Cherished things

 At church today, we had a lovely sermon given by a young woman named Steph who occasionally gives a sermon and often shares a profound message. One thing she said, which struck a chord was, I'm stuck Lord and I don't know what to do but I see you!  This is quite comforting and was comforting as I was feeling somewhat anxious and things were on my mind, even through the sermon/service. 

At the end of the service, the vicar, who leads the worship said to me, I'm not very good at encouraging people or remembering to tell people how much they are appreciated but today, as we were playing, it struck me that I should say this to you today. I wanted to say to you that when you play, not only are you talented at playing the notes but your playing is anointed, that comes from God and is pleasing to him.  I can't remember his exact words, because at that point, him saying that, brought tears to my eyes. I thanked him because it really did mean a lot to me to hear him say and I really did need to hear that today and from that moment on, the things that were filling my mind and were making me feel anxious, seemed to fade away. I wanted to record it here because I think it's important to remember moments and things people say that you cherish. I do know that when I play at church, that I am blessed and it blesses.  I always feel comforted and I am so grateful to know God. If that sounds cheesy, then I am Camenbert and proud! :-)   Even hours later, when I think of what he said, it brings tears to my eyes but these are tears of gratitude of God speaking to me.

It meant a lot to me.

Another cherished thing was this weekend sharing a friend's 40th birthday celebrations in London.  Our friend lives in Sweden and had come over to celebrate with all her friends back in the UK.  We had a lunch in a pub in Bloomsbury and then a trip another pub before heading to the Bloomsbury Lanes for Karaoke and finally having pizzas and drinks in the Lucky Pig in Soho.   We had such fun at the Karaoke. CBC and I sang A Whole New world from Aladdin together as well as What is this feeling? from Wicked and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  It was SUCH a joyous event. Everyone had such a good time at the Karaoke and I really enjoyed singing even if I felt a bit embarrassed at first (as there were lots of singers there). It was fun to do that together with CBC and to remember what it feels like to hang out with friends and just have fun!  We don't do that so much in recent times and it was lovely.

Hold the little moments!

xx

My secret news!

 A few months ago, I alluded to something exciting (for me) that had happened, but I was not able to say what it was.

Well, today, I can finally say.

One of my poems, Big Sounds, was selected for inclusion in Issue 9 of Tyger Tyger magazine!

This is a lovely online poetry magazine for children aged 7-11 which is free to read, has free teaching resources with it and includes poets from all over the world.

I wrote this poem last September (2024).  I was in  Forest Philharmonic rehearsal, playing Shostakovitch's Symphony no.9, 2nd flute.  Unfortunately for me, the second flute part is very sparse, doesn't play in two whole movements whereas the first flute and piccolo get all the glory.  Even more irritatingly, I had forgotten my book, must have left it at school and I had nothing to do.  The first flute player doesn't like people sitting on phones in rehearsals too so I couldn't do that either (and to be honest, is not a thing I'm prone to do in rehearsals).  I had twice, unsuccessfully submitted poems to Tyger Tyger.  A poem about Mud and about Sums had both not been chosen and I'd received the email that day saying that the new theme for the next issue was Big Things.  As I sat there in the rehearsal, I started thinking about big musical instruments as at that moment, the Bassoon had a massive solo.  And I started writing the poem about big instruments.  The poem came to me really quickly and by the break, I already had a finished poem.  The lovely piccolo player, C, had seen me writing and asked me what I was doing. I bashfully mentioned I was trying to write a poem and mentioned this issue's theme.  She asked me if she could hear it and I read it to her. When I got to the final line, she roared with laughter and told me she loved it.  The deadline for submission was December.  I sat on the poem for a while, thinking that I wasn't sure whether to submit but I also wondered if I could write anything better- you can submit up to three poems per issue.  By the time the deadline was looming, I'd written two other poems, one about relatives and one about a Giant and submitted them.

