Recently

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel)

 

Eating:

...kale from my own garden.  So happy these plants have made it through Winter and are growing again!  The kale is fresh and young and delicious. I picked an absolute mound today.

....Hairy Bittercress.  I learnt about this from Leon Lewis last year and have been spotting it on the streets but not picking it (pollution). However, today I noticed it growing in the pot with my olive trees.

...out of date chocolate from Bruges last year which I discovered in a drawer at home. It still tastes fine. Some of it was used in some chocolate rice-krispie cakes which I made in the holiday (with krispies which expired in Oct 2021- they taste fine!) 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel)

Watching:

... Guys and Dolls- the Immersive Experience.   It was a spur of the moment idea of CBC's to go and see it with his mum and sister on Saturday. He'd seen it with school.  We were in the standing seats.  The stage came up and down in blocks and you moved around.  It was absolutely amazing to be up close to the action. I was inches away from the feet of the main characters at times and got a couple of cheeky smiles from characters and even talked to one of the crowd!  

...Gladiators:  The BBC has brought back this great show! My new favourites are Nitro and Giant!

....Colin Baker's era of Doctor Who.

...The Apprentice- love it!

Reading:

...a fantastic range of children's fiction this month.  The last one was Robin Stevens' The Body in the Blitz which was very clever! I'm going to try and review them soon!

Grumping about...

...my school choosing to wear PJ's for World Book Day this year.   I am not alone in this unhappiness as one of my favourite year 6 girls wrote me a message AGHAST when she heard the news. We have plotted to rebel against this by wearing vintage nightwear as worn by characters in books! So we shall be in role.

Celebrating...

...my birthday.  I got a few nice presents and some pretty cards. A couple of lovely books, a new blue bike helmet, a voucher for Seasalt, a fleecy wearable blanket thing and a lovely piece of flute music. CBC and I went out to our favourite Thai restaurant for dinner and they brought me a coconut ice-cream sundae and sang me Happy Birthday. The ice-cream was delicious! I'm not usually a sweet coconut fan.

Playing...

a beautiful piece of music by Ethel Smythe. Her Serenade in D is absolutely wonderful! Do listen.

Realising...

...I love being in my house when it is daylight!  I always feel so lucky to be at home considering I am so busy.

What have you been up recently?

xx

All the textures

 Hello!

Ooof, it's been a loooong week - the first full working week is in January always utterly interminable!

That said, I've survived.

Highlights?

The year 6's today who were doing individual research on Baroque composers today, part of which was to sit and listen to YouTube audio recordings of the composers in question. were really keen and appreciative of the lesson.  "I LOVED listening to Franscesca Caccini! She was so beautiful too!", "This was the best lesson ever!"  "I really enjoyed listening to the music, it's so soothing!" were some of the responses.  Another highlight, well,sort of, was the year 6 boy, who was upset about something at the start of the lesson. I asked him if he wanted to talk to me about it, and he said, yes, later.  When I took him outside to talk, he told me it was a friendship issue and said, "I wouldn't usually talk to a teacher about it, but you're my favourite teacher so I don't mind talking about it.".  Favourite?  Awwww!

The sweet year 3-4 choir pupils who I presented with chocolate lollies today to say thank you for their Christmas performance (was ill then had no time...), were super appreciative and one, not known for hugging me usually, hugged me.

A little boy in Year 2, who has multiple older brothers, none of whom, except one, who have been great fans of me, came up and hugged me yesterday and told me I was the best. Not something they would usually do.

Taught 3 model music lessons to Reception classes today. Met the Reception children for the first time today. They were really sweet and seemed to really like the lesson and the teachers were enthusiastic.

Choir just keeps growing.  Drumming club, not so much.

Took a chance on brand-new but very cheap Sonor Alto xylophone on eBay which you didn't get pictures of- arrived today, sounds gorgeous!

