TARDIS Tuesday- Yaz Khan from Ascension of the Daleks

Hi there,

Hope you are well!

Oof, I feel very tired!  The Autumn-darkness is starting to get its claws into me and making me feel very fatigued and hard to get up!

However, I'm surviving!

For TARDIS Tuesday, I am making a revisit to a Yasmin Khan outfit from a recent series of Doctor Who, series 12, episode- Ascension of the Daleks, an outfit I last interpreted in February 2022 

https://thirteenstardisfam.tumblr.com/post/190988362072

There aren't great pictures available of the outfit but I did find this Gif which was quite clear!

She wears the All Saints Balfern jacket in a red colour, an All Saints floral blouse, white vest top, black trousers and brown boots.

I wore this for school today.  I always thought it was a shame that Yaz's pretty blouses get permanently hidden under her leather All Saints jackets. I like this pretty All Saints floral blouse and very grateful that my friend Ana IDed it and sold me her spare at cost.  It's quite weird because, it was probably made in another country, sold in England, resold second hand to Ana in Russia at cost.  She then sent it back to me in England. Subsequently, I sold her one of my Yaz jumpers. I bought it in the UK, I shipped it to the US for her, it then got sent to her mum in Russia and then her mum will take it to Argentina (where she emigrated to her before the war) if she can visit her at some point. These Yaz clothes are well-travelled.

I wore it with my Clara brown jacket and a very old white vest top and my ubiquitous black ASOS trousers.

Actually, this was quite a good outfit to wear for this current weather with a light jacket. It felt light but I felt covered but breezy! A couple of compliments from children and staff.

Today was a day of Year 5 classes performing rhythm work. I am going to try and spend more time perfecting performances this year, give them a chance to reflect on their work and improve it.

I have two Gamelan rehearsals this week as we have a gig at Westminster hall next week for Indonesia day!

Hope you are well!

Kezzie xx

2 weeks back in my room

Hi there,

I hope you have had a lovely weekend!

I have had my first weekend home since August as each one, so far, has involved being out or away for  most of it! It's the first weekend I've had with CBC since August too!

Yesterday was spent entirely at home and we mostly did gardening and housework.

It's been 2 weeks of teaching back at home in my room.

There are still things to get in place but it's largely ready. There's a few display boards to complete.

I need to think what to do with the board at the back here- I can't seem to find ONE section of my musical timeline so that hasn't gone up.

It's SO nice to have displays again!  Immediately, as I asked questions, the children used the display boards to find the vocabulary and used it in their answers. I found their retention of vocabulary difficult in the past 2 years.

I haven't managed to locate my musical instrument pictures to complete the instrument board on the right.  It's nice to have found an extra display board and a spare world map- I will be adding genres of world music to that board too.  I will also be adding some Timbre words to that space on the right.

There's still an empty display board on the left there- really need to put some thing up there and to complete the notation one.

Currently got all the hall music stands in here too as the hall is not in use yet as it still needs the floor sanding back and being polished and all the equipment being checked in the hall.

Can you see my reading book area on the window sill above?  I decided to show off my book collection better in this room to encourage book talk! I have a loan book now and have had several loans already!

I even managed to locate my old whiteboard.

I've got my keyboard in a different position from before- it used to be parallel to the computer but I haven't managed to find my comfy teacher chair- not sure where it went!

I've grouped all that vocabulary roughly by year group as I teach it

It's made such a difference to my mental state not to be in a constant siege mode- having to think about where things are, what I've forgotten or lost.

It's been lovely to have the option of grabbing any instrument- to offer the children a choice (where appropriate) of instruments and not to have to be selective for my sanity (and time constraints on moving equipment!) 

The children who HAD been in the room before (anyone in Year 4 and above) were SO delighted to be back in the music room again!  They were so excited!

I've had new speakers and a sound system so my sound is a bit louder in the room which is great!

I started my clubs last week.

15 children signed up for drumming club- it was great to just start it in my room! An interesting collection!

28 children signed up to Year 3-4 choir and we had a lovely 1st session- they were so sweet and excited and sang beautifully! I had quite a few new ones as well as some who returned from last year.

23 in Year 5-6 choir so far and many of them returning members as well as some new! Again, they made a lovely sound and it was so nice to just host it in my room.

At the moment, with the hall out of use, choirs are in here but it will be lovely to use a real piano when we get the hall back!

IT wise has been a bit tricky as we have moved to Microsoft 365 which is a bit tricky to grapple with and some crucial software is not on there!

Some of my classes have been tricky. I'm trying to learn the names of the new Year 1 children and the class I have first thing on a Monday are a real handful! I'm getting used to them and trying to get to know them.

There's a lot to get set up for the new year. I am struggling a bit with getting everything done but it will get done!

My enthusiasm is back - I'm managing to get in earlier which is great!

Hope all is well with you!

xx

 

Fungi #13

It's been a little while since I shared a fungi post and I do have some great ones to share.

In Northumberland, back in July, I saw a few little examples on a walk I had with CBC when we walked to Dipton Burn.

This very round-looking example was seen on the public footpath on Causey Hill- it's quite dank in that spot so a prime place for mushies, especially because it was so wet!

This looked like some old Turkey Fantail fungus. Not quite so beautiful as when it is fresh!

