The Bookworm

Book 5: E is for Eat

2012-01-28T07:36:00.000Z

Eat Well Spend Less by Sarah Flower

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't have much to say about this one. I got serious about eating more healthily last year and thought this book might give my improved diet an extra boost and some new recipes. It was OK, but didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. There were a few useful and reasonably economical recipes I will probably try.

Book 4: D is for Darkly

2012-01-27T00:04:00.002Z

A Darkly Hidden Truth by Fletcher Donna

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The series title "Monastery Murders" and the promise of dashes of medieval history and iconography intrigued me, although I am not generally a murder mystery enthusiast - I enjoy them occasionally, but it is not a genre I read often. The bargain price in Amazon's post-Christmas Kindle sale made me decide this book was worth a try. It turned out to be an easy and reasonably entertaining read, but I'm afraid I found the heroine Felicity rather irritating and the plot required me to suspend disbelief too far and too frequently. I was also bugged by both major and minor inaccuracies - a female ordinand in an Anglo-Catholic Anglican seminary? Sounds odd given that opposition to women priests is a defining characteristic of most Anglo-Catholics. American Felicity lectured by a policeman fo failing to carry her passport and visa while in the UK? Um, no, there is no requirement for anyone in the UK to carry any sort of ID. This is the second book in a series and not knowing what came before made it harder both to get into the book and to identify with the characters (how did the previously non-religious Felicity end up at theological college, I wonder?). There were aapects I enjoyed - the ways she brought in the anchoress Julian of Norwich and eccentric medieval pilgrim Margery Kempe, for example - but I didn't enjoy the book enough to want to go back and read the first one.

Next time I want a monastery murder with a medieval flavour I think I'll stick to Ellis Peters' Cadfael books.

For more reviews visit 52 books in 52 weeks.

The Iron Lady

2012-01-22T08:43:00.003Z

Tevye and I decided that this year we would try to go to the cinema once a month - really, we should take more advantage of our on-hand babysitters! Our first trip was to see The Iron Lady, with Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher. We had seen mixed reviews. Some (most?) writers felt that the movie dwelt far too much on Maggie's old age and waning faculties; others praised it and felt it was well done.

We both came away with the same opinion, which was that it wasn't the movie we would have liked to see. We were in the "too much old age" camp and felt the movie put too much emphasis on an aspect of her life that ultimately isn't that significant in terms of the whole. While it did tell the story of her life and political career it did so in short flashbacks that never did more than skim the surface of a complex and interesting story. We both wanted more about her life and politics and less of the fictional (or loosely factual) "human interest". Our feeling was that the movie avoided any political subtlety and focused on Maggie the person in order to appeal to the American market. From the British perspective it completely glossed over the strong feelings, both for and against, that the Margaret Thatcher years still evoke.

Having said that, we were glad we saw The Iron Lady. While we would have liked it to take a different angle, Meryl Streep's acting was superb and carried the movie beyond what we felt were its weaknesses. Jim Broadbent as Dennis Thatcher was also excellent.

My Life in Facebook Updates

2012-01-21T07:12:00.004Z

Haven't posted one of these for a while (apologies to those of you who have already read these on Facebook):

Why is my life like a series of scenes from Outnumbered? The latest one involved the car, toast, crumbs and the frustrations of a 5 year old who can't grasp the concept of lending money.

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Oops! Slight fail. Took Rose to school for the second time since September. Have maintained my 100% record of getting her there late ... Me: "Are you ever late when Daddy takes you?" Her (shocked): "No! Never!!!"

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Just found a Christmas tree bauble in the back garden. Why????

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Just started watching a period drama about a midwife in the East End of London, then realised it was set in the year that Tevye was born, also in the East End. Suddenly "period drama" doesn't seem quite the right description!

................................

Why do all three of my daughters have to hold conversations with me simultaneously on entirely unrelated subjects. This morning one wanted to know if I had any spare plastic folders, another was trying to work out what clothes she wanted to take to a sleepover, and the third was explaining the difference between digraphs and split digraphs (that was the five year old - she takes her phonics lessons very seriously). *Head explodes*

................................

And in sequence, the tale of Rose the rabbit-lion-rabbit:

Rose came home from ballet yesterday bursting with excitement about being a toy rabbit in her dance show. She has written down instructions to remind her what she has to do and pinned them up ready to practice before school ... "All the time. Bend down and jump." Not that tricky to remember for a rabbit!

Oh dear. Dance show disappointment. After a week of excitement about being a rabbit, Rose is now a lion. She is decidedly not impressed! Apparently lions do not get to jump.

Update on the Rose dance show casting saga. Sympathetic ballet teacher has reinstated her as a rabbit. Not only that, but she got to try on her costume last night and she is a PINK rabbit. A very happy pink rabbit.

And for those who asked on FB - I will try to provide video, but the show isn't until the end of March / beginning of April so expect a long wait!

Book 3: C is for Cake and Crag

2012-01-20T17:22:00.004Z

The Tale of Oat Cake Crag by Susan Wittig Albert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have been chugging gently through this series for a few years now - I see I read the first one back in February 2006 (reviewed here) and the rest at intervals since, getting through both the last two on train journeys up to Scotland. They are light, gentle reads that don't need too much concentration when there is lots of switching trains and hanging around in station cafes in between. The Tale of Oat Cake Crag is the seventh in the series and is essentially more of the same. Real biographical facts about Beatrix Potter's life mixed in with local colour, mostly likeable imaginary characters and anthropomorphic animals. The series has now reached the stage where Beatrix's marriage to solicitor Will Heelis is approaching but is still opposed by her parents. This book also brings in a real life hydroplane being tested on Lake Windermere and a rather less realistic visiting dragon. Occasionally the narrator's voice is irritating, but overall I like the style and the characters enough to be looking forward to the next (last?) book in the series when it becomes available on Kindle at a reasonable price. If you like Beatrix Potter's books and are interested in Beatrix herself in particular and the Lake District in general then this series is fun to read. If you hate anthropomorphic animals or anything a bit twee, avoid!

How appropriate! I just realised my header photo is one I took up in the Lake District a couple of years ago

Next up A Darkly Hidden Truth by Donna Fletcher, described as "a gripping modern mystery enriched by liturgy, iconography, and medieval history". I'm intrigued to see whether it lives up to the description.

Day Zero Project: Catching Up

2012-01-15T08:52:00.002Z

I started the Day Zero Project back in October 2010 and after six months of enthusiasm mostly forgot about it. In a fit of New Year-ish-ness I decided to see what else I had checked off since I last posted about the project last April and what I would particularly like to do this year.

So, successes over the last few months:

11. Fit comfortably into a pair of size 14 jeans. Yay! I am now the proud owner of three pairs of size 14 jeans which I had to buy as every single pair of jeans (and other trousers) I owned had got to large. Pride forces me to add that a UK size 14 is a US size 12!
18. Buy a zoo membership and use it at least 4 times a year. Teyve and I took Rose to zoo at the beginning of the month, which I am sure is at least the fourth time we used our zoo passes, and possibly the fifth.
30. Swim in the sea - Spain in August.
31. Make a sand castle - ditto.
36. Knit myself a sweater - it wasn't the greatest sweater ever, but I finished on in October.
54. Watch the entire series of Upstairs, Downstairs. I think we got to the end of Series 5 in July.

Hmm. Not that many, but it makes a total of 33 out of my original 101 ideas so far. I have also made progress on a number of others. I never imagined there was any chance of doing them all, but it is a fun way of recording ideas for things I would like to do and to at least occasionally encourage me out of my comfort zone.

This year I would like to achieve some of my fitness, reading and decluttering goals. Tevye and I are planning to try to go to the cinema once a month this year, I'm aiming to knit twelve pairs of socks (you can never knit too many socks, and I only made it to seven last year) and I am truly optimistic that I can reach my goal of losing 20 pounds, as I think I have already lost about 12 to 15. You can see my whole list here.

Thirty Five

2012-01-14T08:37:00.000Z

I haven't been doing Jen's 7 Quick Takes for a while but always enjoy reading hers (and others). This week she celebrates her thirty fifth birthday and asks ... "if you are older than 35, tell me about what you were doing at this age. How do you feel about that time of your life? Anything you'd do differently?"

I remember 35 as a particularly happy time. Helen (oh dear! I can't get used to this! I may yet simply revert to using their real names) was seven months old and I was still technically on a maternity break from working on my doctorate on medieval knights. In fact by that stage I was back to doing quite a bit of research but was not under any pressure to get a particular amount done, making it an enjoyable and leisurely process. I was able to work from home most of the time as a lot of the source material for the period I was working on is in print. The London Library's mail order service was a godsend at this time. Tevye had spent nearly a year at home after taking redundancy from his previous job so took on a large share of the baby care. I think at this point he had just started doing some freelance work writing exam questions for a couple of days each week. I may have been teaching in London one evening a week, but I can't remember for sure.

I don't think I am looking back through rose-tinted glasses, but I honestly can't think of anything I would do differently. We were very fortunate to have a wonderful work-life balance where we both got to spend lots of time with Helen but also to do other mentally stimulating things. Rather to my surprise I had discovered I loved having a baby - with no small relatives or close friends with babies I had no experience of them before having my own, and had rather expected that I would find the baby stage boring. In fact, I adored it. Thirty five was good!

Book 2: B is for Beasts and Belfrys

2012-01-13T08:27:00.002Z

Beasts in my Belfry by Gerald Durrell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I went through a phase of reading Gerald Durrell's books many years (decades!) ago. I picked this one to re-read for local interest as it describes Durrell's time as a trainee keeper at nearby Whipsnade Zoo where we have annual passes. It isn't the best of his books - not in the league of My Family and Other Animals - but was an easy, light read with his usual humorous touch. I enjoyed it more for being able to picture both the locations and the animals. Although the zoo has obviously changed since Durrell was there in the late 1940s, it still has many of the same types of animal, with at least some in the same locations. I imagine some of the animals we see today must be the direct descendants of those Durrell worked with as the zoo has breeding herds. I read the Kindle edition, which has a few minor issues I presume are down to character recognition problems ("rn" turned into "m", odd punctuation and so on). These happened just enough to be a minor irritation, but not enough to outweigh the convenience of instant download and reading on the Kindle.

Next up for 52 books in 52 weeks ... The Tale of Oat Cake Crag by Susan Wittig Albert (C is for Crag. And Cake)

Two-Seaters

2012-01-09T23:09:00.002Z

I want to get back to posting here more regularly, so expect some random off-the-top-of-my-head rambling. I'm not sure what it says about me that the first topic that tripped into my mind was toilets. I blame Bill Bryson, who commented in his bathroom chapter on the communal nature of such things in past centuries ... which reminded me that my childhood home had a two-seater! That put us in good company as, according to Bryson, so did Thomas Jefferson. Admittedly our two-seater was in a shed at the bottom of the garden and no longer functional. By the time we lived there it was used for storing garden tools rather than its intended purpose, but I imagine though that even in the 1960s there were probably few still surviving - if there were ever many around in the first place. Strangely, I can still picture it quite clearly ... a small brick-built building with a wooden door, with a wooden box-like structure running across the full width at the back with two suitably sized holes in the top. There was no plumbing, so I presume it was an earth closet. Why a two-seater I have no idea. It was a farm, so maybe a combination of family and workers meant it was in high demand. Unfortunately we lived there long before digital photography, and nobody ever thought to waste photographic film and record it for posterity.

I'll try to come up with a more delicate topic next time! Back to my Kindle now. I finished the Bill Bryson book and am about to start book 2 - Beasts in my Belfry by Gerald Durrell.

Book 1: A is for At Home

2012-01-07T12:41:00.000Z

At Home by Bill Bryson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I rather stupidly chose a "chunker" of over 600 pages for the first of my 52 Books in 52 Weeks. I have only managed to get through two-thirds of the book so far, though I'm quite pleased to have got that far given that I also had to submit final assignments for last term's archive course module by Friday (including an essay I didn't start writing until Monday!) . I am going to post a review not despite not having finished the book as I don't want to get behind and I am determined to get to the end this weekend.

At Home is more of Bill Bryson doing what Bill Bryson does. Mostly I enjoy his easy-reading style, but this is not my favourite of his books. It is a history of domestic life which he hangs on a room by room tour of his home. In fact, the connections with the rooms are often pretty tenuous and he flits from topic to topic with an almost frantic speed, skimming over the surface of each. Often I found that just as he had aroused my interest in something he skipped on to something else. Still, I learned a little about a whole raft of subjects I knew nothing about before - why it does not work to build a house with iron or concrete, Capability Brown's landscape design, bedbugs, candlelight and the spice trade are a few that come to mind. Overall, though I quite enjoyed the book I also found it a bit too diverse and overlong.

52 Books in 52 Weeks

2012-01-01T20:50:00.001Z

To encourage myself to read more this year and get plenty of use out of my Kindle I am copying Faith and taking part in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks reading challenge. The rules are:

The challenge will run from January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012
Our book weeks begin on Sunday.
Participants may join at any time.
All books are acceptable except children books.
All forms of books are acceptable including e-books, audio books, etc.
Re-reads are acceptable as long as they are read after January 1, 2012.
Books may overlap other challenges.
Create an entry post linking to this blog.
Sign up with Mr. Linky in the "I'm participating post" below this post.
You don't have a blog to participate. Post your weekly book in the comments section of each weekly post.
Mr. Linky will be added to the bottom of the weekly post for you to link to reviews of your most current reads.

To add a little spice I am going to add in the A to Z mini challenge:

Challenge yourself to read books alphabetically by Title and/or by Author. Have fun searching out those difficult letters. For titles, the letter doesn't have to be the starting word. It can be any word in the title, but to make it more challenging try to find one that starts with the letter. This year I am making a bit more challenging by discounting any book that started with THE. For authors, it can be their first name or last name. Have fun with it and be creative.
A to Z by Title - Commit to 26 Books
A to Z by Author - Commit to 26 Books
A to Z by Title and Author - Commit to 52 Books

I don't want to be over ambitious so I am going to go for the 26 books by title option, with the word anywhere in the title. I looked through the books I have already downloaded to my Kindle or have on my wishlist and can already cover most of the alphabet. This extra challenge will help me with the potentially paralysing choice of deciding which book to read next by narrowing it right down for me.

First up ... A is for At Home by Bill Bryson.

