Sprach and it was AMAZING! It went so well. We also played the Slipper and the Rose waltz which is an absolute childhood favourite!!!! I wasn't supposed to play in this one but because it had alto flute in it, I ended up playing it as the lovely 2nd flautist doesn't have one and asked me to play instead!  Also Sprach went SO well and the scary, scary chords that are so hard to tune at the end were amazing! My piccolo was in tune and my lip didn't shake!!!
• My choir numbers have gone up. I now have 18 in Year 3-4 choir and 23 in Year 5-6 choir. We are loving it so far and I've thought up some new fun games and activities to do at the end which they are really enjoying. Drumming club is still only 8 though...
• Shouldn't be buying anything but I have been wanting this t-shirt from Hello Dodo for ages that has 'Meangulls'- on it- I love homophone puns.  It was in their Super Seconds sale last Saturday in my size! It arrived today and I love it!
• Lovely Supply Teacher was in on Monday and we were singing the Aurora orchestra's Bright Eyes which is based on the theme from Shepherd Song from Beethoven's Pastoral symphony and she loved it so much and was singing along. I shared the resource link with her and we had a lovely chat. It's so nice to meet lovely people!
• I'm really enjoying BBC Radio 3 this morning!
• Did I say that I got to meet my blog friend from back in the 2010's, Sarah Ziman.  She used to blog at Lakota, Faith, Hope and Charity shopping.  She came to do poetry workshops at my school. We went for a drink after and it was so nice to meet her!
• I was in a hurry on Wednesday night and had no time to divert to get some dinner and also didn't want to spend any/much money. I was cycling to the station and I was passing a Costa. I don't like chain coffee branches but I suddenly remembered a child had given me a £20 Costa voucher for a present and it was in my purse. I ran in and found their toasties were 50% off so I got dinner for £2.50 and I didn't have to spend money!
• I have Kensington Chamber Orchestra's concert tonight and my BiL and his partner are coming to watch (fingers crossed no plans change!)
• In Orchestra, I have a very musical girl who I asked to join on clarinet but she was very reluctant to come.  She left her clarinet at school on Thursday so it was here for orchestra. I promised her I'd bring my own clarinet to play with her.  On Friday, we went through it- I was pretty terrible but she seemed to perk up and we went through the clarinet part with the 2 clarinets and it felt really positive!
• I've got 2 Year 4 boys on the case with scrap paper saving- they are recycling bin monitors and now, whenever they find any paper which is in good condition with one blank side, they bring it to me and put it in my box so I have a massive supply of paper to print all my worksheets onto- so I am reusing old paper!  This is making my life easier!
• Read a LOVELY Children's book called Song of the Far Isles by Nicholas Barling which was all about music and really enjoyed it! I've read a few good books with a musical link/theme recently! May do a post on them!

Right, better get on with getting ready for Kensington Concert!

xx

10 reasons to be thankful

In times where there is so much bad news and hardship, it is good for the soul to consider what I am grateful for.  Here are some specific moments!

1.  Wonderful sprinkler in the garden.  CBC was sprinkling the garden so I changed into my swimming costume and enjoyed a soaking!

2.  Tried Kohlrabi for the first time. Was quite pleasant. All the nicer because CBC prepared it! I had no idea what to do with that purple beast!

3.  Kind staff members came to help out when I put out a plea for a bluetooth speaker! They brought theirs in and they worked brilliantly!

4.  Did my first outdoor Singing performance practice today. It was boiling but the kids did well!

5. So grateful I have aircon in my music room. I feel so sorry for years 4,5,6 which have boiling classrooms!

6. Grateful for a combination of kind people on Sunday. I arrived at my orchestra concert rehearsal to fid that I had forgotten my music.  Only one of the pieces was available through IMSLP online so I phoned my neighbour who went into my house with spare key, found and took photos of my music, sent them via Whatsapp. I then sent the files to the 1st oboist who put them onto his Kindle for me and the 2nd flautist sent them to her husband to print them so I had printed copies for the concert.

7.  The concert on Sunday was AMAZING!  We performed Saint Saens organ symphony and it was SUCH an experience.  The ending was superb! All my piccolo moments went well!

8.  Had 2 evenings off without anything on- was lovely to relax in the garden.

9.  Grateful I got my reports done!

10.  Managed to use up some jars in the cupboard and start some new ones.  We may eventually clean out the cupboard of tea, jams, honeys and chutneys.  The amount we have of all of the above is ridiculous! CBC likes starting new ones without finishing old ones.  I use old things up!

What are you thankful for this week?

Plums and Aubergines

Things have been a bit fraught this week- mainly due to stressful experiences playing the piccolo.  It's stressful enough playing the piccolo- everyone can absolutely bloomin' 100% hear every single note. It hurts your ears to play such high pitched sounds.  It's quite high pressure and hard work. When the conductor then makes you play a really high, fast, screechy and loud part by yourself at least seven times with the whole orchestra listening in pain (as it's so high)- it does not do much for one's confidence, let alone making it sound any better.  The concert is Sunday. I will survive it. 

Anyway, I thought I'd share this beautiful dress I bought in Winkelmann's- a charity shop or thrift shop in  Bruges.  It's made out of that lovely waffle cotton and cost 7 Euros.

I loved the sort of Prairie/vintage vibes it has going on and is soft, comfortable and easy to wear.

I wore it to church on Remembrance day with my Florence-bought leather boots and my Poppy.

 Despite the stressful start to the week, OUTSIDE of school, actually, in school has been positive and I am going to list the things here to remind me that, though I may be playing the piccolo awfully, school is ok!

• Lovely Year 6 girl bought me After Eight mints because I happened to mention they are amazing!
• Drumming club are hilarious!
• Year 3-4 choir were SO sweet when I announced who got the solos- they came out to their parents and ran screaming to tell them. That I managed to give them that joy made me so happy.
• Year 4 were composing their own melodies yesterday- I'm actually really enjoying their lessons at the moment and they did well!
• Year 1 weren't so awful this week- I've been teaching them 'In and Out the Dusty Blue Bells' - usually chaos but actually wasn't! Even managed to introduce rain sticks and ganzas to accompany it! Not usually done that in previous years.
• Singing Assembly has been full of enthusiasm.  Our Sports Coach LOVES I saw three ships come sailing in and BEGGED me to include it in our Christmas performances.  He practically ran into the hall when we were singing it and belted it out with all the children in Year 3-4
• Year 5-6 were in good spirits this morning and several children told me later, how much they love singing assembly. 
• Introduced all of Year 5 to the Tabla today- they were utterly awestruck by how fantastic it is! Watch the video below right to the end just to see how amazing and virtuosic this instrument can be.
• I am so grateful to the fantastic girl who donated her older brother's unwanted Tabla about 10-13 years ago that has meant I am able to show them it in real life.
• Playground duty this morning- surrounded by my Year 5 girls!
• Grateful for my Year 2 colleague who is probably my closest friend at school now. I would never have imagined we would have become friends originally, as I was a bit scared of her but she is kind and cares.
• Grateful we have a Lidl so close to school!
• Grateful for finding joy in  returning to writing poetry in recent times!