Oh, the months of waiting felt long and in the meantime, I'd written many, many other poems.  I knew it was probably unlikely I'd get chosen though I knew I liked me first poem very much.  It was also very much inspired by that thing my work colleague John had said at the Testing Ground open mic night I'd attended at Bard Books that very week.  He said, "Write about what you know."  Music is what I know best.  Part of me had a flame of hope.

Finally, back in March, I received an email from Rachel Piercey, editor of Tyger Tyger and to my delight, told me they would love to include my Big Sounds poem if it were still available.  I cannot tell you the utter joy I felt at that time. Having had a very difficult start to the year in terms of personal anxiety and depression, this was an exquisite ray of hope and sunshine.  She asked the chosen poets not to make any announcements on social media until the issue launched and so  I sat on the news, only telling CBC and C, my piccolo-playing friend who had been my first reader.  C was delighted for me.

I've noticed a curious coincidence today, as I write this.  My poem includes reference to the Contrabassoon.  Interestingly enough, the only other time I have been selected for something when there are a huge number of submissions is when I was chosen up as a runner up out of 29,000 people who entered a Blue Peter competition to design a cartoon character for Oscar's Orchestra for my depiction of Cassius the Contrabassoon. 

Rachel was very busy and the release date was put back but we exchanged several emails over the months regarding a few edits and things and FINALLY, yesterday was publication day!

Here was Rachel's post announcing it:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rachel Piercey (@rachelpierceywriter)

You can see all the poems here including mine:

Big Sounds:

I want to learn the Double Bass!
Big Granddaddy of the strings.
I’d grunt and growl and scrape and scowl
And play the deepest things!

I want to learn the Contrabassoon!
The size of a rocket ship.
It farts and parps and plops and honks,
Each note I’d just let rip!

I want to learn the Tuba!
It’s a chasm of shining gold.
Like warthog snorts and elephant trumps,
It’s big and bass and bold!

I want to learn the Big Bass Drum!
The vastest of all drums.
The thud and thump, rumble and boom.
I’ll startle everyone!

I want to play the biggest sounds
And shake the entire house!
But sadly, it seems that wishes stay dreams,
Since I’m only a tiny mouse!

Having received a rejection again this week, for another submission, it was lovely that this publication coincided with that.  I am aware that is is probably a one-off and I won't be lucky enough for this to happen again, if I do submit any poems to any publications (I've only tried 3 different publications) but for this moment, I shall rejoice in Big Sounds x Tyger Tyger!

Advent 3: A lovely weekend full of joy!

 

This has been a weekend of Joy!

Friday night, was our School Christmas fair.  Apart from getting jaw ache from all the smiling, it was a great occasion. I was on the Raffle with a colleague from Year 2 and we had a lovely sitting down job outside the main hall so much cooler and less noisy plus a lot of the tickets had been sold in advance so we weren't mobbed.  I had a 5 minute break to go and have a go at the Snack tombola and managed to get 3 winning tickets out of my 4 so came out with multi-packs of crisps! 

At the end, I went to go and have a look at the grotto.  Last year, my Headteacher and his partner had turned the library into a complete Winter Wonderland with a snowy trail and I thought nothing could top it.  Well, this year, it was Santa's workshop and it was truly, breathtakingly astounding!

The amount of effort put into it (it has been planned throughout the year) was amazing and it is such an beautiful thing for our children.   It filled me and my Year 2(different one) friend with joy as we looked around.

As we left, she and I arranged to meet for dinner next week which is lovely! I am grateful for her!

CBC and I got home and went straight out to dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant. We really enjoyed it!

On Saturday, CBC and I headed to East London for a very exciting event.  It was a concert on music by my A'level music teacher.  Earlier in the year, I mentioned that we recorded his 3 Christmas cantatas written for pupils at the school in the 1980's. We all had such a wonderful time that we wanted to perform together so our teacher, John Garner, organised a concert entirely of his music. We arrived for a rehearsal and sang and rehearsed our songs. The church was freezing but luckily, I am experienced in Cold Church Concerts so I was well wrapped up in cashmere and fluff!

In the break, CBC and I went out to a Turkish restaurant with 3 of my 6th form friends and another girl. A lovely thing was CBC actually was at university with one of my friends (but we didn't meet through her!) and it was the first time he'd seen her since university! We had a fun time and then got changed.