New Names for a New Year

2012-01-01T14:54:00.000Z

I have been thinking for a while that Angel and Star are both outgrowing their blog names. I want to stick to pseudonyms for the sake of the girls' privacy, so I have decided I am going to switch to using their real-life middle names. The New Year seems like a good time for a change, so meet:

Helen (Angel)

Marie (Star)

And Rose (Cherub)

Tevye and myself will stay Tevye and the Bookworm. Whether or not I will remember I have changed the girls' names is an open question!

Taking Stock

2011-12-31T15:18:00.000Z

I haven't blogged enough to look back at posts over the past years, so I am doing a little family stock taking instead. Littlest first.

Cherub - has had a good year. She is still loving school, maybe even more so now she is in Year 1. She likes learning and likes rules, so school is a good fit for her. She is much more confident than a year ago, though still extremely cautious about anything new and reluctant to confront anything that might be even the slightest bit scary. Reading and writing are coming along nicely. She isn't ready to read on her own yet, but I can see the skills slotting into place. Her spelling is pretty much entirely phonetic - mostly legible but entertainingly wrong.

Star - loves her new school. Long may it last! Star and school are in some ways not a natural fit (rules? what rules?) so feeling positive makes it easier for her to deal with the constraints. She has made two new close friends, as well as keeping up most of her old friendships. It's hard to believe she will be starting her GCSE courses next summer. She has to choose her options next term and is thinking of French, Art, Child Development and possibly Business Studies (in addition to compulsory English language and literature, maths and science).

Angel - this has been the year when she has become a young adult. She passed her GCSEs with creditable grades, is tackling A levels with her usual competence, loves being a sixth former and being at her new school, has proved herself working in an adult's job, and has managed to juggle school, work and a social life. Oh, and has acquired a boyfriend! She is stretching her wings and getting ready to fly, and though it is a little bittersweet to see her moving away from us into the adult world I am very proud of the capable, independent young woman she is becoming.

Tevye - mostly more of the same. Overall he has a good work-life balance which makes up for the frustrations that sometimes go along with his work, and the recession hasn't had any noticeable impact on his company. His eyes have been up and down - he has a condition affecting the cornea which is not degenerative but fluctuates in severity and gives him some vision problems. A separate pair of occupational glasses for computer work and reading has helped, and glasses with a new prescription he collected this month seem to have improved his vision significantly.

Bookworm - lots of changes for me! This time last year I was about to start my archive course and now I am already half way through. Getting a job has been a big change, but I am absolutely loving it. I find it hard to imagine anything I would enjoy more. The content of the documents I am working with is fascinating, the working conditions are good and I like the people. It has been quite hard fitting in an extra day of work each week over the last couple of months while still trying to fit in my study time, but I have enjoyed the variety of doing something different and getting to learn more about how the archive ticks. I will probably be doing it for another month or so, after which I will be back to working my usual mornings only routine - which is now going to seem beautifully easy! The other big positive from this year has been that I have managed to get into much better eating habits, which have had the nice side effect of causing me to effortlessly lose weight. I have no idea how much as I have no scales, but I am a size smaller and have had to throw out clothes that got too big. I have been eating lots of fruit and veggies, sticking to wholemeal and wholegrain as much as possible and mostly avoiding sugar and junk, which I compensate for with a couple of squares of dark chocolate and a small glass of wine most days.

My New Toy!

2011-12-30T21:52:00.001Z

Look what Father Christmas - or maybe it would be more accurate to say the Hannukah Elf - brought me.

I have been coveting a Kindle for a while but couldn't quite justify it at the price. Once Amazon brought out this smaller, cheaper keyboard-less model it went to the top of my Christmas list. I have to say, I am loving it! After a conversation with my Apple loving neighbour about why I would want a Kindle when I already have an iPad I did some thinking about the reasons, wondering whether there was really a justification other than gadget mania. And yes, there are reasons. The Kindle is significantly smaller and lighter, particularly good for throwing into my bag to read on the train, but the main reason - which I think I sub-consciously expected, but only pinned down in the light of experience - is that the Kindle gets out of the way. Reading on the iPad I am always at least a little aware of the machine, thanks to the brighter, backlit screen (great for video, but not quite the right contrast for a book), and its built in distractions (too easy to flip over to Facebook, or Google something unconnected that has flashed across my brain). With the Kindle, it is easier to get lost in the book. The liquid ink screen is easy on the eyes, and the neat page turning buttons on the sides flip onto the next page at a touch. For someone like me who usually knits while reading it is a big improvement on printed books, which are not always amenable to hands-off reading and once propped in the right position are liable to dislodge themselves during page turns.

I already had about 30 Kindle books downloaded but had already read most of them on the iPad, so I have been having fun stocking the Kindle. Amazon UK has a 12 Days of Kindle promotion on throughout the 12 Days of Christmas (duh!) with a whole new batch of books added each day, mostly reduced to 99 pence. I have been taking advantage of this and now have the following stacked in my reading queue:

The Eagle of the Ninth (Rosemary Sutcliff)
Ghosts of Spain (Giles Tremlett) - a combination of travelogue and history
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (modern translation by Simon Armitage)
Map of a Nation (Rachel Hewitt) - about the making of the original Ordnance Survey maps of the British Isles
Salt: a World History (Mark Kurlansky)
The Little White Horse (Elizabeth Goudge)
Yesterday Morning: a Very English Childhood (Diana Athill)
A Darkly Hidden Truth (Donna Fletcher) - the description "a gripping modern mystery enriched by liturgy, iconography, and medieval history" sounded intriguing
The Magical Maze: Seeing the World Through Mathematical Eyes (Ian Stewart)
The Help (Kathryn Stockett)
The Tale of Oat Cake Crag (Susan Albert) - one of her Beatrix Potter mysteries

So far I have finished Austenland (Shannon Hale) and I am three-quarters of the way through The Secret Life of France (Lucy Wadham). Reviews to follow.

Christmas. Hannukah. New Year.

2011-12-29T10:51:00.001Z

All tumbling over each other this year, which is why I have not posted for a while. Hannukah started on the Tuesday evening before Christmas and ended yesterday, neatly running through Christmas, and now it is December 29th and New Year is looming before I am ready to think about it! I apologise for not wishing eveyone a Happy Christmas beforehand, but as we are still only on the fifth of the twelve days of Christmas I wish you one now. I hope you had a lovely Christmas day and are still enjoying the season!

We have had a good time here with friends and family. My mother and brother were with us for Christmas Day, then on Boxing Day we all went out for a meal. This was a change of tradition for us. For nearly twenty years our family routine has been to be all together here on Christmas Day, then to go to Mum's on Boxing Day. She used to cook a lavish lunch and provide a buffet tea, until the cooking got too much and we started just going for the afternoon and tea. For the last couple of years even this has been getting steadily harder for her and she has been relying heavily on my brother to help. This year we noticed that the local Harvester restaurant (one of the larger chains over here) was offering a two course meal plus salad buffet on Boxing Day for £10.99. We suggested this might be a good idea as everyone from the five year old to the eighty four year old likes their food and it would save Mum and my brother feeling they ought to be catering for everyone. They jumped at the idea and we all enjoyed ourselves, so I think it may become a new family tradition.

On Tuesday we switched back from Christmas to Hannukah and held our usual Hannakah party for ourselves and our neighbours. This year we also added in Cherub's Little Friend N (whose poor mother was also supposed to come, but couldn't as she wasn't well). I cooked a mountain of latkes (fried potato cakes) which disappeared rapidly) and bought a matching mountain of doughnuts from Tesco. Hannukah recalls lights of theTemple in Jerusalem continuing to burn miraculously for eight days despite being on the last dregs of oil, so is celebrated with food fried in oil. Jewish food does not do low calorie! After Hannukah food for twelve on Tuesday, Tevye's sister and family and a couple of family friends came for the day yesterday which meant providing lunch and tea for thirteen. I cooked a mountain of baked potatoes, chicken and mushroom casserole, cauliflower cheese for those who don't eat meat (or in the case of Tevye's nephew's fiancee, non-kosher meat), various veggies, and a couple of apple pies using the pastry recipe from Linds' mince pies (delicious!).

If I had any sense today would be a restful, chilling out sort of day, but no - I am heading off to London on the train with four teenagers to hit the post-Christmas sales at the Westfield Centre in Shepherd's Bush. Eek! Tomorrow, I chill!

Advent Books: Week 4

2011-12-29T10:23:00.000Z

Late, but posting this anyway for the record, our final batch of books for Advent. There were a couple of others I wanted that I ordered from the library, but they didn't arrive on time - if I could have got them I would have added in The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett and Bethlehem by Fiona French.

Sunday: The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

Monday: The Nutcracker (Usborne Picture Book)

Tuesday: My First Hannukah board book (enough content for this not to be a baby book)

Wednesday: Winter Solstice by Ellen Jackson

Thursday: Light the Lights: A Story about Celebrating Hannukah and Christmas by Margaret Moorman

Friday: The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie de Paola (more of an Epiphany book, but the library let me down and I had to fill a gap!)

Saturday: Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? by Jan Brett

Her favourite from week three was Tomie de Paola's The Clown of God, and from week four Light the Lights ... but really we fizzled out rather towards the end (or life got busier in the evenings) and a number of the books from the last two weeks didn't get read at all. We did read all of The Story of Holly and Ivy, which she loved. I am still trying to nail down the different editions of this. Amazon UK has three: a picture book illustrated by Barbara Cooney, which at 31 pages long must be either heavily abridged or a retelling; a version illustrated by Christian Birmingham with 64 pages - this is the one I have in the Kindle edition, with the town name changed, which I am sure is abridged; and an old Young Puffin editon with 80 pages, which I think is a reprint of the 1958 original, although I am sure the copy I borrowed from the library for Star several years ago had a different cover. I am slightly frustrated that I don't know what is missing from the Kindle book, but I am sure something is.

Advent Books: Week 3

2011-12-18T08:19:00.000Z

I wrote this on the train during the week, but needed to tweak the pictures and only just remembered!

This week's books:

Christmas by Jan Piemkowski

A Flower Fairy Christmas

Saint Lucy by Silvia Vecchini

The Clown of God by Tomie de Paola

Tod and the Clock Angel by Andrew Matthews and Christian Birmingham

The Night the Stars Danced for Joy by Bob Hartman

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie de Paola

Alongside those we are reading Chrissie the Wish Fairy (having made it to the end of Holly the Christmas Fairy. Oh joy!) and A Street Through Time by Anne Millard and Steve Noon, one of a series of gorgeous illustrated history books published some years ago by Dorling Kindersley, mostly out of print and getting hard to find at a reasonable price. Cherub adores this book. We look at one double page spread each night, and she tries to find the various small illustrations around the page in the main picture. Last night we added in The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden, which also seems to out of print except in a Kindle version which I downloaded last night. I am slightly irritated as I think this many be an abridged version, and the town name has been changed form the original Aylesbury (real, local and name familiar to Cherub) to Appleton (fictional). Why?

As for last week's books, Cherub's favourites were Brian Wildsmith's A Christmas Story, the pop-up version of the Nutcracker, and Jan Brett's Christmas Trolls (an all time family favourite, this one).

Advent Books: Week 2

2011-12-07T06:47:00.000Z

The books for advent have been a huge hit so far (with the exception of Saint Andrew which she took against). This weeks selection is:

Sunday: A Christmas Story by Brian Wildsmith

Monday: Nutcracker (very pretty pop-up / lift the flap version)

Tuesday: Saint Nicholas by Mary Joslin

Wednesday: Country Angel Christmas by Tomie de Paola

Thursday: Mary by Brian Wildsmith

Friday: Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett

Saturday: The New Star by Taffy Davis

Highlights for Cherub from last week were The Story of Christmas by Jane Ray, which Cherub has wanted read every day. Apparently it was also their storybook at school one day, which delighted her. I love Jane Ray's style of illustration, the text is traditional and flows well, and I noticed for the first time that in a couple of the pictures Mary is discreetly nursing baby Jesus (a nice touch, I thought). Mog's Christmas by Judith Kerr is an old favourite, but Cherub now gets the humorous touches that went over her head last year. Another one we are both loving is Jan Brett's The Twelve Days of Christmas, which I am expected to sing in its entirety. We both love the little vignettes at the side of each page showing a family finding, cutting and decorating their Christmas tree. Jan Brett's pictures within pictures are always a delight.

Stravinsky's Firebird Suite

2011-12-02T08:10:00.002Z

... finally makes sense! It probably always made sense to listen to, but until last night too many bits were just a jumble of notes when I tried to play it. At last night's orchestra it finally came together, which is just as well as we are playing it in a concert on Saturday. Not that I can play every note, but at least I now have a handle on where they are meant to be! And it sounded wonderful with a full orchestra (lower brass and percussion usually come just for the last couple of rehearsals). Very dramatic!

After being slightly resentful that this concert and rehearsals were a time squeeze I could have done without at the moment I'm now glad I didn't decide to drop out as I realised last night how much I like the programme. As well as the Firebird Suite there is a Beethoven piano concerto, a pretty bit of Mozart for wind, and Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis for double string orchestra, which is just beautiful. If you like classical music but don't know it I highly recommend you download it, sit back and relax, and just let it flow over you.

This Week: 29th November 2011

2011-11-29T07:49:00.001Z

The weather ... A nasty, wet morning, after a frosty start yesterday. It still feels more like autumn than winter.

I am wearing ... black jeans, black vest top, black sweater, pink cardigan, pink plimsolls, pink coat and scarf. Plenty of layers as I am working in the stack room today. It is cold up there when sitting on the computer, but if it is busy the physical exercise can make it warm. Also have to dress for climbing steps and lugging boxes around.

I am reading .... The English Poor Laws 1700-1930 by Anthony Brundage and Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy. I don't like Hardy - too depressing for my taste - but downloaded a free Kindle version after reading a review (which I will try to link to later - too fiddly right now as I am on the train with an erratic 3G internet connection). I finished The Secret Life of Bletchley Park.

I am creating ... boot socks for my brother, socks for my Mum and mittens for Angel. Angel's snood is blocked but still a bit inclined to want to curl up.

I am listening ... two rather snarky sounding schoolgirls in the seat in front grumbling at each other ("you gave me the wrong number you dodo!")

I am watching ... Garrows Law, not much else. I'm reslly not that big on TV and if time is short, which it is at the moment, TV watching is one of the first things to go.

I am enjoying ... Poached eggs. I seem to have finally mastered cooking the perfect poached egg!

