A photoshoot with my Mum.

 I don't have a huge amount of memorabilia from my childhood due to ALWAYS having to clear out from a young age having such a small family home and then of course, my Mum selling the house when I got married but occasionally, I find something lurking somewhere that reminds me of a time.

Take these pictures. I have been clearing out a big box of things from the garage in order to create some more space (and to stop CBC from moaning about all my stuff) and I found some photos.

My Mum used to work as a vet nurse and the resident vet she worked with last before she stopped doing that was also an amateur photographer. One day, I'm not sure how it happened, but she ended up taking some photos of me playing my instruments.  I was quite a self-conscious teenager (though I liked clothes even then!) and I found it quite hard 'posing' as such.  A portrait she took of me playing the flute ended up winning a competition in our local borough and she invited me to go with her to the exhibition in the big town library where lots of people were there to view the photos. Strangely, I don't seem to have a copy of that portrait but I did find this one of me playing the viola.  So serious!

But, whilst Mum was waiting for me, she got Mum to come in a picture with me.  There is a whole set of really cute proofs of us together but this one was printed big. I really like it.  It is rare for there to be any photos of me and Mum together in my teen years. She was always working hard as a single mum, worrying about money, out working 3 different jobs and ferrying me about to music clubs when she could get away from work. She worked hard and I was a very, very grumpy teenager towards her.  I always attribute it to being hungry and never having the things to eat that I wanted to eat and having to be on the go at all times but I think hormones obviously played a large part. At the time, she kept asking me if I was on drugs because of my being so moody.  My older sister wasn't moody like that. I was always incredulous when she asked me that because a) I am a complete goody two-shoes who is scared of getting into trouble and b) I didn't want to waste my precious hard-earned money (from my job at the chipshop) on something you couldn't even see when there were clothes to be bought! and c) Not sure where I would have got them from?  I was always puzzled by it but I guess I was super moody and I am sorry for it now.

So, this was a rare picture of us. She told me once in my early 20's that no one had ever told her she looked pretty after I told her she looked really pretty in a dress at my friend Tamsin's wedding. She almost had tears in her eyes as she told me that.  I always remembered being really surprised and sad about it. She was very pretty and even now, in her 60's (ahem, almost 70's), she has the prettiest smile which I like to think is the feature I have inherited from her as my smile is the thing I like best about myself.

Anyway, I thought I'd just write and see where my thoughts took me and that's where I am.

I hope you enjoyed a little reminiscence.

TARDIS Tuesday- Yaz Khan's forthcoming outfit in Revolution of the Daleks

 

This week for TARDIS Tuesday, I thought I'd be a little bold and post one of the outfits that Yaz Khan is going to wear in the New Year Doctor Who special. Here it is:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho)

Due to clever people, someone managed to identify the red animal print top as coming from Miss Selfridge and it seems there are quite a few second hand ones around. I bought one. I'm not usually a fan of animal print but I gave it a go and I actually really like this blouse now I have it. It's comfy and looks quite nice. She wears a magenta or bright purple vest top underneath.

She wears her All Saints Leather jacket over the top and seems to wear indigo jeans with it though there aren't really any pictures yet showing any views of the bottom of them or her shoes.  Round her neck, she is wearing a Y and a Z embellished initial necklace which I strongly suspect to be from Alex Monroe as both she and the 13th Doctor have both sported Alex Monroe's jewellery already in previous 2 series.

Here is my version:

My entire outfit is second-hand, which is always a nice thing to be able to say!

I started with the blouse which arrived a few weeks ago.  I then wore these F&F denim trousers which I absolutely love (and would like a back up pair of them!) which seem to match the colour of Yaz's jeans. I then added a pair of flatform brogue chelsea boots from Dune which she wears in the previous series (although in a different colour). In terms of the leather jacket, I decided to don my Clara black denim Axelle jacket from All Saints. This was an unbelievable bargain when I bought it so and since it is also All Saints like hers, it seemed a good swap.