Went to see the musical, Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre in London on Wednesday night with CBC and his work colleagues. The HR manager's son is in the performance. It was brilliant!  They've completed transformed the conventional stage and auditorium into a theatre in the round with a small round stage in the centre, it IS the Kit Kat club of Berlin with little tables and chairs and lamps.  The band are sitting up visible in boxes. They've turned all the bars and areas outside of the stage into the opulent nightclub with interactive appearances from the band and Kitkat boys and girls.  The performers did an amazing job and it was very moving!

Went to Sainsbury's on the way home from school on Thursday and managed to get 3 pots of ricotta-stuffed pepperdew peppers reduced to 73p each from the usual £3.50 price. I absolutely adore them but don't buy very often unless I can get to Waitrose and can bring my own container. But if they're going out of date, I am allowed!

Went to deputize for the 2nd flute part at our Essex-based orchestra on Sunday (sadly, am not in this concert as only 2 flutes, not 3) and had a really lovely time. Izzie, who plays 1st flute plays so delicately and beautifully and it is a pleasure to blend with her on 2nd flute!

Managed to find and buy a hard-to-find Doctor Who cosplay piece very cheaply this week and it arrived!

The downsides?

So, so tired! After Cabaret, we had to get the train back and had to get the C2C train.We ended up on the Tilbury loop line and didn't get home till 1am! I was super tired on Thursday which is my nightmare day and had to walk to the station and to school because I'd had to leave my bike at school because of going to Cabaret

Didn't have the best week in terms of a balanced diet and regular, proper meals.

I think I win!

Last Saturday, we went out for a Thai meal after a day at home. I wanted to dress up!

Da naaaa!  Thought I'd go with the textures!

I started with the black, velvet Topshop shirt (charity shopped).

I added a Primark blue, glittery turtle neck (had this years now and I still love it!)

Black leggings and my Marks & Spencer stretchy velveteen boots

I wore my sheepskin jacket (charity-shopped Dog's Trust) to travel in.

Accessory-wise, I added my black velvet Kangol beret (charity-shopped). I decided to add a Blue vintage brooch (charityshopped) and a lovely black velvet-cord and crystal necklace (Secret Santa from school around 10 years ago). The earrings (charity-shopped vintage) were the final element plus fluffy hair!

The Thai meal was as delicious as normal but I actually deviated from my usual Starter choices and I had a Pork Wonton soup which was tasty! I'm not very good at trying other main dishes because I adore Thai Green Prawn OR Tofu curry so much!

Hope you have a lovely Saturday!

xx

Half term happiness

 Hi All,

Greetings and hope you are well!  It's the last night of the half term holiday and I've finally made it here onto the blog to show my face!

I have to say, this holiday has been a really good one for a few reasons and has been a much needed antidote for me.