I am planning ... just working on sticking to the plan! Essential as there is so much to do over then next month.

Learning notes ... Angel is off to London today. Her product design teacher is taking her class to a study day at London University.

Cherub ... is now a camel in her Christmas concert. I think she was just hoping to be an angel before the parts got allocated. As she is a few inches shorter than the other camels, she is going to be a baby camel!

On the menu ...
Monday: I went out for dinner with a friend, and shamelessly lt the rest of the family to eat instant meals from the freezer.
Tuesday: cod, chips and peas
Wednesday: chicken with butternut squash wedges and broccoli
Thursday: pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce
Friday: ??
Saturday: baked potatoes
Sunday: roast chicken

On the calendar ...
Tuesday: flu vaccination
Saturday: orchestra rehearsal and concert
Sunday: playing carols with the brass band

A picture from last week ... actually another zoo picture from the previous week.

Not So Mad After All?

2011-11-27T22:33:00.000Z

Back in August I bought a (very cheap!) set of 42 Rainbow Magic books for Cherub and complained that it was madness. Quite how the publishers and the several authors writing under the pseudonym of Daisy Meadows have managed to churn out over one hundred books with essentially the same plot (two girls help assorted fairies to thwart Jack Frost and his nasty goblins) is beyond me. Still, I have gritted my teeth and we have just finished book eighteen (plus a few outliers borrowed from the library by a gleeful Cherub - the highlight being her namesake Naomi the Netball Fairy).

And now? Cherub has made a huge jump in the level of the books she wants me to read to her. For the last three weeks we have been chugging slowly through H.E.Marshall's Kings and Things, a slighter retelling of British history than Our Island Story written for younger children, but still running to 400 pages and with a fair amount of unfamiliar historical vocabulary - I dug it out to read about Guy Fawkes for Bonfire Night, but she insisted we should read the rest of the book. She has started wanting me to read poems to her, thanks to the gift of a poetry book from Grandma, and tonight we launched, full of enthusiasm, into Letters from Father Christmas (yay! Tolkien!) and The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean. She wants to read, and discuss, and look in detail at pictures, in a way she didn't three months ago when we started the fairy marathon. Tonight it dawned on me that all that listening to chapter books, albeit simple and repetitive ones, has stretched her comprehension and ability to focus, in the same way that becoming engrossed in an easy reader series often kick starts a child into reading more complex material. And yes, the fairies are still top of her bedtime storytime pile, but the pile is now growing in both quantity and quality.

Now the dilemna. The Book People have 21 more Rainbow Magic books on offer, including Naomi the Netball Fairy. Christmas? Should I?

Picture Books for Advent

2011-11-26T21:02:00.002Z

Last year I wrapped a book a day for Cherub during Advent. Some she loved, others she refused to have anything to do with. This year I think she is more likely to be prepared to give unfamiliar books a go, so I'm going to do the same again. I am only going to wrap one week at a time though. Wrapping 28 books in one go is a marathon I'd sooner avoid, and this way I can tweak as I go and can pick up extra books from the library as I need them.

I am using books with a mix of religious and secular themes, with some saints' stories thrown in on their feast days and a couple of Hannukah books. For the first week I have wrapped:

Sunday: The Story of Christmas (Jane Ray)
Monday: Mog's Christmas (Judith Kerr)
Tuesday: Christmas in Grandma's Day (Faye Gardner)
Wednesday: Saint Andrew (Lois Rock)
Thursday: The Twelve Days of Christmas (Jan Brett)
Friday: An African Christmas (Ifeoma Onyefulu)
Saturday: Angelina's Christmas (Katherine Holabird)

Cherub has been perusing the pile of wrapped books and is excited, not to mention a bit peeved that we couldn't start today. We also have some longer books lined up to start tomorrow - Holly the Christmas Fairy (yet another of the Rainbow Magic series, which she adores despite every book appearing to have the same plot), Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas (which I love and am hoping she is ready for), and I think I will give Grraldine McCaughrean's Jesse Tree book ago. We also have to carry on with H.E.Marshall's Kings and Things, which I thought would be over Cherub's head, but she is insisting on having read every night.

This Week: 22nd November 2011

2011-11-22T20:51:00.001Z

The weather ... more of the same, mostly grey and damp, though still warmer than usual for November. It is supposed to be getting colder as the week goes on.

I am wearing ... black long sleeved T-shirt, purple cardigan, new black jeans. Smaller black jeans!

I am reading .... The English Poor Laws 1700-1930 by Anthony Brundage and The Secret Life of Bletchley Park. Getting towards the end of both.

I am creating ... boot socks for my brother and mittens for Angel. Two three-quarters done cardigans of my own are on hold while I knit Christmas presents. Angel's snood is done but needs blocking as it is curling up on itself.

I am listening ... to the dishwasher. Apart from that there is a brief space of silence.

I am watching ... still Garrows Law and Junior Apprentice.

I am enjoying ... dark chocolate (Tesco's 74% cocoa bars)

I am planning ... how to fit everything in that needs to be done between now and Christmas. I have to get end of module assignments done by January 6th, but as I don't want to have them hanging over me all through the Christmas break I am hoping to get them done before Christmas.

Learning notes ... Star has recently become enthusiastic about French. The French department at her school was rated outstanding after a recent inspection. Judging from Star's attitude, they are certainly doing something right!

Cherub ... is excited about being an angel in her school Christmas concert.

On the menu ...
Monday: chicken in BBQ sauce with rice or baked potatoes and green veg (which I finally managed to cook!)
Tuesday: chicken in breadcrumbs, chips and peas
Wednesday: beef stew and dumplings
Thursday: pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce
Friday: salmon?
Saturday: beefburgers
Sunday: roast chicken

On the calendar ...
Thursday: medical appointment for me (asthma review), and Star is having two teeth extracted before she gets braces (then another two next week. Ugh!)
Saturday: possibly playing Christmas carols with the brass band - it will depend how many people they need

A picture from last week ... from a trip to the zoo with Cherub on Saturday. She earned it by getting 20 stars on her sleeping-through-the-night chart.

This Week: 15th November 2011

2011-11-15T19:26:00.002Z

The weather ... still very, very Novemberish. Grey and damp, occasional sun peaking through, not particularly cold.

I am wearing ... black and white pyjamas

I am reading .... The English Poor Laws 1700-1930 by Anthony Brundage. The Secret Life of Bletchley Park is temporarily on hold.

I am creating ... Angel's snood. A quick knit but the first attempt came out shorter than she wanted so I am knitting a longer version. Still have boot socks for my brother and my multi-coloured cardigan on the go.

I am listening ... Tevye explaining his idea for our Christmas newsletter this year. We always try spice it up a little with an original theme.

I am watching ... Garrows Law and Junior Apprentice. And the X Factor in a half-hearted sort of way.

I am enjoying ... seeing Angel settle into her job. She is enjoying it and her manager is impressed with the speed she has picked it up. I always knew that girl would thrive in a working environment, and it is nice to have that confirmed.

I am planning ... a shopping expedition for new jeans and trousers. I have been eating healthily and every pair I own has got too loose. It seems I must have lost some weight! As I don't possess any scales I have no idea how much.

Learning notes ... I am busy learning about the 19th century poor laws and workhouses as part of my course. Interesting stuff.

Cherub ... is leaning over my shoulder reading this blog! Slowly, and a bit hit and miss, but definitely reading. I'm sure she couldn't have done that even a week ago!

On the menu ...
Monday: chicken and spinach casserole, potato rosti, broccoli
Tuesday: fishcakes, chips and peas
Wednesday: chicken in BBQ sauce with rice and green veg (has been on the list for a couple of weeks but not happened for some reason)
Thursday: spaghetti bolognese (Star is cooking this at school)
Friday: haddock, potato croquettes, veg
Saturday: leek and potato soup (also didn't happen last week
Sunday: roast beef

On the calendar ...
Thursday: consultation with Star's school tutor
Sunday: dance school choreography competition and display. At the last minute Star has decided to take part.

A picture from last week ... another Bonfire night photo

That Parrot is Dead

2011-11-12T10:35:00.001Z

Sorry, can't mention parrots without thinking Monty Python.

A recent conversation with Star:

Star (all excited): I know what I want for Christmas!
Me: What?
Star: A parrot!
Me: NO!!!!!
Star: Why not?
Me: Don't even go there! And anyway, have you any idea how much parrots cost?
Star: Well, how about a budgie then?
Me: NO!!!!!
Star: Why not?
Me: Don't even go there!
Star: But I want a budgie! I'm going to call it Keith.
Me: NO!!!!!
Star: But why not?
Me (floundering): Because any bird that comes into this house will be cooked and eaten.
Star: What does budgie taste like?

Place Marker

2011-11-12T10:28:00.000Z

I keep thinking of things I want to blog about, then never get around to writing. Maybe if I post a list here as a place marker it will give me a nudge and stop everything slipping past me.

Blog posts that may - or may not? - happen:

Bletchley Park
eating well
yoga
history for five year olds
books for Advent
time management
housekeeping failures
knitting
all the wonderful stuff I keep finding at work (though that will soon have its own blog)

This Week: 7th November 2011

2011-11-08T07:15:00.000Z

The weather ... November. Ugh. Yesterday was so grey it felt as though it never got properly light.

I am wearing ... black and white pyjamas

I am reading .... The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair Mackay. Next up is a book on the development of the Poor Laws in England - I need to read it for my course, but it interests me anyway.

I am creating ... boot socks for my brother on the train, and a chunky multi-coloured cardigan for myself that I started nearly two years ago. Angel wants me to knit her a snood and I have a couple of Christmas projects planned, so lots of knitting to do!

I am listening ... Tevye running the shower. Nobody else is awake yet.

I am watching ... I was watching Downton Abbey but the series finished on Sunday. Ridiculous, credibility stretching melodrama at times, but still very enjoyable to watch.

I am enjoying ... warm boots. I bought a pair of Ugg-style boots from Clarks in the sale last spring for a third of their original price and they are a bit of warm and snuggly compensation for nasty late autumn weather.

I am planning ... no planning, just surviving an overload of work commitments in this household. Angel is now working as a Christmas temp for a department store, which is going to make the next couple of months a major challenge for her as she tries to juggle work and school. Add that to my extra hours and course work there are a lot of balls up in the air here!

Learning notes ... Cherub has decided her favourite subject is history. Long may that last! Surely one daughter out of three who likes history isn't too much to ask?

Cherub ... really hates loud noise. We went to a local firework display on Saturday, and despite ear muffs to deaden the sound she found all the bangs too much. We went back to our friends' house and they let off some more fireworks in the garden which she loved as the noise was not so overwhelming.

On the menu ...
Monday: cottage pie with root vegetables and green beans
Tuesday: chicken steaks, chips and peas
Wednesday: beef stew and dumplings
Thursday: chicken in BBQ sauce with rice and green veg
Friday: fish in sauce that I bought by accident thinking it was plain frozen fish!
Saturday: Leek and potato soup
Sunday: Roast chicken

On the calendar ... work, work and more work

A picture from last week ... Cherub enjoying Bonfire Night

Rethinking Halloween

2011-11-01T23:44:00.000Z

For a long time I have been ambivalent about Halloween. When I was a child, Halloween was a very minor date on the calendar. I remember bobbing for apples and maybe playing a couple of other games. I don't remember whether we ever made Jack o'Lanterns - I think maybe we did, but not every year? Whatever, Halloween was hugely overshadowed by Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes) which was a huge deal. We made a Guy, collected wood for a giant bonfire, and went shopping for fireworks - we would be given a certain amount to spend, and in those days that meant selecting individual fireworks and weighing up their relative excitement value. Should it be one giant rocket, or three small ones? The excitement built for weeks.

Since I have had children of my own I have dithered over Halloween, which has become a bigger deal year on year. I don't have any objection to celebrating Halloween in principle. From my perspective as a Catholic All Hallows Eve is part of a package with All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2. My problem is how to celebrate it. Every year since the girls were little the amount of Halloween paraphenalia on sale has multiplied, and trick or treating has got more popular. Some people love it, others hate it. When Angel and Star were younger we sometimes had a small scale Halloween party, but didn't trick or treat, partly because it felt rather alien and partly because we felt that the cons (disturbing people who may not want to be bothered by kids knocking on the door, feeling that it is something that has been imposed on us by the media) outweighed the pros (fun! sweets!). I was also wary of the whole spooky side of Halloween, which is more of a British thing - Halloween costumes are always ghosts, skeletons, witches and things of that type, and telling ghost stories is something else I remember being part of Halloween when I was young.

This year I decided I was warming to the whole thing. Catholic tradition holds that this is this is the time of year to especially remember and pray for the dead, and I presume that somehow the ultimate origin of the spooks and skeletons at Halloween ties in with that tradition. As for trick or treating, I noticed that people have started to leave lit pumpkins outside their doors as an indication that they are happy to be visited by trick or treaters, and that it has become much more of a family event, with lots of families and small groups of children out and about enjoying the atmosphere. We decided to let Star take Cherub, who just managed to let excitement win out over fear - she is Little Miss Timid, and I would have bet against her making it out of the door into a dark night full of people dressed in scary costumes. She set out with great trepidation, but returned with a haul of sweets and the satisfaction of having faced her fear and overcome it.

Cherub, incidentally, was probably the only child in town not wearing anything black or spooky. She was determined that she was going to do it her way. And her way was to dress up as a ballerina with bunny ears. Halloween Cherub style is pink and fluffy!

This Week: 31st October 2011

2011-10-31T07:02:00.000Z

The weather ... an autumnal mix of sun, cloud, wind and rain, but warmer than average for late October.

I am wearing ... black and white pyjamas

I am reading .... The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair Mackay. The story of Bletchley Park, the codebreaking centre during World War II, fascinates me.

I am creating ... boot socks for my brother on the train, and a chunky multi-coloured cardigan for myself that I started nearly two years ago.

I am listening ... to silence! Tevye has already left for work. Nobody else is awake yet.

I am watching ... Downton Abbey. Only one more episode of this series.

I am enjoying ... work! I really like my job. The subject matter is fascinating and the atmosphere relaxed.

I am planning ... no particular plans on my mind at the moment.

Learning notes ... Angel has been slogging away at product design work over her half term break. Product design is definitely the course with the highest work load of the four she is taking.

Cherub ... has spent a lot of time over the past few days playing with a neighbour girl who moved in recently. E is just eight, but she and Cherub enjoy the same type of activities - imaginative play, particularly with small figures like Playmobil and Sylvanian Families, and lots of drawing and colouring.

