Written in the stars

I always enjoy a trip to Hexham Abbey when I visit Hexham. This time, there was a beautiful display of origami stars made by schools and communities.

The exhibition is entitled:

Stars for Eternity

We are raising thousands of origami stars to the Abbey ceiling, all of them made by local people and dedicated to the shining souls who have brightened others’ lives.

Suspended 45ft high in the Chancel of the Abbey, the stars stretch from the old choir stalls to the high altar and are lit from each side. The stars are high enough that dedications can't be read from the floor, keeping memories and thoughts private but still present, much like a prayer. 

Similar to the Angel exhibition from a couple of years ago, I really enjoyed the effect of these being displayed.

 Such a wonderful display

I went for a walk in the rain...

It was dusk and I needed some solitude so I set out up the hill.  It started to rain but this didn't deter me.

I saw so much beauty, a few examples of which I will share.

 

A nonet of outfits!

*Apologies if I have not commented on your blog in the last couple of days- not sure what was going on with the comments but I kept getting error messages about not being able to save my comments and this happened on multiple blogs!*

Spring and Summer are my favourite seasons for clothing.  There's something about the light fabrics, the colours, the patterns that lightens my heart! I photographed 9 of the outfits I wore in May so far to share with you.  

Wore this to go to the recording day for when I went to my old Sixth form to record. I got completely soaked in it as the rain plummeted down all day. I also wore the same outfit last week for school and orchestra.  The star of the outfit is the lovely lightweight skirt I bought from 'By the Sea vintage' in Southend. I picked out the turquoise with this turquoise top and purple Karen Millen cardie (bought bought second hand) Added a charity-shopped skirt in honour of Ann and my Florence-bought blue boots.  

The butterfly earrings came from Joy and I saw a girl with them at Stansted airport around 15 years ago and asked where she got them from. I spent more on the postage than the earrings!

This screen-printed dress with clouds and raindrops came from Amy Laws but bought second hand from Vinted. Wore with the Lotus blue pumps

This raindrop necklace and matching earrings were a gift from the lovely @LaserKate on insta as they were TARDIS blue!

I transferred the jewellery set to the next day's outfit and wore more clouds-Cath Kidston skirt bought for me by my Mum plus a charity-shopped H&M top.

I have this Monsoon dress for about 5 years and I cannot believe two things...

1. I have never shared it on the blog

2.  I didn't know it was a dipped hem skirt until this Saturday just gone!!!!

It has a nice back and I actually often wear it backwards with the blue tie tucked in. Worn with Esoteric London star tassel necklace.

For my orchestra concert on Saturday, I wore this lightweight black dress from Superdry (Vinted).  Added my favourite ever Secret Santa gift- a black velvet and diamante necklace. I still wonder, to this day, who bought this for me!  Can you see my cat flats? No? Maybe later?

Can you see the cat flats THIS time?  

Worn with this lovely vintage floral skirt (purchased from Think Twice in Bruges) and a lovely white top which I bought a few weeks ago in the Salvation Army.  The Tassel star made a return. 

The Year 6 girls loved this outfit!

The tassel necklace made a return here with an East silk blouse, a Primark butterfly sequinned top and my Miss Patina cat culottes. Can you see the cat flats?

Oh, ok, here they are!  Do you remember when customised a pair of Asda ballet pumps with sewn cat faces?

Bonus arm photo! I think my hair needs a cut

The last one features the charity-shopped Topshop stripy trousers I shared in my last outfit post. It's pretty similar to last time except my black Topshop top has no sleeves!

Out of my nonet, which is your favourite?

TARDIS Thursday- Village of the Angels Yaz

Hi there,

Greetings from Lurgy-ville! I started to feel a bit unwell on Sunday night and now I have a fully blown cold.  Yesterday, I took 18 children from my Year 4 recorder club to perform in our local borough's annual recorder festival.  It was the first one since 2019 and is a festival I have been taking part in since about 1988! We had a lovely time (although had to wait 30mins for the last parent to collect their child!)   It was sad that only 3 schools (plus the music school) accepted the invitation to take part.  In past years, there have been dozens of schools. I wondered why? Is the recorder not being taught so much (wretched Ukelele)? Was it too last minute? I do hope that it will develop again more next year.