Hope that you can find joy in the things you do this week!

xx

18 things that made me happy this fortnight

 

I wrote this last Friday but forgot to post it!

1.  It was National Poetry day this Thursday- I announced this at the end of Singing Assembly and suggested the children write a poem.  After lunch, 2 of my lovely girls in year 5 came up and presented me with poems they had written about me, for me! They were so sweet.  Today, a Year 6 girl came up to me and presented me with yet another poem, about me! This one was really lovely and unexpected. It made me laugh so much because, on the other side, she wrote a poem about our Sports Coach who I tag-team with as we teach the same pair of classes and swap with each other, morning and evening. I think I did better out of this poem writing than he did!!!

2.  My old colleague, J, who has left my school (we produced Treasure Island together) had contacted me saying we should meet. I suggested Thursday.  He said he was a co-organiser of a new Poetry-and-Music night called Testing Ground and suggested I come.  It was held at a Book Shop on Roman Road near Mile End called Bard Books.  J persuaded me to join in with the Open Mic element of the night and I played Syrinx, for solo flute, by Debussy. Ha, I can say I was the first musician to perform at this Performance evening! Most of the other  open-mic participants were Spoken word artists, poets or writers and there was one beautiful singer.  The two headliner artists were singer, writer and rapper, Adeeb Abdul Razak  and a poet called Ellie De Satge.  The night was so different from what I was used to, held in a lovely bookshop and it was so nice to see my friend again!  He performed a poem of his own called 'Feedback' about giving feedback to pupils. As someone who teaches, this poem was so powerful and I was so impressed by his artistry! 

3.  Last Sunday, I performed with Forest Philharmonic Orchestra. We were playing accompaniment for the final of the North and East London Music Festival. The three soloists got to perform a movement of a concerto with us accompanying.  The judges AND audience AND orchestra all got to vote for their favourite performer.  I usually play 2nd flute or piccolo for this orchestra but the regular (and wonderful) 1st flautist was away in Scotland so I played that part. This is another first for me as I've never performed First Flute with them before.  

4.  I made a cleaning product myself out of foraged ingredients! More on that soon!

5.  I've been using my new Personal Amplifier to try and protect and preserve my voice a bit more at school and it IS making a difference!  So grateful to my Sister/Dad/Stepmum for getting it for me for Christmas. Not impressed with myself for not using it UNTIL now!

6. WE ARE OFF TO THE CRYSTAL MAZE AGAIN TOMORROW!!!! So excited!

EDIT- It was brilliant! And I got 2 crystals this time!

7.  Found SUCH a sweet song on @musicforkiddos on Instagram called Falling Leaves and it is SUCH a adorable song. Tried it out on KS1 today and they loved it!

8. Some Year 5-6 children are on a residential next week and I managed to manoeuvre a swap so I could still teach year 6 next week. Pleased I managed to do this.

9.  TRYING to take a bit better care of myself this by a) trying to ensure I've had something for breakfast- yoghurts in glass jars, tinned peaches, bananas have worked well so far.  b) trying to have slightly more organised lunches, c) trying to not say yes to anything on more than 2 weeknights in a week, d) really determinedly working on quoting the School Rules when children misbehave and using stock phrases such as "Please place your instruments in resting position" or "What is the rule when I am giving feedback to someone?"- helping me AND them!

10.  Enjoying the joy of the year 3's at their new recorders- they are SO proud of them!

11. Enjoying how popular orchestra is so far this year! Everyone wants to be in it. AND I managed to acquire a NEW Orchestral Manager! She volunteered and I accepted instantly!

12. Love my Year 5 girls.  They are really loving and kind. It warms my heart to see such gentleness and their real acting of their age, not trying to be something else! They come and surround me with a hug every time I cross the playground and they always know when I am feeling tired or down.  They are my new 'music crowd' and it's lovely!

13.  Enjoying the relationship I am developing with the class whose bookcorner I am helping with. I hate to say it, but one child leaving last year has made ALL the difference to that class! The toxic habits and learned patterns of poor behaviour have been broken and life is so much happier for that class!

14. Was given a cute new Penguin by one of my pupils! It has a strawberry hat on!

15.  My year 4's did some really good rhythm performances on Wednesday. The class who are usually very difficult were actually the best!

16. Tonight (Friday)  I was productive! Came home, made dinner instantly, did all the washing up, put all previous washing up away, put in washing, hung up washing, sorted more, made a birthday card and here I am writing a blog post or two!

17.  Went to see my lovely friend, Naomi Preston-Low in Pride and Prejudice- sort of, at the Chelmsford theatre last night.  It was utterly hilarious and silly (a bit sweary and irreverent in places but funny!Imagine how Lizzie Bennett might have responded to Mr Collins' proposal with a few choice words). Naomi was brilliant! I waited for her at the Stage door and she gave me a massive hug and was so pleased to see me after such a long time. CBC and I really enjoyed it and it made a great change after school to do this! The show is on tour so if  you fancy giving it a go, check the link. It goes to Wolverhampton next week!

Here is a great review of it which I wholeheartedly agree with

18.  44 of the Year 5-6 children were away on a residential today so I did Samba with the remaining children and they loved it!

What things have brought you joy this week?

11 reasons to be thankful or happy moments

These last three weeks have been such a hurricane of activity!  Definitely good in many ways but also very tiring! The house has been a state of utter mess and squalor as I've been getting back very late most evenings (despite the fact that I did do a lot of cleaning/tidying for CBC's mum when she stayed a few weeks ago.  It's the last 2 days of school tomorrow and as always, I am really sad about my year 6's that are leaving (and a few other children too!) but particularly so this year- definitely had a very strong bond with some of them this year.

I thought I'd write about a few moments or things that have been special or made me happy or smile in the past few weeks. 

1. This morning, I raced Richard to church! He is in his 80's and he comes and drives my 94 year old neighbour to church every Sunday.  He's often offered me a lift but inevitably I am not ready. This morning, I saw M leaving his house and saw Richard pull up as I came out the drive on my bike. He wound down his window to offer me a lift and I called out, "Race you!" and hurtled off down the road.  He caught me up as I reached the main road and we both had to stop at the traffic light under the railway bridge.  When we approached church, he had to pull into park on the left and I cycled into the church gate and up to the door! I had WON!  He laughed a lot when he arrived (as did all the older ladies who saw me cackle at Richard as he turned left and I turned right.  I played piano at church and, considering, I was grappling with page turns on my iPad and hadn't had time to practice, praise God, I played ok without too many major clashes. It was a lovely sermon too!

2. Did I tell you about the Green paper?  For Treasure Island, in Act 2, we didn't want the chorus to keep coming on and off so I suggested they turn round and pretend to be trees before and after several of their songs.  I speculated with my fellow director/producer whether was worth making some sort of foliage for them to hold.  We agreed and thought we should order some green paper to make some.  We'd need enough for around 35 children at least.  Two days later, I was at CBC's school for a Chicago rehearsal and went to go and have  a look at his display boards in his classroom (as there's a really nice display). I noticed that all the display boards were covered in green paper.  Exams?  I asked him if the paper was going to come down.  He replied positively and when questioned as to what would happen to the paper, he said the exams team had put it up but they were expected to take it down but hadn't had time to do it. When he thought the paper would just end up in the recycling, I asked if I could have the paper if I took it down.  He agreed and the next day when I came back for the next rehearsal, I climbed up and removed it all from both classrooms.  ended up with 3 rolls of paper that were around 1.5 metres wide (and about 15metres of length).  Ended up rolling them up and somehow carried these large, heavy 1.5m long rolls of green paper on my bike attached to the top of my pannier.  I was rather a wide load (needed a warning sign like lorries do!).  Looked like a complete maniac but meant we got the free paper for the foliage.  Decided we needed to have pom poms so came up with a really simple prototype and showed my lovely year 6 girls what to do and by the end of the day, they came back to me with 70 pom poms!!!