• We spent 6 days in Antwerp plus night at a hotel 5 minutes walk from St Pancras station. 6 nights away in a new place!
• Having a complete change of scene was just what we needed
• The weather blessed us for much of the time in Belgium there was sun and not too cold- made such a difference to mood.
• We had a really lovely apartment in a really nice and salubrious part of the city
• Really comfortable bed meant I had lots of sleep.
• Most nights we went to bed at a reasonable hour (e.g. before 11pm and slept through the night till 9am). I didn't have my waking up fretting at 5am for no apparent reason despite being exhausted and not being able to go back to sleep again.
• Eating lunch and dinner out for 6 days made such a difference in terms of energy and enthusiasm
• Antwerp is lovely!
• I got to meet one of my favourite blogging friends (more on that soon!) and feel so grateful and glad for our friendship.
• Bought a couple of nice things in Antwerp (see previous point!) 
• Feeling so refreshed, having got home on Thursday night around 9.30pm, the next morning, we awoke at a reasonable hour and because I felt so replenished, I was able to get right on with hoovering, some cleaning and tidying, putting washing in, putting washing away and getting on with the previously insurmountable pile of marking that had been building for a term and a half.  I am ashamed to say I had got completely behind on all that marking and had not been recording the results in my assessment sheets. Well, I worked my way through pretty much all of it and put the data on sheets. I was then able to do my 540 reports (fairly easy as only had to report an effort and progress grade but doing that for 540 pupils,checking against data takes a while) and get on with some of the planning that I had got behind on. I still have some work to do on that (but because I haven't got Mount Marking looming lugubriously behind me, I don't feel so worried and overwhelmed about it) and one or two other bits but I will get it done.
• Doing the marking, I was very proud of my Year 6's who nearly all did well in their Listening to Baroque cantatas and concerti and were able to name an impressive array of Baroque composers as part of one question.  This was work from that last day of the half term and the kids were really enthusiastic during their listening lesson.  I told the children about Bach's Coffee Cantata as an example, a secular cantata about a girl who was obsessed with Coffee which they found hilarious. At the end of the lesson, they begged to hear it (we'd been listening to a cantata about hunting) and when they listened, one of the 'cool' boys found it so entertaining and funny that the girl was singing, "Coffee! Coffee!" in an operatic voice, that he kept giggling!
• Read 3.5 good children's books which I look forward to sharing with kids at school.
• Had a nice lunch out on Saturday late afternoon- new cafe in town was empty and we had it to ourselves for a yummy lunch.  Whilst waiting for my food, I managed to nip to the library to get a book out (I think it was National Libraries day on Saturday or something?) and nipped into the Charity shop and picked up a cute lightweight top, a brilliant Jennie Maisels pop-up Grammar book and a Harry Potter for the school library.
• Put together some cute outfits- felt inspired to do this!

I'm going back tomorrow feeling lighter and long may that feeling last.

Hope you too are well and refreshed!

xx

Life recently

 Hello there friends,

I hope you are well. I've struggled a lot this past week or so.  I've found many things hard. I've just felt miserable about everything.   School and the fact it's looking likely that the building issues won't be worked on and won't be finished this year at all- the thought I'll have to be nomadic for longer than a year.  Everyone who ends up in a conversation with me about it says, "Get a job closer to home," yet, they don't seem to think about the fact that my type of job doesn't come up that often and the fact that I really do love my school. Just searched and nothing.  Also got lots of work but don't seem to be able to finish it.  Also miserable in general.  I really want to be able to talk about my feelings and how I am feeling and why and realising that I just don't have that close female friend who I can talk to about things that might help.  Felt like I'm on egg shells.  Also anxious about the world in general. I've come to realise how much I overthink and worry about things and then bottle up my feelings and then when they come out, they don't come out how I want to. Feeling misunderstood etc.    The housework is never ending and everything just gets dirty and messy as fast as I clear up and there's never time to completely finish it.  Waking up early when I really need to sleep.   Having a mild cold this week (did 4 Lateral tests- all negative). Wanting to go somewhere at half term but CBC and I not being able to make a decision about where and it getting closer and closer and then feeling really annoyed and him having FOMO about everyone else having more fun in life. I'd love to just lie by a pool but a) flights- not eco friendly and b) he doesn't like that type of holiday.

All of this is curtailing my imagination when it comes to writing blog posts. I really want to but just feeling sad.

On the plus side, had a lovely orchestra rehearsal on Tuesday night- first one back with my Kensington Chamber Orchestra.  Playing Haydn makes me happy. 

Had a fantastic concert with City of London Winds today in Angel- only about 30 in the audience but we played really well. Visited nice market on Chapel street in Angel- I got 5 large Chicories for £2- plastic free- in your face Waitrose- the only place we can usually get Chicory (NB. CBC is the one who buys it- in plastic)  and 5 mini cucumbers for £1,bag of vine tomatoes for £1 and 3 peppers for £1. All very pleasing.  Also smug feeling of waiting exactly at the right places on all my train platforms so I lined up with the exit.  Only to be understood by saddo commuters in London who don't like getting stuck behind slow people or wasting time.

I ended up buying a Yaz Khan shirt on eBay  Shouldn't have done but it came up and I was feeling sad. As usual, I asked the seller to reuse packaging if possible and she sent a lovely message saying how refreshing it was to hear me say that as people usually moan if she uses old packaging. Shirt came and is lovely!

