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!

New Year's Bash

 I didn't write about my New year!

So, I thought I would.

We headed over to my Dad's house on the 30th. CBC decided it was the day to clear out his wardrobe, just as we were supposed to be packing and leaving. This is not out of character. 

He pulled out a significant amount of items, big enough to fill 2 sacks and prepared them.  He was prepared to shame me but I came out with my own, comparable bags of items to take to charity!  I've been trying to really ensure that I am not clinging to things if they don't get worn or don't fit or make me uncomfortable (often due to material itching my sensitive skin!).  Sometimes, I don't realise what something feels like until after I've worn it a few times which is annoying.

We arrived to Dad's around 4.15pm- only 1 hour and 15minutes later than anticipated!

We had a delicious salmon dish and chatted. I failed to sleep very much at all! Not what I needed after Saturday's sleepless night.

The next day, the 30th, after a scrummy breakfast of Scrambled eggs and bacon on a muffin, we took the dog, Monty, out to Lullingstone country park to walk him. It was nice to get out. Whilst it was rather boggy and it wasn't the longest of walks, it was nice to get out. When we got back, after I took a walk to the COOP (needed more walking) to fetch some ingredients we didn't have for the day and the next day (their meal planning is very strong!), we had a game of Qwirkle and started prepping the New Year buffet.  We had a delicious time and then had a game of Jay's Pub Quiz.  To our delight, CBC and I won!  At midnight, we had some Prosecco (I had a token gesture splash), watched Sophie Ellis Bexter and I completed my poem for the word of the week.

We woke up quite late and had breakfast.  We had a quick game of Qwirkle and then CBC and I went out to see if we could find some more Ladyfingers for the planned Tiramisu (and Panko breadcrumbs which were needed for dinner). The weather was ATROCIOUS!!!!  We got back and I started a game of Carcasonne with CBC, my sister and her boyfriend but I went to help out prepare dinner which was a full scale, multi-hour operation with lots of washing up, and we ate a delicious dinner of Prawn cocktail, herb-encrusted beef and then Tiramisu.  My stepmum made me a special, non-coffee, non-Masala version which was lovely- basically mascapone, ladyfingers and grated chocolate- yum!  After that, we did an Escape Room challenge that was CHALLENGING- it took us an extra hour and a half above the 1 hour assigned. My dad gave up and fell asleep in an arm-chair- poor him, doesn't cope well with late nights, and the rest of us lost most of our will to live!

The next morning, we packed up and headed out to the George Pub in Trottiscliffe (pronounced TROZLEE!!!!?!?!?!?!) for breakfast/brunch!  What a GREAT pub it was!!!

After we bade them goodbye, we headed back to Essex, via Chelmsford where C got a haircut  and I managed to resist buying anything except a (Ang!) a grey striped John Lewis top in the Age concern Charity shop.  We went via Aldi where we picked up some groceries. The next day, we awoke late and the washing machine engineer came and thankfully diagnosed the issue!  He was very knowledgeable and replaced our heating element and we decided we needed a new drum as the bearings on our one have been wrecked by our hardwater limescale.  He will return once the office completed their stockcheck and the cost of a new one is included in the call out fee we had paid for this time as the machine is just still in its guarantee!  Hurrah, so nice to be able to wash clothes at a higher temperature and actually be able to do a successful wash without worrying it was going to go wrong.

Saturday and Sunday, apart from church, were prep days for home and school.

I wrote a triolet poem for this week's prompt.  The word in question was 'Bash'.  I immediately took this in its slang meaning for a party/event and imagined a child hearing the family are having a New Year's party but not having heard the term before and imaging something else.  I decided to use the Triolet form except  subverted the form slightly since the last line should be a repeat of the 2nd line but I decided to adapt it slightly to reflect a perhaps gleeful reassessing of what a new year's bash might mean!

New Year’s Misunderstanding

 

Mum says we’re having a New Year’s Bash,

It sounds worryingly aggressive!

Will there be multiple thwacks or just one big smash?

Mum says we’re having a New Year’s Bash.

Will we use clubs or maces to deliver our thrash?

A WRECKING BALL WOULD BE MOST IMPRESSIVE!!!!

Mum says we’re having to a New Year’s Bash,

It sounds SMASHINGLY impressive!

Hope all is well with you.

xx

Christmas Day and New Year's Eve outfits

 Hi there!

Although I've been wearing lots of 'interesting' outfits, I haven't bothered to photograph them- it's that Winter-meh, darkness meaning bad quality pics and that's annoying!

BUT, I did manage to get TWO photos over Christmas of my outfits worn on those two aforementioned days.   The first one is a pretty grim photo. There's one of CBC and I taken just after and the lighting is so awful, we look really washed out and grey!!!  But still, I am sharing it,despite that!

Above....behold Christmas day.

With the exception of the tights and my Cath Kidston earrings, everything was charity-shopped.

I started with the Hell Bunny burgundy velvet dress (charity shopped from the Pet Protection charity shop for £5 brand new with tags 3 years ago. It's hard to see but it has a cute black collar with embroidered Christmas foliage.  On Christmas eve, I picked up this gorgeous Monsoon teal velvet cropped jacket from Sense charity shop in Hexham for £7 and I was mighty pleased with this- it has possibilities for acting as a Regency Spencer for my Jane Austen outfit!

The green leather, made in Italy, brogues were £5 from my local Hospice charity shop and of course, came from the men's section as I never find my type of shoe in the size 8's women's paltry offerings.  CBC was overtly jealous of these and since his feet are only about 1/2 a size bigger than mine, threatened to steal them! I took the jacket off to do the washing up and food prep in but the dress itself is comfortable and is able to accommodate a big load of food.

Here's my New Year's eve outfit, taken at around 1.30am in the morning as we were about to go to bed.

You may recognise this dress from my 'What shall I wear to the wedding post?' back in August.  It's from a shop in Padstow called Pink Lemons and is made from recycled Sari silk and feels gorgeously comfortable and soft.  I decided to belt it with this Poundland bow belt and some Christmas tree earrings from a child (she laughingly gave them to me in July saying she'd kept forgetting to give them to me the previous Christmas as I'd been away!) as well as a Primark headband. Do you spy my patterned socks?  They came from a handmade wool company in Glastonbury and belong to CBC but I stole them as they went well with my outfit (the green brogues were worn when outside!)  Ohh, and there's my Alex Monroe posy loop necklace!