3. On Friday, I performed the Rite of Spring with Orchestra of the City, playing the Alto flute part with a section of 5 flutes and over 100 players.  It was SO exciting to perform and, despite the intense heat, we gave a great performance to a sell out audience.  I was so lucky as the Alto flute part has lots of beautiful solos and not so many scary hard bits.  Despite my coming in early on one solo (paranoid, I had miscounted, I stared intently at the conductor as I came in early (as surmised) and he easily put me back in the right place.  I got a stand up for my solos which was lovely!  The orchestra are SO good and I am so lucky I got to play with them!  CBC, his brother and partner came to watch, which was really nice, and we had food afterwards.

4. It was the Year 6 prom/disco on the same day as the Rite performance and I was really sad not to be able to attend as my lovely girls had asked me to attend.  As I couldn't, I promised to wear a prom dress to school and they held me to it so I changed into my turquoise jacquard silk dress with a tiara! They were so pleased.  Luckily, my rehearsal wasn't till 6 so I had 10minutes to see some of them arrive in their smart outfits and then race off to London.

5. I taught my leavers song on Friday afternoon (in my fancy dress). A colleague and myself wrote it together 3-4 years ago and now I always teach it. It was the first time he hadn't been in the school for it.  They sang it well and the majority seemed to like it. Even the (comparatively) lazy class  upped their game for the performance.  After it, I walked down with my favourite class, some of whom were crying, I hugged one of them and then they all went in for a hug and I ended up at the centre of about 15 children! It was a sweet moment.

6.  Ended up teaching 45 children in year 3 (for two lessons) as one of the classes wouldn't be getting their final lesson (Bank holidays, grr) so I combined them.  Could have been a nightmare but actually ended up being a good lesson! Very glad I did it as it was really nice to end the term with this.  We were learning about folk music and learnt a very jolly folk song called Tomorrow the Fox which children always love!

6. Had the first proper school concert since 2019 on Wednesday. Ended up with an audience of 140 and the 70 children performed really well and managed to finish on time.  Some parents not the best at sitting and listening but enough were really appreciative and proud.  The orchestra sounded superb particularly. So relieved it went well and ended up with good attendance in the end.  

7.  The day after the Rite of Spring, I was performing the solo flute part of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg concerto no.2 with an orchestra in Oakwood.  I was really nervous about it but it ended up going well.  I had the delight of playing flute for the first time ever with an old friend and colleague from my days at the Royal Academy of Music. Was so nice to catch up with her and play with her.  The rest of the programme went well and I even saw a friend from Music camp!

8. Some friends are here for the month from China and somehow ended up staying near us so we met up for brunch with them and their cute daughter this morning. Had such a nice time, even had a paddle in the sea and then we headed off to lunch with CBC's old housemate and our friend.  I wasn't (obviously), hugely hungry but ordered a Gazpacho soup and some olives which was the PERFECT summer lunch- amazing flavours!  We ended up chilling on the village green and played Cranium cards which made for gentle entertainment.  CBC fell asleep on the grass as N and I chatted. Came home and managed to do SOME tidying which I was relieved about!

9.  Unexpected Thai food on Tuesday night. CBC had bought himself some Thai takeaway and left me half of it! It was delicious, all the more, because I hadn't had any breakfast so was surviving on my salad from lunchtime I love Thai food so much!

10. On Thursday night, I ended up chatting to this Lithuanian man on the train.  I thought he was drunk at first but I talked to him and he really needed someone to talk to, he ended up crying talking about some things, I was grateful to be there when someone needed to talk.

11.  Two of the other flute players got Covid.  Despite me sitting next to them, I didn't catch it!

So many other small blessings and happy moments in amongst my daily life that I've probably forgotten about but I am grateful to have such a surfeit of joy! What about you?

xx

10 reasons to be thankful or 10 happy things

 1. Bird app- CBC was looking a bird app which can identify bird song and he speculated as to whether it could be tricked into recognising bird song. When he tried whistling, it said it could not identify it!  I declared that I could trick it.  CBC was very cynical and said he bet it couldn't.  I decided to do my best Nuthatch impression and to his sheer disbelief and my delight, it identified me as a Eurasian Nuthatch!  My second attempt at a Wood Pigeon was again successfully accepted as such but when I tried my third attempt at a Blackbird, it told me I was human!!!  2/3 isn't bad!!!

2.  Rescuing a Pallet from the bin!  For our treasure Island production we don't really have much scenery but as I walked past the big bin at school yesterday, I saw a large wooden pallet sticking out.  I went to get my partner in crime, J to come and inspect it and we hauled it out of the bin for a closer look.  We then tried dancing on it and then turned it on its side to try and see what else it could be used for.  We then manhandled it down the corridor, into the lift and up the stairs like the Chucklebrothers, giggling, and then covered it with blankets, took a comedy photo of ourselves standing by it to inform staff it was there and then went to get on with stuff.  It's bittersweet because my colleague is leaving and I am really going to miss him, as one of my closest friends at school, one of the most genuine and astute people, an absolutely hilarious raconteur, a wonderful person who the children adore and we only got to do 2 productions together because of Covid and having no hall.

3.  Making a lego bumblebee with a child yesterday!

4.  Picking cherries for free from nearby flats carpark.  I picked some last year when there were few left after being annoyed at them littering the pavement without being picked and this year, I saw they were in prime, I went and picked a load!

5.  Actually having my voice for choir this week.  N, one of my lovely Y6 girls told me, delightedly, "It was so nice to actually hear your voice properly this week, I missed it!" (I've been croaky for a while!) 

6. The sheer delight of the year 2's playing handbells.  They loved it! When you see children managing to organise themselves 

7. I am having to play tenor saxophone for Chicago as well as all the other winds. I am so grateful that CBC's school had a really good Tenor saxophone donated only a few weeks ago and that it was not too difficult to play despite my having not played Tenor before and having not played my own alto saxophone for about 12 years!

8.  The weather has been quite good this week. I have enjoyed wearing warmer weather clothing such as some lighter dresses and wafty tops.

9.  Thought we had run out of toothpaste and was getting very desperate having rummaged the drawers to find a new tube but then suddenly found a tube!!

10.  The first part of this is not happy. I had a bit of an accident on my bike this morning on my way to work. I accidentally drove into the fence at the station entrance and got my wheel caught in the ditch and fell of my bike quite heavily and ripped the knee of my favourite trousers (the ones I wear for all my Clara and Yaz cosplays) and scraped my knee and hurt my wrist.  I am thankful I did not hurt myself any more than that or that if I were to have a bike accident, it was something like this and not on the road.