Year 6 kids did really well on their Binary structure rhythm pieces on Friday morning. I made a new approach to introducing the Year 5's to the Renaissance era this week via Spider-diagrams and a memory game which was hugely successful and they had great fun- good to try a new approach.  A lot of positivity with Year 4 learning about Bach and Bartok on Monday. One child who I have not seen shown an ounce of empathy towards any other human being in the 4 years I've been teaching him, said, "How sad is that Miss, that Bach's parents died when he was only 10."  I could see him thinking about it for a while and it touched me. When people say that these great composers are too far removed from ordinary children's lives, this reminds me that actually, everyone faces tragedy, no matter the age. Lovely time with Drumming club on Thursday night-teaching them the rhythm from Gustav Holst's 'Mars, the bringer of war' and our group interpretation of this.

Also, I made EXCELLENT roast potatoes on Monday night.  They really were excellent despite me pulling off sprouts from them that were about 10cm long!

We went to CBC's brother's yesterday as it was his birthday. We walked about 5 miles from his flat to Hoxton to an amazing Vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant. It was so delicious!!! Well worth the dark walk and late night!

Found out last night that one of my oldest blogging friends, the lovely Lauren is blogging again. This was joyous!

As always, each of you leaving me comments of love and support or just a giggle is always a joy in my week. I wish non-bloggers could understand this friendship we have and how you lot (and indeed I) are not 'internet weirdos' but indeed friends who value each other. But until they know that bond that we all have, they cannot understand!

Hope you have a wonderful week.

xx

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

Recently...

Watching...

The Antiques Roadshow- haven't seen it for ages! Loved seeing it again and the wonderful poet Benjamin Zephaniah was on- WHAT a charming and lovely man he is! I've liked his poems but he was such a sweetie on the show!

Doctor Who- I wasn't overly impressed by the very first episode of Flux although it grew on me after a second watch but this week, War of the Sontarans was really enjoyable!

Bake Off- I love it! Very, very fond of all the participants but Giovanni is my favourite.  Jurgen is a sweetie too but I like all of them!

Neighbours- we watch it every day!

Playing...

Gamelan... I finally made it back to a rehearsal in London and had great fun. We are learning a new piece which we commissioned our Balinese teacher to compose for us this year as he had no work as a musician during the lockdowns etc so we all contributed some money in order to get him to write us a new piece. It's really enjoyable and mentally challenging to learn some new Balinese music.

Flute... at my old church! Lovely Sue asked me to come and play for the service today and next week (and I'm playing for the Advent service too) and it was wonderful.  Particularly memorable was Light of The World which we ended the service with.  I suggested at the end that we drop out completely and repeat the last four bars acappella in harmony and it was a really special moment.

Piano badly!!! Started my two choirs and drumming club at school.  I'm doing it in the long corridor leading up to our lift which is where the hall piano is currently residing whilst we have no hall.  It was a squeeze and a pain to get all the children in and involved fetching of chairs from other rooms but it was really nice to start it.  One of the carols I am teaching is 'Star Carol by John Rutter and it's got a hard piano part which I need to practice!

Eating...

Thai food!  We went out for dinner on Friday night and I had my usual Fish cakes and Thai green prawn curry but we ordered two side dishes including egg-battered aubergine with chilli and soy and it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!!

Vegetable Vermicelli- I made enough Vermicelli for 3 days worth of dinner for CBC and I- so much better to make a large batch! I don't mind repetition either!

Shepherds pie and Cauliflower wings- Went over to Mum's yesterday whilst CBC was at a Cycling exposition.  She had made a mince and vegetable with sweet potato pie and some cauliflower covered in a crispy layer.   Both were really yummy!

Reading...

The final two books in the Last Dragon chronicles by Chris D'Lacey. There are seven books in the series and I have really enjoyed them and I feel a bit sad to be at the end...really become attached to those characters. Now what!?!?