Which one do you prefer?  Which one would you where?

What did YOU wear?

xx

Some 2021 highlights

 dfdfd

• I won a £50 book voucher!!! I entered a daily competition from Northumberland County Council (only once!) to win a £50 voucher from some local shops to promote shopping local! Imagine  my delight on 23rd December, driving up to Northumberland, to receive an email telling me I'd won a £50 voucher for Forum Books in Corbridge- one of my favourite Northumbrian businesses! I always make a point to visit there and buy a book when I'm ooop north.  I was SOOOO happy! Not spent it yet but gleeful at the prospect.  My Hexham-based friend was amazed when I told her.  "But you don't even live in Northumberland!??" she exclaimed!  But I really do like to support Northumbrian small businesses.  I bought a lot of my Christmas and birthday presents for people when I was up there in May, July and October and my facecream of choice comes from a Blanchland based business (CBC's choice too!) and I always take containers to refill!
• Our first ever family holiday to Portreath in Cornwall in the Summer. 9 of us travelled together to go there.  We had a photoshoot which I'd booked for my Dad's 70th birthday present and we had some marvellous photos taken.  Another memory was getting to meet the wonderful Sarah (our photographer) who I first met through her blog, a Salty sea blog!
• Finding 2 shops in Padstow with my name as the title!
• Getting to meet the wonderful Ang Almond after being blog friends for so long!  And how easy it was to chat to each other!
• My flute trio recital in September which I was granted the day off school to perform in! Was a wonderful day!
• Getting apples at last from our Apple tree!
• Growing spinach successfully!
• Having the lovely worship group at church performing my Christmas song.
• Getting to perform Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Elysian singers in September was a scary but wonderful experience.
• Getting to play twice with City of London Symphonic Winds and to play with Essex Chamber Orchestra on my flute.
• Finally getting to play flute in a proper orchestra next to my childhood flute teacher who was playing oboe!
• My epic 40th birthday TARDIS Tuesday post- having so many wonderful people from around the world dressing up in Doctor Who-inspired outfits for ME was a joyful, joyful thing!
• Finding lots of interesting fungi on my walks!
• Lots of wonderful local walks in Lockdown! Many by myself.  For me, who gets lost very easily, this was a proud feat!
• Two joyous weddings with good friends.  Getting to play music for my friend M's wedding was a privilege and a joy.
• Although the theft of my toast from the toaster at school was not funny at the time because I was hungry, the hilarity and conversations it prompted at school were a highlight.
• Going out to dinner with my work colleague and her finally wanting me as a friend after being very cautious of people.
• Finding where I can forage for Wild Garlic in Essex at long last!
• Mum giving me her beautiful blue 70's kaftan at long last!
• Growing dahlias from Tubers for the first time!
• Sharing my Contemporary Children's authors reading challenge on Instagram and having well known authors such as Piers Torday and Katherine Woodfine sharing my post on their Instagrams. Katherine Woodfine even followed me on Instagram (she is my FAVOURITE children's author)! Other lovely authors such as MG Leonard and Abi Elphinstone all commented on my posts too which was really nice!
• Finding three cornered leek in the wild and making pesto from it!
• Getting my hair cut after 2 years of not having it cut!
• Finally getting to visit Mousehole after having sung in the children's choir in the Animated film version of this wonderful book and always wanting to go there!.
• Egyptian Day at school where I got to act as the Wicked Wife of the dead Pharaoh and embracing my inner villain and getting all the children to bow down to me repeatedly!
• Swimming at my local(ish) beach a few times with my niece and loving it!
• Walking almost a mile at low tide into the sea bed with my friend N on the most beautiful day in August. So strange, so beautiful!
• Walking 17.5 miles with my friend M after lockdown along the seafront in April.   So tiring but such an achievement!
• A wonderful games evening in July at my house with my Godmother, her daughter and my Mum.  So, so many giggles and nice to have finally hosted THEM!
• Seeing the Hexham Abbey angels!
• Seeing the Flying Scotsman in Northumberland!
• Jane Austen-themed Hen party for M! Innocent, gentile fun!
• Mum staying over at my house twice in the Summer!
• Playing Gamelan again!  Especially loved playing for Colourscape!
• Lots of wonderful garden harvests!
• The joy of playing my flute at church after so many months of not being able to go or being able to have musicians when we could go!
• The joy of seeing family after not being able to do for so long!
• The joy of a permitted visit to the Opticians in another town in February or March last year which meant I could visit Wilkos and a new Zerowaste shop! It was amazing how exciting this was in Lockdown!
• The joy of returning to school in March meaning no more online teaching and real children in real life!

There's lots of things I am sure I have missed but these are what I remembered.  What were some of your 2021 highlights?

New Coffee Table

When CBC and I moved into our house 2 years ago (it'll be 2 years ago this weekend- and sadly, therefore, 2 years since WOMOTM died....), it took us a while to choose furniture for downstairs. We had beds, we had some drawers and bookcases but downstairs, we needed most things- all we had was a wooden cabinet, a TV which we had bought from our friends who rented us the bungalow before and their leather reclining chair.  Choosing of the sofa took a very long time and we didn't get it and our dining table till at least April. 

I was always a bit disappointed that we bought those things new and didn't find something second-hand.  We knew we wanted a coffee table to go in front of our corner sofa but we needed something quite specific as our room starts off thinner at this end before getting a bit wider towards the patio doors and it needed to fit within the corner shape.  We didn't' know what we wanted and we used my wicker picnic hamper as a temporary solution- one that lasted till yesterday!  We definitely wanted one as I like to have something to dump stuff on! Honest, but true!

When we visited Ghent earlier on in the year, we loved the retro style and really wanted to find see if we could find a coffee table in Belgium as there are a lot of flea markets and opportunities to find something cool.  Alas, we didn't find anything suitable in our price range and so we continued tableless.