My children were really proud of themselves and really excited but nervous to do their first performance with other schools.  When I look at the children I took (one last minute was not able to come), I laugh at some of the children I have who used to be really difficult in Year 1 and who are now proudly playing the recorder and turning up to a lunchtime club voluntarily on a weekly basis! I am so glad to offer them this opportunity! The audience was very warm and receptive and appreciative and the parents were really excited to see their children perform.

For TARDIS Tuesday today, I am featuring Yasmin Khan again- 13th Doctor companion.

It comes from Series 13 episode, Village of the Angels.  This was a creepy but brilliant episode with tension in bags!

She wears a navy silky floral shirt from All Saints (The Adeliza Spirit shirt) plus a brown fur coat from Zara (and NOT her usual leather jacket!) plus black buttoned down jeans, tan belt and Dr Martens Leonore chelsea boots. She wears a bright red top underneath and her  Y and Z initial necklaces.

https://tellyvisions.org/article/doctor-who-flux-episode-4-recap-village-angels 

Here's my version:

 Not sure what is going on with my camera but it was very washed out!

With the exception of my All Saints blouse (which has a lovely jacquard fabric with nice big loose sleeves), the rest of the outfit is all other items I own anyway (the usual ASOS trousers, brown boots plus my G Star Deline coat from another Yaz outfit. I forgot to don my tan belt!

This was a good school outfit on a Spring day.

I hope all is well with you!

xx

Music does

Often, in school, we like to find cross-curricular links in lessons we are teaching.   I teach music but often I teach other things.

Today, in Year 3, I was recapping what they had learnt last week about Jazz music and scatting.  We recapped a song and then they had a chance to imitate my scatting improvisation. I gave a few of them the opportunity to lead the class (which they did with great bravery, gusto and enthusiasm).  We then had a go at improvising to a Jazz backing track on the recorder.  We then moved onto listening to some Reggae music and learning about that genre of music.  Through the course of the lesson covered history, geography, social issues, had a discussion about the Rastafarian religion, had a talk about what constituted racism (A Bangladeshi boy told me it was racist to refer to someone as 'Black' when we were reading a short biography of Bob Marley which mentioned his mother was black and his father was white ) and, with the help of some of the other children, made them understand that referring to someone's colour is not racist but a way of referring to something special about them and you would be racist if you said something nasty about somebody or said there was something about them that implies they are 'less' than someone else because of their skin colour/race/family background/origin. It felt like we had covered so much in that one lesson!  Similarly, in the afternoon, in year 2, we have been learning about communication and this lesson was on recognising and imitating bird song with our voices and instruments- it felt fun to teach them some general and nature knowledge of birds!  We ended up counting the different pitches in bird song and I showed them how to represent these graphically in symbols

Music can cover maths, English, science, Geography, RE, history, social issues and in other lessons: art, DT, PHSE.  But of course, it is also very much itself!*

*Also met a lovely parent today! What a kind and pleasant man who was so proud of his two lovely girls, one of whom is performing in our recorder festival next week.

TARDIS Tuesday- The woman who lived

Hello there!

Today's TARDIS Tuesday has featured 3 times here.  IN 2020, 2019 and 2018.  It's had a 4 year hiatus so it was nice to welcome it back last week. I think this is a nice, smart, work look.

It was worn by Clara Oswald, my favourite Who character, back in an episode called The Woman Who lived.  Sadly, it gets very little screen time which is a great shame as it's so cute!

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-10-24/the-woman-who-lived/ 

My last two pics come from the Doctor Who exhibition, where I actually got to see the Screen worn costume!