I saw this beautifully yellow/orange fungus deep in the woods. Not  sure what it was- a Golden Wax cap or Butter waxcap maybe but not sure!

This was like Bubblegum, this tiny lichen or fungus was spotted by CBC!

More Turkey fantail fungus in these 2 images.  The bottom piece was really pretty!  I had one foot stepping over a mini-waterfall when photographing this on a log!

Brown and mysterious- I also wasn't sure what this was!

 I have some Swiss mushrooms coming soon...once I take them off my phone and camera!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Yaz Khan in Can you Hear me? And Week 1

I've not really paid much attention to  my Yaz Khan wardrobe in the past year, I seem to have only featured her 7 times (out of 52 weeks) in the last year!

I'm returning to today to one of the most irritating outfits of her tenure.

The last time I had a look at this was in August 2021

My own screenshots but the original images belong to the BBC.

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-02-09/doctor-who-can-you-hear-me-questions/

https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2020/02/25/yasmin-khan-can-you-hear-me/

https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/sonya-khan

Whilst the leather jacket, jeans and trainers are standard and dull, it's the TOP that is the frustrating piece of this outfit! I absolutely LOVE her Ikat top- the shape, the print, the colours, the fit.

Where on earth does the wretched thing come from?!!!?

The first time I interpreted this, I tied up a dress and wore it backwards, the second time I wore a lighter diamond patterned t-shirt.

This time....

I have featured a blue, black and white patterned top I found in a Hexham charity shop.

In retrospect, it's probably the worst interpretation I've made of this look! The fit of the top doesn't work and it doesn't work tied up (I had to tie it with a black hairband as there wasn't enough material to grab to tie it up.)

The star of the outfit is my Alex Monroe Posy Loop necklace!  Yesterday, I performed a concert in Highbury, London and the 1st flautist was also wearing an Alex Monroe necklace!

Once again, I attempted to take an outfit picture out on the road to recreate a Yaz picture but not executed amazingly!

I've now run out of pre-photographed TARDIS Tuesday outfits (I did a load in the holiday) so I am going to have to think again!  Not 100% what to wear whilst it is still very hot! Maybe some Peri again since she is built for Summer!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Romana from Shada

Hello there!

What beautiful weather has now arrived! This is a common occurence in September!

It has been a rather busy and lovely weekend!  More on that soon.

For TARDIS Tuesday, I realised it has been over 4 years since I shared this particular inspiration outfit. It is one I loved and needed no modification although I HAVE modified something- nothing new acquired but I did decide to wear something slightly different.  Here is my previous post for comparison- I'd be interested to see which version you prefer.

It was a historical outfit worn by 4th Doctor companion and fellow Gallifreyan- the Timelady known as Romana.  Played by the beautiful Lalla Ward (who actually married Tom Baker!), she wore a series of quirky and fun outfits, some that looked Edwardian. She wore it in famous episode Shada.  This was supposed to be a murder-mystery set in Cambridge colleges but it was never finished due to Strike action at the BBC. We only have part of the episodes filmed.  The rest was read with pictures and remade with cartoons for BBC video and DVD.

Have a look at this beauty!

https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/romana-ii-shada/

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

Image borrowed from
https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/romana-ii-shada/ 

Here's my 2023 version. Slightly older Kezzie, shorter hair, slightly different outfit:

I started with the lacy top which was actually a dress- £2 from the charity shop 4 years ago.  It's very pretty and one of these days, I will wear the dress in its own right rather than a blouse.  

The hat was an ASOS one I have had for a very long time, a miniature boater which I embellished with a Cherry brooch that CBC bought me and some white flower hair clips. I think if I did it again, I would have pinned up the sides of my hat...and found some  cow parsley to embellish with

Two things I did differently this time were that I looked at Romana's skirt which seemed to have a patterned blue tinge to it so I decided to wear my FabIndia @ Anokhi skirt instead. Do you think it works better than my white one?

Last time, I just wore a piece of thin red ribbon round my neck as the choker whereas this time (I couldn't find it), I wore one of our old dance school headbands (every grade had a different coloured headband so you could distinguish between the different level children in our class)- it used to be Grade 3 then became the Grade 5 headband. The red belt (Poundland ancient) was the same. I did consider wearing a red scarf but decided not to.

I thought it would be fun to try and recreate this photo of Romana in a punt. It took several attempts of pressing the self-time then throwing my self down onto the cushions, adjusting my hat, picking up the book, arranging my legs and then lifting my skirt slightly...all in 10 seconds!

I do hope all is well with you and you are enjoying the sun! I shall be in school, trying to get my room back into order!

xx

Getting my room back

 I remember when I wrote that post back in 2021 just before going back to school, when I found out I was losing my music room.  I can confirm that the work is done and I am getting my room back. I am super happy about this but a little daunted at getting it in order, being able to start clubs like orchestra and recorder club again. I have NO children who will have been in orchestra so it's really starting from scratch again especially as I have no recorder players from Recorder Club to supplement. Eeek! and being ready! But it's all mine!

It's been a great holiday, I've done a lot of things, had fun, rested, got away from everything, read great books, seen friends and family and been well.

Also, had a little idea for a performance for the children.  Lara is coming to tune our pianos so we might do a short little concert for the children whilst she is there- some flute and piano and perhaps I might persuade her to play something on the piano too!

Hope all is well with YOU!

xx