Recently

 Hello friends,

I hope you are well. I've gone back into 'exhausted' blogging mode where I don't get around to writing anything!

I thought I'd write about what I've been up to.  Mainly for me but feel free to read!

Went to my Balinese gamelan rehearsal on Thursday night and we recorded our new piece which we commissioned from our Balinese teacher (he taught me when I lived in Bali) as a way to support him through lockdowns in 2020 after he lost all his work.  We recorded it and I ended up having a moment where I had to do double handed playing as trying to play on the offbeats at topspeed was just impossible but it sounded really good on the recording. We all felt really good after the rehearsal. I really didn't want to go but actually, really enjoyed it after I got there! Also, I tried the McDonalds Vegan Plant burger after and it was YUMMY!

Friday night, I went to another rehearsal for the City of London Winds (concert next Sunday at 4.30pm at St Silas Pentonville if anyone is interested!).  Again, I really wasn't feeling like it but actually enjoyed the rehearsal very much. It's really interesting to play in a wind band again, but really nice it is a really good one.  The other two flutes were much more friendly to me this time so that helped and the music is quite interesting.   Had delicious noodles beforehand from my old local Chinese. Two evenings on the trot with food on the go.

Had a lovely games evening at our friend Lara and her husband's 1300th century cottage.  Delicious veggie chilli and apple crumble and hilarious fun with the board games. We went shopping beforehand and I got some bits and pieces from the Refill shop in town (not my regular one)- it had some interesting Rigatoni pasta that is much cheaper than my regular refill shops so good to stock up on that.  Also bought 4 brilliant kids books in the charity shop 4 for £1.50 one of which I have been wanting to buy for ages as it is in a series I love AND a replacement of CBC's glass reusable mug that he smashed accidentally. Also stocked up on my favourite unpacked deodorant from Lush.  Had a bit of a nasty start to the afternoon which sent my anxiety levels absolutely sky high but I'm not going into that here. 

I am grateful that Sunday morning, I slept in as I have really struggled to sleep recently and I am so grateful to have been able to sleep.  I missed getting to church but I caught up with the team service on YouTube and was able to make notes at my leisure and really enjoyed the calm time by myself but still feeling I was part of the service. An excellent sermon from the team rector.

Enjoyed a sunlit walk by myself- it made me feel less anxious about things and was much needed exercise.  Also had a good catch up with my Mum on the phone and then with my dear friend Jane from my old church.

I cooked a 5-days out of date Veggie Lasagna for dinner (CBC bought it from Charlie Bigham at Waitrose but as I've been out for a few nights and he didn't eat it and didn't want it on the evenings I WAS in, so it's his fault! :0)   )  along with Broccoli and Kale- stupidly managed to boil the veg without water but actually not for too long so it gave it quite a nice taste! Also cooked the 4 beetroot that have been mouldering in the fridge for 2 weeks and roasted them with sesame seeds as an experiment- it was a success!

Had a funny moment on Wednesday where I ended up having to ride on the pavement part of the way to school from the station. One of my year 6 boys (one of the complete nightmare class when he was in Year 3-4 but actually, we get on now really well) raced past me and I ended up feeling really competitive and somehow managed to sail past him on the road at the last junction and win in a race he didn't know he was having with me- he laughed every time he saw me that day and said, "I can't believe you beat me to school!"

Last week, was dreading a Year 4 lesson where the children had to write out of their melodies they have been composing onto the stave as well as doing some sorting of statements connected to drones and melodies and actually, the children really seemed to enjoy it and pretty much all of them successfully managed to do it, give or take a few exceptions. It's usually a really painful lesson but I used the format I had created in lockdown last year for them to do it which worked really well in real life rather than online. So some positive from remote teaching last year then!

I was thinking about how awful the current year 6's were when they were in Year 3-4 (this being the year group that made me cry!) and thinking how much mixing their classes and them maturing has made a difference and realising I actually quite like them now. Funny how things change, eh?

Starting back with my Kensington Chamber Orchestra on Tuesday night! Very excited to be back but sad our regular conductor Tom is not able to make it back from Berlin for this concert!  The programme looks and sounds yummy! Concert on the first Saturday in March- hurrah as my other orchestra was cancelled!