The concert was wonderful! The choir of around 50-60 comprised of students of his from the 1980's up to the 2010's.  We sang the 3 cantatas we recorded back in May as well as the world premiere of a version of While Shepherds watched their flocks.  In addition, there were several small group and solo items- all carols composed by John.   The concert was so special.  My heart soared with utter euphoria at the beauty of the occasion, of the music and of nostalgia and feeling the love that so many people had and have for this inspirational teacher.

This morning, I got up for church at 8.40am and managed to arrive at church, showered and dressed by around 9.05am!!

It was a beautiful service.  We truly sang our hearts out and everyone felt blessed and touched by the service.

I was looking at the pretty floral displays and saw this tiny figure to the right.

I saw three things from this figure.

The finger is looking up expectantly.  I think expectation, hope and looking up towards Heaven and the light of God is the absolute joy of Advent.  In looking up and seeking hope, we look forward to the joy of Christmas, the fulfilment of our dreams.  But also, I see the figure holding out this bird as if to set it free.  Sometimes, we are holding onto things which we need to let go of. Worries, things we do wrong, bad habits, looking back, trying to fit in.  Sometimes we need to set ourselves, others, things or feelings free.  

I also saw that the bird is a dove. As well as letting go of things, we do need to strive for peace in the best way we can.  Sometimes, that means having to swallow pride and be the bigger person or make sacrifice.

Also, the simple beauty of this figure- I LOVE all the trappings of Christmas, but sometimes, a bit of simplicity is refreshing.

After the service, I downed 3 cups of tea as they were (SHOCK!) going to be chucked down the sink, and cycled home full of joy. The day was bright, the air was warm and I was glad.

When I came home from church, CBC was getting ready to go cycling.  I ate a pastry CBC had bought me the previous day, made myself more tea and then put some washing up and then I looked at our Christmas tree, Chrissie. 

Chrissie lives in a pot in the garden and had been brought in the previous weekend by CBC but had been sitting naked apart from 2 small mice decorations.

I decided that I was going to decorate the tree. Brace yourselves for the fact that this is the first time I have been in charge of decorating a tree. As children, my Mum would decorate it and we weren't allowed to look until it was done. Then mum got a fibre optic one which she didn't want decorations on. Then I didn't have one when I lived alone.  And then, when CBC and I have had a tree, he was always in charge of decorating it and I helped on 2 occasions. Other years, he had stronger opinions on decorations so as someone who hadn't really ever decorated a tree, I just let him! Yes, this was the first time I have ever put lights on a tree.

And here it is!  The lights are a bit messy. I had no idea how you do it! At the moment, it is just sitting on our back door mat...not sure if it will end up on a table in a slightly less wonky position.

Special shot out to Ang Almond for the beautiful handmade Christmas jumper on a hanger she sent to me as a present along with which I'll post about soon.  It's so cute! You can buy them reduced in her amazing website https://www.thirtyonethirteen.net/

Christmas Jumper decorations

As I tidied up our very messy house and decorated the tree and sorted washing, I watched The Holiday.  I also carried on making origami stars.  

CBC got back from cycling and then we drove to our friend Nath's house. He had invite us round for a Christmas get together.  He had prepared a beautiful banquet buffet of food. I felt SO bad for him as he had invited friends round last night AND other friends along with us today and....except for us, everyone else had forgotten about it and didn't turn up!!! So he had prepared all this food and cleaned and tidied.  There was enough for 19 people! He was very gracious about it but it seemed so rude that EVERYONE had forgotten!  We had a lovely time, ate loads, watched a Christmas film and then came home!

This is the final week of school. As I write, I am not totally 100% certain that the church is ready for our carol service on Tuesday due to over-running building works. I hope and pray it is! Please can you too!

Much love to 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

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

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?