On the menu ...
Monday: Baked potatoes and chilli with broccoli
Tuesday: Fish cakes or scampi with chips and peas
Wednesday: Beefburgers with mushrooms and roasted veggies
Thursday: Chicken in BBQ sauce with rice and green veg
Friday: Salmon?
Saturday: Leek and potato soup
Sunday: Roast chicken

On the calendar ... absolutely nothing beyond the normal routine this week. Can it be true?

A picture from last week ... I took Star to Covent Garden on Saturday afternoon on impulse - she was bored and I decided to take advantage of being near to London and being able to get discount rail tickets thanks to my annual season ticket. Covent Garden used to be the main fruit and vegetable market for London but was redeveloped after the market moved in the 1970s, and now has a mix of shops, stalls and street entertainment. We spent some time watching this Charlie Chaplinesque.

Photos from the South

2011-10-30T21:26:00.001Z

I did a nice photo blog from our day in Chichester last week, which caused my phone to blow a 3G (mobile data) gasket when I tried to upload it. Should have waited until I was home with wi-fi. Now my Blogpress app refuses to show me any saved entries, so the post has disappeared without trace. Reproducing it would be too demoralising, so I am just going to post a batch of random pictures from our trip away.

Cherub enjoying the autumn leaves

Chichester Guildhall - originally a priory church, which became the town hall (Guildhall) after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. Now a museum.

The world's largest liturgical book in Chichester cathedral. Nobody knows exactly where it came from or when it was made - 17th century Mexico / Latin America seems to be the most likely origin. The size was so that the book could be seen simultaneously by a number of people.

The ceiling of Chichester cathedral. I have a thing for Gothic ceilings.

The Isle of Wight has a small railway line that runs from the ferry landing at Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin in the south-east. The trains are cast offs from the London Underground.

Shanklin Old Village. Very pretty, even on a grey autumn day.

Shanklin beach - grey sea and grey sky!

Another Gothic roof, this time at Winchester Cathedral. Beautiful fan vaulting.

A medieval wooden carving on the end of one of the choir stalls at Winchester.

Quick Thoughts

2011-10-29T22:16:00.000+01:00

1. Too late for 7 Quick Takes this week, and I'm not sure I can come up with seven things to say, so this is just a random number of quick thoughts. I keep having ideas for things I want to write about here, but then I forget what they were. I have just got so out of the habit of blogging. There always seem to be so many other things to do when I am online at home. I thought maybe I could blog on the train, but that is my main reading time and I don't want to lose that. Meanwhile, this poor blog gets sadly neglected. Maybe 2012 will be my Year of the Blog!

2. Angel went for a job interview on Wednesday for temporary work over the Christmas period for one of the big department store chains (the one with the dark green and white logo that has a sister chain of supermarkets). She may or may not get the job - she won't hear until next week - but I am hugely proud of how capable and independent she is, and how confidently she tackled a group interview / assessment where most of the other applicants were much older than her.

3. A lovely moment from our trip away earlier this week.
Tevye [to Cherub]: Are you enjoying your holiday?
Cherub: Yes!
Tevye: What's been the best thing about it?
Cherub: Being with you.

This Week: 24 October 2011

2011-10-25T23:39:00.001+01:00

The weather ... all over the place - sun, wind and rain in quick succession.

I am wearing ... pyjamas and fluffy dressing gown.

I am reading .... A 1960s Childhood by Paul Feeney. I was in the mood for a bit of nostalgia, but I'm finding it rather disappointing.

I am creating ... the last inch of the Revival sweater - it is knitted in the round from the top down, and I decided it was a bit short so I am adding an extra few inches at the bottom. I finished Star's socks, and I'm not working on a pair of thick warm boot socks for my brother for Christmas.

I am listening ... to the TV.

I am watching ... a programme about young women becoming nuns (multitasking here). When that finishes I will catch up with Sunday's episode of Downton Abbey. I am waiting up for Star, who is due back from her school trip to France in the small hours.

I ~~am enjoying~~ have enjoyed ... three days away with Tevye and Cherub. It was strange to be a family of three for a while - it is such a long time since we last went away with just the two of us plus one little one. I think Cherub is going to be the most easy going of the three girls, and she was at her cutest and sweetest. She was ecstatic at having us all to herself for so long, though she also missed her sisters. We took advantage of a cheap Travelodge (motel) deal and stayed between Chichester and Portsmouth. The first day we explored Chichester, yesterday we took a day trip to the Isle of Wight, and today we visited an aquarium in Portsmouth and stopped off at Winchester on the way home.

I am planning ... Christmas knitting. I have various gift projects in mind.

Learning notes ... half term this week, so all three girls are off school. Tevye is taking the whole week off work, and I am only working Thursday and Friday mornings. It's nice for us all to have a bit of downtime.

Cherub ... is back in a drawing and colouring phase. As soon as she gets up in the morning she sits at her little table, pencil in hand, and the same when she gets in from school in the afternoon.

On the menu ... playing it by ear this week, as everyone is likely out and about unpredictably.

On the calendar ...
Wednesday - Angel has an interview for a shop assistant job over the Christmas period.
Friday - Tevye and I are going out for dinner with some friends.
Saturday - maybe a trip to the zoo with Little Friend N, but he hasn't been well this week so it may not come off.

A picture from last week ... the Spinnaker Tower at Portsmouth

This Week: 17th October

2011-10-17T18:56:00.000+01:00

Oh dear! Where did last week go? Bad blogger!

The weather ... still a warm and pleasant early autumn, but supposed to be getting cooler and more changeable this week

I am wearing ... black and white pyjamas.

I am reading .... finished Selling Sparrows, and back to a book about the 80s I have been ploughing through slowly over the past couple of months.

I am creating ... the Revival sweater is almost done, but proceedings have been interrupted for me to need an emergency pair of fluffy, snuggly socks for Star to take on her trip to France.

I am listening ... to Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams. We are playing this in my next orchestra concert - loved it before, but love it even more now I have the insight that playing and rehearsing a piece of music brings. I had no idea that it was written for two string orchestras - a small second orchestra plays alongside the main one.

I am watching ... last week I watched Downton Abbey, the X Factor, the Hotel Inspector and Who Do You Think You Are (last episode). I am not a big TV watcher, so for me that is quite a lot in one week!

I am enjoying ... Sanex shower and bath gels. Or rather, I am enjoying the fact that this stuff works so well on the dry itchy skin to which three members of this family are prone (not me!). It is cheap and cheerful, but seems to work just as well as far more expensive prescription grade shower gels and bath oils for dry skin and mild eczema. Cherub doesn't spend half the night scratching itchy skin any more.

I am planning ... how to fit an extra day into the week. An extra day's work that is. I am going to be doing some overtime to help out over the next three months or so while the archive is a staff member down.

Learning notes ... glowing reports on Cherub from her teacher last week - she has settled into Year 1 very smoothly, is responsible and helpful, eager to learn, and gets enthusiastically envolved in both teacher-led and independent learning activities. None of which surprised us as that is very much what we see at home, and she seems very happy with school so there was no reason to think there would be any issues. Angel spent a day here on Friday at a photography workshop, and has just come home with details of a product design study day at London University for next month. Star has been contemplating GCSE choices for next year and is thinking she will opt for triple science (separate physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs rather than a scaled down combined science version), art, business studies, French and child development. Plenty of time before she has to make a final decision though.

Cherub ... was Pupil of the Week for her class last week, which meant she had to collect a certificate, badge and trophy (which she gets to keep for the week) in front of the whole school during assembly. This was scary and she had to be brave, she tells me. She is also very proud of herself.

On the menu ...
Monday: chicken stir fry
Tuesday: chicken and broccoli crisp bakes, chips (fries) from the fish and chip van
Wednesday: minced beef with mashed butternut and sweet potato topping
Thursday: honey mustard chicken and pasta
Friday: salmon
Saturday: leek and potato soup
Sunday: [out]

On the calendar ...
Monday: modern dance exam for Star; Angel wants to try out the adult gymnastics class at the gym where she coaches
Tuesday: tap dance exam for Star; full day working for me
Thursday: Star leaves for six days of intensive French theme parks; Sixth form information evening for parents and students with Angel

A picture from last week ... a rare picture of me with Cherub from our meal out on Saturday

This Week: 10th October

2011-10-10T08:09:00.001+01:00

The weather ... Indian summer over and into autumn, although this week the forecast is for warmer than usual temperatures again - nothing like the scorching heat of a couple of weeks ago though, and with a fair amount of cloud and wind.

I am wearing ... dark grey trousers, pink sweater, black boots, beige coat.

I am reading .... almost finished Selling Sprarrows.

I am creating ... the second sleeve of a Revival sweater - stocking stitch with an unusual top down construction - which had been hibernating for a couple of months. The skew socks are still on the go for knitting on the train, and I finished my Jordan vest yesterday. I liked the idea of a lace vest but wasn't at all sure about the construction (basically a tube with two rectangles sewn on to make the bodice and sleeves) or whether the finished product would be something I would wear. Finishing it was one of those ta-da moments when it all miraculously came together into something I really like, though I'll have to wait until next summer to wear it.

I am listening ... to nothing in particular over the last few days.

I am watching ... all caught up on Downton Abbey. I discovered recently that Maggie Smith (the dowager Duchess of Grantham and Professor McGonigall in the Harry Potter films, among many illustrious roles) is a former pupil of my old school. A bit before my time though!

I am enjoying ... fresh figs. They have been on offer at the supermarket recently. I hadn't eaten fresh figs on years and quite forgot I liked them until I bought some on impulse.

I am planning ... Christmas shopping. I like to shop well ahead so that I don't lose December to a last minute rush.

Learning notes ... Meeting Cherub's teachers tomorrow to hear how she is settling into Year 1. She is happy so I am not expecting any issues.

Cherub ... is definitely the most introverted of the three girls. From what she says she seems to like to spend quite a bit of her playtime at school on her own, just watching what is going on. She will join in with the others when she is in the mood, but likes her space.

On the menu ...
Monday: chicken pie, mashed potato, veg
Tuesday: steak or chicken, butternut squash wedges, green veg
Wednesday: burgers, sweet orn
Thursday: lazy chicken
Friday: fish, chips, peas
Saturday: leek and potato soup
Sunday: roast chicken

On the calendar ...
Tuesday: parent teacher meeting for Cherub, hairdresser for Star
Thursday: eye hospital appointment for Tevye
Friday: Angel on a field trip here for a photography workshop
Sunday: playing with the brass band in a nearby village

A picture from last week ... last week's weather - sunshine, rain and rainbows

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T08:13:00.001+01:00

I am writing this on my iPhone on the train, thanks to Apple. Smartphones existed before iPhone, but it was iPhone that made everyone (ok Tevye, almost everyone!) want one. Same with tablets - iPad turned tablet computers from a tiny niche market to a mainstream product. The iPod changed the way we listen to music forever. iMacs made computers a thing of beauty. Steve Jobs, quite literally, changed the world. Whether or not you own an Apple product, you almost certainly communicate and use computers differently because of the technology that Apple developed or popularised.

I am a huge fan of Apple. Partly because their product design is so immaculate; partly because everything "just works". Who would have thought a decade or so ago when Microsoft appeared to be taking over the computing world that Apple computers would ever become more than a niche product, if the company managed to survive at all? Reenter Steve Jobs for his second stint as head of Apple. And today Apple is ... what? ... the second largest company in the world? (I don't have time to check!). I also heard on the radio the other day that a survey reckoned it the second most iconic brand in the world. Quite some combination that!

So RIP Steve Jobs. Your legacy lives on.

Things That Make Me Smile

2011-10-05T16:46:00.001+01:00

Finding a stuffed animal takeover on the stairs when I got home from work

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Meeting a blogging friend for lunch at Ikea and turning into real life friends. Thank you Linds! And do read this post where she talks about the importance of friendship far more eloquently than I could.

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The prospect of iCloud being available from next week, which (I think!) will mean that I can take photos like the one above on my iPhone and they will be effortlessly synced with my laptop and iPhone.

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This thought which turned up on my Facebook feed yesterday.

This Week: 3rd October 2011

2011-10-03T06:55:00.001+01:00

The weather ... The last day of a six day heatwave of glorious, hot Indian summer weather, including the highest October temperature ever recorded in England on Saturday. The weather may be all tipsy turvey, but it has made for a wonderful morale boosting bonus between the coldest summer in 18 years and the short, cold and (typically) wet days of late autumn and winter.

I am wearing ... summer clothes. Black linen trousers, monochrome butterfly print top, black cardigan (still a bit cool while waiting for the train at 7.40am) and black sandals.

I am reading ... still Selling Sparrows by Judy Wright

I am creating ... Jordan vest (almost finished) and the second of my third pair of Skew Socks. The Dangerous Socks for Boys are finished.

I am listening ... Billy Connolly's Welly Boot Song (see learning notes below - this started a train of association in my head).

I am watching ... after two busy weekends I am getting behind on Downton Abbey. Hoping to catch up this week.

I am enjoying ... the weather!

I am planning ... nothing new that I can think of.

Learning notes ... Cherub has "Welly Week" at school - they are going to be doing welly themed activities based on a poem about - you guessed it - wellies. (Wellies = Wellington boots = rubber rain boots.)

Cherub ... has gone into a drawing frenzy, mainly creating detailed pictures of birthday parties.

On the calendar ... Tuesday: lunch with Linds; a meeting at Star's school in the evening about her trip to France later this month; Thursday: orthodontist's appointment for Star; Saturday: band concert

On the menu ...
Monday: sesame beef stir fry
Tuesday: salmon fishcakes and salad
Wednesday: baked potatoes, upside down chicken kiev, and stir fried leeks
Thursday: shipwreck stew and corn on the cob
Friday: chicken pie, mashed potatoes and carrots
Saturday: fried fish
Sunday: roast beef

A picture from last week ... our next-door-but-one neighbours' new kitten - a four month old silver tabby

Heart Quilt

2011-09-29T08:09:00.002+01:00

Linds at Rocking Chair Reflections held a giveaway ... and I won!

Look what arrived in the post yesterday:

Isn't it beautiful! It looks even better in real life then in the photo. Linds is a very talented lady. And look how well it goes with my red curtains:

Cherub is also very taken with the quilt and has found her own use for it. Magic carpet. The blur is Cherub in flight.