Read a couple of book Whodunnits these past few weeks! A lovely one translated from French, I've read 2 in the series before about the bookseller Victor Legris and his amateur sleuthing but really enjoyed reading another one!

Anyway, enough waffling- I am going to try to get to bed at a reasonable hour despite the fact I've not done everything I needed to do.

Hope you are well.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Missy

 Hello!

For TARDIS Tuesday, I am going to share an outfit inspiration and character that last featured on this blog back on my birthday cosplay party...but it wasn't worn by me!! It was worn by Fil and Sophie!  However, I did have an outfit inspired by Missy back in 2015.

Yes, the queen of mean is my inspiration for this week.

For anyone who doesn't know who I am talking about, The Master was a villain introduced to Doctor Who during Jon Pertwee's tenure of Doctor Who. He was a rival, renegade timelord and was the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock.  He was played by the wonderful Roger Delgado.  He sadly died in an unexpected car accident whilst Pertwee was still the Doctor and the character was not seen for another few years until he turned up burned in The Deadly Assassin with Tom Baker. In the penultimate Tom Baker story, The Keeper of Traken, the wasted character from the Deadly Assassin took over the body of Tremas (anagram of Master!), a Traken man played by Anthony Ainley and he terrorized the Doctor through Peter Davidson's tenure. He disappeared again until the final 7th Doctor Story, Survival where he had become infected with The Cheetah People's something or other.  He then appeared in the 1996 movie played by Eric Roberts  He disappeared for another decade and turned up in David Tennant's era in the form of Derek Jacobi and then John Simm.  Finally, in Peter Capaldi's era, He became She and Michelle Gomez played the bonkers female version of him called Missy!

I'm using the Series 10 version of Missy whose hair is a bit more wild, less-Mary Poppinsesque and her outfit is darker but with Edwardian influences still strongly featuring.

Image borrowed from Arstechnica

Image borrowed from The Radio Times

IMage borrowed from this Twitter.

Doctorwhotv.com

In this version of Missy's outfit from Doctor Who series 10 (in which the Doctor is trying to redeem Missy, AKA, the Master, she wears a variation on her Mary Poppins-esque outfit.

A dark brown paisley blouse with rounded white collar and cuffs, a brown neck bow with red flowers and a dark purple full length skirt and black boots.  

I saw an instagram cosplayer share a work in progress version of this Missy and thought to myself, "Hmmm, I could do a closet cosplay version of this without getting anything additional that might work quite well."

And here we go:

I'll start from the very begining, a very good place to start...

Wait, that's the Sound of Music, wrong Julie Andrews film.  Hold on, Mary Poppins isn't right either??? Ah, Michelle Gomez, Doctor Who!

I began with my white round-collared shirt from ASOS (which has featured in various cosplays including Romana and Yaz Khan).

Over the top of that, I layered my cappucino-coloured Boden shirt, bought originally, secondhand for my Clara Oswald 60's echo outfit. I tucked its own collar in.

Next, to emulate Missy's neck-tie, I added a black silk with red flowers scarf from Primark.

Yeah, Missy did a dab when she was pretending to be The Doctor in one episode.  This being the only time I would do one! The final two clothing elements were my 1970's Droopy and Brown skirt which was given to me by a friend and my black Clarks ankle boots.

I am notoriously bad at HAIR styling and struggled a bit with this but I put my hair in a highish ponytail (as high as mine goes...which isn't very) and then used hairgrips to pin it messily to the top of my head!

It was quite fun incorporating the piano into these photos.  Right colour, wrong model, mine being an upright, not a grand piano!

It was quite fun trying to pull slightly manic, slightly evil facial expressions!  I'm quite good at those. My A for GCSE drama came from playing a child-killer suffering from Postnatal depression and mania and Satan (modelled from Eric Roberts' Master from the 1996 Doctor Who the Movie), not from nice characters or essays!! Eeek!!!

So, what do you think? Does my version of Missy cut the mustard?  

xx

From the Archives: Blanchland calling!

I like looking back on past blog posts! I miss the times where I was really good at charting my travels and walks. I find it a bit more exhausting nowadays which is a pity!