An unexpected joy

 Remember before Christmas, I mentioned having won 14 children's books by Robin Stevens?  All of them were her own books and she very kindly signed them all for me to our school and a couple of them even had my name as well!  I announced winning them on our school's Friday Zoom meeting and the children were SO delighted and excited at the prospect of borrowing them. I was pestered mercilessly about when they were going to be available to borrow (they had to be stamped, added to the library catalogue and the suchlike).   This week, several children proudly told me they had borrowed some of them!  It was so sweet how grateful and excited they were.  I loved the fact that I had been able to win them for the children. It also made me really realise how every new book to the library should be heralded and highlighted.

Anyway, fast forward to Tuesday, I had just finished my wonderful Emma Press session with Kate Wakeling (see this post) when I saw a direct message in my Instagram feed from the Aurora Orchestra.

If you don't know about this marvellous orchestra, they are a recent formation by Nicholas Collon and Robin Ticciati.  The orchestra has been incredibly successful and had a residency at the Barbican and have played at all the major concert halls.  They are well known for their innovative approaches to concert going. Every year for the BBC proms, they perform a major work for orchestra completely from memory. Every. Single. Member. Of. The. Orchestra. Has. No. Music!  This is an incredible feat!  I am lucky enough to have been conducted by Nick Collon a few times-he conducted my regular orchestra and conducted my music camp playing Daphnis and Chloe- the most amazing piece I have ever performed!

They've also started some brilliant children's work and have an education programme (which a friend works on).

Back to my Instagram message, I opened it to find that I had WON their recent insta giveaway for tickets to their upcoming Children's concert based on the Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse by Jon Klassen.  I had entered on behalf of my children at school as I thought it would be wonderful to be able to offer it as a giveaway/prize for one of our families!

I was so excited to win it!! Today, I posted the giveaway on our school messaging site and already got some excited families entering who have never been to a concert!  It was such a joy to be able to post something like that and I just wish I could offer it to all of them!

The Aurora marketing  manager was very kind and sent me a couple extra of the books to give as runner  up prizes too!

It really is an exciting thing to be able to give something to people- I felt buoyed by this opportunity all the way home! It made me think that perhaps I could buy a couple of tickets for my local orchestra- not quite the same but perhaps an opportunity (that isn't so expensive!) to offer another chance to someone, particularly as the next concert features the wonderful Vltava by Bedrich Smetana!

Xx

A sign of peace

Rainbows are so special! The excitement you see when one appears in the sky is a joy!

Last Saturday, CBC and I were in Billericay to go for dinner. He was driving in from a rehearsal and I had gone via train to have a quick peruse of the charity shopw. As I headed towards the restaurant, I got caught in rain.  

I dipped into Poundland to escape the rain.

When I emerged, I saw a rainbow emerging across the sky.

As I walked down the High Street, the rainbow became more and more intense.

 The wonderful thing was, all the people walking towards me had NO idea what beauty was behind them.

It was therefore up to me, to enlighten them.

To each and every person who came towards me, I said, "Have you seen the rainbow?"

And in each and every case, I had the glorious joy of seeing them turn round and gasp at how bright and intense it was.

Every single individual was overjoyed and stopped for a moment to gaze in awe and smile.

And I got to share that joy because I'd shown them the rainbow!

Of course, it can never be captured in a photo well enough.

I think this picture was my best one, of the bow over St Mary's church.

There was a secondary bow which was harder to capture.

This final picture was one that CBC took at the other end of the High Street. He managed to get a photo without any traffic!

Sometimes you don't see the rainbow in your gloomy sky because you don't see it...until someone takes the time to show you what was behind you all along.

I hope someone points out a metaphorical rainbow out to you this week...or that you can show someone that rainbow too!

xx

Fl-awe-tist

 

When I was a student teacher on my PGCE course, I was told by my mentor-teacher, after performing something on the flute to the children, "When you are a teacher, make sure you play your flute to the children.  It's something that will amaze them and they will love it."