The jewellery was going to be a bit more interesting. You can see Alex Monroe's initial necklaces here which start at £105. I COULD have bought some simple silver initial necklaces to recreate this but I really don't need a Y and Z necklace. I could have bought a K and Z (for Kez) but again, there was no point in that.

So, I decided to get creative.

I started by printing the Alex Monroe initials Y and Z from the website to look at them.

Then, I used some silver mirror card to cut a Y and Z shape.  I then used a non-working biro on the front and reverse to create flower and leaf indentations.  Next, I used a safety pin to make holes at the top.  I then prised a couple of jump rings from a few broken earrings I have and put them through the hole and then strung them on two different length necklace chains from my jewellery box

and Da-naaaaaa, 

my fake necklaces!!!

Obviously, up close, you can see they aren't real but did I manage to fool you from a distance?

What do you think?

x

Jelly ears

 You all know about the strange juxtaposition between my ardent hatred of eating mushrooms and yet my fascination with looking for fungus to photograph.

Well, during my walks this year, I've been determined to find Jelly ears fungus. I've seen pictures of it on the internet and it is so strange that it really does look like human ears. It's one of those things where you really want to see something with your own eyes to prove its true.  And this year, every single walk has involved me looking out for it. In all my Spring and Autumn walks, I've been disappointed not to see it. I've seen other fungus but not this.

It's true the way they say that you find something when you stop looking for it and that happened today.

As we entered a small wood, on the very first tree on my right, I spied some jellyish fungus which I stopped to scrutinize. As I took pictures, I suddenly realised that it was JELLY EARS!!!! At last!

Here are some pictures for you to behold the weirdness that is this fungus. It really has made my day, week, month, year! Strange the things that please us, eh?

What do you think of Jelly Ears?

Cosy Sprout Chic and Christmas chit chat

 Hello All!

I hope you are well! Belated Christmas blessings to you! I intended to post on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and then Boxing Day but I just never got around to it. (My Christmas eve post was a scheduled one from the previous day).

How were your Christmas days?

Mine were lovely. 

Christmas eve began in a lazy way with some making of porridge (I've been conning CBC into eating porridge oats that had a Best Before date of 2017 by preparing the saucepan with milk and oats measured out so he just switches it on when he comes downstairs. That way, he has no thoughts about which oats are being used and we use them up! They taste absolutely fine but he's a bit squeamish about things like that.

After that, he talked about how we should get some presents for his sister and her children at which point, I went to my 'box' in the spare room and produced 2 beautiful picture books which I had purchased in Northumberland in the Summer from Cogito books and presented them to him. He asked if I had anything else and I produced a set of alphabet stamps and a lobster t-shirt. He then mentioned his sister and I went and fetched the pretty Joules vest top with bees on which I had bought her in Harrogate in August.  Later, he said he should get his Head of department a present so I went and produced presents for her.  He's such a brat though- he demanded tissue paper, eschewed the black tissue paper and I had to fetch white.  Finally said Thank you after prompting. We then drove to his old housemate N, who was alone for Christmas because the new restrictions meant he couldn't return to his family in Wales (he lives alone) to drop off his Christmas present (organic Maple Syrup bottled by myself from the Zerowaste shop plus a large bag of Salt and Vinegar crisps in Compostable packaging. Did a drive by stopping to deliver it to him, then drove to his sister to deliver presents for her and her 2 toddler boys as well as picking up some Craft beers for her husband on the way.  We stopped at the door step for 5 minutes, had a nice selfie with her eldest in the foreground and C and I in the background waving from the front garden and then drove to Southend to deliver presents to CBC's Head of Department who had dropped us off a lovely bag during our isolation. We had a lovely chat on the doorstep with her. It was so nice to see 3 separate people in that day after not really seeing anyone for 2 weeks! It was serendipitous that a very nice Thai restaurant which does 20% discount on picking up your order is just round the corner from her so we picked up some takeaway. Thai is my absolute favourite so it was a real Christmas treat. 