I remember the first time I visited Blanchland in October 2015.  CBC and I were staying in Haltwhistle with WOMOTM and we had gone for a walk after a drive to Blanchland to visit a newly refurbished pub/hotel.  Blanchland sits on the Northumberland/Durham border and you pass the Derwent reservoir on your way up there.  We had an hour to kill and we were recommended a walk.  It's now one of my favourite walks which I have done at least twice this year and in the Summer, there's the bonus you can paddle in the river!

Hope you enjoy the Autumnal colour pictures.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Blanchland calling!

Blanchland is a village around 10 miles or so away from Corbridge in Northumberland.
We ended up going for a walk there because a friend recommended we visit the Lord Crewe Arms hotel there for lunch.
The restaurant/pub was full until an hour after we arrived so we went outside and calling in at the Post Office, CBC asked if the lady could recommend an hour's walk and she instantly gave us directions for a walk. Walking boots on, we set off towards the river.

Because the skies above us were so grey and lugubrious, the colours of the grass and foliage was by contrast, bright and cheering.

It was rather boggy and muddy walking by the river, but just the sound of a river is calming to the soul.

The sight of a path of crisp leaves amidst the mud was a most welcoming carpet, rather like a Sir Walter Raleigh cape to Queen Elizabeth's path.

The path took a right at one point past this dry-stone wall

The canopy of trees above our head was a sea of golden bells in bright harmony.

Even the green moss adorning the walls had the quality of green velvet and rather suggested opulence rather than decay.

Rain upon green blades resembled sequins and beads.

Here, where the branches were much sparser than those we'd seen before, the appearance was pleasing and resembled sparklers on Bonfire night in my mind.

And the tree below with its drapes of yellow made me think of the story we were told in primary school of a poor Christmas tree which the family could not decorate. Some spiders spun their webs all over it in the night and an angel saw it and turned the webs into silver and that's how tinsel came about.

A small pebbled beach appeared by the river side and a whooshing and burbling indicated the presence of a small waterfall or downward stream if one cannot use the word correctly.

Continuing, a pictureseque bridge was our next landmark to tell us to change our path.

Coming onto the bridge, we discovered that we'd hit the border of County Durham which surprised us both!

Turning into towards the woods, the path was drier, crisper and more pleasant. The colours were bright and pleasing.

It was therefore justifiably shocking seconds later when we entered the woods to be hit by the sight of a stark path bereft of any colour other than the dull brown, caused, I presume, by the needles dropping from the pine trees.

It was quite eerie to be struck into sepia mode without any warning and be surrounded by such imposing trees.

If things couldn't get any wierder, this silver birch (?) seemed to be looking at me!

...in more places than one, it seemed.

And apparently the eye of Sauron was there too!

It was rather a relief to find our way out of the enchanted woods and back towards the town, where an old ruin greeted us.

And finally, there we were, back in Blanchland itself, ready to sample the delights of the Lord Crewe Arms.

I hope all is well with you. I had a successful day with many positive moments:

• Teaching a maths lesson in which pretty much everyone got on and did stacks of work!
• Singing assembly- learning a French carol well.
• Recorder Club- totally nailing Hark the Herald Angels sing and Joy to the World.
• The response of the children who were told they'd been picked for KS1 Choir. One after my saying, "Do you mind, are you happy being in choir?" said, "It's my dream."  I cocked my head on one side and she elaborated, "Before you said it, I'd been dreaming and hoping you'd pick me and now my dream's come true."  This from a quiet little mite. I almost cried.
• My 4 year 3's who I picked to play 4 recorder pieces they've been learning in class for Achievement assembly, practising and being totally great and excited at playing.
• Eating Tempeh curry for dinner!

xxx 

Tapas Attire

Last Saturday, after a day at home of cleaning, tidying and washing, (oh, and a cycle to town to post a parcel, deliver clothes to the charity shop and plastic back to the dry cleaner), I was really keen to go out for dinner. I was definitely not wanting to do any MORE chores.  CBC was feeling particularly grouchy as he's worried about his health and just being rather nervous about going anywhere far.  However, I'd mentioned the new cafe in town was doing an inaugural tapas night and he'd said that he'd be interested in going but we'd not booked. I suggested we take a chance and just turn up and see if they were accepting walk ins.

At which point, I wanted to dress up a little bit- nothing TOO fancy but something could don in a few minute and feel comfortable but smart.

And here's what I came up with!

