A post from the archives.. 10 cakes i do not like.

 I occasionally like to visit my own blog archive to have a peruse. Today only happened because a new post suddenly made its way into my 'popular posts's sidebar and then I went down a rabbit hole.

Here's post from 10 years ago where  showed what a complete fuss pot I am regarding cake!

Enjoy!

10 Cakes I do not like

I do like this one. Even though I didn't get to try it.

Ha, we often put things we like in blog posts but I thought I'd do the reverse.  My penpal blog-friend Katie asked me in the last but one letter, what cakes I liked and didn't like so I listed them (the dislikes outweighed the likes).  She almost unfriended me. Quote:

"....because otherwise, I'd have to seriously reconsider our friendship Young lady- what on eath is going on with your cake preferences?!  He he I feel like you need a Cakervention (like an intervention involving cake)..."

So, I thought it would be mildly amusing to share the cakes that caused such consternation!  (From what I can remember. I find decisions hard. Annoyingly, one of my boys at school has noticed this and he delights in asking what my favourite blah blah is, to which I say, "Oooh, that's a difficult question," to which he replies, "Is that because you're indecisive, Miss?".  Swine!)

In the interests of balance, I should probably post Cakes I do like on another day. Or maybe not, less entertaining than a rant.

1.  Eccles cake- my Grandpa always used to have these at his house. Uhrgh,these things are seriously rank! Horrid filling, nasty pastry, I'm not sure there's anything nice about them.
2. Coffee and walnut. Coffee is gross- period!
3.  Simnal cake- I loathe the taste of cinammon in cakes and what's more, I really don't like dried fruit. And what's with those large balls on top??? Yes, not keen on marzipan, especially generous-sized balls of it!
4. What the heck, all fruit cakes- wedding, Christmas, birthday...
4.  Carrot cake. Ok, in this case, I will tolerate it. I will eat it, but I don't really like it. That off-white icing on top is always a bit sour, the cake reminds me too much of fruit cake.
5.  Bakewell tarts- in one word- almonds and cherries combined. Shudder. Any cake with GLACE cherries in has my disapproval!
6. Danish pastries- too sickly, too sticky to eat, falls apart as you eat, weird eruptions of jammy/gooey inards....
7.  Banana bread- ahgh, the flavour- mouldy banana- just tastes like socks!!!! Banana-flavoured anything really!!!! I like my bananas yellow with a generous helping of green.You need to use brown bananas for this type of thing so it's inevitable I would not be a fan.
8. Date and walnut cake - dates are nasty!!!!! Need I say more?
9. Gingerbread - to be fair, I think I have a mild allergic reaction to anything with ginger as I get pins and needles in my tongue when I eat anything with ginger in. I like it in savoury-food if I can tolerate the pins and needles, but in sweet- no, no, no...
10.  Coconut cake- never been a fan of coconut- always disliked Bounties. I like coconut milk in savoury foods but not sweet.
I could continue (Baklava, I'm looking at you!) but I am aware how terrible I come across in this!
You can guarantee if it has spices or dried fruit in it, I would rather politely decline.  I apologise profusely if I offend you with my overt shaming of cakes I would rather not share a plate with. It is meant in jest, even if I genuinely wouldn't want to eat these.

In my research of trying to remember which cakes I don't like, I found this very helpful Wikipedia list of cakes with pictures which helped me. Have a look-there's some odd ones there!

In the words of CBC in that I am "incredibly fussy!" about cake- the good thing is, I really will only eat cake I love, thus meaning I won't waste calories on cakes I 'quite like' as I'd rather not eat them, thus it is better for my health.   Thus, I can gorge on chocolate cake whenever I wish, since I have renounced cake on so many other occasions. Hmmm, maybe not?

Over to you, what's your cake hit or miss list?  Better still, post about it and share the link!!
xx

Haha, how fussy am I?!!

My favourite Green Pants- an Ekphastic poem

 One type of poetry I haven't tried before is an ekphrastic response or Ekphrasis. This is where you give a widely detailed commentary or imaginative response to a painting or picture.

I am not sure what prompted me to remember this photo but back in 2014, CBC and I visited Croatia for some 10 days or so and our final two days were spent in Dubrovnik and as we walked around the city walls, we spied a solitary pair of bright green pants hung from a washing line, high, high above the roofs, with an excessive 5 pegs.  Hilariously, when I think of Dubrovnik's city walls, I immeditately think of these green pants! Sorry to all the wonderful history!  