Buying...

Lots of vegetables from the greengrocers on the way to Mum's in town. Love that I got so many reasonably priced veg without plastic.  I took them all in a motley collection of reused plastic wrapping bags so didn't need to take any new packaging!

A pastel checked shirt, rainbow stripy top (yes, another one...) and starry dress from the charity shop whilst waiting for the rail replacement bus on Saturday as there were two charity shops near it. Cost me £8 in total.

What about you?

Recently...

 Eating:

- Amazing Turkish meal in Rye called Layla Meze.  The starters were delicious and the main Moussaka with accompanying salad was wonderful!

- Runner beans, runner beans, runner beans and ..... runner beans!

- The last of the home grown tomatoes that didn't go manky due to blight, accompanied by.... runner beans and some lovely Lidl Prawn and Crab raviolli.

- Allllll the Miniature Heroes at work this morning after a colleague's birthday.

Drinking:

- Lots of tea- found an old big box from when we moved house 2.75 years ago with lots of unopened tea leaves.  Yes, they are super out of date but I've mixed them in with some current tealeaves so they won't be wasted.  There's also Chai and Green tea which I will try to work my way through.

- Milk- the nursery kids aren't drinking all their milk and there's too much excess- we're trying to give some to other kids but there's still an excess so I have taken to drinking a carton of milk every two days to use some that might go out of date

Walking/Exercising:

14+ miles from Rye to Pett and back.  I ached in so many places after it and I still do!

Buying:

A few cosplay purchases that I probably didn't need but one was a big unexpected bargain!

Picking:

My first Pattypan squash and pepper as well as some French and Runner beans , lettuce and some of the last raspberries.

Reading:

'When the adults change, everything changes' by Paul Dix for school CPD.  Plus A Cake for the Gestapo by Jacqueline King which is set on Jersey- well writte..  Now just about to start 'Miss what does Incomprehensible mean?' which Ang sent once I've read the Essex Wildlife Trust and Crisis magazines.

Singing:

'Uncle Tom had a chest, chest, chest with Year 1 way too many times.

Playing:

Waaaaay too much Scrabble Go (but I WON one of the challenge leagues out of everyone and earnt myself 900 trophies!) 

Erik Satie's Gnossieme which CBC left open on the piano.

Watching:

• All Creatures Great and Small
• The Yorkshire vet
• Neighbours
• Friends series 8 and 9
• Torchwood- children of Earth
• The Great British Bake off

Hoping:

That my holiday cottage in the Cotswolds for Half term won't be cancelled because of lockdowns...

What about you recently?

xx

Recently...

I feel like I steal a lot of Post ideas from Bev!  But I don't mind as she is also not adverse to the stealing of blog post ideas from others! Sharing is caring!

So...what have I been up to recently....?

Playing.... Beethoven's Eroica symphony with a localish orchestra. I was only depping (slang term for deputizing, e.g. covering for a player who can't make a rehearsal but is playing an important part so they can't leave the orchestral space empty for a rehearsal) for my friend Izzie but it was great fun and I enjoyed it muchly.  Also playing a piece by a recently deceased member of our main orchestra called Alan Charlton.  His piece, The Tides of Time, is really interesting. Alongside this, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony and Brahms' Double Concerto.

Playing... Bananagrams!

Regretting... introducing the Kazoos to my year 3&4 and years 5&6 choirs.  They are irresistible to even the most demure and well-behaved choir member and it's really hard to get across any instructions when they have them in their hands and I have to resort to playing Chopin's Death March to get them to stop.

Eating... raspberries from the garden, pears and blackberries from foraging, courgettes from the garden, numerous carrots from school that were surplus!  Thai Green curry and fishcakes last night, an enormous veggie fried breakfast today plus sausage (rest is in the fridge- brought home in my trusty takeaway tub!) and Tempeh from Sainsbury's in a delicious Stir-fry!


Watching.... the Aurora orchestra at the Proms, Neighbours on 5od, The Great British Bake off on Channel4.com, Gardener's world and Doctor Who on iPlayer.