On Sunday, our friends Lara and Tim came over for dinner and to play boardgames and they talked about how they had found really nice pieces at Battlesbridge Antiques centre which isn't SO far for us to get to.  They mentioned someone who does reclaimed furniture and so yesterday, on our way back from a fruitless search for Farrow and Ball pigeon paint (CBC wants to paint the hall- I've given up fighting against it. It DOES look scuffed, but I think it's ok but I need to pick my battles and this is one to concede to), I suggested we drive to Battlesbridge as it isn't such a detour.

Surprisingly, we only saw about 4 coffee tables in total in the whole building, there was a distinct lack of them, but we found the perfect one!

Solid oak, it was the perfect size and it has a fold-open top as well so if we wanted to play board games (with Lara and Tim!) we can extend it.  It was reduced by £100 from the original price-tag and the man knocked a further £15 off the price.

We brought it home and I suddenly thought that our grey sheepskin rug which has been sitting in a bag in the garage for 2 years, would go perfectly under it thus freeing up a bit more space in the garage which CBC has been moaning on and on and on and on and on at me about.

And Da naaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Here it is in situ!

What do you think?

I've avoided all sales shopping (in fact all shopping full stop...except CBC has just bought us a new TV grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!) this holiday so it's nice that we have put the money into something that works so well, something that has already had a life, something made out of proper materials and something that is frankly, rather lovely!

What do you think?

xx

New year

I've somehow avoided going near a computer very much over the past week of holiday. We've been catching up with family and friends and it has been lovely avoiding technology- reading and talking has been the order of day and I've enjoyed it.
I'm not all that into New Year introspectives in terms of examining my life and things but I have been thinking of the past year and it has had some wonderful elements and some gloom and also.
I've played with a few new orchestras which has been wonderful, I've visited some grand places, I've worked at being eco-friendly, I've written and arranged some pieces of music successfully, worn some fun outfits, gained some new cosplay pieces but equally I've felt very gloomy at times and anxious too. I've worried about health and politics and the environment a lot- I think I've felt more anxious about things this year than for a while.

I want to work at being KIND. I want to be THANKFUL at all times for the good things and I want to go forward with those two words- being KIND and THANKFUL.

Happy New Year to you dear blog-friend.
xx

The big book review 2018

It's that time a year where I look at the books I read this year and think about those books which made the biggest impact on me.   It's weird though as I seem to get Book Amnesia after reading a few books. So strange. Anyway, Bev finally discovered who this blog post idea originated with and it is http://www.perpetualpageturner.com/

Best book you read in 2018:

Oooh, that's a difficult one! I've gone up and down my list a myriad times and I can't seem to pick one book that stands out. The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown by Vaseem Khan was a pretty cool book and I adored Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.  Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson was a very clever book as well which explored OCD in a clever way.

Children's fiction:
That's a hard question.  I would say that A Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones was my favourite book of the year.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and all the books it led me onto.

I also loved The Ice Sea Pirates by Frida Nillson- it was a beautiful read.

Crime fiction:

I bought 3 books at Barter Books by  Anna Dean which are the series called the Dido Kent mysteries.   All three of these were really clever and in a vein of brilliance which reminded me of Agatha Christie.  A particularly good one of these was A gentleman of fortune. The denouement was really surprising!

Classics:

I think the only Classic I read this year was a Children's Modern Classic, "Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" which I have seen for years. Oh and The Hobbit which I read for the first time since I was 8!!! That was so exciting to read.  I had forgotten so much of it!

I started a Daphne Du Maurier book several times but got bored with it so it definitely wasn't the best!

Non-fiction:
I'm laughing at the fact I didn't read any non-fiction except for 'Horrible Histories Frightful World War One by Terry Deary' which isn't exactly high-brow stuff. It was highly entertaining though!

Unless you count Gerald Durrell's My family and Other animals which is autobiographical.  Also  entertaining!

YA:
I think of Rainbow Rowell as a YA writer and I read her book 'Landline' which was a great read. Is it really YA though?

Dystopian fiction:
I didn't read any new dystopian fiction this year- only reread 2 of the Hunger Games books and for me, the original is the best!

Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2017:
I was really surprised to discover, upon reading Archer's Goon, by Diana Wynne Jones, that from reading one name, Hathaway, that I had seen one random episode of an episode of it on children's TV when I was a child. It was SUCH a crazy, yet brilliant book and totally not what I expected.
Book that you read in 2017 that you recommended most to others

Best series you discovered in 2018:
Without a doubt, discovering Diana Wynne Jones' Worlds of Chrestomanci series was a highlight for me. I absolutely ADORE Chrestomanci and I am saving the ONE book in the series, Mixed Magics, which I haven't read, as I can't bear to think there are no more new books to read in this series.
Also, I must mention The Deptford Mice series because they are SO epic.  Very,  very dark for children's books, perhaps too dark, but so compelling.

Favourite new author you discovered in 2018I discovered the wonderful children's author, Emma Carroll this year.  Funnily enough, I had heard about her from someone and then my little sister told me about her the day we went to Barter Books and lo and behold, we looked at the pile of books I'd bought and Emma Carroll's The Girl who walked on air was one of them!

Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.
The casual vacancy- J K Rowling.
It's J.K Rowling. I thought I'd love it. And I WAS compelled to read it but I thought the characters were utterly odious and I didn't like the way the book panned out.

Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you:
I'm not sure I really read anything outside my comfort zone though I did think Six Stories (see more below in another category) was very different from many books in that genre I've read before.

Book you read in 2018 that you're most likely to read again in 2018:

I've got so many books to read it's unlikely there will be a reread so soon. That said, I seem to read The Hunger Games periodically.  The most likely is, however, It must have been the Mistletoe.- Judy Astley- since I only read half before I left it on the train! I'm looking for it in the charity shops!

Favourite book you read in 2018 from an author you've read previously:

I read a book by Lauren St John last year and I read several books by her this year about a girl named Martine who lives in a Nature reserve in South Africa.  I enjoyed all of these but particularly loved The Dolphin's Tale.  These books have a powerful eco message in terms of animal cruelty and the effects of human activity on animals.