Since I last wore it, it has received 2 upgrades

You might recall, that when I wore it here in 2019, although the skirt was riding up a little bit, it seemed a bit too short for my longer legs.  I saw that Topshop did a Tall version of this skirt so I went a size up AND got the tall version which I think makes it a much more respectable length which works better for my height.

I do love the chorister look of this jumper and blouse combination plus the little eagle necklace.

The final item which is different is that I had the screen accurate (but a low heeled version) shoes this time which I have worn before for a different Clara cosplay that features them too!  They're pretty smart and I like them a lot! I am glad I wore this look last week as it would have been way too warm for the weather we have had this week or so!

Did anyone watch the two new Doctor Who episodes?  

Spoilers coming if you didn't so look away or stop reading if you don't want to know. I enjoyed them but I have to say, musically, the denouement of the Devil's Chord episode was rather disappointing.  Maestro said you had to be a genius to work out the chord that was needed to vanquish them.

Well, let me tell you, that a C major chord is the most basic harmony you can play and my year 5 children could have guessed that, so that was a really disappointing, easy chord to have picked. They could have chosen a really interesting crunchy chord, something Wagnerian.  In addition, when the piano teacher at the start played the Tritone, well, composers and players had used that chord before that lots in music so it wasn't really a lost chord. It was a well-known chord. But it was a fun episode and had some really cool moments!

TARDIS Tuesday- Sarah Jane Smith Closet cosplay from Revenge of the Slitheen

 Hi there,

Hope you had a marvellous bank holiday (in England) and a great weekend anywhere else.

I had a lovely time yesterday (well, today, as I write this!) singing at the recording at my old school. It was amazing to see so many people.  Out of my year group from A'level, the 3 people I hoped would be there, were there- Kat, Ish and Tom and it was so nice to catch up with them! In addition, I saw other lovely people from other years including people I didn't expect to see.

It was amazing to sing with so many other people.  During the second recording, as we sang the final note of the cantata (top G# for us sopranos), I found myself crying-such was the emotional joy of singing. These beautiful songs really do capture the heart.

Our music teacher was at that school for forty years and he inspired so many singers (and instrumentalists) and it's so sad to hear that music, since he left, has met such a demise, he really was and is special and we count ourselves so lucky to have lived in an era of such inspiration. It makes me realise, even more, how important what I am doing is, even though I can only keep the children till they are 11... we need more and better music in secondary schools and less objection to music.

As we were talking to my teacher, post recording, I told him, we really do love you, and I could see that meant a lot to him.  The lovely thing is... we are going to do a Christmas performance of these songs too! So we have something to look forward to!

Anyway, enough of me being soppy and sentimental, onto TARDIS Tuesday.

In my January TARDIS Tuesday cosplans post, I've already used two of them as inspiration and today, I am sharing no.3. 

This is a Closet Tuesday, meaning, I have gathered together items I already owned and didn't buy for this particular outfit.

Let's look at the inspiration with comes from Doctor Who Spin off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen. The episode in question was 

https://sjscloset.livejournal.com/3211.html

https://tardis-base-sja.blogspot.com/2008/09/episode-revenge-of-slitheen.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1030453/

You can see clearly what the outfit is made up of. All of it is currently unidentified!

Here's my version, using the closest items I had.

I started with two tops I've had for a looooong time. In fact, I've owned these since before I was married. The top came from Whitestuff and the red vest came from Cath Kidston.

My jeans were charity-shopped M&S a couple of years ago. I first used these for a Yaz Khan cosplay but they have proved very useful! My ancient eYe Italian boots worked for this cosplay too!

I'm not 100% sure this is the most flattering look (not least because I hadn't ironed anything!)  but it was comfy. I did consider wearing a white belt with this look..or a white ribbon, but decided to keep it simple!

Tonight, I have my first rehearsal with my regular orchestra since March. Hurrah!

