Back to school

I've been back in school both last week and this week.  Last week my daughter asked us both to go in for a day to work with Year 4 in primary school.  She was doing an activity with the whole year group which was three classes. We were making those buzzer toys - making weird and wonderful wire puzzles that you have to conquer by passing a loop of metal over without touching the wire or it buzzes. They have been learning about conductors and circuits. We got through all ninety something children but it was full on with no stops other than 20 minutes for lunch. The kids really enjoyed it and were so proud of their creations. When they were told to finish what they were doing because it was two minutes until lunchtime, one of the boys beside me said to his friend that he couldn't believe that it was lunchtime already. In my experience, boys always think it is lunchtime : )

This week, I've been in the nursery school run by our church. They were short of a staff member because of illness and there was one day when none of the bank staff could go in. Since I have a PGCE, I am one of the volunteers that can be asked to fill in. It is very hard work with three year olds! I nearly tore my hair out getting them to eat their lunch. The regular staff must have an inexhaustible supply of patience. Very different to the secondary age boys that I am more used to!

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Back at work again

I've been back at school for a week now after having been off 2 1/2 weeks with a bug.  It is hard work being back and I was really thankful for the weekend.

Yesterday we had a family get-together.  Three members of the family have birthdays within a three week period so it was agreed to have one get-together to celebrate this year.  It was lovely to see my new little granddaughter because, being poorly and not wanting to pass anything on, I hadn't actually seen her for the whole of September. She was so different!  Last time I saw her she was a typical little newborn baby and now she is a chubby cheeked little person who is awake lots and laughs at you.

I'm so pleased that my family seem to enjoy each other's company and like to get together for celebrations.

Even more jam

I didn't get my beans prepared on Saturday.  Instead I made even more jam. On Friday morning, my husband had picked all the little damson like plums from our little tree and some were already starting to go mouldy by Saturday morning so I thought I had better do something with them quickly before I lost them.  There were not as many plums as I had hoped as we had a bit of a storm when the tree was in flower. We didn't get a single plum last year, due to the weather so this small crop is a big improvement on last year : )

Damson jam is my absolute favourite so I made some of that but I also made some damson and orange which is new to me but having sampled some, it may well get added to my list of regulars.  It is also a really beautiful colour.  I wish I had the means to show you the colour but my old phone still keeps going so there is no need to replace it.  Maybe when I do eventually bite the bullet and get a new one, I shall be able to add photos.  I do like looking at other people's photos.

My husband had to go to an examiners' meeting at Cambridge on Friday afternoon/Saturday.  I hate it when he is away overnight and he has several of these meetings with either one overnight stay or, worse still, TWO nights away, coming up this term.  When he got to his hotel in the evening, he found that he had been chosen as "Guest of the Day".  So he was upgraded to an "executive" class room and had a complimentary bottle of wine and two bottles of water in his room as well as a sachet of hot chocolate (which he brought home for me) with the usual tea and coffee things.  He had a free movie that he could watch (usually £7.50) so he was really chuffed as the choice included one that he'd been wanting to see.  He was also given a free packed lunch on Saturday morning but his lunch was already being provided, so he brought this packed lunch home and we ate it for tea on Sunday as it was of generous proportions. And when he got home late on Saturday evening, he was entitled to an evening meal on expenses so we went to the Chinese takeaway run by our friends and had a wonderful meal.  The expenses allowed would only buy one dinner for one person but with a takeaway, I get a treat too.  Doesn't make up for him being away overnight, though!

Work and holidays, holidays and work

We went away for half term to the farm where we stayed last February half term. I wasn't sure about going because I've damaged my knee and I knew that I wouldn't be able to do much of anything.  But we went and I'm so glad that we did.

It kept trying to snow but it never really came to anything and at least there was no rain at all.  On one day, the sun shone in a cloudless sky and it was more like summer than February.  There was a woodburner and plenty of wood so we were kept luxuriously warm.