Best book you read in 2018 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else:Well, there were two:  The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware and Six stories by  Matt Wesolowski. In Corbridge, Northumberland, there is a great bookshop called Forum Books. I love chatting to one of the staff called Jake.  He asked me what I liked reading the most and I said, Historical Whodunnits.  He asked if I had tried any modern whodunnits, not historical. I replied in the negative and he recommended the above two to me, as well as a few others. I bought these two and he was right! They were so compelling and different from my usual offerings.  They still had that feeling of a whodunnit but in a totally modern way but not too gory. I've subsequently bought the next Matt Wesolowski one, Hydra, to be read this year.

Favourite cover of a book in 2018:

Borrowed from SimonandSchuster

This was a book curated by Abi Elphinstone featuring various children's authors. Such a beautiful cover!

Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2017:

I would say that reading so much about the first world war in Stories from World War One really did have a big impact on me.

Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2017 to read:

I don't really feel like I was waiting to read any of the books except that I can't believe it has taken me 30 years to reread The Hobbit for the second time!

Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers:
I don't think there was anything I could classify as anything like that BUT I read Radio Girls by Sarah-Jane Stratford and it did really make me want to talk about what I'd learnt about the BBC in it.

Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2017 (be it romantic, friendship etc):

I don't want to give much away about this book but I loved the relationship between the main characters in Secrets of a Sun King.  

Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2018Undoubtedly, the main character Flavia De Luce from The sweetness at the bottom of the pie by Alan Bradley.  The detective in question is 11 years old, precocious and utterly brilliant.

I would also say Chrestomanci/adult Christopher Chant from the books I mentioned before but one really mustn't be in love with a fictional character!

Genre you read the most from 2018:

Probably Crime fiction.  Though I did read ALOT of children's fiction.

Best 2018 debut:

Taylor and Rose, Peril in Paris was a brilliant book published in 2018.  It's not Katherine Woodfine's debut book but it was great.

Book that was the most fun to read in 2017:

I'm not sure that any of the books were particularly FUN as much but I did enjoy the novelty of reading 7 Helen Moss Adventure Island books which I bought for me niece- they were greatly like the Famous Five with a modern spin and I really enjoyed them- it was like having that wonderful feeling of reading a new Famous Five book in my childhood years.

Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2017:

Stories from the First World war made me cry.  SO much loss of life.

Book you read in 2018 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out:

Er....??? I don't think I have enough knowledge of reviews, reading forums or  and reading amounts to answer this. 

Total Number of books read in 2018:

Surprisingly, I read 130 books it seems which is about 30 more than usual. I think the extra comes from a series of school reading books I picked up in the charity shop for school and really wanted to read so they were all reads of about 10 minutes although I did begin making reading notes and questions for parents and teachers which took more time.  There were 27 of them.

December:
118.  Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH-Robert C. O'Brien
119. Flavia De Luce. The sweetness at the bottom of the pie - Alan Bradley.
120.  A merry Mistletoe wedding- Judy Astley.
121. Mistletoe and Mayhem - Kate Kingsbury
122.  The mystery of the Whistling caves - Helen Moss
123.  The mystery of the Midnight Ghost - Helen Moss
124. The mystery of the Hidden Gold - Helen Moss
125.  The mystery of the missing masterpiece - Helen Moss
126.  The mystery of the cursed Ruby. - Helen Moss
127.  The mystery of the Vanishing skeleton  - Helen Moss
128.  The mystery of the Dinosaur Discovery.  - Helen Moss
129.   The Deptford Histories:  The Alchemyst's cat.  Robin Jarvis
130.  The Mistletoe murder and other stories- P.D. James

November:
110.  The Dolphin's tale - Lauren St John.
111.  Secrets of a Sun king -  Emma Carroll
112.  The Deptford Mice- The Dark Portal - Robin Jarvis
113.  The Deptford Mice- The Crystal Cave- Robin Jarvis
114.  The Deptford Mice- The final reckoning - Robin Jarvis
115. The Last Leopard -  Lauren St John.
116.  Hexwood - Diana Wynne Jones
117. Goldfish Boy - Lisa Thompson
October:
102.  A woman of Consequence (Dido Kent mysteries) - Anna Dean.
103.  Stories of the First World War- Jim Eldridge.
104.  The Pinhoe Egg- Diana Wynne Jones
105.  A gentleman of fortune (Dido Kent mysteries)- Anna Dean.
106.  A place of confinement (Dido Kent Mysteries)- Anna Dean.
107. Taylor and Rose- Peril in Paris- Katherine Woodfine.
108.  The White Giraffe - Lauren St John.
109.  The Whitby Witches- Robin Jarvis
September
92.  The magicians of Carpona  (The worlds of Chrestomanci)- Diana Wynne Jones
93. Mortlock - Jon Mayhew.
94.  Witch Week (The worlds of Chrestomanci)- Diana Wynne Jones
95.  The Lives of Christopher Chant (The worlds of Chrestomanci)- Diana Wynne Jones
96.  The Three-Body Problem - Catherine Shaw.
97.  Conrad's fate (The worlds of Chrestomanci) - Diana Wynne Jones
98. Tennis Shoes- Noel Streatfield
99.  The One Dollar Horse- Lauren St John.
100. Horrible Histories Frightful World War One- Terry Deary
101.  Rattle his Bones- Carola Dunn.

August:
79. The casual vacancy- J K Rowling.
80. RSVP - Helen Warner.
81. The mysterious and beautiful sorrows of Ava Lavender - Leslye Walton
82. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkein.
83. Fright Forest -Marcus Sedgewick
84. Monster Mountains -Marcus Sedgewick
85. Dread Desert -Marcus Sedgewick
86.  Creepy Caves-Marcus Sedgewick
87. The Case of the Missing Treasure (Murder Most unladylike) Robin Stevens
88.  Archer's Goon - Diana Wynne Jones
89. Charmed Life (The worlds of Chrestomanci) - Diana Wynne Jones
90.  Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet- Gerry Davis
91.  The Girl Who walked on air- Emma Carroll

July:
72. The Lost Luggage Porter-
73.  Mistletoe and Murder- Robin Stevens
74.  Deeds of Darkness- Edward Marston.
75. The Elephant's Tale- Lauren St John.
76. Magpie Murders- Anthony Horrowitz
77.  Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
78.  The case of a murdered Muckraker - Carola Dunn.