Back home, we feasted and I watched Ocean's 8 on Netflix which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Ok, bored of my chitchat?  Here's my Christmas Eve, Eve outfit. I call it cosy sprout chic I began with the starry, stripy top (charity shopped brand new) and paired it with this green cardigan, added my Hannah Hitchman Sprout lover and Sprout hater pins and then added my Sprout earrings which Lara made for me  by commission, a few years ago.

To add to the cosy feel, I added a charity-shopped black velvet skirt and leggings and my Ralph Lauren Petrol-coloured boots.

When we headed to the Coop for CBC's first trip out post-COVID, I added my charity-shopped Sheepskin Jacket and my Velvet hat. Everything was cosy.

Right, if you  are bored of the Christmas recap, feel free to skip to the comments.

Christmas day, I awoke fairly earlyish.  We got dressed and CBC wrapped my presents on one side of the bedroom whilst I studiously looked the other way whilst dressing. I am very good- I never peep in advance at presents- I like the anticipation of opening too much!

I dressed in my Christmas finery (I'll post that another day) and then we came downstairs, regretfully did the previous night's washing up, I then ended up hoovering (ON CHRISTMAS DAY!??!!) as the floor was a state and we ate scrambled eggs on bagels. We then watched Carols from Kings whilst eating breakfast and then CBC played the piano whilst I watched the Christmas morning church service from my old church.

We then opened presents from each other.

CBC had bought me some new winter cycling gloves (I knew he was getting them as I suggested them as I really needed some as my current ones have a hole in them and the grip has come off)- they are great as they are waterproof, warm and have some reflective bits on them.

The other surprise present was a pretty acrylic and wooden lemon necklace from Wolf and Moon, a shop I really like. He didn't know this, he chose them when we went to Leigh on Sea back in early December.

In return, I had bought him new Tifosi cycling glasses (he had shattered his a few weeks ago), a jar of his favourite honey, Fairtrade chocolate, an ultra-lightweight, down-filled gilet for walking (very pleased with this as it was Brand New with tags from Uniqlo but bought in a charity shop 2 weeks ago on my last day of freedom), a book about the Rwandan cycling team, a book about music and a Jellycats cuddly HB pencil which he had admired in Hexham at Half Term. He was amazed at all the things like the pencil and I told him that was because I ALWAYS buy things way in advance!

We then went for a walk by the river- it was a really nice walk but cold.  Had a stupid row, entirely caused by me. He was saying that we should cook the sprouts with bacon but since he is a vegetarian/pescetarian I said no (since I think this is hypocritical of him. I say this because he occasionally berates me for eating meat. If he didn't berate me, I wouldn't object to any of his slips). It was very silly and then ended up making me feel bad and guilty about it for the rest of the day, despite my trying to be extra nice to make up for it. 

Cooking our Christmas dinner was nice- it's the first time we've ever had Christmas just by ourselves and the first time we've cooked it without anyone else.  It was very tasty even the ABSURDLY lumpy gravy which CBC caused by chucking waaay too much flour in the gravy I was trying to make. I hasten to add that I didn't ask him to do this.

We ate it, didn't eat too much and then had apple tart with custard for dessert. We had a chat with my sister on Whatsapp video and then watched some TV.  We finally opened our other presents. My mum had been incredibly generous and bought us a huge bag of presents.  They included 2 Doctor Who scarves for me, a hand-crocheted double-bed sized rainbow blanket, eco-products including soaps, shampoo bars, toothpaste powder, solid body cream, hand-crocheted cloths and a handmade hat and welly-socks.  I also had another few lovely presents from 2 other people (and I remembered about one from someone lovely who might be reading this on Boxing day!).

Boxing Day was a very lazy day.  It involved mainly watching TV and eating.

Today began with catching up with church with United church, Ferndown on all the services from Christmas Eve, Day and today whilst eating breakfast.