And the icing on the cake is that Linds and I are going to meet for lunch next week.

Changing Seasons

2011-09-28T08:11:00.001+01:00

I am trying to record the changing seasons by taking a picture of the same patch of countryside each month - one of my Day Zero Project ideas. Here are three months of a cornfield (wheat) I pass on the train, all taken on sunny days.

July

August

September

This Week: 26th September

2011-09-26T08:10:00.001+01:00

The weather ... the forecast is for an autumn heateave this week so I made the mistake of wearing sandals and not bothering with a coat this morning. It rained and I now have wet toes.

I am wearing ... dark grey trousers, purple t-shirt, purple cardigan and black sandals.

I am reading ... Selling Sparrows by Judy Wright, a local history book I picked up in the library on Saturday. Utterly fascinating as it puts flesh on the bones of the type of records I see at work everyday - it is an account of the prosecution of three local men in 1849 for poaching and wounding a police constable, which became something of a cause celebre at the time, and their subsequent transportation to Australia. Very thoroughly researched, with lots of background detail.

I am creating ... still the Dangerous Socks for Boys (almost done) and Jordan vest.

I am listening ... to Breakfast at Tiffanys by Deep Blue Something (which I discovered through Shazam - clever iPhone app that "tags" music playing in the vicinity and identifies it for you), and The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky which I am trying to get head round musically as it is on the programme for my next orchestra concert.

I am watching ... Downtown Abbey, Who Do You Think You Are, Dragon's Den, Outnumbered. Have got behind with Doctor Who

I am enjoying ... eating more healthily. I have cut right down on sugar and refined starches, and bumped the amount of fruit and veg I eat right up.

I am planning ...study schedules to fit all my coursework in for this term.

Learning notes ... Angel seems to be handling the adjustment to the significantly heavier workload for Sixth Form well so far. She had to give a PowerPoint presentation on art deco this morning as part of her product design coursework, which took a lot of preparation over the weekend.

Cherub ... Is into doing autumny things. See picture below.

On the calendar ... Tuesday: grade 4 ballet exam for Star; Thursday: Jewish New Year;Saturday: going out for dinner to celebrate our next door but one neighbours' thirtieth wedding anniversary; Sunday: a three hour band practice (yikes!), and various neighbours are coming for tea to welcome our new next door but one neighbours (the other side!). I love that we live in such a friendly road.

On the menu ...
Monday: honey mustard chicken and pasta
Tuesday: grilled lamb steaks with roasted root veggies
Wednesday: mince and sweet potato pie
Thursday: crockpot BBQ chicken with rice and green veg
Friday: fish??
Saturday: eating out. Probably pizza for the girls
Sunday: roast chicken

A picture from last week ... An autumn picture created by Cherub and my brother yesterday. A bit difficult to display with the weight of all those conkers!

7 Quick Takes: September 23rd

2011-09-24T16:18:00.001+01:00

1. I think I have a solution to my want to blog / not much time to blog dilemna - blogging on the train using Blogpress. It's a nice app which does what it says on the tin - let's you post quickly and easily from a phone or iPad to a Blogger blog.

2. The new routine is working out. Everyone manages to be in the right place at the right time. One minor hiccup is that due to a timetabling glitch Angel can't get the bus home from school on alternate Thursdays so one of us has to drive over and collect her.

3. Angel loves the independence of Sixth Form. So long as they are there for lessons, they can come and go as they please - not that it makes much difference to her as she relies on the bus so can't arrive late or leave early, but she likes knowing that she is allowed the extra freedom. She also likes being able to wander out to the local shop in her free time (most days she has at least one free hour on her timetable).

4. Another thing I like about Blogpress is that it lets me save drafts either offline or online, so when I don't finish a post on the train I can pick it up again on the laptop later. Or in this case, the next day.

5. Facebook. Lots and lots of kerfuffle on Facebook about all the changes. My view so far is that I don't like Facebook deciding on "top stories" for me - why would it think that I want to see myself wishing a friend a happy birthday as my top story for the next few hours? - but Lissa taught me how to detopstorify, along with coining a new word. I found seeing everything my friends liked or commented on in my feed a bit overwhelming, but with a bit of judicious editing of settings I think I have that fixed. The ticker that has been getting people excited hasn't appeared on my Facebook page yet. So far I can live with the changes. I was happy with the way things were before and can see nothing in the new order than benefits me, but after a bit of initial inconvenience I don't think it will bother me much.

6. Cherub was hugely excited this afternoon to discover that all she had to do to move text on the iMac screen up and down was stroke her fingers along the mouse in the direction she wanted it to go. Love technology!

7. I have a cold. It has spent the entire week morphing from a sore throat with a slight cough to a nasty cough with a slight sore throat. It is getting irritating.

School Reunion

2011-09-22T08:15:00.001+01:00

On Sunday I went to a school reunion, the first in thirty three years. I went to a selective, highly academic girls' school, which in those days was funded under the direct grant system - somewhere between a private and a state school, in that the fees payable were based on income, with about 10-15% having their places fully paid by the government. These days it is a fully fee paying school, still selective and geared to high academic achievement.

About half the members of our year made it to the reunion, and it was fascinating hearing what people had done since they left school. Two things particularly struck us. Firstly, that most of us had changed direction one or more times, with varied careers that often bore little relation to what we set out to do when we left school - careers which included motherhood for the great majority of us, for which our schooling gave us no preparation whatsoever. Secondly, it brought home to us how academically snobbish the school was (and I imagine still is) and how many people had their self esteem severely knocked by being judged as "not university material". I think all of these had subsequently proved the school wrong by acquiring degrees and discovering they were far more capable than the school had given them credit for, but there was clearly far too much pigeonholing of girls by the school's perception of ability (often inaccurate). I think for a number of people the reunion was an opportunity to confront and put to bed some not too happy memories.

Something else I realised was how narrow our social circles tended to be. Only one of my close friends was at the reunion, and I found myself having interesting conversations with people I don't remember ever speaking to in seven years at that school. With hindsight I am surprised I didn't have more contact with people outside my immediate friendship group. I get the impression that Angel and Star have much wider social circles than we did.

Overall the reunion brought back a mixed set of memories and made me glad that Angel and Star are at a very different type of school - one that aims to help its students achieve the very best they can, whatever their ability, rather than one that sets an extremely high bar and then dismisses as failures those who don't reach it.

This Week: 19th September

2011-09-20T21:40:00.003+01:00

The weather ... average September weather. Not too hot, not too cold. Some sun, some rain.

I am wearing ... work clothes. Grey trousers, purple top, purple cardigan, black and silver flower necklace (bought for £2 in Boots), black boots (new for this autumn / winter, bought for rather more than £2 in Marks and Spencer - good buy though, as
they are super comfy and will get lots of wear), and a lightweight beige coat.

I am reading ... No Such Thing as Society by Andy McSmith, about Britain in the 1980s. I am on a modern history kick at the moment.

I am creating ... half way through my second Dangerous Sock, and almost done with the Jordan vest top (which I won't be likely to wear until next summer anyway). Next I need to get focused on finishing two cardigans and a sweater that are all three-quarters done but have been hibernating for some time. Mistress of the art of the almost-finished project, I am.

I am hearing ... school kids chattering on the train.

I am watching ... Downtown Abbey. The new series started on Sunday.

I am enjoying ... the new term time routine.

I am planning ... a short trip to the south coast at half term.

Learning notes ... my latest archive course module started yesterday. This is on sources and skills for local and family history. This is much more familiar territory for me than the first two modules, and I am looking forward to it.

Cherub ... is loving her new class at school. It is a bit more structured than last year's Reception Class, and the balance of structured activities and play seems just right for her so far.

On the calendar ... extra pre-exam dance classes for Star (she has a ballet exam next week and modern and tap exams in October); an information evening at Star's school tonight (Tuesday) which we may not be able to make due to a ballet class; a trip out for a family meal to celebrate my mother's 84th birthday tomorrow; going to London with Tevye to visit his parents' grave on Sunday - paying respects to the dead around the time of the New Year is a Jewish tradition - which we will combine with dropping in to see an old friend.

On the menu ...
Tuesday: burgers and corn on the cob
Wednesday: eating out
Thursday: beef stew with crusty bread
Friday: fish of some sort
Saturday: vegetable soup
Sunday: roast chicken

A picture from last week ... (actually from Dundee the week before)

This Week: 12th September 2011

2011-09-12T21:31:00.002+01:00

The weather... high winds as the remnants of Hurricane Katia hits the UK. Not a hurricane any more, but enough to bring down a large tree branch in the office car park this morning.

I am wearing... black jeans, pink v-neck sweater

I am reading... back to finishing off The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle by James and Joan O'Keefe, after reading The Tale of Applebeck Orchard by Susan Witteg Albert on the train to and from Dundee last week.

I am creating... skew socks, light green Jordan vest top, and dangerous socks for boys for my brother's birthday. I am kind of irritated with myself for finishing one skew sock and then starting a completely different pair instead of knitting the second.

I am hearing... Dragons Den on TV.

I am watching... Who Do You Think You Are?, Doctor Who, Outnumbered and Dragons Den. I am not a big TV watcher and it is unusual for me to be watching so many series.

I am enjoying ... 74% cocoa chocolate and red wine. As recommended by The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle. Those are the sort of recommendations I am happy to follow. I am also generally managing to eat a healthier diet, so I am not just cherry picking the best bits.

I am planning ... I think I have the new routines more or less sorted, but still have a bit more menu planning to finish.

Learning notes ... happiness all round. I loved the study school last week and am looking forward to starting my next archives module next week (with just a little trepidation about work load!). All three girls are very happy with their new schools and classes. Angel is delighted with her A level choices so far, even though she had to spend 12 hours yesterday finishing her summer task for product design ready to hand in today (a 1500 word essay on the Bauhaus movement and two design tasks requiring 3 A3 design sheets for each). Star has settled in quickly at her new school, and Cherub is loving Year One.

Cherub ... came home today thrilled that she did SCIENCE (experimenting to see whether things dissolved in water or not) and LITERACY ("weading" and "witing" - apparently Cherub does the 3 Ws not the 3 Rs!). The capitals represent the importance with which she announced this.

On the calendar ... a normal week! Usual work / school / dancing / swimming / music rehearsals. Busy, but good. I hope. We may have a cousin of Tevye's from South Africa visiting later in the week, and on Sunday I am going to London for a school reunion, the first for my year since we left school 33 years ago.

On the menu...
Monday - baked potatoes and chilli
Tuesday - lime and thyme chicken with sweet potatoes and green veg
Wednesday - burgers, corn on the cob and vegetable kebabs
Thursday - lazy chicken and potatoes, green veg
Friday - tuna fish cakes, salad
Saturday - leek and potato soup
Sunday - roast beef

A picture from last week...

Tarragona

2011-09-06T08:07:00.002+01:00

Some pictures of Tarragona in Spain - originally the Roman port of Tarraco, with Roman remains designated a world heritage site.

The cathedral - undergoing restoration so we couldn't go inside

Part of the medieval market place

The Roman forum

Typical street in the old city

Roman city wall

Statue of a human tower (a famous feature of the fiesta in Tarragona)

Being given a little help by Tevye

This Week: 5th September 2011

2011-09-05T21:14:00.000+01:00

The weather... Ugh. After two glorious late summer days last week it is now wet, grey and miserable.

I am wearing... jeans, blue floral tunic top and navy cardigan.

I am reading... The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle by James and Joan O'Keefe. A free Kindle download (mentioned some time ago by Willa, I think?) that I am hoping will inspire me to eat more healthily and exercise regularly. September and January are always my optimistic, new start months.

I am creating... skew socks (my third pair - I love this pattern!) and a light green Jordan vest top.

I am hearing... Tevye watching TV and Angel tapping on the keyboard.

I am watching... Who Do You Think You Are?, Doctor Who and Outnumbered. And there is a new series of Downtown Abbey to look forward to, starting on September 18th.

I am enjoying ... watermelon and peanut butter. Not together.

I am planning ... menus, study time, new routines.

Learning notes ... back to school this week. Angel and Star start tomorrow and Cherub on Wednesday. I am going to Dundee for part two of the study school I attended in January (leaving Wednesday, back Saturday) and will start the third module of my course on September 19th.

Cherub ... is besotted with the Rainbow Magic books. We are on book nine - Abigail the Breeze Fairy - while also taking a simultaneous detour to book sixty as Cherub found her namesake Naomi the Netball Fairy in the library.

On the calendar ... school, dance classes for Star, swimming lesson and a birthday party for Cherub, study school for me, dance school prizegiving on Sunday. Eek.

On the menu... muddling through!

A picture from last week... Minnie Mouse meets Roman wall

7 Quick Takes: 2nd September 2011

2011-09-02T07:07:00.000+01:00

1. I haven't been a lazy blogger, I have been away - we got back on Tuesday from two weeks enjoying the sun in Spain. Apparently the UK has had its coldest summer for eighteen years, which means it hasn't felt as though we have had a summer at all. That two weeks of warmth will carry me through to next summer (if we get one next year, that is!). Photos to come later.

2. Ironically we have come back to a spell of gorgeous late summer weather. High 70s predicted today!

3. I hit the ground running when we got home as I went back to work on Wednesday. My brain had switched itself off to the extent that I struggled to remember the key code for the office door and entered a batch of reference numbers wrong before I managed to get back into gear.

4. The laundry is caught up. Most suitcases are emptied. Phew!

5. Cherub fell in love with the water while we were away thanks to the confidence building properties of an inflatable ring, and with immaculately good timing she had a first swimming lesson yesterday. She was a bit nervous beforehand (as she always is with anything new), but absolutely loved it. A friend from school was in the same class, along with two girls she knew from playgroup, so all was good.

6. The girls go back to school next week - Angel and Star on Tuesday (though Angel doesn't actually start classes until Thursday) and Cherub on Wednesday. Much excited anticipation as they are looking forward to starting their new schools and classes.

7. Last but not least, Angel got her GCSE exam results while we are away. (If you don't know the English exam system but are a Harry Potter enthusiast, think OWLS without the magic.) One A*, five As, two Bs and three Cs, which we are all happy with (C and above are effectively pass grades) - perhaps the best achievements were the B for biology and Cs for physics and chemistry, given that the science teaching she has had over the past three years has been almost entirely poor or non-existent, and she taught herself half the course from revision guides.