Hope all is well with you!x

Ladybird

When I had one of my several hospital appointments, I nipped into my local charity shop on the way home and saw this on the mannequin.  I found a good old fashioned walking stick for my Treasure Island production but ended up just trying this on!  I ended up buying it, for a very reasonable £3.75 and promptly wore it to go and watch Voces 8. I decided to add this stretchy petal belt to cinch the waist and the cashmere cardigan for warm. Knee high boots and a beret completed the look. 

All my scans and things came back negative so I've been discharged.  Hopefully all is fine so I am very grateful for that...but not sure what caused my pains/issues.  Thank you for all your positive thoughts.

Last night I went to watch CBC's school evening of song. It was beautiful.  The choirs and singing at his school is excellent!  I'm going to be doing some singing of my own on Bank Holiday Monday as I am returning to my old sixth form school to record 3 Christmas cantatas that were composed by the wonderful Head of Music.  I loved the 2 that I sang when I was at the school for two years and I am very excited to sing them again and see my teacher and many old friends I haven't seen for 20-25 years!!

Today, I have had a headache all day. I had one yesterday and was hoping, after my late night at CBC's concert, I would be able to sleep it off. Sadly, CBC was up at 6am (or possibly earlier) rampaging around the bedroom and house packing for the Duke of Edinburgh expedition he's leading on this weekend. He is incapable of doing it quietly or without asking me where X,Y, or Z are so I was fully awake and exceedingly cross that I was woken early as my headache was still very much pounding and present and has remained so all day.

I went to town to scour the charity shops for items needed for Treasure Island. Sadly, the only one I managed to locate was a vintage Parasol (buying the vintage one was cheaper and more eco-friendly than buying online from eBay.  I hope to find some more items at some point soon!

We had a polling day at school on Thursday so I was working from home. I had to join in for 2 Microsoft Teams sessions with Nursery and ended up doing lots of work though never as much as I wanted to.   It was so nice not to have to take the trains into work and back and for once, I didn't have any rehearsals to go up to London for which is what usually happens when I have a polling day at school!

Since I'm teaching a short cantata telling the story of Persephone (to link to the Year 5 Greeks topic), I'm playing the year 5-6 children Gustav Holst's The Planets in Singing Assembly this half term and I've been enjoying sharing little details with them to look out for.

For instance, in the final movement, Neptune, listen and watch out for the larger and lower versions of instruments- at the start of it, together with the regular C-flute, Holst uses the Alto Flute playing a parallel harmony (which plays 4 notes lower than the regular flute and has a wonderful smoky timbre) plus the Bass Oboe (bigger, lower oboe) and he even employs an off-stage female chorus at the ending which really does give the name Neptune, the Mystic, its due.  The piece ends with this otherworldly sound.  In addition, he uses 2 harps, instruments associate with magic and mythology in music and the Celesta, a keyboard instrument that hits a glockenspiel type instrument inside when you press the keys.

I really recommend watching the video below. I have made it start from Neptune but if it hasn't worked, scroll forward to 44:30.

The previous week, I played them Mars, the Bringer of War and in Drumming Club, we have been learning some of the repetitive rhythms used in the piece.  Next, week, we'll be listening to Mercury, the winged Messenger (AKA Hermes!) 

February Books

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 I am aware that this post is LONG overdue but I had it half written so I may as well finish it!

Here are some short reviews of some books I read!

10.  The Gilded Ones - Namina Forma

Category: YA

Our main character is Deka and she is about to have her Purity ceremony which happens when girls reach a certain age. If their blood flows red, they are fine, if it is gold, they are impure. This is a very patriarchal society. Her rejection by the village is horrendous but she is offered an opportunity to join an army of girls who fight against Deathshrieks who are increasing in number and boldness at attacking the people. Her new life is difficult and Deka wonders if she will ever be accepted anywhere. Will she ever come to terms with herself and the terrible truth she discovers? 