Then CBC came down and we made a vegetarian fry up (I have to say that Richmond's Plant based sausages are delicious! As is the Veggie bacon from the Milkman).  We then watched TV and went out for a walk. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny walk and I saw something truly exciting in the woods which I have been looking for all year so I count it as a late Christmas present that I finally saw it! Can you guess what it is??

Hope you had a lovely Christmas so far!

xx

Arctic glitz

 

Here's the outfit I wore for our last day of isolation and because CBC was feeling a bit more perky, I managed to persuade him to come into the garden to take some photos.

I wanted to go for glitz, glam and sparkles with this one! I was hopeful this was my last day of confinement so I went all out!

I started with the Lindybop skirt which features an arctic silhouette and magical snowy skies.  To give it extra oomph, I added my cobalt blue petticoat underneath. CBC flatly refused to photograph my flashing it saying it didn't match and looked silly so there we are.

I added the sparkly Primark turtle neck on the top half.

Shoe wise, I wanted to wear my silver glitter Mary Jane shoes but I couldn't find them so I wore these Hush Puppies pewter heels instead.

I wanted to channel my inner Sheila so here is a photo of the 'stuff'!

You can see the shoes close up, my Primark turquoise sequin belt, green star earrings, snowflake necklace and alllllll the bracelets! 

I was on the phone to my Mum and CBC took this picture of my calling because the sofa and phone kind of fit in with the outfit!

I confess that I felt happy and FAB in this outfit!

A whole selection box of Christmassy outfits

During my 10 days of isolation and the previous week at school, I wore a variety of outfits featuring Christmassy items or glitzy decorated style things. Sadly, I didn't have the motivation to take proper photos of the entire outfits but I did take some quick snaps on my phone to share on insta and so I thought I'd share a selection of those and let you know why I thought they were Christmassy!

Here's an outfit I wore twice in December but only photographed when at home. I wore my charity-shopped M&S sequin robin Christmas jumper along with a charity shopped tartan shirt dress and my glitter and wood Robin necklace.  There's also a tiny Penguin pin on my lapel which you can't see.

Another outfit from home featured this much-loved blue glitter turtle neck from Primark (bought about 5-6 years ago) worn with my charity shopped gold sequin beret, blue glitter bow and gold glitter star necklace. I have no idea what was on my bottom half!

This was another isolation outfit featuring my glitter sequin bow jumper (from M&S) and I wore a navy smock dress underneath and a red wired hair scarf which I finally realised how to tie! I didn't realise I've been wearing them wrong all these years and trying to tie a knot in them rather than twisting the ends! How dumb!

This was my warm cosy version of my style imitating art Gumball outfit- I added my Jodie Whittaker 13th Doctor scarf (Paul Smith via eBay) and sequin beret in the evening for extra warmth!

The sequin beret again and my original Next Sequin gingerbread sweatshirt- this is the BEST Christmas junper- it is so thin, soft and comfy.  You can't really see my Holly earrings but you can see my charity shopped Holly wreath from Oxfam bought the day before my isolation began!

Here's what I wore on my last day of school before isolation for our official Christmas jumper day. It's a Doctor Who Christmas jumper and comes from the year 2006 when the Christmas special featured Cybermen who tried to delete Christmas! I bought it second hand on eBay.  I wore it with sparkly star earrings, sparkly star necklace and a star brooch.

Gutted that I uploaded the blurry one here! This is my Ho Ho Ho Christmas t-shirt with sequin sleeves. I wore it with a snowflake necklace and wore a black merino wool polo neck baselayer underneath to keep warm.

This Joules top is so fun and subtle from behind! I wore it with the gold star earrings again and an iridescent paisley necklace.

This Christmassy smock dress was handmade a few years ago. I wore this gold leather bar necklace with it and my big jingle bell earrings.

It's a bit tenuous if this is Christmassy but it features my rainbow sequin necklace and holly earrings so I say YES!

Subtly Christmassy or not?  Stars in all their glory! This is also a cosplay outfit in disguise worn by Yaz Khan!

Finally, we have the outfit I donned to play my Nutcracker music for the school reading of the story.  It's a velvet dress with a Christmassy collar and my Crown and Glory Christmas crown. 