Read more quick takes at Conversion Diary

Facebook Snippets

2011-08-15T06:58:00.003+01:00

Some Facebook status updates from July and August, for the benefit of those of you not on Facebook and for my online archiving:

Snippets of my morning ... "Look! I drew a centipede with its makeup" ... "Don't put the bag on the dead moth!" ... "I wish I hadn't let Star use my toothbrush, it's all icky now" ... "I'd feel safer if you put your unicorn down while we are in the car".
Now I know why we got a large screen computer. It was so that one daughter can watch CBeebies on one side of the screen while another uses Facebook on the other.
Girls playing a game which starts "Repeat after me: I went to the graveyard ...". Cherub's variation, "I went to the gravy farm ..."
Went to IKEA this morning with Cherub, who wanted to go on the "skater thingies". Skater thingies? Turned out to be escalators.
Have discovered predictive text thinks marmite and nutella should be marmots and nigella.
Now knows how to get an entire cup of chocolate milk out of a carpet. White vinegar, hot water and bicarbonate of soda.
Woken up at twenty past five this morning by Cherub complaining that Star kept pushing her out of bed. Pointed out that if she had stayed in her own bed in the first place this would not be a problem! Beginning to fantasise about how wonderful it would be to have an undisturbed night and sleep until I woke naturally in the morning.
Did not pick the best day for a BBQ at Wendover Woods. At least the torrential rain has stopped, and the emergency gazebo we bought for £13.50 at Argos on the way here helped (despite being missing a couple of bits). If I stand by the BBQ for long enough, will my jeans dry?
Cannot believe that I have got home freezing cold and sopping wet from Wendover to find that here (15 or so miles away?) it is a lovely sunny afternoon with not a drop of rain in sight and several degrees warmer. What????
According to Cherub "Mummies don't play, Mummies work and knit and shop"!
Last night's absent minded parenting fail - told Cherub "go and do your Facebook" when I meant "go and do your teeth". Oops!
Have just identified strange burning smell in the bathroom as fried moth. Seems it got a little too close to the light.
Revenge of the moths - was relaxing peacefully in bed yesterday when a giant moth dive bombed my iPad and then thwacked me on the head. Not my fault his friend / relative came to a sizzling end.

Virtual Montessori

2011-08-12T12:08:00.002+01:00

I mentioned the other day that Cherub is having a lot of fun with Montessori iPad apps. I love the idea of Montessori education for young children, but have never quite been able to justify the expense of buying the classic Montessori materials. Looking for apps that Cherub might enjoy I stumbled across a Montessori style hundred board - designed to look like the real thing, but you touch the numbers to move them to the board instead of picking them up. From the hundred board we moved onto geography - continents, countries of the United Kingdom, and now (big hit!) flags.

All the apps we have tried so far come from one developer, Rantek, which turns out to be a family business led by an experienced Montessori teacher. Their website, Mobile Montessori, explains their thinking about translating the tactile Montessori material into touchscreen apps:

At first, the idea of using a digital device to reproduce the Montessori concepts seemed like a conflict of interest! After all, without the concrete experiences of touching and holding the various Montessori materials, could children really learn from these activities? Our concensus was, these iPad and iPhone applications could never become replacements of the physical materials, however, for children enrolled in the Montessori curriculum, they could provide a supplement to their education, and for children who do not have the opportunity to attend Montessori school, a partial introduction and exposure to this time tested method of educating. Activities, such as the Hundred Board, helping children with their counting from 1 to 100, seemed like perfect activities to translate into applications for the iPad. Our goal was to create exact replicas of the physical materials in the app itself. We were very pleased with the final product and, to our pleasant surprise, so were our customers!

And yes, pleased customer here. Montessori translates to iPad better than I would have expected, I think because it is still tactile in its own way. It also retains the independent exploration, with its own built in control (touch the wrong thing and it won't work!). I can't see a way to rotate this screen shot on the iPad but it gives the idea - touch the red button to hear the country name, and the green button to be shown the location. Once the child is familiar with the flags and countries they move on to placing them on the map themselves - Cherub is a long way off that, but seems fascinated by the flags.

Next up I think we will be exploring the moveable alphabet and the geometric cabinet. I have also downloaded another Montessori app from a different developer, Montessori Place Value from Montessori Tech, but haven't shown it to Cherub yet.

This Week

2011-08-09T06:49:00.001+01:00

The weather... variable! A nice bright morning today, but on Sunday we went for a BBQ in the woods and got soaked by torrential rain, despite stopping on the way to buy a cheap emergency gazebo to protect us from the forecast showers. Showers? If those were showers, what do they count as rain? At home - maybe 15 miles away? - it was bright and sunny until late afternoon, and several degrees warmer.

I am wearing... black and white pyjamas. (It is beginning to sound as though I live in pyjamas! In reality, I just tend to blog first thing in the morning before I get up.

I am reading... finally on the last chapter of When the Lights Went Out, which despite ploughing through it so slowly I have enjoyed. It has given me a much better understanding of the first decade I remember politically (I first voted in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher was elected).

I am creating... self striping socks and a Jordan vest top with some bargain yarn (ten balls of discontinued Jaeger Trinity for about £12).

I am hearing... Cherub playing with the iPad

I am watching... a new series of Who Do You Think You Are? starts this week. Right up my street! And a wonderful advert for genealogy - over the past few years the programme has dramatically increased the number of people using archives and genealogy websites.

I am enjoying ... an unlimited data plan and iPad / iPhone tethering on the train (which is where I am writing this blog post).

I am planning ... time! Juggling work and school holidays - it is working out fine, but I have to plan ahead who is where when and who is in charge of Cherub.

Learning notes ... Cherub is having fun playing with Montessori iPad apps.

Cherub ... is such a very girly little girl - will only wear dresses or skirts, and loves fairies, princesses and anything pink and sparkly. Makes for variety as neither of the others were like this. In fact Star was the opposite - liked dinosaurs and Horrid Henry and refused to wear anything with even the tiniest bit of frill.

On the calendar ... a quieter week this week. I am hoping to meet up with an old school friend on Wednesday (must phone her!) and it is Star's thirteenth birthday on Saturday.

On the menu... summer holiday season has kicked in and my menu planning attempts have fallen by the wayside. Happens every summer. I will get back on track in September.

A picture from last week... summer BBQ British style. We stuck it out for about 3 hours - and it did stop raining for an hour in the middle - but in the end we had to concede defeat.

Madness

2011-08-07T20:39:00.002+01:00

... is buying not just one Rainbow Fairy book for Cherub, not just one set of seven, but forty two of the things.

The Book People are selling the entire collection for £20, and given Cherub's prediliction for fairies and fairy books I succumbed. Now I am stuck reading them to her - hopefully she will be reading them to herself well before book forty two! Not that they are terrible books, just easy readers with rather limited vocabulary and plot. I remember Star loving them at around six, but at that time there was just the original Rainbow Fairies set of seven books.
Since then they have multiplied, with Jewel Fairies, Weather Fairies, and all sorts of other fairies. Can I stand the suspense of having to wait until tomorrow to find out how the rainbow fairies get colour back to fairyland after being banished by Jack Frost? Somehow I think I just might!

Another fairy book new to our collection is The Dolls House Fairy by Jane Ray, one of my favourite picture book illustrators. I love her chirpy, crisp eating fairy Thistle, and a Dad who is prepared to believe in fairies. Very high up on Cherub's favourite books list, this one.

Canal Festival

2011-08-02T20:08:00.000+01:00

A few pictures from the the local canal festival Tevye, Cherub and I went to on Saturday.

Morris dancers

Clog dancers

And a rather impressive drummer

Rural crafts

And narrow boats

I took a couple of short videos of the folk dance group, English Miscellany - the camera on my phone was doing battle with the sun, so the lighting isn't great. This first clip of the morris dancing was cut short by Star phoning me to say she had a stomach ache and felt sick. Fortunately that was as bad as it got!

This second clip was of the finale, with both men and women dancers.

This Week: 1st August 2011

2011-08-02T19:48:00.000+01:00

A day late this week ...

The weather ... hot and sunny, then hot and sticky, now damp and sticky.

I am wearing ... cropped summer pyjama bottoms and a grey vest top.

I am reading ... back to the book about politics in the 1970s. Some streak of stubbornness insists that I finish it before starting something else.

I am creating ... started a new pair of socks which wasn't going well so ripped out the half a sock I had done. Now starting another pair with self-striping yarn.

I am hearing ... Tevye talking to Cherub; voices and traffic outside.

I am watching ... a new series of Dragons Den. How do people manage to come up with such strange business ideas?

I am enjoying ... work!

I am planning ... packing lists for our holiday in Spain later in August. The older girls and Tevye sort themselves, but I end up being responsible for all the communal bits and bobs as well as my own and Cherub's stuff.

Learning notes ... Angel is procrastinating over the summer tasks she is supposed to complete before starting her A level courses in September. I suspect she will end up cramming them into the week between getting back from holiday and going back to school.

Cherub ... is suddenly being very "five". Definitely a bit more sure of herself and confident than when she was four.

On the calendar ...
Monday - went with all three girls to the local Pick Your Own farm and came home with raspberries and peas in the pod. Used some of the raspberries to make this raspberry cake.
Thursday - taking Star to buy some new pointe shoes. Family tradition is that we go out afterwards for a mother-daughter meal.
Sunday - meeting Tevye's sister and her family for a BBQ in the woods (another family summer tradition).

On the menu ...
Monday - turkey stir fry
Tuesday - picnic from the supermarket salad bar
Wednesday - chunky haddock fingers, potato wedges and peas
Thursday - Star and I eating out, not sure about the rest of the family yet!
Friday - sun-dried tomato and olive chicken
Saturday - ???
Sunday - BBQ

A picture from last week ... Cherub waiting patiently to feed the bears at the zoo. (Minnie Mouse stayed rather longer than intended and is waiting to be collected from lost property!)

And Some More Old Fossils

2011-07-29T19:16:00.000+01:00

To add to my Old Fossil post the other day, I thought I would collate the suggestions in the comments and add a few more things that came to mind. So ... things my daughters have never known, part two:

Reel to reel tape players
Super 8 movie cameras and players
Elevator / lift operators
Electronics with vacuum tubes
Yugoslavia
Czechoslovakia
Rotary phones
Trim phones
Elvis
The Beatles
Library card catalogues
Floppy disks
Half day closing (shops)
No shops open on Sundays
Chimney sweeps (except in Mary Poppins!)
Reliant Robins
Pre-decimal money

Pamela - I still use paper maps. Even Google can't quite match Ordnance Survey. No footpaths or bridlepaths on Google maps!

PixieMum - using Yorkshire leaf tea doesn't make you a fossil, it just shows you have good taste!

Ellie - we still have public telephone booths, though less of them and they only take pre-paid cards rather than coins. I think they will be around for some time to come, at least in places that attract tourists, as it can be expensive to use cellphones internationally. Also, manual (stick shift) cars are still the norm here. According to Mr Google only 18% of cars on British roads are automatic. Personally I don't like driving automatic cars as I don't feel as though I have so much control.

Missus Wookie - two out of three daughters remember video cassettes and players, so they don't quite make the list!

This Week: 25th July 2011

2011-07-25T17:19:00.001+01:00

The weather ... summer! No rain all weekend, sun and temperatures into the 70s. Can it last for a whole week?

I am wearing ... black and white pyjamas.

I am reading ... still archive stuff. I have been doing background reading for an essay.

I am creating ... nearly finished the first sleeve of my winter sweater, and have started a new pair of socks.

I am hearing ... Cherub looking at photos on the iPad and telling me all about them. This is an improvement on playing tunes on an electronic keyboard, which is what she was doing at 6.15am.

I am watching ... the last few episodes of Upstairs Downstairs.

I am enjoying ... Pinterest. Oh my! If you are a creative and / or visual person, you must check out Pinterest. If you would like me to send you an invite, leave a note in the comments. Just make sure you have several hours to spare before you start!

I am planning ... summer holidays. Working in the mornings means I can still do holiday stuff with the girls in the afternoons, which is good - mostly with Cherub these days, but I have some one-on-one time with Angel and Star planned too.

Learning notes ... school is finally finished for the summer.

Cherub ... has suddenly developed a burning desire to learn to swim, but was hugely disgruntled to discover she can't start swimming lessons until September at the earliest (depending on the length of the waiting list).

On the calendar ...
Today: Star is going shopping with a friend; I am planning to take Cherub swimming this afternoon.
Tuesday: maybe going out for a meal with Tevye in the evening (or maybe we will go on Thursday, depending on how I get on with my essay)
Thursday: Angel is meeting me after work, then we are going for lunch and a shopping trip
Saturday: canal festival in town, so may go to that if the weather is reasonable
Sunday: visiting an old friend of Tevye's in London

On the menu ...
Today: Baked potatoes and cauliflower cheese
Tuesday: Pasta bake
Wednesday: Beefburgers
Thursday: Chilli beef kebabs
Friday: Inside out chicken kiev
Saturday: ??
Sunday: Roast lamb?

A picture from last week ... Star ready for her middle school prom. J-Next-Door, who has just started an apprenticeship as a hairdresser, did her hair (curls like that are way beyond my limited hair arranging skills!)

An Old Fossil Moment

2011-07-24T22:04:00.001+01:00

Tevye had a conversation with Cherub this morning during which he tried to explain the Berlin Wall to her (not sure how far they got!). It got me thinking about how many things that were a constant during my childhood and young adulthood are nothing but history to my daughters, ranging from the state of the world to domestic items. For example:

the Iron Curtain
the Cold War
Apartheid
Margaret Thatcher
miners' strikes
coal fires
typewriters
leaf tea
manual chokes in cars
refundable deposits on pop bottles
petrol pump attendants
black and white TVs
record players
telegrams
inkwells in school desks
British Rail

I am beginning to feel like an old fossil!

What have I missed?

This Week: 18th July 2011

2011-07-18T06:42:00.002+01:00

The weather ...ugh! I spent a significant chunk of the weekend playing the trombone in the rain. Enough said.

I am wearing ... pyjamas and snuggly blue dressing gown.

I am reading ... only archive related reading at the moment.

I am creating ... my winter sweater - the body and neckline are done and I am just starting the sleeves. I also need a pair of socks to knit on the train.

I am hearing ... a collared dove calling and distant traffic.

I ~~am watching~~ watched ... the last Harry Potter movie on Friday. I started reading the first book to Angel ten year ago. After seven books and eight movies our Harry Potter years are over.