So, for some reason, a couple of weeks ago , I started writing a poem about these pants in response to my photo.

Oooooh, oooh, I've just remembered what it is!!! My insta poet friend, Amanda MacKenzie, fellow poet in the magazine with my recently published peom, posted a picture of an large number of pegs on one item.  Which then reminded me of the pants!

So, without further ado, here is my ekphrastic response to my Dubrovnik photo:

15 minute bookshop owner

A couple of years ago, I had an unexpected experience. I blogged about it but I cannot find the post.  When it was National Bookshop day 2 weeks ago, I wrote this poem in recognition of the joys of bookshops and was based on that experience! 

I hope you like it!

15 minute Bookshop owner

I'd always secretly had a yen,

To work in a bookshop,

But my life path had led elsewhere, 

This dream I'd had to drop,

Till one day, waiting for a friend,

Near King's Cross I was lurking,

I came across a place of dreams,

Where I'd long to be working.

Called, "Word on the water", looked with delight,

And browsed each treasured shelf, 

This barge on canal, a ship of joy, 

I had it to myself. 

I smiled and bought a book, chatted, 

And paused a mo to savour, 

When the owner asked if I could do him

A very great favour, 

Would I mind minding the shop?

For he was much in need of food, 

Oh frabjous day, Calooh Callay! 

My dream at last came good! 

So for 15 blissful minutes then, 

I worked as a bookseller, 

I strolled my barge of books with pride, 

Even sold to a fella!

The owner returned with gratitude, 

Took over thankfully, 

But to this day, I'm quite sure, 

The most grateful one was me!

 

The Delightful Tale of Sad Frog

 One of the sweetest and loveliest elements of this year at school was the lovely rapport I had with some of my girls in one particular year 6 class. This class were really enthusiastic musically. They worked well in teams, were dedicated to achieving their best in music, practically all could sing in tune, at least half were part of music clubs and they were cohesive as a class.  There were a few girls in particular, who were especially loyal. Many was the day where I'd be sitting at my computer at lunchtime when one of them would appear at the door saying, "THERE YOU ARE! Mrs P I've been looking for you everywhere!"  On other occasions, I would walk into my room and find one of them standing on the step looking at my book collection in the dark (I have a personal library which certain kids borrow from- I say certain- there were about 30 of them borrowing...).  She'd laugh as I jumped! I'd find notes on my desk asking me if I could be their walking partner on a school trip; at the end of my music lessons, they'd stay behind and hang out.

One thing they all loved is my little shelf of cute items.  I had cow bells, music box mechanisms, A-Z of music instruments, toilet roll bunny and mostly importantly, Sad Frog.

Sad Frog was a birthday present from my friend Lara last year.   Lara sells her crochet toys on Etsy and in order to be compliant with safety, legally, for selling to children, you need to do certain tests on certain products.  This is called CE testing and you can read about it here.  The main two tests are hanging weights, up to 10kg on eyes to ensure a child could not bite them off and setting fire to the wool.  Lara posted Sad Frog on Insta after she'd tested him. I asked what would happen to him and she said, she couldn't sell him.  I said I'd give him a home and he came to be on my Birthday with a bow round his neck. Her retail models have happy faces but Sad Frog, the first of his kind, has a sad face because of his mistreatment.

When I decided to take him to school to keep there, as I had my music room back, often children would pick him up and ask why he was sad. I would always explain about CE testing to them. They've all met Lara, as she came to school to play the piano for us last year, so they all liked the link.

When we started going on trips with choir/drumming, the girls asked if they could bring him on the trip and he could be our choir mascot.  I thought this was sweet so I agreed and subsequently, he's been on every trip, watched every concert and performance.  Three children in particular, always pick him up every time they are in the music room.

Around about 12 weeks ago, when I decided to retake the Drumming Club photo, I noticed a photo bomb....

As we've got nearer to the end of term, my girls kept fretting about leaving and not wanting to go.

In their DT lessons, they were asked to design and make an embroidery which would be an important memory of their time in school.

I delightedly found out, that Sad Frog made it into TWO embroideries:

How sweet are their write ups!!!

