5 brooches and friends #70

It seems an age since I have shared a brooch post or a jewellery post.  I used to do this quite frequently!  I thought I'd share 5 pics of a few brooches and items of jewellery I've been wearing.

Let's start from the top left going clockwise.

1.  I bought my Kitty in specs jumper a long time ago and I hadn't worn it for ages.  The charity-shopped Oasis blouse was the perfect colours to wear with it and I wanted to add a little pin on my collar so I added this Fat Kitty thundercloud from the No Such Disco.

2.  Not a brooch but a turquoise sparkly acrylic bow necklace from Lorelai La Quillec.  Bought this before Christmas.

3.  Before Christmas, my Tatty Devine polar bear brooch seemed a good idea for pre-Christmas.  Cats and bears?

4.  Wore my deer dress and accompanied it with the perfect set of brooches- the beautiful Middle Mist Makes deer brooch I won in an Instagram competition (her brooches are beautifully hand-felted) and two beautifully hued knitted brooches from Hazel!

5.  My festive (but I wear it all year) sequinned Robin brooch needed even more shiny bits so I added my Nickat  Online sequin necklace!

Are there any favourites here or are you a fan of the more simple touch?

x

Some less common instruments

I spend my life at school wishing that children could distinguish between the sound of instruments more and wishing the answer "Piano" didn't seem to come up any time we listen to and try to identify an instrument! As part of this eternal quest, I frequently play videos as the children come into Singing Assembly so they can hear and see the instruments simultaneously and try to cement the link between the visual and aural as much as possible.

Sometimes, as well as covering the common instruments and world instruments, it's fun though, to know about and explore more diverse instruments

I thought I've have a look and see if I could share some instrument, crazy or extreme instruments with you here so below, I've linked to some articles showing some weird and wacky instruments as well as the video I've embedded!

Have a look at the links below.  Particularly interesting is the link to crystal and glass instruments.  

As a teenager, I had performed at the Barbican in a concert with percussionist, Alastair Molloy, who performed on the glass harmonica (a set of tuned wine glasses which you rub the tops of to produce an eerie sound).  The next day, after the concert, my Mum came down to find her entire glass collection out and tuned as I made my own one!  One time, for 'Blog every day in November' I actually filmed myself playing the wine glasses as part of the brief, 'Unusual talents' but I never did share it.  Wish I had done now!

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/weirdest-musical-instruments/  

https://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-glass-harmonica-the-worlds-most-dangerous-instrument

http://mentalfloss.com/article/25363/8-weird-and-wonderful-musical-instruments

http://rareandstrangeinstruments.com/crystal-sounds-and-glass-instruments

What's the weirdest instrument you have heard of?

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Rocking a Red dress- Oswin Oswald

Today's TARDIS Tuesday is an exciting one for me!  For it was the first episode that we ever met my favourite character Clara. Except she wasn't Clara then...
No, back in series 7 when the Doctor was still travelling with the Ponds, in an episode called Asylum of the Daleks, we met Junior Entertainment officer on the Alaska, Oswin Oswald.  She was hiding out in the Asylum of the Daleks from all the Daleks, making lots of Souffles and listening to Carmen!

Image borrowed from the Costumier's guide to movies

The music Carmen was very appropriate as she dressed as a Femme fatale in a fitted red dress, long curled hair and a belt with various pieces of equipment. 

She was also sporting a pair of red wedged trainers (from River Island) and some red socks with white stripes.  It's one of those iconic outfits that is instantly recognisable as a Clara (or rather Oswin) outfit.  You can see her trainers and socks JUST in the picture below.

Image also from the CostumiersGuide.com

Here's my version of it.

"Rescue me Chin Boy and show me the stars!"

I confess that, I'm very sad to say that unless I find some red shorts to go under this dress, it will not be one I'll wear out as it is ridiculously short unless I wear it with leggings.   The dress was second-hand on eBay and it's hard to judge length!   Fun fact- this same brand of dress was worn by Zooey Deschanel in New Girl!  I added the whisk and a belt I had anyway.   The trainers are also from River Island but aren't the exact ones, nor are the socks- second hand and a lucky find.

My hair was quite curly as I had plaited it when it was wet so it seemed a good time to rock the Oswin look.  Couldn't be bothered to search for red lipstick.

 I thought I'd try to recreate the pose from the moment that Oswin realises she has been converted into a Dalek- I couldn't find an image so I've made my own comparison below.