I am enjoying ... work!

I am planning ... not so much planning, as trying to put plans into operation and adjust to new routines.

Learning notes ... I have set aside this week to work on one of my final assignments. My first (a report) is already drafted, and if I can get the second (an essay) drafted next weekend I will be rolling gently to the finish line for this module over the following three weeks.

Cherub ... is tired. Now she is into the last couple of weeks of her first term of full time school her energy is flagging. Adding a run of birthday parties at weekends hasn't helped. What she needs now is lots of summer holiday downtime.

On the calendar ...
Monday: Year 1 transition meeting at Cherub's school (for parents of children moving up from Reception to Year 1)
Thursday: Jungle themed picnic for Cherub's class (parents invited); Year 8 leavers's party for Star
Friday: Last day for school for Star and Cherub
Sunday: Cherub has yet another birthday party on the calendar; Star may be going to a car boot sale with my brother.

On the menu ...
Mon: Baked potatoes and chilli
Tue: Spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs
Wed: Honey mustard chicken and penne
Thu: Chicken steaks in breadcrumbs and chips
Fri: Garlic and herb chicken thighs with roasted vegetables
Sat: Pizza
Sun: Roast chicken

On my to-do list ... not much this week (so far!)

A picture from last week ... the only pictures I took were the train photos I have already posted.

From the Train Window

2011-07-17T09:41:00.000+01:00

And therefore a bit blurry due to movement and marks on the window. Also taken on my phone trying not avoid pointing towards the sun.

My station. Two tiny platforms, one on either side of a road.

A house at the end of a platform. Anyone want to buy it? Only two trains an hour, none at night or on Sundays.

One of several level crossings (British for a train track crossing a road)

Green countryside

Flat Bedfordshire wheat fields

A disused brickworks (this is only a small part of it)

A major road, about to link into the M1 motorway (the main north-south arterial road). Lots of lorries!

And part of a gigantic distribution centre - the headquarters of Amazon UK. I couldn't get a picture of the Amazon.co.uk sign as it was partially hidden behind trees.

2011-07-15T06:56:00.002+01:00

1. So this has been my first full week at work. I am doing well with fitting work into my life, just not there with working and blogging yet!

2. First impressions? Very good indeed. I have a lovely job share partner, a great boss, and everyone seems very friendly. Getting to grips with the documents I will be cataloguing is interesting, and I think they will turn out to be more varied than I expected. I am clambering up a steep learning curve this week, but I think it will start to get easier within another week or two.

3. I love my little train. I haven't quite adjusted to how small the trains are (sometimes a single carriage) and how quiet the line is - very much a railway backwater. It makes "rush hour" relaxing though!

4. Combining a short drive with the train is working beautifully. I can get from home to the platform in 15 minutes or less, there is a short, easy walk at the other end, and 30 minutes relaxing on the train in the middle. Overall it is taking me about an hour door to door. Driving would take 45 minutes, but be much more tiring and stressful.

5. Cherub went to breakfast club at school for the first time on Wednesday. After looking forward to it for weeks, she had a last minute wobble and panic at the prospect of doing something new. I dropped off a crestfallen, sad little person - then when I picked her up after school she said it was great fun and when could she go again! Phew! Nerves overcome.

6. & 7. I am out of time. I have a train to catch!

Read more quick takes at Conversion Diary

7 Quick Takes: 8th July 2011

2011-07-08T09:14:00.001+01:00

1. Yesterday was my last day at the archive where I have been volunteering for the last year. I am going to miss it. The people were lovely - very encouraging and always willing to answer my random selection of questions. I am looking forward to getting started on my new job, though. I went on Wednesday to meet my job share partner and go through all the general introductory stuff. Today I am going back for a workshop on cleaning paper and mending small tears, and to meet some of the volunteers who are helping with the project. Then on Monday get properly started on cataloguing.

2. Cherub came home with her first ever school report yesterday. Clearly it has been apparent just how much she has enjoyed this year - they described her as a little ray of sunshine, busy and enthusiastic. I hope next year will be as good for her. She spent Wednesday morning in her new class and was very happy with it.

3. Jennifer at Conversion Diary asked yesterday for birth story haikus. I apologise in advance for the lack of poetic merit in these, but I am never one to turn down a bizarre challenge:

Angel
First time excitement
Grinds to a halt. Dazed. Confused.
Birth plan? What birth plan!

4. Star
Waters break, slow start
Birthing pool, gas and air, then
Wow! Three hour labour

5. Cherub
Baby in distress
Emergency! C-section
Tiny little girl

6. This week's minor drama ...

Star's fingers after a close encounter with the hair straighteners and a visit to the minor injuries clinic at A and E. The dressings came off yesterday and the fingers are doing well - a couple of nasty blisters, but not sore any more.

7. And this was Cherub's artistic impression of Star's fingers on the iPad

Read more quick takes at Conversion Diary

This Week: 4th July 2011

2011-07-04T09:32:00.001+01:00

The weather ... all over the place. We have had a two day heatwave, thunderstorms, cool dampness, and warm hazy sun over the last week. This week is supposed to start warm and go downhill.

I am wearing ... black and white pyjama bottoms with grey vest top.

I am reading ... still reading When the Lights Went Out, which is interesting enough to hang in with, but not gripping enough to read quickly. Also not much time for reading due to studying so progress is sloooowwwww.

I am creating ... an unseasonally warm sweater as I had yarn stashed and wanted some mindless knitting to do while I study. I finished my cotton socks, and have just put the finishing touches to a cotton cardigan.

I am hearing ... Cherub rattling plastic play food and CBeebies on the TV. Star has already left for school, Tevye is at work and Angel is still asleep, so the rest of the house is quiet.

I am watching ... well into the final series of Upstairs, Downstairs now, and caught up with The Apprentice.

I am enjoying ... Google Plus. Could it become bigger than Facebook? I am not sure whether you need an invite to join, or whether it just gives you priority. If you want me to invite you, please leave a note in the comments.

I am planning ... a revised study plan for the rest of the summer. I decided it would be better to tackle the final assignments for this module sooner rather than later as I have already done the relevant sections of the course.

Learning notes ... Angel absolutely loved her Sixth Form induction days last week and can't wait to get started properly. So far she is very happy with her subject choices (English language, media studies, product design and photography). Star has a taster day at her new school for September on Wednesday.

Cherub ... was busy making paper flower jewelry yesterday so that she could dress up as a "flaminco" dancer (inspired by a picture in a children's magazine)

On the calendar ...
Tuesday: Meeting for First Communion catechists in the evening
Wednesday: Star's taster day at upper school
Thursday: No orchestra - finished for the summer after last Saturday's concert
Friday: Sitting in on a workshop for volunteers at the archive (the new one, where I will be working once all the paperwork gets sorted out!)
Sunday: Cherub's social whirl continues with yet another birthday party, and Star is dancing at a festival in the evening

On the menu ...
Mon: *Asparagus, egg and new potato salad
Tue: *Chicken and egg fried rice
Wed: *Sun-dried tomato and olive chicken
Thu: *Sausage and lentils
Fri: *Chunky haddock fingers, wedges and mushy peas
Sat: French bread / baked potatoes
Sun: Roast chicken
(* from Spoonfed Suppers)

On my to-do list ... send off my old mobile phone (I am selling it on one of the used phone sites for exactly the amount I had to pay up front for my iPhone!); organise a visit to a different archive (have to do this as part of my course)

A picture from last week ... Angel ready for her prom (I couldn't get the lighting right due to low bright sun and impatient daughter!)

Train Update

2011-06-30T07:35:00.002+01:00

Thank you to eveyone who commented on my Train or Car? post a week or two ago - lots of votes for the train. Well, I made a decision ...

Train. AND car.

I had decided on the train option, thinking that as a back-up if I was running late I could drive to another station which would cut out the need to change trains and so shave a bit off the travel time. That station doesn't have any station parking (expensive!), but I discovered there is a small free car park less than 100 yards away. I looked up ticket prices, and found that a season ticket from that station is half the price of a ticket from our local station - more than enough to compensate for the cost of petrol to drive there and back. Depending on traffic, it should take 10 to 15 minutes to drive there, which is about the same as the walk to our local station. This option will cut the journey time by 20 minutes each way, and I will still get an hour a day on the train to study. Best of both worlds.

Meanwhile, I still don't have a start date - the wheels of paperwork are churning slowly. I'm guessing another couple of weeks.

Random Quirkiness

2011-06-29T07:43:00.001+01:00

There are days when I relish the quirkiness and randomness of family life, and others when I wonder how I ever manage to hold on to a thought for long enough to make it coherent. Then there are times when I just feel too OLD for all this, and long for a quiet, peaceful, predictable existence, particularly one without a constant background wail of "what can I EAT!!!!" (I knew teenage boys had big appetites. Nobody warned me about teenage girls.)

Sample randomness from yesterday morning:

"Look! I drew a centipede with its make up."
"Where's my PE kit?"
"Don't put the bag on the dead moth!"
"Where's my toothbrush?"
"I wish I hadn't let Star use my toothbrush, it's all icky now"
"Where is my flowery top?"
"I'd feel safer if you put your unicorn down while we are in the car."

Most of this while I was trying to shower and dress. Is it surprising I have been known to take Cherub to school wearing items of clothing inside out? (Me, not her! Well, probably her as well, though I don't remember a specific instance - though there was the day she went to school knickerless because nobody thought to check she was wearing any.)

Then at night time, just as I was about to go to sleep ... screams from Star, who had spotted a daddy longlegs in her bedroom. Tevye caught it and flushed it. Cherub was roused by the commotion, just enough to decide that there was a spider in her bed (there wasn't!) and get hysterical. Star comforted Cherub then went back to her own room, where she spotted another daddy longlegs. Cherub howled because she had been abandoned. The daddy longlegs disappeared. Star refused to sleep in a room with a bug on the loose. Cherub refused to let go of Star. In the end I pulled a mattress out for Star in Cherub's room and she slept there. By which time, of course, I was wide awake and just about clinging on to sanity.

For your delectation and delight, the centipede with its make up - eye shadow and powder, I believe (drawn on Fingerpaint on the iPad):

More random quirkiness ... Cherub just spotted this picture and was inspired to add to it. The centipede now has chicken pox:

Vile November

2011-06-26T08:11:00.001+01:00

From the archives last week ... a law suit that could have come straight out of Jane Austen or Dickens. I listed over one hundred documents last week, and suspect there are at least as many to go - a mix of reports of court proceedings, lawyers' notes and letters.

The gist of the case was that in 1811 a certain clergyman was accused of not being resident in his parishes, contrary to a recent Act of Parliament . Given that he had two - one in Yorkshire and one in Buckinghamshire - residing simultaneously in both would have been somewhat difficult. His reason for not living in either was that the rectories of both needed too much expensive work to make them habitable for his family. He claimed that he had permission from the bishop to live away from his parishes, and had paid a vicar to perform his duties in both - there didn't seem to be any question that his parishioners were provided for spiritually. He was also working as a clergyman in another Buckinghamshire parish, without pay other than the provision of a house.

The odd thing was that it seemed he was the victim of a vindictive prosecution. I don't know enough about legal processes at the time to be sure, but I think an accuser in a lawsuit at this time could claim financial compensation from the accused even if the accuser himself had not suffered any damages. Poor Reverend Archibald was accused by a local man known to be a money-grabber, who had recently incurred costs in an unrelated lawsuit of his own and apparently spotted an opportunity to make this back and more - the amount he claimed from the clergyman ran to several thousand pounds. One pathetic letter from the Reverend told his lawyer that in the past November had been a favourite month, but that this November he could call "nothing but vile". Things were so black he was tempted to hang himself. Several months later he had passed beyond anger with his accuser to resignation and pity.

Despite Reverend Archibald's best efforts he initially lost the case, then reopened it claiming that there were errors in the legal process. This is where I left it. Presumably further down in the box will be something that describes the ultimate outcome of the case. I hope the poor clergyman won in the end!

iPhone Ramblings

2011-06-22T07:48:00.002+01:00

Well, that's a surprise! I had a sense that cell phones in the US are more expensive than in the UK, so I was curious about how the price of an iPhone compares. After a bit of googling, I discovered that not only are iPhone plans cheaper here, but massively cheaper. The cost of my plan is not only less than the cheapest American iPhone plan, but less than half the cost of an equivalent deal. Not only that, but I only had to pay about half as much for the actual phone - £69, or just over $100, which was conveniently almost the exact amount for which I could sell my old phone. Then for a little more than $50 a month (including tax - it looks as though US prices have to have taxes added?) I get the phone, 2000 minutes of call time, 5000 minutes of same network call time, 5000 texts and unlimited data. And I can even use the iPhone as a Wifi hotspot for my iPad, which will come in very handy for working on then train. It almost makes up for having to pay more than twice as much for petrol / gas!

My biggest success with the iPhone so far is to get my calendar synchronising wirelessly across iPhone, iPad and computers using Google Calendar and Google Sync. I have used Google Calendar off and on for years - lately it has been an off time, so I went through our paper calendar and updated my Google calendars (one for each member of the family so that I can see clearly who is doing what). I then followed the instructions from Google Sync, and ... ta da! All my Google Calendar details pull through into iCal on the iPhone and iPad, and entries I make on the phone miraculously appear on Google Calendar on the computer. So clever! I am now organised! I will never forget things - or children - again. I hope. We still need the paper calendar as the rest of the family haven't made it to the electronic calendar stage yet. For the last couple of years we have been using this Family Weekly Planner, which works beautifully for us - a week to a view, with a column for each family member plus one spare for reminders.

Oops! Here I am blogging when I should be showering and getting ready to take the girls to school! Time to go ...

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-21T09:28:00.001+01:00

Yes, I should have posted this on Sunday, but Cherub's card is too cute not to share. All her own work!

(Yes, I know their real names are in there, but while on balance I opted to use pseudonyms on the blog I can live with the occasional blip!)

I hope you and the daddies in your life had a "nis fufos da"!

This Week: 20th June 2011

2011-06-20T11:56:00.000+01:00

The weather ... joy! It is actually looks like summer this morning and may even reach 70 degrees. If we are lucky. Showers forecast for later in the day, though.

I am wearing ... black linen trousers, black and white floral tunic top.

I am reading ... back to chugging slowly through the book on 1970s political history (it is interesting, but not gripping), and browsing The Forever Young Diet and Lifestyle (I think I saw this mentioned on Willa's blog, and downloaded it as a Kindle freebie).