I took that on. And I thought I did play my flute to the children regularly.  In KS1 singing assembly, I would play my flute and other instruments to the children as they were coming into assembly.  In a few KS2 singing assemblies, I would play my flute to the children.  I was never sure how impressed they were ...or not.  In a few year 4,5,6 lessons, I would play my flute.  But, this week, I ended up playing my flute to years 5 and 6 as part of their lessons.  In Year 6, I was trying to demonstrate the Harmonic series as part of a lesson on Fanfares- I wanted to prove to them why fanfares are so often based on broken chords. So I performed The Last Post on my flute just using overblown harmonics on the Fundamental- Low C. (essentially, I don't move my fingers to change the pitch- just adjust my embouchure- mouth position). Similarly in my Year 4 lesson, I wanted to demonstrate Benjamin Britten's main theme from The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (AKA Henry Purcell's Rondo from Abdelazer)  and then how to create a variation based on the musical motifs.  At the moment I first took my flute out of my case and put it together, there were gasps and excited noises and then rapt applause from the class (and "Can you teach me how to do that?!" from my year 6 boy who is a good flute player).  And I realised- yes, it's all very well playing to them in Assembly occasionally.  But allowing them to be up close and see the instrument and hear it in a small intimate setting- well actually, it is a big deal for them! And it gave me a lovely warm tingle to see their appreciation.  I should play the piano/keyboard less to them and play other instruments more.

 Never underestimate the power of sharing something you love, a skill that you have, with children or people- we don't realise that actually, it is something precious and exciting for them.

Garden promise

 I realise that I haven't shared loads of posts about my garden this Spring and Summer which is silly as it has been a big highlight of my year. I've shared plenty of pictures on Instagram but I prefer to keep these two mediums separate!

For many, the growing year is drawing to a close, things are starting to fruit and flower less and plants are waiting to be cut down perhaps? I am sad about this though there are lots of things that can grow from Autumn to Winter...I'm going to plant some Cavolo Nero in November and some garlic now.

However, my garden doesn't seem to be giving up.  My tomatoes are a complete mess, taking over the entire raised bed- I am told to cut the foliage off but I am optimistic that they will still grow regardless.

Here are some things that are currently holding promise of things to come...

Peppers!  I germinated these from seed back in April and they've been slow to grow but look at these peppers waiting to turn pink/red! Hurry up my friends!

Another slow-burner was my Patty pan squash plant. Sophie sent me some Pattypan squash seeds last year that she didn't want to plant again as she knew I like them and I planted them in pots in April. Luckily ONE germinated but it has been SOOOOO slow to grow but now, it seems to have found its rhythm...

Look at this new small fluffy embryo!

And this morning, I noticed these two embryos crowned in glory with their exuberant yellow flowers!

There are two of these larger, more formed specimens- I hope they grow!

The runner beans have been prolific over the past few weeks- I even sent my mum home with some! Look at this truss that is growing!

I've picked 3 monster cucumbers this past week but now they've gone, the plant has energy to grow a few more- it doesn't seem to be able to cope with more than three at a time! I bought two plants from the local Londis during early lockdown in April when plants and seeds were hard to obtain.  They had handwritten labels so perhaps someone was being entrepreneurial? 

I've had lots of Black Russian tomatoes and now San Marzano but this plant, which I carried in my rucksack during 35miles of cycling in hot sun in May after finding a free tray of them, is holding lots of scrummy salad tomatoes!

 A recent acquision is the Cucuamelon plants which my Mum obtained from a friend of my Granddad's from Bee-keeping- she gave us a few plants and they grew whilst I was away! I hope for these little mini darlings to grow big enough for picking soon- there's loads but will the weather hold? 

And yet more yellow courgettes on the way.  Mum is deeply jealous of these since she gave me the one plant and it has yielded lots of courgettes so far- I gave her one when she came over. All hers came to nothing, a bit like mine weren't very good last year apart from a few.

Last year, I got dozens of Alpine strawberries until it shrivelled to a crisp after 2 weeks of no watering and a heat wave. It and I didn't give up and it grew some new shoots.  This year, it's been a slow burner and has only occasionally had fruit though recently, there's been quite a few.

I will never fail to be grateful, humbled, excited and gleeful about what grows in my garden and I think that's a good way to be.  Never grow contemptuous of something- always give it the awe and wonder it demands!