This is a lovely outfit but I wish my dress were a bit longer!!!

What do you think of this outfit?  

xx

#The January Challenge Day 25- Draw with your drawers

I shared 2 of the creative challenges from @64millionartists' January Challenge.  The aim of these challenges is to promote/provoke creativity.  I think this is a great thing for January.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 64 Million Artists (@64millionartists) on Jan 24, 2019 at 11:00pm PST

The challenge for Day 25, as you can see above, was to try to create a picture out of the contents of your drawers. This really reminded me of a programme called Art Attack from when I was a child/teen, where the host, Neil Buchanan would create some massive collage out of collecting objects.  Viewed from above, it would become a picture.  See the video below to understand what I mean.

I didn't have very long but I'd recently offered a very colourful-dressed friend on Instagram (it's lovely to have got in touch with her as we met studying music briefly, although didn't know each other really- I remembered her!) some of my tights collection.  She loves colourful tights and I have a whole bag of them, barely worn, that I don't wear anymore (I've gone off tights a lot) and they're not exactly something you can give to a charity shop.  I got a whole rainbow of tights out to offer her and they were sitting in a clear bag in the bedroom, awaiting posting.

I decided to incorporate some of the rainbow.  Believe it or not, though it is hard to see, I did actually include all of the true colours in the Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain rainbow but they are hard to see!

To make the clouds, I used a white lacy cardigan and shirt.  The sun is a pair of mustard tights.  The rain-drops are formed of 3 of the stripy socks that CBC wore for the Olympics Closing Ceremony which I swiped from him (I wear them for my 13th Doctor outfit).

It would have been nicer to do something a bit more detailed but time was limited and I quite liked it.

I left it out on the bedroom floor for CBC to see unexpectedly, next time he came in!

What do you think?

What would you have made?

xx

An interesting Veggie Breakfast/Brunch

Greetings on this Sunday!  I hope you are well and have had a restful weekend. I would definitely not describe mine as restful but wonderfully full of music, food and good company.

You may know that I eat quite a Vegetarian diet. I am not veggie but CBC is pescetarian so we eat a lot of veggie substitutes and the odd bit of fish/seafood and then I tend to eat meat out (not always as I like veggie fare)

Today, before we headed off to our orchestra rehearsal, we needed to have a breakfast/brunch as we had woken rather late and failed to eat anything. So, I decided to make us some brunch.  I whisked 4 eggs and then added too many Mixed Italian herbs to them (delicious but tipped them too deeply).  To go with this, in another pan, I cut up and cooked a large tomato with some Marjoram.  Whilst this was doing, I cut up an Avocado and CBC put the last two slices of rather hard Rye bread in the toaster.  I WAS going to do Baked Beans but didn't get around to it.  CBC then foraged in the fridge for left-overs and to it, we added some left-over Cauliflower he'd cooked with Tumeric, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and a bit of Pak Choi and we added a pile of leftover Green lentils from Dinner on Saturday night.

The result- a really colourful and healthy plate. I do like the idea of a Veggie breakfast that doesn't just have meat substitutes like Quorn sausages (and avoid the dreaded mushroom!) but that use interesting ingredients instead. Lentils are welcome on my Breakfast plate, especially if they needed to be eaten up!

I thought I'd share two more imaginative veggie breakfasts that I've had out in the last year.

This one was eaten in a place called Brentwood Kitchen and it was great, featuring NO mushrooms and instead:

Halloumi, hashbrown, baked beans, scrambled egg, avocado, vine-tomatoes, Spinach and toast. I like a little taster of  lots of things, not having too much of one thing!

The second was eaten at a place called Stop the World Cafe in Leigh-on-Sea.  I am gutted this is no longer available. It featured:
Tomato Salsa, Rocket, Spinach, tomatoes, Avocado, Halloumi and Hashbrowns.

What would you like to eat for breakfast if you could choose?  Would you enjoy a more interesting veggie breakfast or would you prefer to go for a Standard Full English breakfast?

xx

Everything's coming up Roses.

It seems ages since I have done a non-TARDIS Tuesday outfit post and yet it is only 10 days!

It's funny how an outfit can come together through one element. 
In this case, a pair of earrings.

I was given these pretty rose embroidered tassel earrings by my work colleague as a Christmas present and I decided to wear them to go with this red shirt.