What are you thankful for?

xx

12 Bright moments

 Bright moments this week.

1.  The lovely boy with SEND who is doing so well in Drumming club.  I was playing Tequila on the recorder for the children to transition between instruments.  Totally impromptu, he jumped onto the bongos and accompanied me with the perfect syncopated accompaniment - he was grinning at me and we were totally in a groove!  It was the most sunshiney, wonderful, unexpected moment.  He exudes unbelievable joy when playing drums.  This drumming club have got more into the Samba vibe (they dance and move) than any group I've ever had.  They're also noisy and won't be quiet but they love it!

2. I noticed that my recorder matched my shoes. I held it agains my shoes and admired the similarity. I looked out up and noticed D in Year 6 laughing at me.  She raised her eyebrows and gave me a look. Later, we both laughed about it and no one else knew what we were talking about.

3. D told me usually she dances on the pole when on the train and always does it on school trips to embarrass her teacher. I asked why she didn't do that with me during our earlier trip.  "I don't want to embarrass YOU!" she replied.

4.  I decided to downsize my scarf collection.  I gave three of them to some girls in year 4 who were so utterly delighted.  One of them came into school a day later and she had made me a batch of Scottish pancakes to say thank you! They were still hot! It was nice to share my scarves as in a charity shop, you can't always guarantee that someone will buy them! Also managed to pass on a box from a fox plant pot I bought that was cute- one of those year 4 girls had it!

5.  My music room library is thriving. I've got so many children borrowing books including one boy who, a month ago, was a complete nightmare in my lessons.  Something changed and now he's really behaving for me and it was nice to be able to trust him enough to lend him a book.

6.  I was trying to make my way across the playground and got ambushed by a group of year 4 girls who all engulfed me in a massive hug.  As I tried to extricate myself, A, a girl from year 6 joined me.  "I noticed a large crowd and came to see what they were crowding around.  Once I saw it was you, naturally, I decided to join it!" It was so funny, the way she said it!

7.  Very successful trip to watch the London Symphony Orchestra on Monday with my children from orchestra.  They really enjoyed it and were really positive about it! It was a joy to take them!

8.  Had to run our Treasure Island rehearsal by myself on Tuesday as the Drama lead was off sick.  Managed to get the opening song and closing song blocked and learnt properly and even started to work out movements for the overture!

9.  I now have to teach Phonics to a year 1 class every Thursday (Wednesday this week) which is annoying as it cuts a big half an hour out of my music lesson but I am getting into the swing of it now- we use Essential Letters and Sounds and it works quite well!

10.  Very, very glad I made a large batch of Vegetable stew on Sunday.  It has meant 2 dinners I didn't need to think about. Topped up with homegrown kale, bittercress and 3-cornered leek!

11.  Bought a yummy Mediterranean platter from Lidl. Have very much enjoyed coming home to it, particularly the cream-cheese stuffed pimento peppers- they are delicious!!

12. It's only a week or so till the holiday!!!!

11 reasons to be thankful

 Active gratitude really does have a good effect. Whilst it doesn't make difficulties, sadness, grief go away and if you are in dire straits like many people in the world are, it is a good practice.

Some people worry about toxic positivity- this is where you force people to try and be happy by being overly and falsely positive (I think... from what I've read?) . This is something very different.

Actively stating your gratitude for YOUR situation without expecting anyone else to respond in kind, IS positive and inspiring.

My lovely friend Ally wrote a thanksgiving post about this, my great friend Ang frequently shares things she is thankful for and I have tried to write posts reminding myself of what is good.

I've been very anxious in recent times. Anxious about a lot of things. I'm not sleeping very well at all and I am permanently exhausted as I wake early and worry about a lot. But I have so much which I am grateful for which I give thanks for- home,family, job, health, skills, hobbies,food, stabillity. Beyond that, here are some things that gave me joy this week:

1.  Had a genius idea of getting 2 girls involved with orchestra as 'Orchestral Managers'.  This is a bonafide role within a pro orchestra.  Both girls are super mature and helpful and wanted to be involved in orchestra (but one of them, maybe not allowed to play in for religious reasons).  I asked them if they would consider this role and they were super excited! Their responsibilities involve: organising and setting out chairs, photocopying music (well, I will photocopy but they will come with me and take them back to where they need to be and organise), distributing music, acting as librarians, taking the register, chasing up non-attendees.  They had their first day yesterday and they were BRILLIANT! They were discrete, helpful and efficient! Our conductor thought this was a genius move!

2.  All of our school nativity costumes seem to have gone missing or been chucked out or ruined since our last nativity in 2019. This is gutting. All of our drapes and material were also chucked out in a big staffroom decoration and renovation.  Luckily, I snaffled away and saved some pieces of material and was able to give these to KS1 to try and use for our production in a week and a half's time. I also had a pair of angel wings in my cupboard! Very glad to be able to help!

3.  I'll get to see my friend Lara tonight as I am page-turning for her for her harpsichord part for Brandenburg 5!

4.  Managed to cobble together a variety of dinners this week despite low energy and busyness.

5. Added a new task and challenge to an established unit of work in year 6 to address a particular target and was pleased with how quickly the children completed it and also the way I did it gave them more ownership over learning for themselves this year.

6.  Managed to rehearse ALL the 36 readers for our KS2 Christmas performances yesterday.

7.  Finished the book that has taken me 2 weeks to read! (I usually read much quicker than this!) 

8. FOUND the missing 2 boxes of handbells which went AWOL last Christmas.  The last time I'd seen them, one was in the library at school and one was in the year 6 classroom.  After our 'performance', I was off sick for the rest of term and when I returned in January, they were nowhere to be found.I sent countless emails and searched for them.  I was trying to put away some resources last week and I opened a cupboard which I haven't opened in over a year (as I wasn't in the room and had to just make do with things I had). I discovered that SOMEONE had put one box of bells on each shelf on top of all the books. Why on earth they were put in there, I have NO idea but at least I have them back!

9.  I am still so grateful to be back in my own room at school.  Life is SO much easier, despite it still being VERY busy!

10.  I will get to see my family tomorrow at my niece's 14th birthday party.  I am grateful my sister has these annual parties so we get to see each other.

11. It was Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary on Thursday. I am so grateful for the joy this programme gives me.

What are you grateful for?

xx

The end of a school year!

 

It's over for another year. As I write this, I am sitting at a table in my Mother-in-Law's house, Hexham trying to not kill CBC book our accommodation for our forthcoming trip to Switzerland. It's our 10 year anniversary this year so we are returning to our honeymoon destination.  I realise that I NEVER did share our epic honeymoon tour. It was rather a daunting  prospect as there was so much to write about (I kept a daily diary as did CBC).

As I write this, I am hopeful that...

I AM GETTING MY MUSIC ROOM BACK AFTER 2 YEARS OF MOVING ROOM!!!!

It is going to be weird getting back in. I will have to put up all new displays, deal with a skanky carpet that has had 2 years of filthy year 1 children dropping glue, paint, glitter, food, sick, raisins, apples and all sorts of grim things, I will have to teach the children how to put the instruments away properly, where they go and they will have to get used to sitting on carpet for the entire lesson (which they will not find easy, esp the little ones) and I have got used to having a big interactive whiteboard screen for everything but...