June: 
64.  The Keeper of Lost Things- Ruth Hogan
65.  Sydney Chambers and the Shadow of Death- The Granchester Mysteries-  James Runcie
66.  A Spoonful of Murder- Robin Stephens
67.  The Ice Sea Pirates- Frida Nilsson
68.  First Class Murder- Robin Stevens
69.  The woman in Cabin 10 -  Ruth Ware
70.  The Lost Luggage Porter (Jim Stringer- Steam detective)- Andrew Martin
71. Murder Most Unladylike -  Robin Stevens.
May:
55. Kidnap in the Caribbean - Lauren St John
56. Gangsta Granny - David Walliams
57.  Grandma Bendy and the Great Snake Escape
58.  Little Stars- Jacqueline Wilson
59. Demon Dentist- David Walliams
60. It must have been the Mistletoe.- Judy Astley- Half before I left it on the train!
61.  The Palace Library- Steve Loveridge
62. Hetty Feather - Jacqueline Wilson
63.  The Gunpowder plot- Carola Dunn

April 
47.  Landline- Rainbow Rowell
48. Murder in the Snow- Gladys Mitchell
49. The Hunger Games- Michelle Collins.
50. Speedy death - Gladys Mitchell
51.  Rosalie and the Chalet School- Elinor Brent Dyer
52. Messenger of Truth- Jacqueline Winspear
53.  The school at the Chalet - Elinor Brent Dyer
54. The Bawdy Basket -  Edward Marston


March 
42.   The Master of Maryknoll by Malcolm Saville
43.  Vintage Murder -  Ngaio Marsh
44.  Ticket to Oblivion - Edward Marston
45. The Long Passage - Malcome Saville
46.  Gerald Durrell- My family and other animals
February
7. The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown- Vaseem Khan.
8.  Six stories -  Matt Wesolowski
9.  The Railway Detective - Edward Marston
10. Ant's Pact - Elen Caldecott
11. The Sands of Akwa- Elen Caldecott
12.  Holo-board Havoc.- Elen Caldecott
13. The trap- Mike Brownlow
14. The secret whirlpool- Elen Caldecott
15. Race to the Pyramid- Karen Ball
16.  The Screams of the Raptiss- Elen Caldecott
17. One step ahead.- Karen Ball
18.  Chamber of Treasures- Karen Ball
19.  Space Hunt- James Noble
20.  The deadly Cave- James Noble
21.  Grumptus Attack- James Noble
22.  Return to Exis. - Tony Bradman
23. The Miines of Moxor - James Noble
24.   The Contest.- James Noble
25.  Planet Exis- Tony Bradman
26.  Attack of the Buzzles- Tony Bradman
27. Battle with the Beast.- Tony Bradman
28.  The Empty Palace.- Tony Bradman
29.  Nurp Stampede- Mike Brownlow
30.  The Crystal Planet- Karen Ball
31. Tiger x 4- Elen Caldecott
32. The Ruby Cage- Karen Ball
33. The Hunt for Nox- Karen Ball
34.  Attack of the Giant Meeb
35. Fear forest.- Steve Cole
36.Swamp Crash- Steve Cole
37.  Spaceship Graveyard- Steve Cole
38. Save the World!- Steve Cole
39. The Cave of Life. -- Steve Cole
40. Nights at the Circus- Angela Carter
41.  Signal for Vengeance- Edward Marston

January 
6. Radio Girls - Sarah-Jane Stratford
5.  Winter Tales- Various Authors compiled by Abi Elphinstone
4. Mr Stink -  David Williams
3.  Unpleasantness in the Ballroom- Catriona McPherson
2. The Hunger Games- Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins
1. The Norfolk Mystery- Ian Samson

Just in case you fancy answering these, here is a handy list of the questions. I got this from Janet at www.jbisintheinitial.blogspot.com originally.

Leave me a link in the comments if you did this as I LOVE this type of blog post. Bev from Confuzzledom did it already as did Salazar at 14 shades of grey!

• Best book you read in 2017
• Children's fiction
• Crime fiction
• Classics
• Non-fiction
• YA
• Dystopian fiction
• Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2018
• Book that you read in 2018 that you recommended most to others
• Best series you discovered in 2018
• Favourite new author you discovered in 2018
• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.
• Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you.
• Book you read in 2017 that you're most likely to read again in 2018
• Favourite book you read in 2018 from an author you've read previously.
• Best book you read in 2018 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else.
• Favourite cover of a book in 2018
• Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2018
• Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2018 to read.
• Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers
• Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2018 (be it romantic, friendship etc)
• Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2018
• Genre you read the most from 2018
• Best 2018 debut
• Book that was the most fun to read in 2018
• Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2018
• Book you read in 2018 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
• Total Number of books read in 2018

In case you fancy seeing this from another year.  Here's the list from 2017 and 2016 and 2015

Fun goals and tasks for 2019

Hello there!
Happy New Year to you!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas-tide and new year.  I did and I am mighty sad that the holiday is stampeding towards its conclusion.  I don't go back till Monday but CBC is regretfully back on Thursday which I am pretty gloomy about.

I seem to get through weekends recently with very little forward planning (although performances and rehearsals have featured greatly!) and I would like to feel that I have achieved more.  Hazel has been a great inspiration on this front with her blog posts.   I thought it might be nice to have a few aims for this things I might achieve during my weekends. I don't want to make this a huge list as that is a bit daunting so here are just a few fun things I'm planning.

Piano: Learn Chopin's Waltz in C# Minor.
I have dabbled with learning it before- as a teen and a point last Summer but I would really like to learn to play the whole piece confidently and, if possible, from memory as to be able to perform it to the children at school for example.

Composing/arranging:
Last Summer, one of my aims was to arrange 'Another Day of Sun' from Lala Land for my flute quartet which I did and it was super to have something to arrange and satisfyingly finish it. Alas, the quartet is not now a quartet so we are yet to perform it but I still did it.  Therefore, instead, I would like to arrange Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter for my flute trio.  I would also like to arrange Clara's theme from Doctor Who and Princess Leia's theme. from Star Wars because I love this tune!