 Then, I thought of 3 Rose brooches I had and then the outfit came together.

 I added my charity-shopped denim skirt (worn many, many times since acquisition) and leggings because I seem to prefer them to tights.  I wore my Dr Martens and then decided to add my Burgundy leg-warmers to add extra warmth!  It was a good ploy- they are very cosy!

It's funny how that occurs, isn't it?

Have you ever begun an outfit with a pair of earrings?

xx

11 more World book day ideas for 2019

I shared my usual blog post of ideas for costumes for World Book day on the 4th March but have been thinking of a few new ideas to contribute to it this year.

The Oxford Concise dictionary:
If you have a whizzy Embroidery machine like Ang, then try to embroider meanings of some of your favourite words onto a white t-shirt or dress.  If you don't then use sharpies or fabric pens to write the meanings of some of your favourite words onto a white shirt/t-shirt.  What words would you choose?  Mine would include:  ostensibly, ubiquitous, phosphorescence, egregious, dastardly, audacious, serendipity and t transcendental


Death/Mort from Terry Pratchett's books:

• Long black hooded cloak
• White skeleton mask (can be made out of papier mache if you have time- paint it white and give it black eye sockets and teeth
• White gloves
• Fake Scythe (can be crafted out of rolled up cardboard and make the blade and cover it in foil.

Death of Rats from Terry Pratchett's books

Same as Death but make a rat skull mask instead with pointed snout.

Add cardboard speech bubble to hold or hang around your neck saying, "SQUEAK!"

Chrestomanci/Christopher Chant (from The World of Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones:

•  Top hat (can be made out of cardboard.)
• Satin or brocade patterned dressing gown, particularly vintage style
• Black Cravat
• High-necked shirt
• Waist coat, suit
• smart shoes

Millie from The Lives of Christopher Chant (Worlds of Chrestomanci) when she is the Goddess

• Orange Indian Salwar Chemise, 
• yellow trousers, 
• Indian jewellery
• Find lots of cuddly cats or plush cats and carry them around with you

The PEACH from James and the Giant Peach

• Draw a large circle on a large cardboard box.  Cut it out and use it as a template to make a second circle the same size.  Hold up against your chest and make two holes at the top of the peach, inline with the sides of your neck/beginning of your shoulders in both.
• Mix white (start with white) and add a little bit of orange paint to make a peach colour.  Paint the circles peach coloured (you could also do real peach colour- a sunny yellowy orange with some pinky-orange patches.
• Cut some leaves out of green paper or cut some cardboard leaves and paint then green.  Cut a stalk out of brown paper. Attach to top of peach.
• You could also make yourself an orange beret/peach beret with a green stalk attached to wear on your head.
• Either print some  little illustrations of the insects from the internet from James and the Giant Peach, (e.g. ladybird, Earthworm, silkworm, glown worm, spider) or draw them.  Stick them somewhere on the peach.
• Thread String through holes at the tops of the peaches to make a tabard to wear over your shoulders so you have a peach on your back and a peach on your front.

The earth worm from James and the Giant peach.

• Find a pair of pink leggings and a pink long-sleeved t-shirt or shirt (or dye an old white top and leggings/trousers).  Draw black horizontal lines on them to look like worm segments.
• Make a little white shirt collar or dicky and add a bowtie. Could be made out of material or paper.
• Add some round dark sunglasses (John Lennon style)

Daisy Wells or Hazel Wong from Murder Most Unladylike:

• Grey or black pinafore-knee length
• Long black coat
• Black cloche hat with white ribbon
• Magnifying glass
• white socks and black strap flat shoes.
• Get a book and write DETECTIVE SOCIETY on it.

Esio Trot from the Roald Dahl book of the same name:
You are a Tortoise!

• Wear Grey/brown jogging bottoms or leggings and a jumper preferably with a hood.
•  Make a big shell to go on back out of paper, cardboard or material- browny-material- try to draw or collage the pattern on the shell- attach to back with string, material or card straps.

Carla Davis from 'There's a boy in the girl's bathroom'

• Blue jeans
• Red t-shirt -add light blue letters saying "Rock and roll"
• Blond wig

OR
Get a charity shopped white shirt and draw lots of multicoloured squiggles over it like scribbles
Wear a speech bubble sign saying, "I appreciate you coming to see me."  or "I enjoyed your visit very much.  Thank you so much for sharing it with me."