IT IS MINE!

My deputy head teacher did say to me that I have done so well to have continued to teach to my high standard (hmmmm...debatable...she's not seen what it is like with the  crazy year 2 children) and to have put up with the levels of stress and everyone in the school has said to me that me, above absolutely everyone else, has had to put up with the most inconvenience.

I can hardly believe it will happen! But apparently it will.

I still keep expecting them to tell me that they need to turn my room into an SEND room or a computer room since I have proved I can be itinerant.

It's been a hard year in a great number of ways:

Complete disruption of strikes, bank holidays, public holidays,snow days, INSET days.

Some very difficult behaviour from some children

Cancelled performances- Christmas because of icy roads, our Summer interschool festival because of a security threat.

New methods of assessing that just haven't worked out.

Always missing subject leader meetings  because of clubs

Staff shortages.

Leadership changes

Also, two of my closest colleague friends  have left.  One at Easter, one recently. They had both been at the school over 23 years

But...

there have been some amazing moments:

1.  The relationships I have had with some children with regard to sharing reading books and enthusing over books

2. My wonderful year 5-6 choir. We've had some amazing moments and fun. I had 14 children from ONE class in choir which is the most from one class ever and they were confident and really showed their appreciation of choir. We had a great time at the Royal Albert Hall despite VOMIT-GATE (yes, my child projectile vomited in 6 directions in the middle of Gary Barlow's Sing).  I had between 25-35 children the entire year.

3.  The Year 5 Vltava performances- they loved it! In fact, year 5 have been a pleasure to teach all year (one class less so but still good).

4.  Winning the Aurora Orchestra competition for a family ticket to their children's concert. I was able to pass this onto a family who had a lovely time.  I also then purchased a family ticket for my own orchestra concert with Forest Philharmonic Orchestra in June and it was won by a lovely enthuastic Nigerian girl. She and her Mum adored the concert and said she'd love to come again! It was special for me having her there and being able to give that pleasure and experience to families was amazing.

4. Encouraging a young artist.  I learnt, from another teacher,  that a girl in Year 4 is a really keen artist. I asked her to come and see the seascapes I had been painting with year 5. She (and her pal) were really happy to be asked. I said I knew she was interested in art. She told me about her Instagram where she started posting her art in lockdown.  I meant to message her mum to ask permission to look at it (as social media is a dodgy area) but she had already messaged me to say her daughter had asked me to send her a link to her insta.  I sent some feedback (not on Insta because I don't want to share my insta with pupils obvs) via her mum and Mum was super pleased I'd shown an interest in her art. I then issued her an art challenge using recycled envelope inards  (and gave her the resources) which she rose to with great aplomb and then shared her work in the newsletter from school. That one gesture of showing an interest made ALL the difference to one pupil and her mum has shown her apprecation. I hope I will have more time to show interest in individuals more again without excessive equipment removals next year.  

5.  Developed good relations with a couple of colleagues. One who is very cautious of people and she has shown she trusts me.

6. The day I chucked an entire litre of water at my Sports coach colleague and he just laughed.

7.  Helping a colleague to tidy his room when he was going through some mental turmoil and it really helping him. (*especially funny since I am renowned as one of the messiest staff members)

8.  The year 4 classes who have developed over the year.  This is due to (sadly) a couple of disruptive children leaving, and a change of staff.  By the end of the year, we had a really good relationship.

9.  Having 3 children with SEND statements in Drumming club this past half term.  Seeing them do something they are so good at and enjoy has been a JOY.  All the staff who watched them perform were SO proud of them.  I am very inclusive in my clubs and will take anyone as long as a) they want to be there, b) they are actually participating and not just disrupting so this has been wonderful to see it work. It didn't work for one child in year 4 who joined my choir in the Christmas term, but I knew it wouldn't as I know my children. Despite my professional opinion, I still accommodated them at first.

10. Having 2 past pupils back for Work experience (in fact there were 4)- who performed wonderful clarinet music for the whole school. It was a joy!

11. Playing my flute for nursery.  They loved it! I MUST go and do this more! I forgot what awe and wonder it inspires!

12. Giving 6 demo lessons for Reception class music. Then having the children greeting me whenever I saw them around the school.

13.  The day one of the year 6 girls was lying in the playground on the ground and not getting up.  Her friends couldn't get her to move. I said, "Watch how the professionals do it."  I went a distance back and then started galloping in the style of a horse whinnying as loud as I could.  I then LEAPT over the girl and landed with a thud on the other side of her.   She immediately sat up and opened her eyes. I was applauded! Similarly when the choir children were trying to make the Sports coach say "Slay!", I said something similar and tricked him into it. He was FUMING when he realised I'd made him to do it!

14.  The beautiful present I received from a Year 6 pupil. Her grandad ( a keen gardener) had grown 3 tamarind plants from seed. They kept one, gave one to the family and I was given the third one. I am SO touched as she really understood me.  When we said goodbye, she gave me a massive hug and told me she loved me. She is not a child given to saying affectionate things like this so I knew she meant it. Her Mum sent a lovely message too!

15. So many appreciative messages from parents.

16.  Having a final goodbye photo with K, a boy in year 6.  We went and fetched the vintage clear beaters from the vintage glockenspiel and held them high for the photo! It was a joke between the two of us. His leaving card message was also really special since he told me Thursdays were the highlight of his year because of Choir.

17.  Being invited to the Year 5 final day's breakfast.  

18.  The Coronation performances with the whole school in the playground.  Drumming club performed an impressive military-style Snare drum performance. Choir sang a Coronation song, Reception, Year 1 and 2 sang one song (from memory), Year 3-4 sang another song and Year 5-6 sang another song. All from memory. It was a really proud moment and made me ambitious to try something else.

19. Organising an inter-school concert with another local primary school choir to enable parents who couldn't make our Royal Albert Hall performance, to see it.

20. My year 6 pupil who, in the space of one year: a) auditioned for and was awarded one of 30 places (out of 250 auditionees) for the Royal Opera House Youth Choir, b) performed for an entire run of the Royal Opera House's pro production of Turandot, c) was nominated for and won a TruHero award.   

There are probably MANY more things I could write about but I am sure it will get boring.

It has been the hardest year in so many ways but there have ALWAYS been shining moments throughout!

xx

16 Happy Things

It's been a while since I did one of the posts where I list things that have made me happy. There have been numerous things in the last week or so and I thought it would be nice to list them! 

1.  The Genius of Ang Almond:  I count myself as so lucky to have so many friends through this blog community we have here. I value each and everyone of you.  Ang is someone I am lucky enough to be in touch with outside of the blog and she has been so generous over the years to be an enthusiastic help in some of my cosplay adventures.  In the past, I have sent her cosplay projects which she has done a marvellous job of.  However, I sent her a couple of cosplay projects based Classic who characters which she absolutely surpassed all expectations with her sheer genius and dedication!  The parcel arrived back last week and I am astounded, humbled and grateful for her efforts.  Look forward to seeing this, and another project at some point soon!