Flute:  Learn Hypnosis by Ian Clarke properly. for flute and piano. 
I was lucky enough to be taught by Ian Clarke when I was at university, at a time when not so many people had heard of him- in fact, I am honoured enough, in the composer's words, to be player no.11 in the world of his piece, Zoomtube, but I've never really learnt one of his easier pieces, Hypnosis.  I would like to learn it.
If you would like to hear some of his amazing pieces, you can hear extracts on his website:  http://ianclarke.net/page3.html 

Visit English Heritage Properties:
When CBC and I visited Audley End House in September, we joined English Heritage as it was only an extra  £28 compared to our admission price of £20 for 15months of membership and we thought it would be good to join EH and visit some interesting historical places for a year.   We had a lovely time there and on the 30th December, we visited Dover Castle which was wonderful and put us £22 closer recouping our £48 membership cost- that means £6 more to recoup! 
So, I've been perusing the EH guide and have decided I would like to visit the following places that are achievable from where we live:

• Deal Castle  
• Down House
• Walmer Castle
• Eltham Palace
• Framlingham Castle
• Lullingstone Roman Villa.

You can find more out about these places here.  You never know, we may also visit some other places too!

My image from the Doctor Who exhibition

Doctor Who cosplay:
I've had a few little Doctor Who dressing up tasks that I have had kicking around for a while and I would like to stop procrastinating and just get on with them:
The first is finish skirt for Clara Oswald cosplay for Sleep No More.  I bought a great scalloped skirt with an incredibly similar pattern for about £4 and a blue fabric pen to colour it in. I wish, oh I wish, I hadn't bothered as it is an incredibly tedious process which is going to take hours than it has already but I've started so I must finish!!!

 Also, to complete this outfit, I wish to Finish the Sleep No More t-shirt. I bought a navy t-shirt and a pleated navy top in a charity shop for £3 and £2.75 respectively which I want to try and turn into a one t-shirt  with a collar so I really just need to find a way to get on with that!

I have some Shrink plastic and I would also like to make a couple of sweetie brooches for a Romana City of Death cosplay I've had the elements for for years but not actually put together so I would like to make that happen too.

Visit an Escape Room:
I've been hearing about these fun escape rooms for a while now and I think they sound like great fun so I would like to do one of these.  Actually, this may be a bit of a cheat since my sister has already talked about us doing one of these at half term.

Walks:
Walk along the front  in Southend.  I've heard from a friend that it is a lovely walk along from Leigh-on-Sea to Shoebury so I'd like to try this.

There are, of course, many things I would like to do in terms of resolutions like GO to BED at a reasonable hour, finally commit to one church instead of dithering over it so much and ensure I avoid buying as much as possible in plastic but more on that another time.

What fun intentions might you have for your weekends?
xx

South Africa- penguins at Rooiels and Pringle Bay

The day after we were in Cape Town's city, we drove to Rooiels which is around 2 hours drive from Cape Town to stay in the beach home of J, our host's dad.  Her sister and family were there too and I was immensely glad to be spending New year's eve in a home rather than braving vast crowds which always sets me On Edge.

After arriving at Rooiels, we saw signs warning of and were told about the baboons that roam the tiny little seaside suburb.   Yet, I'd seen all these signs for baboons but not ACTUALLY glimpsed one of the elusive beasties!  We drove to nearby Pringle Bay to see the penguins! We were super keen to see them since the day we were supposed to see them at Boulders Beach (the day we went to Cape Point), the beach was absolutely heaving so we decided to forgo a visit!

Pringle Bay was beautifully bereft of tourists. If you ever go to South Africa, whilst Rooiels isn't a big well known place with much to do (great in my opinion), it was a great place to see penguins!

This comical fellow walked up the slope towards me!

I delight in penguins leaning down to, what I perceived to be, inspecting their tummy buttons!

It was truly a mesmerising activity. I liked seeing them in various gradations of down showing a plethora of ages.

Suddenly, as we reached a low hedge, I spied a small furry animal...

Unbelievably this Rock Rabbit came right up to the hedge and was less than 10cm away from me.

As it chewed upon leaves, I couldn't believe I managed to capture such a cheeky shot!

CBC and J and D were less impressed than I and so soon we continued onwards.

When we reached the very end of the wooden walkway, we noticed other birds- are they Cormorants?

The colours suddenly seemed to change here with light, almost white-coloured rocks and an increasingly blue and turbulent sea.

Alas, it was all too soon that we had to leave as the sun was baking down and J was keen to get back.

I captured a pair of bickering birds on film which I found quite amusing so it is here for your delectation.

I couldn't believe it that on the way back, every else spotted 2 baboons on the road, and I somehow missed them! Ahrgh, would I ever see them?

Following that, we proceeded back to the house as Rooiels where we collected together our swimming costumes and walked down to the beach (no camera alas!).  This beach was on the WARM side of the ocean so the sea was really pleasant to swim and splash in.  This beach had many sea shells and a lovely lagoon too so it was a great AND quieter place to swim. I still couldn't believe I was spending New Year's Eve swimming in the sea!

Back at the house we had a bonefide South African Braai (barbecue) with tasty food and then chatted. I watched The Gummi Bears on the TV with J's adorable nieces and ended up sleeping on the sofa until midnight whereupon, I was hauled out onto the balcony/veranda to see in the New Year!

It was a wonderful way to spend New Year.  Chilled, with friends and no crowds!

xxx

New year's swing fling!

 I thought I'd better share the New Year photos before the sight of snowflakes and Christmas tree became too unseasonal - we didn't get many good photos of our new year's Lindy ball.

Here we are at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel near Heathrow.

 I wore my 2nd wedding dress- the one from Vivienne of Holloway- it was surreal that the last time I wore it was my wedding day.  I teamed it with some old white brogues from Primark, my Punkypins snowflake necklace and my Crown and glory white net wired headband!

CBC wore his tweed wedding waistcoat (he bought the waistcoat before any other part of his wedding suit because it has a lovely turquoise back to match the Bridesmaids) and tweed trousers plus his wedding shirt I think!

We enjoyed the dancing, we were a bit nervous at first because we didn't really know anyone (eventually I saw 3 guys I knew vaguely from my time at the Holborn hop class).  CBC is very good at dancing with new people and helping them learn some new steps. There were taster classes at the beginning but I think the more experienced people could do more to encourage and dance with the less-experienced. There's always a slightly clichey feel to  social dance floors.