Bradley Chalkers from 'There's a boy in the girl's bathroom'

Blue jeans,
Add a sign to a white t-shirt saying, "Give me a dollar or I'll spit on you" 
Find a cuddly rabbit and a bear and put signs round their neck saying, "Ronnie" and "Bartholomew".

Don't be afraid to do the right thing, even if it makes you unpopular

Just a thought for the day. 

Someone was doing something today that I knew to be wrong.  But that individual tends to be a bit snarky and snappy if you try to correct them on it and quite often does things you comment on, I feel, just to make a point that they do what they want (like throwing their plastic bottle in the bin instead of the equidistant recycling bin EV-ER-Y. day despite the proximity and the better moral option being pointed out quite gentl). I do like this person however and they have lots of great merits.

They were doing something that I know they would get into trouble for and someone else saw the uncomfortable looks that I was giving them. I mentioned to the person observing after, that they shouldn't be doing that, because they would get into trouble and the other person said that they didn't say anything to them because that person doesn't like criticism. 
I mentioned it to another acquaintance, mentioning my dilemma and she reminded me that you must always tell the person, for their own sake, even if it it makes things uncomfortable for you in the process.  And she was right.
I knew I was seeing that person next so I resolved to tell them.  Alas, in the busyness of the daily grind, I clean forgot to tell them but I will tell them. Doing it kindly, letting them know you have their best intentions at heart- well, it's worth the effort, I think, even if I am a bit nervous to do it.

Brave heart!

Now I've just got to remember to do it!!

Have you been in a situation like that?

x

10 things to be thankful for

Ah, it's good to ponder upon and remember things which make life bearable, especially in Blue January, the bleak time in the cold wastes of Winter!

1.  I've had two weekends with few plans- I was tired, I needed to rest- this allowed me to. Getting up hideously late. I felt guilty but needed it and revelled in it.
2.  Yet, I have the following two weekends with lots of plans, so I don't get into bad habits!
3.  Kind work colleagues. My deputy-head teacher retired at Christmas so yet another of my favourites and my main friends at work has not gone which I am sad about- she was old school, if you know what I mean, which I am too.  She invited some of us out on Friday night and about 12-14 of us went out to dinner and it was all my favourite people, which makes sense if they were her kind of people too!  It was a lovely occasion and I was glad I worked with and still work with some nice people.
4.  Grateful for having found the Zero Waste shop so to be able to make some changes AND the greengrocer in town.
5.  Grateful that CBC is really trying to be careful about plastic waste and recycling- even if some of my work colleagues don't care; some do and others are trying.
6.  Grateful to be spending half term with my Dad and family- we haven't spent a long time together for a little while so I am excited to be spending the holiday with them in Suffolk! Nice to have that to look forward to even if I am sad that I don't get to spend it with CBC (Skiing with school. Boo!)
7.  I am grateful that our Caretaker at school is trying to alleviate waste and cares just as much as I do- he keeps bringing over left-over milk and carrots that might be chucked out and we are taking/eating/drinking them!
8. I am glad for yesterday.  I arrived at the station for my orchestra rehearsal to settled snow and a real blizzard- it was totally unexpected and I had non-grippy boots on but had to walk up a steep hill and then down a scary slope to get to my rehearsal with my bike and a heavy pannier as well as a rucksack.  Being very scared about this, I called my fellow flute and she came and rescued me and drove me. When we reached the treacherous slope to the car park, her car skidded all over the place and her brakes wouldn't grip.  Her brakes started to smell burning.  She had a major panic and I suggested we try to get out and drive back to the main street and park on the flat. We did this and then I persuaded her to try and walk to the rehearsal.  We made it in safely and then had a lovely rehearsal. I'm grateful for her kindness, for none of us having an accident and being there to help each other.  At the end of the rehearsal, we returned to the car to discover that my door was open!  And she'd accidentally left her handbag in there and I, my Brompton bike.  Both were still there!
9.  I'm glad for warm items of clothing to keep me cosy on my cold cycles each day!
10.  I'm glad that you came to read this.

What are you grateful for?
xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Clara from Flatline

Today's TARDIS Tuesday is one I was wearing back in March 2018 on the blog for TARDIS Tuesday and it was better back then than it is today but since I wanted to prepare a TARDIS Tuesday quickly at the weekend as I was unlikely to have time to photograph it on Tuesday due to an orchestra rehearsal, I thought I'd just run with it.