2.  Wordle.  Since last Summer when CBC's family went on holiday to the South of France, I have been in a Wordle Whatsapp group with his siblings and mum (he's not in it!). I LOVE the daily interactions with them over it and over friendly, but definite competitiveness over it.  We had the most hilarious interaction last week over the word ENNUI which was the word on 5th June.

Here follows the conversation in the chat.

J1 and I had completed it in 3 guesses.  T had completed it in 4. J2 had not completed it at all.

T:The word I convinced myself it must be turned out to not even be a valid word

J1: Well, when I got 4 different yellow in the first two guesses, I just went for a wild stab at the maddet word it could have been.  They seem to swing from tricky niche words to really easy ones, but with multiple different possibilities....

T: This one seemed like a tricky niche word but it turned out to be very boring.

J: [Laughing face emoji]

J2: I'm stuck.  can't think of any boring words (or tricky niche words) that fit.

T: Maybe it's both [head exploding emoji]

Me: Yawn! You lot need to find something better to do with your time.

T: Oh Kezzie, you sound weary and dissatisfied!

Me: Whatever PEASANT!!!

J1: Why don't people sort out their boredom by just brushing up their French? Just to fill in the time!

T:  Or play some games to allevaite the boredom? Perhaps on Wii?

Me: yes, my preferred games console [Grinning and laughing emojis]  J2 hates us right now, if she could summon up the effort to feel that intense an emotion.

J2: [Intense Crying emoji]

Me: Fun fact: I know a song that includes this word! [Grinning face]

Soon after

J2: ENNUI!!!! [aghast emoji and WHAT? emoji] I've never heard of that b*** word!

J1: Clues: French: boredom: On Wii.  (very clever T)

J2: I wouldn't even know how it is pronounced!!! [Angry and crying emojis]

J1: Brush up your French!

J2: My French never advanced beyond 'le chat est sur la table'

J1: You're a disgrace to your clan!

J2: Or 'ou est la piscine'?

T: CLUESSS? In here????!

T: [Insert Carry on meme saying 'I'M SHOCKED! SHOCKED I TELL YOU!"

J2: Stupid b**** word.  Looking forward to it going back to TABLE!

J1:  Ah, but then you get the other sort-sometimes more trouble... table, fable, sable, cable, label.  FAIL!

Me: Where are your squares J?

J2: I didn't post them because I couldn't think of a valid answer so I cheated and googled it.

Me: I knew Ennui as it is in a song in one of my favourite childhood movies, The Slipper and the Rose!

J2: It wasn't in the Argos catalogue. [Sad face]

The whole thing was utterly hilarious!!!!

3.  Happy thing no.3 leads from that.... yesterday, I GOT WORDLE IN 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never thought that day would happen! To be fair, glancing at my MiL's squares did help me to make my first choice of word. Never did I expect it to be right though!!!!

4.  I left my waterbottle at my Gamelan rehearsal on Thursday. This is a lovely 750ml stainless steel bottle that I won in an Insta competition a few years ago. I really am fond of it and have taken good care of it. They cost £20 new. I was so sad as I'd left it on the floor in a seating area outside the Gamelan room and it was likely that a) it would just get chucked away or b) someone would pinch it. I realised as I was on the way home so I speculatively emailed the university, guessing a generic email address and enquired if someone was able to look for it and put it in the gamelan room, not really expecting a response  to be positive.  I received the following last night after school:

Hi K,,

Sadly I don’t have a key to access the Gamelan room, but if you look to the left directly below the tap in point you’ll see it tucked away there.

Best wishes,

David

Thank you to whoever David is!!! I will hopefully find it next Thursday!

5.  Gamelan:  Ah, it has been a delight going back to it these past 2 weeks.  We have been learning a new piece called Tabuh Aras Arum (Fragrant Forest) from a wonderful teacher called Pak Dewa who is here with his lovely wife and daughter for a few months.  His style of teaching is really helpful and his pace is great.  It has been super satisfying to learn a new piece. It's not too hard but it is interesting and I was able to to do some 'working out' of the Sangsi part (everyone learns Polos first- this is the ON BEAT part... Sangsi then slots in between this) which was satisfying. It is from an older type of Gamelan called Semar Pegulingan which I LOVE and so has taken me back to my time in Bali when I learnt this.  This week, we revised it (I forgot most of it but then got it!) and then revised a dance piece called Margapati which I THINK I had learnt about 17 years ago but I'm not sure. It was so satisying to revise it and again, I was able to work out the sangsi and remember it!

6.  My Peri cosplay:

This week, I wore this outfit for TARDIS Tuesday and in my Insta post ,I had mentioned the Actress, Nicola Bryant in my post as I had gained the idea of this adaptation of the cosplay from her.  To my utter delight, she came and looked at my post and left me a comment!!!! I couldn't believe it! It was so nice of her!

7.  Last Sunday, I attempted to make a pea hummus from the Anna Jones recipe book.  It uses peas, mint, basil, olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice.  I had 105g of fresh peas (I think frozen are better now) and a small avocado- this made it up to 205g- the recipe called for 300g. I didn't have any Basil but I did have mint. I used all the the other ingredient plus poppy seeds.  Rather than faff with the blender, I tried the stick blender... Anna mentions you can use a handblender...are these the same thing??? It went everywhere so I then attempted to mash it with a potato masher and then a pestle and mortar.  It wasn't really working so in the, I had this pea, avocadoey stodge which I put in a box with a large quantity of grated carrot.  It has been a lovely fresh-tasting ingredient to eat with either bread or left over Naan this week for lunch...even if I have had some funny looks!

8. I cover Teacher PPA in tandem with S, our sports coach.  We've got to know each other better this year.  We are very different and didn't really have so much to do with each other in the past but we've been getting on well this year. He's a complete joker.  Yesterday, he mentioned how hot it was and I said, "You need to have a bucket of water chucked over you!" and he laughed and said, "Yes, maybe I'll turn the hose on later.  Later on, I was filling my temporary 1litre plastic water bottle (a reusable, I hasten to add...) and I remembered out conversation.  I knew he'd be tidying the sports room so I called to him.. he came into the playground towards me and as he came towards me, I lobbed the entire bottle of water at him!  He was stunned for about 2 seconds as I instantly ran away and then I heard him laughing raucously, the entire way I ran across the playground.  Haven't seen him since but I know it will have made him laugh a lot!

9.  In Choir, I have been teaching them, Me ol Bamboo from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for a festival we are taking part in and they practised the routine I've taught them and it's starting to look really good!

10. In drumming club, I have 3  children this term who have a SEND statement (special need) and who usually all have 1:1 TAs.  It's really lovely having them in it and seeing them doing really well. They don't always join my clubs and it's nice that all 3 of them are there and able to do well without any additional support.

11.  It was my Year 1 final Spring lesson this week and it's one of those 'let's choose an instrument' and compose a class piece lessons which can be really chaotic- I've finally cracked how to teach this really well without it being stressful!  Success!

12.  I may be getting actually be getting my music room back in September if the builder complete the work on time and in addition, my Headteacher may be getting me an interactive whiteboard for it!

13.  I've been really enjoying the Kate Shackleton books by Frances Brodie. They've been on my shelves for ages but I am working my way through them. Death of an Avid reader, which I finished last night, is the best book so far!