Beached

Oh, joyful pleasures need not be long and protracted, they can be short and equally wonderful!

Today, CBC had been on his usual Sunday morning cycle.  He arrived back and lay in the garden awhile, tired from his 60miles of toiling.  I suggested that we go to the beach via the Seafood Shack, which is a little hut alongside a local pub, and buy some food to take to the beach.

We did so, both choosing the weekend special of Alfredo Linguine- his served with prawns, mine with prawn and chicken.  Being a nice independent business and not some chain with 'policies', they were happy to take my plastic containers to put our food in to take out, rather than us have to take their thick cardboard boxes (I also refused a paper bag to put them in).  CBC, when I said that they had cardboard containers, said, that surely it was ok to take their containers since they weren't plastic, but I reiterated that, if you CAN avoid creating any waste, then DO IT! After all, cardboard and paper has a larger Carbon Footprint than Plastic, even if it can be recycled and composted. 

We drove off and headed to the beach- not the touristy one which all the daytrippers in East London come to, but the one further down the track which has no amenities apart from some old loos and the  station is nowhere near the beach.  It is also more traditional looking with beach huts

CBC paid for one hour of parking so this wasn't to be a long treat but we felt SO content, sitting on the pebbles and sand,  the tide was in so the sea was near but there weren't that many people on it.  

The Linguine was plentiful and tasty with garlic bread on top.  I'd remembered my cutlery set- in fact, I have reorganized my bamboo cutlery set into a makeup bag so I have some duplicates in case of a companion who has forgotten/not got any...so in this case, CBC!

The sound of the sea was so soothing.  As there were few people, there were no screaming children to contend with.

Once I'd eaten, I told CBC I was going to change into my swimsuit.  Aghast, he asked, "What, you're really going to swim?"

"Yes, of course I am!" I declared, "No matter how cold it might be, I am SWIMMING!"

It wasn't that cold. It was pleasant and as soon as you swam in it, it felt warm.  As you can see, I didn't have much competition for space.  One older lady was swimming a bay along.  I swam back and forth a few times, lost in my thoughts without worrying about collisions.  After about 20minutes, I decided that I was content to get out.  I wandered up to CBC and wrapped myself in my turkish cotton lightweight towel (a Christmas present from Mum which is brilliant for light packing!) and CBC said we had 15minutes on the car.  5 minutes of reading my book, the Chilbury Ladies Choir, and then we got up ready to go.

Only an hour on the beach, but that was enough to make me content.  Simple pleasures but ones for which I am immensely grateful. I am so glad to have discovered that we can swim and visit a pleasant beach without loads of crowds within 20minutes drive.

When we got home, I went in the shower to wash off the salt, which was another delight- I do love our shower- and then, after a snuggly sit on our swing seat whilst CBC watched the Tour De France medal ceremony and I completed my book, I walked round the corner to go and pick some blackberries from an easy access stash I have discovered.  To my delight, I saw a lady coming out to water the garden from the house where I had picked up some free runner bean plants from. I asked if she was the Runner Bean donater, which she confirmed, and I thanked her and said how well they were doing. She was delighted and said there would be more plants next year and she and her husband sneakily watch out the window when people go past when they put them out, egging on people to take them- they cheer when someone takes some!  That conversation made both of us happy.

I hope you have had a joyous weekend with simple acts of contentment.

xx

 

Journey to the river

Last Saturday, a week ago, I suggested to CBC that we go for a long walk.  The weather was lovely and both of us had failed to get ANY exercise the previous Monday to Friday (I may have had a walk on Monday but I'm not sure) and we needed to get some.

He acquiesced and so we set off from our front door.

The first part of the walk was not interesting as it was along the main road until we reached the first part of the Roach Valley way.  We walked up to the beautiful Minster church (which I didn't photograph but you saw it in a previous post of walking)

After about 3 miles, we turned off roads into a field path.  All of a sudden, we were completely alone. To be honest, for most of the three miles, we had been but now, goodbye all civilisation.