The hotel was very nice, the dance floor was a good size and surface although  there was no bar in our function room.  When we headed down to the bar, the drinks were EXTORTIONATELY expensive.  The bar service was also appallingly slow- we were 3rd in the queue at the bar and STILL waited over 15 minutes to be served.  In that time about 20 people had queued up behind us.  When we came to pay for our 'Hendrix single gin and tonic' and apple juice with soda it cost £16.80!?!?!?!   I didn't buy another drink- just drank water from the free jugs outside. To be honest, that's what I prefer when swing dancing anyway!

The hotel room was comfy, I slept very well and breakfast was excellent, although I confess to wanting to murder the previous occupant of the room who had set 3 alarms on the radio for 6am, 6.10am and 6.15am which, after going to bed at 2.15ish, I was not ready for!  I had to hunt down the radio on the dressing table in the dark and try and turn it off whilst plotting the demise of this unknown person!!!!!


It was an enjoyable new year, we were glad, especially considering it was such a last-minute decision!

xxx


Linking to I will wear what I like with Catherine at Not dressed as lamb

New Year- the obligatory 'Blog summing up introspective!'

It's funny, the concept of New Year- really it is just a certain date like any other to signify that 365/6 days have passed, I supposed we could celebrate a new year most days, like Unbirthdays, but anyway, it is nice to have a little moment to take stock. I'm not going to say much as that takes far too long and I am far too lazy (couldn't be doing with all that faffing through old blog posts!) but it is also nice to celebrate some things

One thing I thought I MUST share from this year is the kind and generous accolade I received from my dear blogging friend Ally.  Ally hosts blog awards every year called the Bloggies and awards a trophy and prize to the lucky winner.  Last year, my blogging favourites, Minnesota sisters, Megan and Nora, the Two Birds won the award.  This year, to my amazement and delight, Ally awarded the prize to me and the amazing Suzanne Carillo, stylist extraordinaire.  What touched me the most was the comments that Ally made about me over on her blog. She acknowledged those things that I do well, particularly my trying to comment as much as I can on people's blogs.   This is something, I Ialways try to do where I can as I think it is so important to acknowledge you've read something and also enjoyed it.  I've mentioned here before, I do get a bit despondent when I constantly comment on someone's posts and they never acknowledge my existence, even when they don't get many comments from elsewhere, but they comment on other people, but to hear Ally acknowledge that I try to do that, was really heartening and made that despondency recede somewhat! I will try my best to continue to uphold that aim!

It was wonderfully exciting to receive the parcel from the USA from Ally with this wonderful trophy, a present and a card featuring Ally Cat!  Thank you Ally and I want to say that Ally too, is a wonderful force for good in the blogging world- she constantly supports, has fun and acknowledges the good of people in a constantly supportive way and shares a true journey of her style evolution. If you don't know Ally, head over!

In other blogging matters, I have blogged more than any other year previously (319 posts) which is almost 30 more than in any other year!

I've met up with several lovely bloggers- Melanie , Sophie twice and Hazel and had a very lovely time on all occasions. I also briefly met the lovely Vix at a vintage fair!

I've even cohosted a link-up TARDIS Tuesday with the lovely Maricel who I miss for her cool, quirky and amazing outfits and Doctor Who equal fandom. I will try to do some more TARDIS Tuesadaying next year, there's plenty left to do!

I did Blog every day in May and did fairly ok with it- got to know a few more bloggers through it! I met some lovely new bloggers including Sarah by the Sea, Polka-Dot Pink and the lovely Penny-Blossoms,

I wore lots of things, bought too many clothes, lots from charity-shops and made a fair few things!

I've continued and started new regular features- What is it? reached its 30's and then went off the radar as interesting clouds left the skies and 5 brooches came along has reached its 13th post at least and the world has wondered how many brooches I own!

My number of followers reached the lofty heights of 169 GFC and 111 Bloglovin and then sadly dropped- current state of play is 167 and 112 respectively!

UPDATE:  I forgot to include reference to my book log- I read 81 books in 2015 which, though it is not my 100 books of 2009, isn't bad! I read MANY murder mysteries of a historical nature but also read some different books from my favourite genre!

When people discuss whether they should continue blogging, that isn't even a question for me- I like blogging too much for that and I count too many of you as friends to abandon it so I say, I hope to keep it much the same here in 2016, I am not one for dramatic changes and never have been. It might be quite nice to get a better header and template but I'm not going to bank on getting around to doing anything!

In the real world, I'd like to make a resolution to get to bed earlier by 10 if I can (pah!) and try and stay tidier (double pah!)

Now, enough about me, the word 'I' has appeared far too frequently in here, particularly in sentence openers, tut tut, so what about you? What does the new year in blogging mean to you, if anything!

Thanks for your friendship in 2015 and God bless.
x

P.S.  Dental update:I got a dentist appointment for this morning at 9. It wasn't my usual dentist who is away until 4th Jan.  He asked what the problem was and I told him and he asked if it had happened before. He asked me to open my mouth, looked at the back where I told him and then wrote me a prescription for 2 lots of antibiotics without doing anything!  So, I hope those start to take effect soon as the pain is not getting any better and I had awful ear ache today and my jaw is exhausted as I seem to be holding it in a certain way to avoid touching the gum with my teeth.  Hoping for some better sleep tonight as I haven't slept properly for days now! Clove oil has proved useful for numbing the gum for a while as is sleeping with my face on a hot water bottle! CBC has been kind and made me nice dinners and made me go ice-skating to try and avoid staying lying down ALL day.  We're going to a swing dance ball tomorrow night so I hope that will be ok.x

That's Shallot!

Ho there!

CBC and I held a little Pre-Christmas shindig with our friend and cooked a delicious dish we would recommend. It's Otto Lenghi's Root mash with wine braized shallots.  We had a lot of them ingredients (shallots and sweet potatoes and puy lentils) due to a recent Lidl shop but picked up the rest in Waitrose.   We saw the recipe on the Happy Foodie.  Due to our friend being a bit of a meatoid, we added some Waitrose sausages (reduced to 18p each my friend!)  on top but this in itself is a hearty and delicious dish, much recommended. CBC has Otto Lenghi's cook book and everything I've had from him is delicious.

Check out the link for the recipe. I would post it here but that would feel like just nicking another blogger's post so go and check it out especially Veggies and Vegans!