Each day we'd get up in a leisurely way.  Just not having an alarm clock was a treat in itself : )  We'd potter and then have an early lunch and go out for a (short) drive to a bit of moorland with a grand view and I'd sit in the car with a blanket and my book and my husband would go for a bit of a walk.  Then we'd have a cuppa from the flask and read for a bit, look at the view and then go back when it started to get dark.  Usually we'd only have seen a small handful of cars and probably would not have spoken to any humans, just some sheep.  We lead a busy life and deal with people all day, every day so it is a real treat to be antisocial for a week and just be on our own.  Longer than a week and I'd be wanting to see people but a week is just long enough to be a tonic.  The clean air does wonders for my husband's asthma, too.

At the moment I can't stand for very long to bake or cook (or do anything else for that matter) but I wanted to bring something nice and homemade to have with our afternoon cuppas so I made a small tray of flapjack the night before we went.  I don't know what I did wrong but we couldn't get it out of the tray.  So we just took the whole tray with us and decided to deal with the problem later.  Once there, we managed to lever out enough chunks to go with several cuppas and then scraped out the rest as crumbs which got put into a plastic tub.  We went to the Aldi in the next town and got a few bits of shopping to eat for the week and also had a small tub of Aldi icecream which was on offer.  Those flapjack crumbs were really lovely with the icecream and a spoonful of homemade jam. 

The farm is just 20 acres and they have lots of animals so I'm in my element.  This time there were 8 assorted sizes of horses and ponies, 2 donkeys, 3 llamas, 1 alpaca, 2 English goats and a flock of various breeds of sheep,. There were also 3 Brecon Buff geese (very pretty!), umpteen ducks from little call ducks to big Aylesbury with lots of mallard crosses and half a dozen flocks of hens of all types all wandering round following their own cockerel.  They have just acquired a little flock of 6 ex-batts which are so obviously enjoying their freedom and are so curious and follow you around to see what you are doing - just because they can. They were also given some golden Sebright bantams and three of the chicks have turned out to be cockerels.  I found it strange how loud their voices were in comparison to the other normal size cockerels and how far the cockadoodledoo carried across the farm.  They walk very upright and have large tails for their size but they are very small compared to even a Warren.  The females were not old enough to lay so I didn't see an egg but they must be tiny. I've "borrowed" these photos off a website so you can see what I'm talking about



On the day we came home, we called into Knighton where there was a craft and produce fair.  I gulped at the cost of the baked goods and jams/chutneys.  I was chatting to an older lady who had brought her knitting to do as she minded her and her daughter's stall. We got chatting about the socks she was knitting and she showed me the ones she was wearing.  She took my address and yesterday I got an envelope containing a copy of the pattern she uses (4 needles) and a copy of the one her daughter prefers to use (2 needles) and a couple of others as well as a card.  What a lovely envelope of goodies to receive.  She was so pleased that somebody was taking an interest in her knitting and just wanted to spread the word.  This lady also said that handknitted cotton socks are much warmer in the winter so I'll have to look out for some sock yarn on offer.  I don't have any shops round here that sell knitting yarn other than one charity shop that sells cheapo baby yarn.  Anybody recommend a good mail order company for yarn?

So now we're back with our noses to the grindstone again.  However, more treats are in store: we're going round for tea tonight to our son's house so I'll get to play (gently and from a sitting position on a chair) with my little grandson and granddaughter : )

This week has been soooo busy.  I'm still not over my latest chest infection and need frequent breaks or I don't make it through the day.  Stairs or going anywhere quickly just take my breath away so I'm having a quiet day today to try and recoup enough energy to manage at work for another week.

My husband has run three conferences at work this week, with all sorts of big wigs from industry in for them.  Stressful!  It also means being in work very early and home very late - that means me as well as we work at the same school.  Next week he only has one of these to do but he is also taking all of year 7 from our school and from our nearest secondary school to the local university and running an activity day for them.  Our minister is on holiday so my husband took last Sunday's service, the midweek service and this morning's service too.  If he finds a quarter of an hour "free", then he has exam marking to keep on top of - both internal and external.  Allotment?  What allotment?

We brought the school chicks home on Friday.  They are 7 weeks old and not chicks any more.  They are now living in my spare converted rabbit hutch with run for the next few weeks until it is clear beyond the shadow of a doubt, how many cockerels we have.