Since I had nothing particular planned this weekend, I didn't want to wear anything particularly smart- to be honest, I am in hibernation mode in January and always feel rather gloomy, cold and tired. I don't feel too gloomy but I am tired and want to be cosy and comfortable, so I decided to wear a particular favourite outfit.

IMage borrowed from PLaybuzz.com but ultimately belongs to the BBC

Clara Oswald wears this comfy outfit for an episode involving a lot of running around and climbing so it is just as well she wasn't in her usual dresses.  It features a checked shirt from H&M, a coat/jacket from Kooples, black jeans and some Ash trainers plus a slouchy bag.

And here's my version, featuring the same jacket and shirt but alternative trousers and....

SHOCK HORRORS, where ARE your shoes Kezzie?

Answer:  Really not sure!  I can't seem to find the trainers anywhere- they MUST be in the house somewhere but I did rifle through the three most likely places and none of them yielded the shoes. I WAS going to put something else on but the light was fading dramatically as I was taking this picture (hence why it is so shoddy and faded!) so I figured you'd just have to put up with no shoes (hello Bridgewater walking socks!) as it would have taken a few minutes to put my red Clarks boots back on that I was wearing to go into town earlier! 

The Passiflora has really died back on the trellis as has the Clematis- do I need to cut them down to start again or leave them- can't remember what they were like this time last year!

xx

Word Play- alternative words

In my recent Photo An Hour post, I shared my alternative meaning for Wedding as part of the 64 Million Artists January Challenge.

Wee-duh-ding

In retrospect, this was obscure and a bit rubbish so I decided to think of alternative meanings for some well-known words.  This lot aren't much better but the point is to try and be creative with your mind so I am doing it!

I'd love it if you shared some that you thought of!

If I had more time, I would have made illustrations to go with these but I am lacking the time!

Ahem...

Commit- A Mitten that has technology to make a phone call  or send a text through!

Diatribe- When you get a particular ethnic clan together and throw paint at them.

Confuse- when you trick a fuse into buying a job lot of amps at top whack!

Confer- Sell an acrylic coat as real mink.

Confab- lie about how good your friend looks in their new dress.

Pirate- The standard cost for a Steak and Kidney Pudding.

Catastrophe - Where you display the feline proudly on your mantelpiece!

Guidance- moves your man makes on the disco floor.

Minimal - a petite shopping centre.

Direct -  where your hair is ruined by the apprentice colourist at the salon!

And I think I had better leave it there before I lose any more followers....


Do share if you decide to do this!

x

Fruit Sculpture (#The January Challenge)

I alluded to the @64Millionartists' January Challenge yesterday in my Photo An hour post yesterday, posting my new meaning for 'Wedding' (pronounced Wee-duh-ding!) 

I thought I'd share a bit about 64 Million Artists from their website:

About Us:

At 64 Million Artists we believe everyone is creative, and when we use our creativity we can make positive change in our lives and the world around us. We aim to be a catalyst for the creativity of everyone in the UK.

Since we were founded in 2014 by Jo Hunter and David Micklem, we’ve worked with schools, universities, whole cities, workplaces, cultural institutions and health and government bodies to experiment with ways of reconnecting people with their innate creativity. We run programmes for individuals and communities, design and deliver bespoke solutions for clients and also work on national partnering initiatives to use creativity for positive change.

We run free, UK-wide programmes like #thejanuarychallenge to kickstart the creativity and wellbeing of everybody. Over 7,500 participants took part in 2018. We also give away free resources on dothinkshare.com to inspire anyone who wants to run their own creative activities, share their work and be part of a supportive community.

I am dreadfully behind with the challenges but I figured I could catch up with them later in the year or when I can.  But the first challenge I actually completed was Day 11's which was to create a sculpture out of fruit

View this post on Instagram

#TheJanuaryChallenge Day 11,Fruity Friday! Make art out of fruit - print it, squash it, stack it, draw faces on it... the fruit bowl has long been inspiration behind art, today, we take it out of the bowl and get creative! Full challenge: http://dothinkshare.com/?p=22160 #64MillionArtists

A post shared by 64 Million Artists (@64millionartists) on Jan 10, 2019 at 11:00pm PST

It all started with a shrivelled Red Chilli I found in the back of the fridge.  I decided it looked like a beak.
You can see the other materials below...