The next adorable thing was that one of them decided to write Sad Frog's story!  I unfolded her book (I haven't copied the front cover as it has her name on it but it's very cute:

One point, I should mention is that the 7 girls who spent a lot of time with me, had been extremely helpful and loyal. 2 of them were orchestra managers- they organised the orchestra set up, chased missing children, took the register, filed the music, gave out music to those who had forgotten, kept me up to date on what needed more photocopying.  In addition, they all, on quite a few occasions, helped me tidy and move things and also acted as TAs in my Year 1 and 2 music lessons during their lunch breaks on many occasions (one of them, the one who wrote the story book, stayed all afternoon with me last week to teach the same lesson 3 times.  She genuinely acted as a teacher, giving feedback, explaining and the suchlike.)  At this point, I knew that I had to give them something special as a thank you.

I contacted Lara and asked her if I could commission her to make me 7 miniature Sad Frogs.  She was delighted to, having been kept abreast of Sad Frog's popularity.

Last Sunday, we met for lunch and I met Sad Frog's children:

Behold, the line of Misery!

I decided, as a tribute to N____, to write a story to accompany Sad Frog's children.

I printed it onto paper and folded it with a front cover and back cover featuring Sad Frog and then his children:

Sad Frog had had a hard start in life, in fact, some might say his early existence was veiled in trauma. This was  due to his mistreatment for the cause of ensuring his progeny were safe for young children to handle. His luck changed, as chronicled in the book by esteemed author, N___ R_____, when he received a new and safer home in the hands of a music teacher, Mrs P_____. He observed day after day, week after week of music lessons with the children of ____ school and slowly his fear and post-traumatic stress subsided. It was, however, thanks to the tender care and friendship of some particular children, that he experienced the true joy of life and the euphoria of friendship. Some particular young girls seemed to spend more time than others in that room of sound and music and spent their time cheering up their teacher and helping younger children in their lessons. The tall and gentle T___; the generous and kindhearted T____ with the infectious laughter; the witty and efficient (but tiny!) I____, the loyal and dedicated S_____.  But most of all, his bestest of friends were those who showered him with love and attention and encouraged him to see the world, to travel on trains to world famous orchestras, to party to samba music, to watch shows about sailors, ships and treasure, to take part in concerts and his rescuers from kidnap. They were the cheeky, charming and utterly hilarious D_____, the astute and bright-eyed A_____ and the gentle and imaginative N____. Sad Frog knew his days of friendship were drawing to a close as his closest confidants moved onto pastures new and great adventures. His heart grew full as he reflected on his halcyon days and his eyes gleamed with tears at the thought of their loss. And his heart overflowed with droplets of joy and those tiny droplets of joyous memories became something wondrous. For from those crystal droplets, grew several tiny new froglets. They bloomed and blossomed and became Sad Frog's children. Sad Frog's heart swelled with joy for he knew that part of his heart would travel with his friends and accompany them forever and show his gratitude for their help in bringing him happiness. He bade them farewell and told them to seek new adventures and to always protect their new owners and ensure that they always sang from their hearts and found the joy in life even when times were hard. Sad Frog and his children may have sad faces but their hearts are glad

I've been gleefully waiting for moment when I could give them.

On the last day, I called my girls to come to my room, sat them in a line and asked them to shut their eyes. I laid out a frog and book in front of each of them.

When they opened their eyes, they SCREAMED!!!!  The comments of joy and glee were a delight to behold (I recorded them!) and when they sat and read the story and realised it was about them, their faces were utter joy!

They then decided to line up the frogs and sit them with Sad Frog.  We then had a selfie with all the frogs!

One more lovely element was the two gifts I got from two of Sad Frog's biggest fans:

One of them got me an apple to be Sad Frog's friend and the other, got her mum to make me a crocheted duck to accompany Sad Frog.

The children, plus many more, spent their playtime AND part of their lunch in my room improvising music as I attempted to tidy up and there were many tears.

I don't think I've ever had such a group before and I will sorely miss them.  But, we will ever forget each other because of Sad Frog.

xx

Back to school- 70 years!

 3 weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be invited to my old Primary school for the 70th anniversary of the school's opening.  I let the few people I was still in touch with know about it but nobody I knew seemed to be coming. My Mum had an annoying clash of appointments so she missed it and my sister was working so I went along not knowing who was coming except for my headteacher who had wonderfully got in touch with my school's contact address, knowing I worked there to let me know about it as he wanted to see my sister, mum and I again!!! He retired a very long time ago! I was most excited about seeing him and about something else which I will mention later.  I sent in some memories of the school as they were asking for stories to share.