Spending time with... my Brother in law who came over for the weekend.

Listening to... not much apart from the TV shows mentioned above.

Reading... brilliant books by MG Leonard in the Beetle Boy series, more brilliant Children's books from the library and a book called Plastic Sucks! by Dougie Poynter which I am reading before I take it into school!

Worrying about.... something that happened at school on Friday. Not to do with me, but I am the person who has to liaise and try and sort it out and I have been worrying about stressing about it all weekend. I wish that parents and children and people realised how I have the type of mind that can't switch off the anxiety at all, no matter how hard I try, and how this has plagued my weekend despite the extremely pleasant activities and company I have taken part in.

Going to...Manningtree to visit John Constable country, enjoying a gorgeous sunny walk.

Wearing...lots of light fabrics and items whilst I still can.  Will not give in to Autumn yet!

What's been up with you recently?

xxx

Recent Doings:

My top blogger to steal ideas from is Bev at Confuzzledom!  She has some brilliant ideas, either conceived by her or others. If you don't read Bev's blog already, go and say hi and stick around! She's very cool and I've met her in real life and she's lovely!

So, I'm stealing her recent doings post idea and slightly adapting it to me (because I don't do cross-stitching and do other things instead!).

Eating: All the food!  Today, I ate THE most exquisite Pain au Chocolat from Milanese, Italian bakery in Soho for breakfast and then a sort of olive, tomatoey bread thing for breakfast! And then a free-Lasagne in Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho.  And last night, Chinese takeaway at our friend  Nath's house- I had my favourites: Salt and Pepper King Prawns and Singapore Vermicelli, having eaten fruit for breakfast and a left-over Foccacia and a bag of bacon crisps for lunch!  On Friday, I ate a delicious Scrambled Egg and Pancetta breakfast at Stop the World Cafe and then ate Delia's Thai Salmon in Filo pasty at my Dad and Step Mum's house.  This dish is delicious- I requested it as my first meal post-living in Bali when I was 22!  Too much eating out this week!

Drinking:  A watermelon chill at Pizza Express, Earl Grey tea in my Thermos and a Earl grey in Gail Bakery after our gig!

Reading at the cafe

Reading:  Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell. This was her debut Whodunnit in the Golden age of Crime and it was weird I found it as I recently bought a much later novel in her series of 66 featuring Psychoanalyst amateur sleuth, Mrs Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley and looked at the list and wanted to read more! Two days later, I found her Debut in the charity shop!  Also read The Hunger Games before that and the aforementioned Gladys Mitchell book, Murder in the Snow.

Watching: The Sarah Jane Adventures on DVD and the Crystal Maze on Channel 4! I love that it is back on!

Celebrating:
The wedding of our music camp friends last week (mentioned in Peacock post), celebrating the sun on Friday and a successful gig today!

Making: Numerous cups of tea.  Sadly, not done ANY making this holiday and I was planning to!

Add caption

Playing: played my viola in a gig with a Jazz ensemble, Cold Light Ensemble at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho today! Very cool to play in this venue that we recently saw the brilliant Joey Alexander play at!
Also played my flute with my quartet on Tuesday.

Buying: Hmmmm, many things! 2 dresses and a top this week.  Also 2 dresses last week in Northumberland.  And a Clara skirt from a French girl on Vinted! All charity shop except the pink dress. And about 20 books in charity shops and some in Forum Books in Northumberland. Luckily, many of the books were presents for my sister. But still.

Booking: Not really anything...yet!

Burning: Nothing.  I'm terrible at actually remembering to burn candles.  I quite fancy burning some Eucalyptus oil in our bedroom though as I love the smell!

Seeing: Went to see the Bernstein ballet at the Royal Opera house! We got a smile in our brilliant seats from Prima Ballerina, Lauren Cuthbertson!
Also seeing cars!

Hearing: Music I have been playing!