Having seen the red chilli as a beak, I needed a body. I had put two Satsumas out to take with me to eat on our way out so I peeled those and placed them on top of each other like a Snowman.  

Next, I broke apart the two central segments of the top satsuma and slid the chilli stem in.

My Bird was blind so I sourced 2 peppercorns from the spicerack and precariously balanced them on top.  He (for he is definitely a 'he') looked a trifle rudimentary so I decided to fashion some wings for him out of the Satsuma peel and cut two rough triangles which I leaned against his sides.

I photographed him and was going to leave it there but it seemed cruel not to give him feet or claws so I spied CBC's grapes on the work top and snipped off some of the grape er- bark (what does one call it) and inserted them under the satsuma to resemble claws.

He looks a little like an interesting variety of Kiwi-bird!   I shall name him Kieran!

After his Photo shoot, I deconstructed him and ate my Satsumas.

What would you make out of fruit or vegetables for your sculpture?

xxx

Photo an hour 19th January

It's rare that I remember to join in with the Photo an Hour challenge- either here OR on Instagram.  This morning, when I headed downstairs at 10.30am, I looked at Instagram and saw Hazel had posted her Photo an Hour so I decided to join in even though I didn't have any sort of day planned...

11am:  Ahrgh,woke up egregiously late!!! Headed downstairs to put some washing in, sat with a cup of tea in my Psycho mug watching 'Homes under the Hammer' whilst folding washing.

12pm:  Joining in with @64Million artists' #TheJanuaryChallenge by making up my own new meaning for a word. In retrospect, I could have done this better or chosen a better word but I was trying to think quickly to meet meet the hourly deadline.

 1pm:  Showered and ready in my Sailor-themed outfit.  My charity-shopped denim trousers have sailor style buttons at the top too!

2pm:  On our way out.  Making sure I have bags and containers. That's my Christmas present rucksack from CBC and the bag from my sister. Both feature woodland animals playing musical instruments! Rather appropriate wouldn't you say?

3pm:  We headed to a town a few miles from us to go to the new Zero waste/Bulk Buy shop called The Refill Room where you can take your own bottles, jars and containers to fill up on dried goods.  We had completely run out of all the standard green herbs so we desperately needed some. Also, we needed some red lentils and rice so I had come prepared. The herbs worked out nice and cheap around 59-89p to fill the jars, the rice seemed quite expensive £5.50 for that tub, lentils were ok- £2.59 for the Killner jar full..  Everything is organic in this place so perhaps that's why.

 I WAS going to go to another Health food shop round the corner with my Ecover Washing up liquid bottle because I had looked up online that they refilled it but filled up here instead- silly as it ended up being £3.50 instead of £1.20 with Ecover!  Again, probably the Organic thing. Still glad I went there though, I'll just remember to get my washing up liquid round the corner next time.

 4pm:

CBC wanted to get a haircut so I ended up mooching round the charity shops.  Got excited when I saw this jumper as it is similar to one that Clara wears in Doctor Who (same brand and everything) but didn't buy it.

5pm:

Waiting for CBC by the car which is by The Refill Room.  Thought this sign was a very good way of getting across the message about Waste which I try to say when people tell me not to worry when I fret when a drink has been bought to me with a plastic straw. I do not want that straw!

 6pm:

Arrived at our friend N's house in our old home town.  He made me a Hotel Chocolat Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate in the 'Velvetiser' a gadget he bought himself for Christmas.  The resulting Hot chocolate was DELICIOUS!

 7pm:

Still at N's, watching the new series of New Girl on TV.  I love Zoe Deschanel! 

 8pm:  In our FAVOURITE Thai restaurant for dinner.  Enjoying my wonderful Thai Green Prawn Curry.  No where else does such a good one!

 9pm-in the car...

10pm:  Home now!  Having a cup of mint tea.

11pm:  Writing this blogpost and realising I needed to get my new boots out of my bag  Wasn't intending to buy anything in the charity shops but found this pair of Clarks Originals Desert boots in my size.  This style of shoes are the ones I wear ALL the time for cycling in the Winter to school and are usually very expensive.  Dr Martens have stopped making the ones I love (first pair cost £90 and I have had them 4years but the sole is wearing very thin, second pair were £30 second hand on eBay getting very scuffed).  These ones were marked as £11.99 in the Children's Society shop which I was a bit dubious about as they had very dirty soles and black mark on one side but otherwise were in great condition. I was umming and ashing about them and asked the shopkeeper if she thought the black mark would come off.  She had a go with a baby wipe which made the mark worse and they kindly marked them down to £6.99 for me!  So I bought them!