The vast open spaces filled my heart with utter joy and we could see in all directions.  All at once, again, like I have been every time I've walked in lockdown, I have been awed and blessed and thankful for where we live- to have such open spaces. I imagine my feeling of positivity throughout all this would be very different if I were cramped in a one bedroom flat in the city.

We could hear Curlews and other birds and it was gloriously easy to walk.

I found myself much taken by the swishing ostinato of the long grasses. We continued on for a mile and a half. CBC told me we were going to try and find the river and it seemed like we never would.

Then all of a sudden, we saw this...

"Is that the river?!" I asked eagerly.

"No," he replied, "That's the flood defences"* (*or something of that ilk)

I stopped to admire every beautiful difference.

We climbed up a steep slope and then...

The River at last!

I was utterly spellbound.

There was a hushed awe to the air of the feeling where you cannot quite believe how fortunate you are.

I stepped down easily to the 'sea wall'

To me, the mud looked like a beach, one that I could easily walk across and swim.

CBC was more skeptical about this but was equally delighted with the sight.

I begged to stop for our picnic here (we'd brought sandwiches, crisps and fruit, as we'd set out around lunchtime, stupidly, only to be eaten where there was no one else).

Here's a little video of the expanse.

He disagreed and said we should continue walking for a while.

I didn't tire of the sights or the utter feeling of euphoria on how we could possibly have this in walking distance from our house! CBC could never moan about where we live again!

Views across to the other side were interesting. We spied the odd train of the sparse branch line that runs on that side of the river.

The path was easy to walk on.

We didn't see a soul for at least 4 miles.

We continued walking on, reaching salt marshes which are a sanctuary for birds. There are nature reserves for the Essex Wildlife trust here.

A delightful stretch of Cow Parsley was an interesting difference.

I did keep seeing plants that were shockingly like Swiss Chard. I even stopped to pick some. Anyone got any idea what it might be?

Abandoned or just resting?

After a few miles, we saw signs of habitation on the right.

But the mud beaches stretched in never ending line, along the margin of a bay!

A most incongruous sign was Sheep in Essex!  But sharing the love.

 I particularly loved this stretch where the contours and colours made a beautiful layer cake.

I spied a lonesome Borage plant. Just the one.

Finally, after my feet were starting to hurt and it was at least 4 o clock, CBC agreed to stop for lunch.

We stepped down onto the sea wall, I discovered the mud wasn't so nice to stand on. The Bladderwrack was useful for stepping back.

No illegal non-social distancing here.

And that was my view for my Brie sandwich and crisps.

We continued along the path.  I kept asking CBC when we were going to turn round as my feet were starting to hurt (at this point, I had no idea how far we'd walked)

He said that would almost reach Wallasea Island and then we would have to take  right footpart. It seemed interminable and his hips started to hurt. Still, there was much beauty to make up for it.

As well as seeing a variety of wader birds including Oyster Catchers, we were flanked by the sound of a most persistent cuckoo for what seemed like miles.

I captured a bit of it here (turn your sound up)

At this point, my camera died and I had to continue walking.

As the sun set, we walked across fields and fields and it became harder and harder to walk.  Still, the rewards of perseverance were the glorious pink skies.

We walked into town and ordered some Chinese Takeaway (the restaurant had opened to takeaways 2 days ago) as a reward since it was already 8.15pm and we were so tired, it would be futile to cook.

They told us it would be 50minutes to wait so we limped home, via Sainsbury's Local which was empty and arrived home around 8.45pm, ready to drive back to the Chinese to pick it up.

That food was most welcome!

As we eagerly ploughed our way through the food, CBC looked at his OS maps and worked out our final mileage.  

We had walked.....15.3miles!  No wonder I could barely walk!  It certainly made up for the lack of exercise for the whole working week and the visual sights and soul food made it worthy.  It was a great exercise in gratitude as we kept repeating how lucky we are to live here all along the way.

I am aware how fortunate I am in these times, I have not faced hardship financially, mentally or in terms of space but it has been a time for learning the joy of what you have for me.

Onto the next!