Let's start with the foundation (bottom right).

A WhiteStuff burgundy top with keyhole and a black velvet charityshopped Topshop skirt.

Black leggings for warmth and black velveteen M&S pull-up stretch booties.

Bottom left:  I added my Second-hand Hobbs NW3 tartan wool blazer. Fun fact, this is the same material as a very desirable Clara Oswald dress.

Top right:  A black cashmere pasmina to cosy up.

Top left: I added my blue cape (from last week's TARDIS Tuesday).

Ah, what about jewellery?

A matching blue Druzy necklace (and matching earrings- hidden beneath hair) which were a birthday present from the lovely ex-blogger Melanie (AKA Follybird).

Bright pink rosy cheeks courtesy of sitting in front of the fan heater. It's a bad habit but a very nice one!

Happily, the Cafe had a couple of no-shows for the Tapas night so we were able to get a table straight away. It was all delicious and it was nice to support a new business in town- we don't have that many great restaurants in our fairly sleepy town so we are grateful for any innovation!

It was really nice to dress up AND not to have to think about whether or not I'd get bedraggled on a bike wearing it since CBC drove us and fun to pretend things were a little normal.

xxx

Recently...Happy things this week.

 The last week:

There were lots of good things:

• I applied for a grant for school last August and was awarded £1000 for some external music workshops.  My family friend/Godmother's daughter owns a workshop company and ran those for us- the children and teachers really enjoyed them and I was delighted to get to see my friend who ran the first day workshops for us. I ate lunch with her and she stayed after school to help me with choir and we did some team-teaching together. It was so fun and it was so nice to see her!
• After choir, I went back with her in her car to her parents house (they are my favourite people in the world!) and I had a cup of tea and good chinwag with them.  Their house looks exactly the same as it has always done and it was so lovely.  My mum called when I was there and to confuse her, I answered the phone!
• On the way back to the station, I went into CBC and my favourite restaurant which does an AMAZING Szechuan Aubergine (and no other Chinese restaurant I know does this) and ordered 2 portions of it plus Hakka vegetable noodles and Garlic Chilli prawns and took them home for CBC and I. It was a wonderful bonus to realise I would be going past this restaurant! Also passed my old childhood home which was so weird!
• Every child in 2 of my year 5 classes was willing to sing a solo in their Medieval-inspired plainchant.  Everyone except 2 children in the 3rd class was willing to do this.
• I made an EXCELLENT vegetable stew tonight- I made enough for 6 portions- it contained 8 carrots, red lentils, 1 courgette, 3 onions, 1 tin of kidney beans, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, 1 litre of vegetable stock, old swiss chard, home grown onion scapes, tumeric, paprika, marjoram, oregano.  It's nice not to have to think about 2 more meals this week!
• I went to church in my old town today- was lovely to play with the worship band and feel that joy that comes with being in the presence of God and feeling like all is well again.
• The sun!
• A vegan sausage roll and vegan festive bake plus chocolate muffin from Greggs- yum!
• Managed to return plastic and hangers to the dry cleaners in town.
• CBC and I enjoyed a delicious Tapas meal out in town last night- a new cafe has opened in town and it was their first evening event. It was really yummy!
• I cleaned and tidied the house yesterday- it took aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages but I am really glad I did it.  The bedroom floor is clear!!!
• I am playing for City of London Symphonic Winds' next concert and had to go to a rehearsal on Friday night which I REALLY wasn't in the mood for especially as I know NO ONE in the band and the other flutes aren't particularly friendly or welcoming (my friend who asked me to do it isn't doing the concert but didn't tell me until I'd agreed to play)- the music was actually good in the end and it was fun to do even though I was not feeling 100% about it.
• I love watching The Apprentice- so glad it is back on.  The 'Turd' thing is hilarious!
• David Attenborough's Water series is so exhilarating!  I used to hate watching wildlife programmes as a child  but I love them now!
• I'm just catching up on the Emily in Paris that I haven't seen before. The series annoys me but I quite enjoy it!
• I've ordered my Stepmum some handcrafted stained glass flowers for her 60th next week and  the artist posted a picture of them on her IG stories today and they look really beautiful! I really hope she likes them as they are REALLY expensive so I hope they go down well.
• I took a risk on a 'too good to be true cheap priced instrument' on eBay for school and it turned up on Friday and it is AMAZING!!! It's such good quality and should usually cost about £180 but I got it for £25 including postage!!!
• The photo book for my Dad arrived- it looks lovely!
• I did some ironing today. Yes, I don't know who I am either!
• My friend said that my cute year 2 class were so amazing at their music workshopt that she did the same work as she did with Year 4 with them.
• 4 of the cute girls from the aforementioned class came up to me and told me they were playing 'Schools' and one of them was 'Mrs P'- me!! It was so cute!
• Letter arrived from my lovely penpal Katie- we've been reusing the same orange bubblewrap envelope for about 10 letters and when I see it arrive through the letterbox, my heart sings- her letters are SUCH fun and this was no exception! I wish we lived nearer!
• I've had 2 weeks of reading vintage Whodunnits- my comfort food!