Which is your favourite?

x

 

TARDIS Tuesday- Yaz Khan in the Witchfinders (subtly Christmas outfit!)

Before I write anything else, I just heard that my Covid test was negative! Hurrah!!! Also, CBC hasn't coughed much today. Although he still feels quite weak, it is a great improvement- he even managed to put in a load of washing AND hang it up.

I just wanted to thank the 9 of you  (as I wrote this) that commented on my Christmas song yesterday.  The message in the song is for YOU, kind people. Putting anything of yourself artistically up for anyone to listen to publicly, whether it is your voice or your composition (both in this case) is always scary and makes you feel vulnerable and when the vast majority might ignore it, a tiny bit of support is much, much, much appreciated. I am really glad that you enjoyed my song and I thank you so much for taking the time to listen to it rather than just ignoring it- your feedback was all positive but I would still have hugely appreciated it, even if it wasn't positive- acknowledgement is kind.

 This week's TARDIS Tuesday is from my new favourite companion, Yaz Khan.

It features yet another star jumper, if you think you've seen me wear something similar recently- I wore her orange version of this 2 weeks ago. It's also from Mint Velvet.  

This was one of those historical episodes.

Let's look at the outfit:

She wears the jumper with a light denim jacket, black trousers and her burgundy Chelsea brogue boots

And here is my version:

First, I do have Yaz's jumper but mine is about 4 sizes too big for me. BUT, I really like an oversized jumper, I don't like tight wool jumpers around my upper arms so this is fine for me.

I don't have a denim jacket and I so I used this denim shirt I have (charity shopped a while ago) - I really liked the feel of a shirt over a jumper so I might do this combination again.

I added my purple men's brogue boots and my ubiquitous black trousers. Oh, and my hair in messy bunches. I'm trying to do all my Yaz looks whilst I still have long hair- it's almost a year since I intended to get my hair cut so that hair for charity is looking a bit shabby but hopefully a bit longer!

I think this is a subtly Christmassy outfit because it has a star on it! Subtle Christmas jumper.

I hope you are having a good day.

We are in tier 4 here in Essex- it's sad that I've spent all term working with 540 separate children but I can't go and sit in my Mum's and Dad's back gardens, respectively, away from them having a chat but that's the way things are- My dad AND stepmum have both tested positive for COVID now so I'm hoping they continue to stay well.  If I don't get a positive test result, pray God, it means tomorrow is the last day of my isolation!  My lovely neighbour added a whole load of things to me to her online shop, we had a lot of fun banter over the phone as her husband commented on our vegan sausage choices and in fact, if you look at the above pictures, you will see a piece of paper and a phone in my hands because I was in the middle of the phone call with her whilst I took the photos- I suddenly realised it was getting dark and I knew I would miss the light if I didn't do the two simultaneously- I wonder if she realises she was inadvertently part of my photo shoot?

Hope you are well.

xx

Hope this Christmas (Advent at Home)

 As some of you may or may not know, every year since I have been at my school (all 14 years!), I have composed an original song for the children to sing at the church for our Christmas performance.  It's one of my favourite things I do in the year and to hear our children singing my own song always makes me very proud. As we teach the children, it is important that you learn to write for a specific audience, be that writing instructions for a recipe, a letter to your local MP, a fairy tale story for Reception children, a fanfare for a king and in this case, a Christmas song for a choir or school and I do this as an exercise to show that the learning never stops, nor does the creative process, no matter how old you are and that being a teacher is not all we are- we have skills, interests and hobbies that we do beyond the classroom.  As well as, of course, showing the children I care about them by writing something FOR THEM specifically.  

  Over the years, pretty much every aspect of the Christmas story and our performance has had a song written for it- Donkeys, Mary receiving the message, the baby sleeping, Caesar Augustus and his census, the Kings, the (swinging) shepherds, the innkeepers, the angels, the introduction part, a party song at the end, the message of Love being the best gift etc.