When I arrived, the current headteacher (who I know through music links) gave me a hug and took me to park my bike in our former quadrangle.

When I got out here, I felt so nostalgic!  This is where the KS1 building is. In my day, this area was the Infants area and I spent many happy times out in this area playing with water or sand.  We were so lucky to have outside space outside our building. There was also a mobile classroom I was in in Top Year Infants/Year2/Aged 6-7.  I remember playing with water and my friend accidentally soaking me so I had to change out of my blue gingham dress into a pink frilly dress. I remember going to my Headteacher for my 6th birthday sweets (you got the same number of sweets as your birthday) and sharing a green jelly baby with my older friend Louise (we were in a Split Reception/Year1 class).

Oh to have this space in our school! It makes me regret how tiny our outdoor space is at my school!

Next, I went to look at the wonderful displays of photos, log books, accounts and memories which were displayed in one of the wonderfully wide and long corridors.  I was looking when all of a sudden, I found myself facing one of my infant friends, Davina!!!! We gave each other a massive hug and were relieved to find someone else from our year! I haven't seen her since I was 16!! We turned out to be the only ones from that late 80's, early 90's era!

At that point, we were frogmarched for a tour of the school by two keen year 6 boys.  Davina and I delighted at the classrooms, new and old, commenting on what we remembered!

Here was our infant hall! It seemed SO small compared to when we were there.  Mind you, they have taken off a chunk to turn into group rooms. We recalled performing Joseph, Captain Noah's Floating Zoo and The Musicians of Bremen in here!

I am so envious of how big the classrooms are, how wide the corridors are and by the wonderful facilities!

At this point, we thanked our over-effusive guides and went outside to the school field.

As we went, I spotted these targets on the wall- we used to play 40-40 home here! 

One of the two playgrounds is so vast!

We headed onto the vast field. I didn't take a picture of just how vast it is but you can only see about an 8th of it in this picture.

Do you see this curious hanging tree? This Silver Birch was the other thing I was most looking forward to! There were two of these hanging trees which form a canopy or almost a tent.  My friends and I played in these every lunchtime!

D and I were beyond excited to go and sit under them!!! We had to wait for some children to exit!

Ah, the feeling of being under this canopy again with the hanging seeds we used as 'itching powder'- a legend/idea passed on down the years!

Of course we had to have a photo under it!!!

After this, we headed to the gazebo to meet Davina's Mum (who STILL lives in the same house! I amazed her by remembering her address!)

Also, delightfully, I saw a few other people I know.

A previous TA at my school works here now and despite the fact she left about 10 years ago, she was delighted I remembered her name and the name of her son I taught. I also saw one of our Midday staff who was made redundant last year.  I saw a couple of old teachers I knew and 3 parents of girls in my year  including the mum of my very first friend I made on my first day of school!!!

Davina and I were dying to talk to our beloved headteacher who was, of course, a complete and utter celebrity. EVERYONE wanted to talk to him (he was headteacher for about 30 years there!) 

I finally managed to get to him and we had a quick chat and photo (alas BLURRY!) before the current head made an announcement of the speeches, much of which, bemoaning the state of music provision in many schools!  There were some wonderful memories shared and heartfelt tributes made.

At the end of these, some people dispersed and I went to go and finish looking at the historical displays! 

I saw some class pictures of my sister and her orchestra picture but none of my class! There was a picture of my Mum with her percussion girls (she helped with orchestra as well as teaching recorder).

As I walking towards the school, I heard 3 girls discussing which day orchestra had been on when they were at the school, I jumped in and asked them when they were there.  They were there about 10 years after me. I mentioned my Mum and they were all ridiculously excited and told me how much they loved my Mum and how much she had helped them with music, playing in the recorder festivals and how one was a cellist and another a violinist.  They asked me to share their contact details with her and we all had a picture together. Later, I chatted to two twins who played the double bass and clarinet respectively who were also delighted at who my mum was! I had a picture with them too!

At this point, I realised I had missed the chance to chat to my headteacher as he made his long journey home. I felt really sad about this but luckily, he has subsequently emailed me and said he would love to meet my Mum, sister and I in London (they exchange Christmas letters every year) so that's good! He is very pleased that I am a music teacher and still encouraging children into playing in lots of ensembles!

It was a wonderful event and I am so glad I went!

On a fun note, can you spot me in this photo???

xx