The bad:

• My journey to school and back is long and arduous as it is so I was VERY annoyed to discover that the train company has reduced my trains morning and evening to one every HALF an HOUR (usually one every 10 mins). I had to wait 30mins on Monday morning and then EVERY evening home, I missed the conection by 30seconds and had to wait 30mins on a cold platform.  That's 3hours of my time this week spent on a cold platform waiting for a train. SO NOT fair! I pay a FORTUNE in train fares.
• Usually, teaching Year 1 about the orchestra is really fun- they LOVE conducting and being in the class orchestra but it was REALLY hard doing it in a classroom and they were really badly behaved!

What happened to you last week?

xx

MY HUGE FOIL BALL! (there's an eco tip in there somewhere....)

 

I'm probably speaking to the great educated on this subject but I thought I'd share, just in case you didn't know.

Aluminium foil is one of the most recyclable materials around- Aluminium in general is brilliant to recycle!  You can turn it 100% back into an equally good aluminium product.

However, do you know how to recycle your foil correctly?  I only learnt this about a year ago.

Aluminium foil is incredibly light and if you put small pieces of it into your recycling, chances are it won't be spotted and seperated for recycling- I am not sure if this is dependent on human-selection or some sort of magnet.

In order to allow your foil to be recycled properly, you need to try and scrunch all your small pieces together into one big ball and don't put it into your recyling until it is the size of a tennis ball as the minimum smallest size.  All, do make sure it is clean and free of grease, food or dirt. I always wash min my washing up water.

I rarely use foil but at last, I have a big enough ball to go into the recycling!!!  My milk bottle tops and juice bottle tops are foil. Luckily, Christmas has brought some minced pie foil tins and in addition, some foil-wrapped chocolates have contributed.  In addition, I am that nerdy that I carefully washed and squirrelled away all the Christmas cooking foil in Northumberland in my suitcase.  I know my mother-in-law (and husband) think I'm mad but I made my pledge that if I saw an opportunity that I could get something into the correct place for reusing or recycling, I would do it, even at inconvenience to me.  (She was not impressed when she saw me trying to save veg peelings to take down the hill to my friends' compost bin...)

It's so satisfying to be able to put this ball out although I've still got a few of the Christmas chocolates left so perhaps I can allow my foil beast to grow for a few weeks more...??

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

TARDIS Tuesday: Peri Brown in Revelation of the Daleks

I last attempted this TARDIS Tuesday outfit back in November 2017 and is an outfit worn in the 80's by Colin Baker's companion, Peri Brown (played by Nicola Bryant).  Back then, it was a closet cosplay (i.e. I rummage in the wardrobe and put together items to make an outfit without having bought anything specifically with the inspiration outfit in mind).

Today, it is a closet cosplay...well I'll go into that a bit more later...

Image borrowed from http://ibw.cwbuechler.com/newblog/?p=2452

Let's have a look:

https://www.pinterest.com.au/ashleygundlach/the-sixth-doctor/

IMage borrowed from DoctorWhoTV.com

https://twitter.com/niti_who/status/1083820818008887296
 

Peri wears that colour which is the epitome of the 80's, electric blue.  She wears an oversized wool coat in that colour with big sleeves and a high neck.  On the left hand side, she wears a small silver brooch.  She wears a matching blue beret. They wear this colour because it is the colour of respect and remembrance for those who have died on the planet of Necros.