The world building in this book incredible and this felt very different. I felt like I went on a huge  journey with the character and I felt very much for her constant feeling of rejection and devastation. The ending was unexpected. I would love  to read the sequels even though there is some pretty gory description and allusion to violence and rape.    I give this 4/5

11. The Stormkeepers' battle - Catherine Doyle

This is the last book in a trilogy (and I haven't read the last 2) set on an Irish island telling of a boy called Fionn Boyle who is facing an epic battle. An evil sorceress, a crow character called The Morrigan has been raised from her death and they are all trapped on the island of Arranmore.  Fionn becomes the Storm Keeper of Arranmore and so it is he that stands between her and the future of only darkness. He will need to find a way to defeat her. But does everyone believe in him? Will any of them be left to help him before their capture?  There were a lot of battles- a lot of the character build up and introductions had been done in previous books  which meant I found the book exciting but exhausting.  I found the book quite dark, as is intended with this character but nonetheless very exciting.

I gave it 3.5/5

12.  I, Cosmo - Carlie Sorosiak

This book is told from the first person perspective of family dog, Cosmo.  Cosmo is worried about his family.  The parents seem to be arguing a lot.   It was so full of heart. I found myself very anxious about what would happen to Cosmo who is getting very old and when I saw a review comparing it to Charlotte's web, I spent most of the book getting worried about how it would end! The idea of the dog dancing classes and competitions seemed a bit far-fetched but funny. I bought an Author proof of this from Barnardo's. I give this 4.5/5

13.  The secret of Haven Point - Lisette Auton

Told from the perspective of Alpha Lux, a wreckling.  She lives at Haven Point, a lighthouse which is isolated from the rest of the wound. All the wrecklings have found their way there and have various disabilities or things which make them special or outcast by the rest of the world. It's all about positive naming. The Author is herself, a disabled person (her naming) and I like that her main characters all had disabilities and this was part of the plot. It had a fantasy element to it, mermaids who help the wrecklings rob cargo boats every so often to ensure they have the things they need to survive.  One day, our main character Lux notices a glint as if someone is watching with binoculars and she investigates and discovers a spy! I was confused a bit with the writing at times and I found the ending a bit strange and abrupt but I can't say why I feel like that. I give it 4/5

14. Sangu Mandana - Kiki Kallira breaks a kingdom

Based on characters from Hindu tradition, Kiki Kallira is a chronic worrier.  She worries about what she does to the detriment of her mental health.  She enjoys drawing a fictional character based on the folk stories and characters of Hindi mythology in Mysore to soothe her anxieties.  One day, it all goes wrong when characters start jumping out of her sketch book and she has to enter her fictional version of Mysore to save the city from the god she gave power back to by somehow releasing them from the prison they were placed in by the gods aided by a bunch of rebel children who are orphans and her beloved main character who defends them.   The book has an unexpected twist and great description and is very imaginative. I gave it 4/5

15.   Zillah Bethel- The Song Walker

This is one of those books where you have no idea where it will end! I was gripped. Our story begins with a girl who wakes up and finds herself stranded in the Australian outback, alone with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She only has with her a metal case with a combination lock.  She must survive the desert and see if she can discover who she is and why she is there. It was gripping with an surprising ending. I don't want to spoil this for you by saying more but is very respectful towards and educating of First Nation culture and I really enjoyed learning the secrets.

16.  The Body in the Blitz- Robin Stephens

The latest in the Murder Most Unladylike series spin off- The Ministry of Unladylike activity. May, Eric  and Nuala find themselves staying in a small Cul de Sac in London during the Blitz as they are needed at the Ministry of Unladylike behaviour.  They find themselves involved in another murder as a body is found in a house that was recently bombed in the Blitz. Who is it?  How long has it been there?  Who killed them.  The children must try to solve the mystery before the authorities do. There was a LOT of red herrings and round the houses with this one which seemed quite realistic and made it hard to work out who the murder was.  The children's friendships are tested and there is added difficulty that Daisy Wells is missing after a mission to France!  This was excellent as I always expect from Robin Stevens.  She represents a lot of different social groups in her stories, well and sensitively. I give it 5/5