Exercising: 20 miles cycling yesterday- my muscles feel it today!  Also went to the Grand Celidh club on Wednesday night with my friend Anne. Amazingly good fun and only 6 mins on the train from my local station!!!!

Moaning: about cycling downhill without the brakes on. Cannot do it and CBC gets very cross with me over my fear!

What have you been up to recently?

x

Recent doings

 Totally stolen this idea from Fatdormouse, who stole it from someone else, who stole it from someone else. It's a paradox, anyways...

So, here I go.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW...is dark. I am sitting at the dining room table facing a darkened garden. It is pouring with rain which is very audible in a bungalow! It is dark, I might add. I expect a fox has slunk past the window, they usually do and I usually catch them but I've been sitting in a different position from normal.


HEARING.. the whirring of the computer.  I haven't listened to any music today. I don't always.  I was going to sit and listen to Doctor Who series 7...

hold on...

haven't switched it on....

Now I am!

The Rings of Akhaten, which is appropriate as it is all about singing.

PONDERING... Have I forgotten to prepare anything for tomorrow's year 3 recorder concert.Have I got enough music stands for 90 children. Will child x, y, z, a and b behave or will they try to wreck it for everyone else?

PRAYING... not right now, but, amongst many other things, I am praying for 5 people specifically. The guest vicar at the team service last week, gave us all a piece of string to tie 5 knots in to remind us to pray for those people. It's tied to the buckle of my handbag and has worked well so far at reminding me.

THANKFUL... for a calm weekend alone in which I managed to get the housework done; lots of gardening done; for the weather holding out until I had done everything I needed, for CBC coming home safely from DofE, for the chocolate profiteroles (I cannot spell it but I cannot be bothered to check) that I got reduced in Sainsbury's; for my sore throat subsiding today; for a beautiful church service this morning; for the lift I received from church friend.

WEARING... Amazing Grace t-shirt, daisy brooch, Henry Holland floral skirt, navy blue leggings with a hole in the knee, odd socks, knitted slippers from Mummy; Primark Sailor cardigan, music camp sweatshirt (recent addition), Peony flower slide in hair.

GOING...to bed as soon as I have done this! 11.02!  I have been on the go all day since leaving for church at 8.10am!

READING:  Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maughan. It's ok so far but not adoring it.

LOOKING FORWARD TO...when this week is over.SOooooooooooooooooooo many concerts and trips! And going to Germany!!!! Schwarzwalderkirchetorte here I come!* (well, just the Schwarzwalder but I always like writing that word!)

HOPING... that I haven't offended a DoctorWho cosplayer by thinking he was cosplaying John Lumic because I didn't see the fez and bowtie on his head in the small picture in a group shot because of the person behind him. I was informed, by another cosplayer, that someone in a wheelchair doesn't just have to cosplay someone in a wheelchair. I didn't even think it was a wheelchair but I guess the point is, I didn't think or look close enough,  he must get that all the time, people not seeing past the wheelchair. Thus, I am really feeling sad that I might have offended him or continued the stereotype in some way.  Anyway, trying not to fret about it but hate upsetting anyone, I worry about it for days.

IN THE KITCHEN...is the ceramic oven dish which I cooked oven-roasted veg with with Bulgar wheat and red quinoa. Was delicious!!!

IN THE LEARNING ROOMS... er, not sure what this means. Well, I'm going to be TEACHING Year 1, year 3 and year 4 tomorrow as well as KS1 Singing assembly, Orchestra, Year 3 recorder concert with all the parents! Sigh...Really hoping I have enough music stands and music for all90 of them! Luckily I picked up a rainbow music stand in the charity shop yesterday for £3!!!

AROUND THE HOUSE... I tidied and cleaned!  There's 3 racks of clean clothes, some that got left in the rain, CBC used the electric drill to put up his amazing print of the Himalaya with a huge shrub in front this week that he bought from an artist in Prudhoe. He refused to put up my 3 TARDISES though-swine! So they are in TARDIS corner on top of the sideboard.

Right, really must be getting to bed!

xx