This year, I wanted to write a song of Hope, not aimed at telling an aspect of the Christmas story but to remind people in the year of 2020: you and all of our children and parents to have hope, stay positive, be kind, trust and never give up, no matter how hard things have been or are getting.  It was going to be a surprise that in the last week, I was going to record each class singing a section of it and then I was going to stitch it together and send it to the parents on the last day.

 

BUT, because we were having to stick to bubbles, this wasn't going to be possible so I adapted and was going to just  record it with choir this week (we learnt it last week on Tuesday but I wanted all the quarantining children to be part of the recording) .  Of course, my enforced isolation has put paid to that  and I've been unable to do that. Best laid plans and all that.

However, I still wanted to send the message of hope to all of you so I recorded myself singing and playing it.  No comments, positive or negative on the singing please, it's a little cringy (& a bit strangled cat!)  as it is intended to be sung by a large group of children for maximum impact, not by a slightly embarrassed teacher, trying to play the piano part correctly simultaneously, hoping her neighbours don't hear her!

The message is what is important- there will always be light if you keep it alive in your heart with hope.

Hope this Christmas

It’s been a hard year and we’ve found things changing too much.

It’s hard to see when the hardships and restrictions can all cease.

Times are strange and there’s sadness so

We must stay strong, keep our faith and let’s have

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

It’s been oh so hard, when we we’re lost and oh so lonely,

But we can find joy, if we try to seek it, try to let it shine,

Yes there’s fear but there’s courage, strength so

We must be kind, show our love and always:

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

Keep the hope, keep the joy, don’t give up, share your love, you’ve got to keep that

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Hope this Christmas,         Hope this Christmas,

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Stay safe this Christmas      Stay safe this Christmas

Don’t give up now, Trust  and pray and keep on striving, keep the season’s Joy!

 

 This is part of my 'Advent at Home' post with Ang. 

Rainbows and smiles

I keep smiling and am being positive but confess I am feeling a bit gloomy today. CBC couldn't stop coughing all day and is really depressed and saying it's on his chest if he can't stop coughing.  It was a struggle to get him to drink and eat though he did eat some of the porridge with walnuts, honey and pears, a bowl of carrot and lentil soup, half a bagel and a bowl of tomato pasta and 2 glasses of juice. Did I mention that I had to have a test?  I got a message from the local Track and Trace team on Thursday morning saying that they are asking all those who are in contact with someone who tests positive to have a test, regardless of if they have symptoms or not.

It came through this afternoon and honestly, the whole process was really difficult. I have a terrible gagging reflex on my left side of my mouth (also bad on the right but at least I can tolerate a bit of poking) to the extent my dentist has given up trying to x-ray that side of my mouth because I cannot keep the x-ray plate in place without wretching it out, even a child-sized one. I COULD not keep the poking swab touching my tonsils for even 4 seconds without my tongue smacking it out and when I put it up my nose that I really struggled to actually remember to twirl it around. Not sure if the test has gone well.  Then trying to assemble the prepackaged box was a joke- I managed to break it! 

It felt weird going out of the house- I had to go and post it in a priority mail box which meant a little walk. I knew I was allowed to be out for this purpose but I did feel like somehow secret cameras were tracking me and saying, "Why are you out of your house?"

I wish CBC would stop coughing though.  I also wish I could help him more.  I did break the 2 metre rule earlier when he was so miserable. I wore my mask and went over and stroked his hair as he lay there. I was only there for a minute or so but hoping it is ok. It's so hard to feel so helpless.

Anyway, here's something cheerful! This was an outfit from my last week at school before quarantining.  It's that rainbow skirt again and lots of other rainbowy bits you've seen this week- just with different socks and shoes (both purchased from the men's department of shops) and a Cath Kidston thin star blazer.

Keep being positive is what I keep telling CBC when he worries about what the days ahead hold. I will keep praying and being strong.  But I'm confessing that I did feel a bit blue today.

Thanks so much for all your comments and encouragement- you all mean a lot to me.

x