On her bottom half she wears baggy black trousers and black heeled boots.

Underneath, she seemed to wear a velvet or corduroy claret tunic with a colour which has a fitted waist.  She seems to wear some sort of red floral scarf tucked in, a gold chain and blue glass dangly earrings.

Let's have a look at my interpretation:

Firstly, I said this is a closet cosplay. It is but I had to search in 2 wardrobes, 2 suitcases, 2 drawers, 4 boxes, 9 mini drawers of earrings, a brooch box and several drawers to find the elements and even then, I could not find the correct beret! What a waste of time!

I started with 2 claret tops. Both of these are tops I have for other cosplays (Clara and Romana- both shirts charity shopped). I wore the collared shirt underneath and added the top on top. It didn't seemed to have the right waisted effect so I added a brown belt to shape it.  I tucked in a black floral silk scarf as well and added a gold necklace which my friend Lara gave me.

Next, came the rummage for suitable earrings and brooch. These ones seemed the best match but I had some alternatives to choose from. (the brooch was charity shopped and the earrings from some craft fair or other.)

The above were my options....

I chose the ones below...did I choose the best version?

Even finding the Black charity shopped ASOS trousers took ages despite the fact I had seen and put them away a week ago! The black suede M&S stretchy boots were a doddle in comparison (under the stairs shoe box)

The blue cape (rather than a blue coat) was bought as a present for me by CBC from Spitalfields market when we were first going out and I love it but not worn for ages.

The hat was the most frustrating as I cannot find that wretched blue beret I wore last time anywhere or indeed ANY of my coloured berets! No idea where that box with them has gone! Is it in the loft?!?!

Luckily, I found a blue crocheted convertible hat/snood/neckwarmer that my Mum made me and that had to do!

I honestly wish I hadn't started with this outfit as the searching for items I KNOW I have took way too long, which again, points to the 'has too many items of clothing and garments issue I was talking about with regard to my Christmas outfits post.

However, I went with it after all that searching!

What do you think?

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?

From the archives: Boot!

 It's been a while since I made cards (apart from the 25 Christmas cards I made just using shape punches and an embossing tools). I love a holiday where I have a mammoth making session.  Wish I had done this, this holiday. Anyway, I was having a look at my blog archive(love doing this- especially as I am the queenofnostalgia) and here is a post I  posted this back in November 2015.  I made this card for my much-missed Father-in-Law and I was really proud of it!

Hope, if you missed it first time round, that you enjoy seeing it!

xx

Boot!

It strikes me that the title Boot! should have been a Terry Pratchett title.  Alas, he died before he could finish it. I've recently finished another Pratchett called 'Wee Free Men' which was utterly brilliant and I was delighted when my favourite characters Esme Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg turned up at the very end!

Obviously, from the picture, you are patently aware I am digressing, so I had better divert back to the main point of the post.  I've had a little bit a of time this weekend to prepare a few posts for the week, so, I hope I may be here in spirit if not totally in mind!

It was WOMOTM's birthday last week and I decided I had exhausted the 'camera' angle for his birthday cards and instead plumped for a walking/hiking angle.

I decided to create a 'walking boot' so I googled "Walking boot colouring template' and looked at various 2D plain ones on the screen.  I then using a nice piece of clean food packaging, created a basic boot shape by drawing it roughly.  I then added some extra bits of black card to make the heel and stuck it below and added some brown paper details on top.  

You can see below, I attempted some sort of 'stitching' on these elements by using a paper-piece (essentially a large needle on a long stick) to pierce holes in the brown.  The silver lace holes were drawn on in silver gel pen once I'd drawn some black bootlaces in Sharpie (none-too neatly)

For the background, I found a bit of old atlas to use as the background (I would have used the Lake District but all the interesting bits were obscured beneath the boot).  Finally, I made some photo corners out of the rest of the food box and embossed them with an old biro and went over in white pen.

The final touch was just to pierce some tiny holes all around the black base card.

I'm pleased to report that WOMOTM liked it (hurrah!) 

It was not too difficult to make this- the only tricky part is lining up and measuring all the different materials that collage on top of the base boot so they are neat and exact.

What do you think?  Suitable for a Wise Old Man Of The Mountain?

Linking to Creative Mondays with Claire Justine

xx