14. I ordered a limited edition Hungry Caterpillar necklace (inspired by Eric Carle's famous book). It came on Wednesday and I AM IN LOVE!!!!

15. It was my Gamelan friend D's birthday on Wednesday. She paints her nails with Nail art and posts them every few days and she posted that she had painted them with Ladybirds just because she loves them. I was seeing her the next day for Gamelan and I realised that I had a tiny pair of Ladybird studs in my present stash so I thought I'd surprise her with them! When she saw them, she was so excited and surprised! It made made really happy!

16. I  will be seeing my family today for my sister and Dad's birthday!

Is there any particular thing making you happy this week?

Thankfulness

Hi there,

I didn't manage to post yesterday because the computer I was using was not interested in loading the internet properly yesterday so I gave up.

The sermon at the church I visited yesterday spoke to me in various ways but the main one was a reminder to give thanks in all circumstances, for all things, be they big or small. My joy of being thankful for things is long documented on this blog but I will hold to it again and again.  I absolutely think that making a point of identifying the things that I am thankful for is super important and as well as giving one a little perspective on things, it really does make you feel better.  It's an important part of prayer, thankfulness and it's one aspect that anyone should be able to try and do!

So, in the interests of that, here are some things I am thankful for:

1.  I had a really lovely weekend.  I had no fixed plans but this was a good thing.

2. CBC and I enjoyed a 5 mile round walk from near Leigh/Chalkwell to Southend and back. It was cold but sunny.  We were glad to have the time to do this.

3.  We went out for a Thai meal on Friday night. It was delicious but we couldn't eat it all so luckily, I had brought containers so we boxed up our remainders and that was our Saturday night dinner.  I love Thai food so much! I had Tofu for a change instead of Prawns in my Green curry and it was so scrumptious! Also really enjoyed the Egg-battered aubergine!

4.  I enjoyed the 2.2mile cycle ride to the church I have been to for the past 2 weeks. Admittedly, I was a sweating wreck by the time I got there, but it was still good to have done it. It was much nicer on the downhill way home! Much better that way round!

5.  I stopped to pick nettles in the church yard on the way home and made Nettle soup when I got home.  CBC and I enjoyed a portion for a late Sunday lunch (with sourdough) and then I carefully took 3 portions in my pannier for lunches at school this week. The nettles were young and tender looking and I am gleeful at how tasty, yet healthy it is! CBC was also grateful for it after his 82 mile cycle ride! I'm happy to have lunch ready for 3 days!

6.  Managed to stock up on lots of lovely vegetables from the Greengrocer on Saturday in Leigh- so many options PLASTIC FREE!

7.  The privileges we have.  CBC and I were able to eat a healthy lunch out on Saturday at Wild Health.  All vegan, lots of fresh, healthy ingredients.  Not everyone can afford to do this.  We are fortunate.

8.  The majority of children today in year 3,4 were willing to work hard at what we were doing. Yes, there were a few limited individuals who weren't (and I am sad about them) and they make me a bit blue, but the major part, they TRY!  The ones that didn't, are quite hard to crack but I suppose there's always another week, even if they depress me.  Also, very dominant and domineering (clever and works but does constantly demand your attention negatively and leads others astray, which detracts from giving your attention to those who need it) child was away today in one class and it was therefore a really peaceful and personable class today.  I think the children really enjoyed the change in atmosphere afforded by the freedom from the dominance temporarily.

9.It's only 2 weeks till the Easter holidays! So grateful to have a holiday always on the horizon!

10. Picked some Perpetual spinach and onion scapes in the garden this weekend- my Perpetual spinach is FINALLY growing! Hope the wee beasties stay away from it!

11. Staff at school are getting used to the official 'tea bag caddy' and are directing others to use it- it may be a small thing but at least 400 teabags have been saved from landfill and instead have been ripped open and composted since January.

12.  I actually had fun playing my viola last week at the local orchestra I attended.  Had great fun with the desk partner I was with. She's really good and the funny thing was, there were only 2 of us, compared to 6 1st violins 8 2nd violins and 6 cellos. We got told off for playing too loudly! TWO of us compared to the others! We had a hilarious moment where we discovered that the viola part had TWO extra bars at the end of the first movement of the Tschaikovsky we were playing- it's a good thing we realised now as otherwise, we might have made a very loud mistake at the end! Must be the ultimate viola joke!

13.  Daffodil bulbs I planted in my 40th birthday planter in my front garden have started to flower!

14.  Having had a really chilled Sunday, I am SO grateful for the calmness of where I live, my comfortable and spacious home and the solitude of a quiet afternoon.

I challenge you to make a gratitude list for all the things you are grateful for this week on your blog! You feel super positive once you have done it!

x

Happy things this week that I'm grateful for.

•  The hand of friendship can sometimes be a slow burner. I've had a work colleague for 15 years and in recent years, she doesn't join with social things but I've tried to reach out in terms of friendship but she's not been forthcoming until best friend at our school moved away.  We went out to dinner with that friend.  Last half term, I asked her to come to the Harvester for Dinner and she came and told me after half term how much she'd enjoyed it. Knowing it is her birthday today, I asked if she wanted to go to the Harvester again this Friday (CBC is at his work Christmas dinner) and she agreed immediately. She sent me a message on Monday saying how much she was looking forward to it and we asked a couple of other colleagues, including one who I would also like to be friends with.  She delightedly agreed too so we are going to have a jolly time.  I gave C a birthday present and card today and she texted me to say thank you and she would start using it immediately (As well as some Thorntons treats,I gave her Cath Kidston lanyard as she'd broken her work one and had mentioned she should probably get a new one. In the few years I've given her a present, she's never once said anything about it.  I'm delighted that she is opening up to me (which is a bit bittersweet as she is planning to move back to Wales at the end of the year probably) AND that our other colleague is coming too.  I felt such a glow when she texted me back today.
• Dinner Friday- definitely looking forward to this! I didn't do the work Christmas do but this small scale thing is totally my thing AND I don't have to feel sad and gloomy when CBC is at his do!
• I phoned my friend Lara on Saturday for a catch up and she mentioned that she is organising music or her village church carol service and was a bit stressed about it.  I told her I'd be happy to come along and play my flute or sing and she was delighted and said she felt much better about doing the thing.  I'm so happy to be getting to see her AND getting to play in a carol service AND getting to play music with her.
• On a related note, Lara had been asked to join our flute group by I, the leader and we are going to play carols the day before the carol service for I's street Christmas event (outside carols).  
• I also texted a friend who lives in the area and CBC and I are going to go to theirs for Christmas nibbles and drinks after the street carols.
• I wasn't going to write a Christmas song this year as I still had 'Hope this Christmas' from last year to perform but on Friday, after working from home, I was suddenly inspired to write a song called 'Joy!"- I worked it out and put it into Sibelius music software in a few hours and today I taught it to my year 5-6 choir who were super enthusiastic about it and managed to learn it ready for next week's carol performance.
• My Year 5-6 choir are a really lovely bunch and I really enjoy our sessions! 
• My work colleague L owns about 20 Christmas jumpers and is raising money for St Francis Hospice by wearing and photographing them each day. I thought this was such a nice idea!
• Christmas feel good movies- yes, I have watched a cheesy Christmas movie on Channel 5 every day since last Thursday and I am loving it!
• I've FINALLY worked out two year 2 Fireworks composition lessons that actually work after a few years of unsuccessful, stressful chaos.  The tweaking and new ways of organising it worked! And, doing it in a classroom actually worked to my advantage!
• Jingle Bells- very happy with my year 3 children today who worked hard on Jingle Bells.
• Couldn't be bothered to do much for dinner, CBC was out at his school concert.  Managed to adapt a Thai Chicken noodle soup by quickly adding some extra veg. Healthy, quick and tasty!
• Love the Lidl £1.50 bargain vegetable boxes!
• My year 6 kids did a really good job on their Baroque performances today!
• I'm back to Hildegard Von Bingen with my Year 5 classes again and I love teaching the children about her music!
• CBC sent me a really funny text this morning on the train!