I should be off to bed. I will be reading Ngaio Marsh's 'False Scent'  before I sleep so you can imagine what that looks like!

x

The 14 days of Christmas- a holiday view

This post is definitely overdue but for some reason I kept forgetting or putting up publishing or writing it.  I decided during the Christmas holiday to try and take one or two pictures each day of the break and write a little about it to remember and share my holiday.

24th December:

We picked up CBC's Mum J from a station and took her to a wonderful family Italian restaurant called La Bicicletta in a place called West Horndon. It was utterly delicious and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves as everyone was out manically shopping!

In the evening, CBC and I played (with J in the congregation) for the Christingle service of a big church in a town. It was brilliant- 30 musicians in the orchestra, all willingly there and had a wonderful time playing Christmas music. I was screaming away on the piccolo even though my flute was featured in a few pieces.

Christmas Day

Round at CBC's sister's for Christmas day after staying at the local Premiere Inn.  Having fun with her 2 year old. First Christmas really ever especially as an adult with toddlers and babies.

Also watched an episode of Neighbours before we went round which featured Jim Robinson resurrected from the dead in a Christmas bauble to Paul which has kickstarted my watching Neighbours again.

Boxing Day

Went round to my Dad's for a lovely day.  This was playing a particularly nail-biting game of Monopoly where my niece's father was totally brutal in his conquering of the game.  His daughter was looking traumatised at this point because she just had to cough up £900 to her Father!

We did some drawing together and this was my Christmas tree drawing.

27th

My Christmas sale purchased arrived from Zalando!  Love this Joules top!

Went to pick up CBC's Mum and take her out with us to lunch. Had a wonderful stuffed Aubergine!

28th

We went to a town a few miles from us and discovered they have a Zerowaste shop opened up just before Christmas!  I'd bought CBC a wooden soapdish, some Deodorant which comes in Cardboard and then today took my conditioner bottle along and refilled it from their big metal vat of Shampoo!  Now got to stock up on lentils and herbs and rice!

Went round to my friend Lara's house to her 13th century cottage for a wonderful evening of delicious food (carrot soup made from the 4 bags of carrots I gave her a week ago left from school) and lots of delicious canapes as we played board games till 1 in the morning! So much fun and nice to spend time with friends!

29th

Went for a walk at an Essex Wildlife trust place.  Found Mr Fox!

30th:

Visited Dover Castle with our English Heritage membership (saved £44 in entrance fees!) 

This was taken in the Medieval secret tunnels.

BRILLIANT place- post on it coming soon!  Visited my dad on the way home.

CBC on the throne.

31st

Went with CBC to Home Base for some DIY bits and picked up this cute wreath for next year!

Travelled to WKWTTG's flat in London for New Year's eve. Made dinner involving copious garlic and played 'Loveletters' and 'The London Game'. Stayed up ridiculously late!

1st

After waking up hideously late after sleeping sooo well in WKWTTG's spare room, we headed in the car to Victoria Park. Saw my old PGCE placement school looking totally different and after a walk in the park, went to a lovely bistro for Brunch! Loved this veggie special!

2nd!

Experimented with roasting butternut squash seeds!

3rd

Headed over to my Mum's house on the trains/bike/trains as CBC headed off to work (smug). Went to the shops, bought sparkly wellies, ate lunch in KFC (sorry not sorry) and went home to hers.  Played with Buffy who was staying for the day. She was ridiculously purry as she is in season and hasn't been spayed yet but still attacks your hands at will!

4th

Made a 'use up the fridge and freezer dinner' involving things that had been festering in the kitchen for weeks...

5th

We made our favourite Vegan dinner- Anna Jones' Sweet potato, red lentil and spinach dhal with Coconut chutney.  Cannot be beaten.

6th

Final day of of holiday.  I put together this lunch before we headed off to our first orchestra rehearsal of the year- the chives are still growing and I bought a massive bowl of tomatoes for a pound not in plastic from a greengrocers in the nearest big town the day before! Hurrah!

And that was a snapshot of my holiday!!

x