Did you have a fabulous new year?  CBC and siblings went out to Allendale for the Tar-barrel burning that I posted about 2 years ago  (worth a look at my post- very dramatic photos!!!!) but I decided since I had a headache, to stay home.  I watched Doctor Who series 5 2 episodes (Christmas pressie from WOMOTM and J) with the kind WOMOTM who stayed up with me despite saying he was gong to bed early and ate copious amounts of crisps (did you see those barrels of crisps they were doing- monster munch, french fries, doritos and wotsits mixed).  Was great!

We've now returned to Essex and I'm a bit sad- always so sad to leave WOMOTM and J in Haltwhistle/Hexham.

xx

P.S.  Sadly the car keys DIDN'T turn up! They are lost in the woods somewhere alas.  We had to be picked up, CBC got a lift back to Essex and had to return via 3 trains and cycle to Eynsford to fetch the car with the spare key.  What a palaver!x

Inspiration Monday - New Year's Eve!

Hello there and a very Happy New Year to you!

I'm always fairly ambivalent about NYE, not being particualrly bothered about doing anything because of things being outrageously priced, ending up being roasting hot or freezing cold and difficulties in getting home!  However, CBC had a burning urge to visit Allendale, a village around 10miles from Haltwhistle to join in the New Year celebrations there.

Of course, since I was going to stand in the freezing cold, my New Year's Eve outfit was nothing glamorous like most of the other Inspiration Monday participants (The Twobirds kindly decreed that today's inspiration was to be your New Year's outfit).
mine comprises of:


WhiteStuff Heart-elbow-patch tunic, scarf-Christmas present, Hat- Orizu, leggings and walking boots!
Add into that, my Christmas present of Per Una purple coat for warmth.

Check out the amazing Maths-teacher Christmas decoration in the background- WOMOTM is fab!

Here's a few photos from our evening!
The Kingshead pub in Allendale:
I don't really enjoy noisy-pubs where I live but here, everyone was really friendly and not at all lairy.  All drinks were £2.50 and we even got a seat!


Allendale was once mooted as one of the top 10 places to spend your new year in the UK - they used to have an open house policy where everyone opened their houses and anyone could go in and have a drink.  Nowadays, that doesn't happen but it is still super friendly and it is free! 


Village-members are chosen to dress up and carry flaming tar-barrels around the village.

They then chuck them onto a massive pile of flotsam and wood.  We were about 2 metres away from the fire! 

Sparks everywhere.  There were fire people around, but there was no Health and Safety officiousness here!





At the stroke of midnight, we shared hugs with a couple who had come all the way from New Zealand via Essex!

Oh, and there was a sousaphone!!!





Go and check out more glamorous outfits at the Twobirds boutique!

xxx

New year celebrations and targets! End of 2011, beginning of 2012

Happy New year blogging buddies!!!!  I had such issues with computer, that several posts I thought I'd posted didn't actually publish. So I guess, the Happy Christmas one isn't worth publishing now!!!    I never actually think about these properly and then I forget what I've thought about.  Also Lauren of Someone like you made a good point that it you can get disappointed if you fail at them!  Also, on a daily basis, I strive to improve things about me, so I need to actually work on things!  I do love the fact about blogging that it somehow makes me think about things more!

Great things about 2011
2011 has seen many great things happen:

• I performed a concerto with my orchestra for their 75th anniversary.
• I began a drumming club at school.
• I achieved a Distinction for my LTCL Music teaching diploma.
• I blogged lots.
• I read lots of lovely new blogs and got to meet lovely new bloggers including gaining a lovely new penpal!

• I declared my hat obsession to the world.

•  I cycled lots!  Completed the London to Brighton ride and then cycled Brentwood to Cambridge.  bought my lovely bike, Celeste!

•  I visited the home of my ancestors, Greece! And learnt lots of Greek vocabulary. 
• I went back to my all-time favourite place Hay-on-Wye in Herefordshire and canoed on the same wonderful river Wye which I longed to do.  I capsized for the first time ever and I didn't die!!
•  I fulfilled a life-ambition and played Maria in the Sound of Music.

So much more than that, but I can't think right now!  So many blessings unnumbered!
Resolutions for 2012:

1.  I will have a tea-party in which I try to cook lemon drizzle cake and lots of other exciting items in my lovely Christmas present book- the vintage tea party.  I will also try to make my own fascinator- which it gives instructions for!!!! Therefore, my birthday will not be a total last-minute disaster!

2.  I will try to go to Lindy-hop classes once a week when I don't have loads of rehearsals on!  CBC and I both love doing it, but when we go, because of musical committments, we don't even manage to go once a month!

3.  I will compose at least 4 new songs or pieces of music.  Only done a couple this year.

4.  I will try to discuss my feelings a little more articulately.  I am awful at this and I know that this is really important!

5.  I will go abroad on holiday and get some sun so I don't constantly catch every bug that children bring in!  Marrakech, here I come!

6.   I will read some more classic books:  Great expectations (Dickens), Treasure island (Er- Louis Stephenson?), (I'm wanting to say War and Peace but I'm scared!)

7.  I will read the entire Bible- I am so rubbish that though I've read most of it, I've never read the whole thing in one year (er- Lamentations, I've avoided it!)

8.  I will get my Guided reading preparation done before the night before.

9.   I will learn to cook something new and exciting for dinner from a recipe! I have several recipe books that I have not used.

10.  I WILL sort out and tidy my house properly and be ruthless with what I cull, though disposing of it in an entirely environmentally friendly way (Like Mrs Thrifty's 30 day house detox).  Then I will actually maintain the state of tidiness!

11.  I will learn to speak some Arabic (for Marrakesh!!) 

12.  I will see my family more than I have done this year- it is shameful to have only seen my 2 year old niece 4 times or so in a year.

13. I will do lots of cycling including at least one epic expedition! 

14.  Super secret target alla Stephen style!

So, 30 things with meaning and purpose and hopefully achievable!  What do you reckon, are they ok resolutions!

Happy new year everyone- 2011 has been a great year for me in many respects, one important addition has been all my new blogging buddies- it is an absolute pleasure to know you and to be inspired by you!!!
And another lovely year with my lovely CBC and his family!