What made you happy this week?

Happy things last week

 A few lovely things from the past week or so. I've felt really quite sad and gloomy at times this past week but there have been many bright times despite this.

1.  Tuesday, whilst waiting by the school office with my remaining choir members who parents were tardy, all of a sudden, I heard my name called from the gate.  It was a past pupil of mine who is now 17 and in year 12.  He is one my most favourite pupils of all time so I ran down to the gate for a catch up. I love the fact that he was there with his cool girlfriend, aged 17 and chose to call out my name when he saw me some 12 metres away by the office.We had a quick catch up and I said to him, "I will never forget you." to which he replied, "And I will never forget you Miss.". I was SO happy to see him and the fact he said that, was so lovely. 

2.  I received a message from the mother of a child. I think I wrote about how he had become transfixed by the Bagpipes last December and said he wanted to learn them.  I told his mum at the time and she had been interested.  Fast forward to July this year and she was late one day and I was standing with him. When she arrived, I asked her if she had thought about signing him up for music lessons.  She said yes, but had been disorganised and forgotten about it.  When we asked him what he was interested in, he said, "Bagpipes" which wasn't an option so I suggested the oboe as a good starting point.  They signed up and he'd been playing the oboe since the half term holiday. She messaged me on Wednesday to say that he absolutely LOVES the oboe and practises every day and wants to show her his notes and she is really proud of his dedication. That message meant so much to me because that thing happened because of my lessons.  Giving him access to hearing and seeing something led to that! It was a great feeling.

3.  The messages keep coming over the past  3 weeks where parents ask if it is too late for their child to join choir.  It's really exciting that they want to join and that their parents want them to!

4.  Happy Year 4's.  It was totally worth the hideous amount of time it took to locate and move 25 'exotic' instruments, including Harmoniums, mbiras, Angklungs, violins, mandolins, timpani, metallophones, xylophones, guitars, harps, hand bells and all sorts for my 1 off lesson allowing them experience of accompanying songs with different drone instruments.  Everyone was hugely positive and excited by it.  It is usually time consuming setting up that lesson in my own music room but as you can imagine, finding and doing that in a different building was a nightmare...but worth it!

5. Meeting my lovely blog friend Ang! Still smiling!

6.  A very productive Gamelan rehearsal.  I've been struggling in gamelan for the past 2 week as I'd missed so many sessions and didn't know my part and no one who plays my part was there last week so this time, I spent an hour or so watching videos of our teacher in Bali playing the piece and I transcribed my part. What a difference at the rehearsal- I knew it and when I got stuck, I could look down at my notebook! It was especially crucial as the person who knows the part was away again. Another fun part was that we played Baris,  piece I know very well and I had great fun playing the Reyong which I haven't touched for years! Also, I went secretly dressed as Patrick McGoohan from the Prisoner and it was funny!

7.  Had a lovely relaxing Saturday with CBC. We went to an Eco-fair and had a mooch around the shops. I found a lovely 3/4 length Autograph M&S cashmere cardigan in the charity shop for £5 which was very exciting!

8.  Had a hysterical time with a child tonight after choir. His mum was late picking up and he was talking about being a Russian spy and suddenly noticed some teachers in a meeting in the classrooms by the office. I had the 'bright idea' of us being spies and launched into 'Mission Impossible' whilst we cavorted over to the window- a hilarious spell of us acting like total loons (and excellent acting skills!) as we acted like comical spies working our way along all the windows.  We were laughing so much by the time we finished.

9.  Happy time with my Year 5-6 choir tonight.  Fun rehearsal and they are doing really well with my Ring out the Bells song from a few years ago.

10. Yay, after my aforementioned Year 4 lesson on Friday where I allowed the children to play the violin, there are 3 new signups for the violin in school! All very capable children!

11. We had the most hilarious- time in the staff room at lunchtime last week where someone chucked a piece of balled up foil at another colleague.  We then ended up having an en masse game of Pigeon hole ball where everyone tried to get the ball of foil into someone's pigeonhole. The deal then was that you had to secretly buy a tiny present for the person whose pigeonhole the ball went into.  It was so much fun. We had such a wonderful time, we laughed so much and there was such a sense of comradery  

12. Got some great books for the School library in the charity shops on the past few Saturdays very reasonably. I've read a few to vet them and they were really good!

13.  Nice morning hugs with CBC this morning. He texted to me to say Thank you for warm, morning hugs which was lovely as I was thinking the same. 

14.  Had another fun time with the City of London Symphonic Winds on Sunday afternoon. I was really grateful to join them again!

15. My Year 3 recorders are starting to make progress and today, lots of the children tried to help others put their fingers in the right place the way I usually do when I was unable to get to them (tight table formations!)  Other two classes weren't too bad on Monday either.

16.  Lovely Selective-mute boy who began speaking to me and singing in class at the end of last year (after me teaching him for 1.5 years without either of those things...doesn't really speak to any other adults) , today, told me what he was drawing in our music lesson and when I delightedly repeated what he said, he gave me the most beautiful smile.  It makes me happy that he trusts me enough to speak to me!

17.  Kind colleague who I was talking to about how anxious I felt yesterday was really sweet to me. I like her a lot. She's definitely my kind of person and like me, doesn't have class (but is only part time) and is also really fed up by not having a proper working space with the building situation. Empathy is important.

18.  Every child in Year 2 can play London's Burning on their glockenspiels!  One bright shining thing was that a little autistic boy who doesn't really join in much in music and can't communicate by speech (unless prompted), learnt to play it totally by himself correctly without any help! I was so delighted and glad for him. His face shone when I told him how impressed I was.

19.  In year 5, we were learning how to improvise and create interesting drum rhythms and the children seemed to have lots of fun doing that and actually, some of the children who have struggled with the work this term, did a really good job. Nice to see them shine!

20.  I bought a tray of mince reduced for Quick sale in the CO-OP in July and I got it out of the freezer on Monday as I wanted to clear the freezer.  When I was feeling miserable on Tuesday, it was the best thing to know I could come home and make Spaghetti bolognaise which I never eat as CBC doesn't eat meat (usually....occasionally).  Very much enjoyed it.

21.  Pickled Onion Monster Munch. Enough said.

I have a good life in so many ways but that doesn't stop me from getting sad and worried about things.  Finding all the happy things always helps!