I am creating ... socks. One simple cotton pair and one colourwork pair. I am procrastinating over finishing off the cotton cardigan. (Same as last week, though progress being made on both pairs!)

I am hearing ... Angel tapping away on the computer and the washing machine whirring.

I am watching ... still Upstairs, Downstairs (nearly at the end of Series 4), but really nothing else. I watched the last episode of the latest Doctor Who series last night. Genius! A twist that I didn't see coming at all.

I am enjoying ... my new iPhone! It turned out I only had one month left on my old contract and could upgrade straight away. I now have an iPhone package with more texts and minutes a month than I could use in a year and unlimited data (much the best value deal - cost very little more than a much more restrictive package - and I like not having to worry about how much data I use). After spending some time at the weekend messing around with Google Sync and experimenting with apps I think I now have everything I need synchronising seamlessly between laptop, iPad and iPhone. Working on the train is going to be so easy! I love technology

I am planning ... can't think of anything I am planning! That doesn't happen often.

Learning notes ... Angel's GCSE's are all finished (yay!). Star has exams this week, for which she has done minimal preparation (fortunately they don't have any long term importance). Cherub's topic this half term is jungles.

Cherub ... is back in a drawing mood. I love the way small people binge on one aspect of development for a while, then move on to something else. Last spring and summer Cherub did loads of drawing, then by late summer it fizzled out. Now drawing and colouring are big again.

On the calendar ...

Today: Two orthodontist's appointments for Angel (one to have her braces removed and be measured for retainers, the second to collect the retainers)
Tuesday: An activity day for Star (kayaking and caving); silver jubilee Mass and celebration for our parish priest in the evening.
Friday: Going out for a meal with an old friend I haven't seen in a while.
Saturday: Cherub is going to a birthday party in the morning; band concert in the evening.
Sunday: Angel and I are going away for a two day spa break to celebrated her 16th birthday (belatedly!) and the end of her exams; Cherub has yet another birthday party in the afternoon (lots of her school friends have June and July birthdays).

On the menu ...

I am loving Spoonfed Suppers. Everything I have made so far has gone down well. Asterisked items are from their plan:

Monday - * sesame beef and tagliatelle
Tuesday - lazy chicken and potatoes
Wednesday - * honey mustard chicken
Thursday - lamb burgers and chips
Friday - ??
Saturday - * sun-dried tomato and olive chicken
Sunday - roast chicken

On my to-do list ... buy birthday presents for Cherub's friends; return a pair of shoes I ordered online that are too small.

A picture from last week ... playing with my phone while eating cheese and drinking wine with our neighbours on Friday

Birthday Books

2011-06-14T09:44:00.001+01:00

I am enjoying buying picture books while Cherub is still at an age to enjoy them, so a few found their way into her birthday presents:

Dogger (Shirley Hughes) - one of my favourite picture books, but with Angel and Star we borrowed from the library so never had our own copy. Dave's favourite toy, Dogger, gets accidentally mixed up with toys left for sale at the school fair. A little girl buys it and refuses to sell it back to Dave, but thanks to a generous big sister it all works out in the end. As it turned out, Cherub had come across Dogger at story time at school and was able to narrate the plot before we even opened the book, so this had the pull of the familiar.

Library Lion (Michelle Knudsen) - I browsed through this in the bookshop of the British Library and it went onto my "must buy" list. What to do when there is a lion in the library? Let him stay, so long as he doesn't break the rules. But what happens when there is an accident and the lion roars, and roaring is against the rules? One of the nicest new(ish) picture books I've seen recently.

Diary of a Princess (Heather Maisner) - I bought this because Cherub loves princesses and I thought she might enjoy something a bit different. So far, it looks a bit too different to her, so it went to the bottom of the pile and we haven't read it yet.

Stone Girl, Bone Girl (Laurence Anholt) - Cherub likes fossils and I though she would enjoy this story of Mary Anning, the girl who discovered dinosaur fossils in the Dorset cliffs. So far the jury is out - we read some of the book last night, but she was in distractable mood and a bit reluctant. We ended up looking at the periodic table on the Book Depository bookmark we were using instead. Apparently hunting for the letters representing various elements was far more interesting.

The Hard to Swallow Tale of Jonah and the Whale (Joyce Denham) - a retelling of the story of Jonah (duh!) using quite complex language, with an emphasis on God's loves for everyone, even our enemies.

This Week: 13th June 2011

2011-06-13T10:16:00.000+01:00

The weather ... cold and damp again. So much for flaming June!

I am wearing ... blue jeans, black and purple floral top, purple cardigan

I am reading ... my reading has stalled again.

I am creating ... socks. One simple cotton pair and one colourwork pair. I am procrastinating over finishing off the cotton cardigan.

I am hearing ... Star in the shower and Chuggington on the TV.

I am watching ... Doctor Who. I caught up on two episodes, and just have the last episode of the latest series to go.

I am enjoying ... salt and vinegar flavour Hula Hoops (potato rings). I need to get out of the snacking habit!

I am planning ... logistics once I start my job. It all seems to work out in theory. Let's hope it works in practice!

Learning notes ... I just spent a week bogged down in the details of data protection, freedom of information and copyright. Not my favourite part of the course! Moving on to something more interesting this week.

Cherub ... What I interpreted as tears before bedtime brought on by over excitement on her birthday turned out to be her going down with a virus. She woke up with a high temperature on Thursday, and is only now coming out the other end.

On the calendar ...

Tuesday: School sports day for Star
Thursday: Angel's last GCSE exam. Yay!!!!
Friday: Routine vision test for Cherub in the afternoon; Sociable evening with our lovely neighbours.
Saturday: First Communions
Sunday: Helping to organise a celebration for the First Communicants

On the menu ...

Spoonfed Suppers. I decided my menu planning was in a rut and needed some variety. The three menu items marked with an asterisk are from the Spoonfed Suppers. We have only tried one new recipe so far - inside out chicken Kiev, which everyone liked.

Monday - * lime and thyme chicken with sweet potato mash
Tuesday - * beef ragu with fusilli
Wednesday - eating out (to celebrate my new job)
Thursday - fishcakes and chips
Friday - ??
Saturday - * dill salmon and new potatoes
Sunday - roast beef or lamb

On my to-do list ... studying and catching up on housework. Time to get back on track with Motivated Moms again. Also my phone contract expires next month, so I want to check out upgrading to an iPhone. Swoon.

A picture from last week ... another bouncy castle picture

Train or Car?

2011-06-11T21:58:00.001+01:00

When I first thought about applying for the archive job I did a bit of homework and came to the conclusion it would work best to travel by train rather than car. Then I started second-guessing myself before coming full circle back to the train option. I think. Here are the pros and cons of each option:

Train

For ...

I would be able to study for about 1.5 hours a day in total on the train, using my iPad.
More relaxing than driving - remember the old "let the train take the strain" advert?
Built in daily exercise walking to and from the station (about 30-40 minutes walking each day)
The timing of the trains would make it quite easy to build up extra time (and therefore extra days off!).
The train line I would use for most of the journey is a tiny, low traffic rural line, not a nasty, crowded commuter train.
The cost of the train would be about the same as the cost of petrol at current prices. As petrol is likely to go up and the train cost would be fixed for a year that should make it cheaper in the long run, even without allowing for wear and tear on the car.
I can get an interest free loan for an annual train ticket (cheaper than buying weekly or monthly) as one of the perks of the job.
I like trains!

Against ...

Walking back uphill on the way home everyday. (Yes, call me lazy...)
Walking in the rain / cold / dark in the winter.
It takes two trains each way, though I would only travel one stop on the first train.
Takes longer than the car - probably just over an hour a day more, total.
The rural train only runs once an hour. Miss it and I will have a long wait.
I have a long track record of cutting it too fine and missing trains.
I would have to get up half an hour earlier, or stay at work later if I didn't catch the early train.

Car

For ...

More flexible. A lot more flexible.
Quicker, especially coming home in the early afternoon.
I could leave a bit later in the morning, and would get home about half an hour earlier.
There is a free office car park.

Against ...

More expensive overall.
Even though the journey is shorter, I think I would find it more tiring.
Rush hour driving in the morning = stress.
Driving time would be dead time.
I would have to try to cram in studying between getting home and collecting Cherub from school.
No incentive to get moving quickly in the morning.

So, pros and cons both ways. I think the train would work better, mainly because although the journey would be longer quite a chunk of it would be productive time. Switching between train and car isn't really an option because if I use the train it would be more economical to buy an annual ticket.

What would you choose? Train? Or car?

Liam the Lion

2011-06-11T21:19:00.003+01:00

Like Angel at the same age - though possibly even more so? - Cherub likes to make things. She always has scissors, sellotape and a glue stick readily available, and will ask for PVA glue if she needs it. For materials she usually just uses paper or whatever she can find rifling through the recycling bag. Sometimes she remembers she has a plastic jar full of collage stuff and uses that. Today she asked for four clothes pegs from the washing line, added paper and sellotape, and after a bit of colouring, cutting and sticking ... ta-da!

Liam the Lion.

I asked her if she meant Leo the Lion, but no ... definitely Liam.

Yikes!

2011-06-10T08:48:00.000+01:00

I GOT THE JOB!

Which is ... I think! I hope! ... a very good thing. The oddest part is that I wasn't even looking for paid work. Full time isn't an option - I know my limits, and combining full time work, studying and caring for a family is beyond them - and part time jobs for unqualified archivists are very, very few and far between, so I had assumed that I would just work through my course, carry on volunteering in an archive and then start job hunting once I had qualified. Then I stumbled across this opportunity and it looked too good not to apply. And now, gulp, it seems I have rather unexpectedly acquired a job.

So, this is the deal ... I will be working five mornings a week at a county record office (not the one I volunteer at now, but the next nearest), cataloguing 19th century court records. From the point of view of whatever future career I have in archives it is ideal, as many jobs for qualified archivists want applicants to have some experience of cataloguing. And it is an interesting project - the documents give a good insight into the social history of Victorian England, so will be intriguing to work with. I will be job sharing with another cataloguer, and working alongside volunteers who are cleaning, sorting and packaging the documents. (This is a big plus - I have looked at the equivalent records at my current archive, and they are a mess. Filthy dirty and hard to flatten out enough to read after a century or so rolled up.) The project lasts for two years, which is perfect timing. The job will end in June/July 2013 and I am aiming to finish my course in April 2013, so will then be in a good position to look for a job as a qualified archivist with cataloguing experience.

The working arrangements are about as good as they can get, with 26 days holiday leave each year and flexible working hours which mean I can bank extra hours and trade them for days off. I will get home in time to collect Cherub from school every day, and will be able to be home quite a lot during school holidays. Tevye and Angel between them can mostly manage getting Cherub to school in the mornings, or I can drop her at the school breakfast club on my way to work if necessary. On the days I have to work during school holidays, Tevye or Angel will be at home with her. Overall the impact on her should be minimal. The pay isn't great, but is at least a lot better than nothing!

Five

2011-06-09T23:24:00.002+01:00

Birthday princess

Demure party girl

... Or not!

This Week: 6th June 2011

2011-06-06T10:43:00.002+01:00

The weather ... lots in the media about predictions of a long hot summer. This morning? Grey, wet, miserable and cold. Should have expected that.

I am wearing ... blue jeans, black and purple floral top, purple cardigan, blue hand-knitted cotton socks.

I am reading ... When the Lights Went Out. Political history of the seventies - back to reading this after a three week break.

I am creating ... cotton cardigan done apart from turning up the hem and sewing in the ends. Have started a pair of charade socks as I need something simpler than the colourwork socks to knit while I read.

I am hearing ... the washing machine in the kitchen, and Cherub and Little Friend N scuffling around upstairs.

I am watching ... So You Think You Can Dance, and Upstairs, Downstairs Series 4 on iTunes. Have now got behind with both Doctor Who and The Apprentice.

I am enjoying ... the knowledge that I do not have to organise a small person's birthday party for another year. Mostly I do enjoy them, but I always breathe a deep sigh of relief once they are successfully over. Particularly when I make the mistake of assuming that a summer birthday means I can organise something outdoors, then have the stress of wondering if, when, and how much it will rain. You would think I would know better by now. Yesterday the rain started at 4pm, which meant they got an hour of playing outside on the bouncy castle.

I am planning ... not planning, mostly, as things are up in the air while I wait to find out whether I get the part time job I have applied for, and if so, what hours I will be working.

Learning notes ... back to school for Star this morning, maths and graphics exams for Angel this week, and an extra day off for Cherub, who doesn't go back to school until tomorrow. Star has various day trips to look forward to before the end of term, organised for the Year 8s who are leaving to move up to Upper School next year. This week she is going to an indoor climbing centre.

Cherub ... has been quite literally quivering with excitement about her birthday party, which fortunately lived up to her (quite modest) expectations. Now quivering about her actual birthday on Wednesday.

On the calendar ...

Monday: Little Friend N over for the day to play with Cherub
Tuesday: rock climbing for Angel
Wednesday: job interview. Yikes!
Thursday: archive day
Weekend looks quite free at the moment.

On the menu ...

Monday: Cottage pie and sweetcorn
Tuesday: Cauliflower cheese
Wednesday: Birthday tea for Cherub
Thursday: Chicken and chips
Friday: Stir fry
Saturday: Pasta bake
Sunday: Roast chicken

On my to-do list ... studying and some paperwork I need to catch up on (if I don't get it done, Angel and Star will not have transport to school next year!).

A picture from last week ... collecting pebbles on Brighton beach

A Brief Foray into Cute and Funny Animals

2011-06-04T21:24:00.000+01:00

This may be the only cute, funny animal post you ever see on my blog - mostly I stick to cute, funny humans - but these three videos have entertained me over the last few days.

First, shamelessly copied from Karen, some surprisingly durable ducklings:

Then two more that appeared on Facebook ... a pair of puzzled penguins (try saying that fast a few times!):

And finally, a feline "aaahhh!" moment:

This Week: 31st May 2011

2011-06-01T19:51:00.000+01:00

This Week ...

The weather ... the week started badly with a nasty, cold, damp bank holiday, but it has warmed up, dried out and long range forecast is predicting a warm, dry June.

I am wearing ... blue jeans, pink t-shirt and purple cardigan. Colour blocking!

I am reading ... about data protection. Ugh! Seems I can't manage both studying and pleasure reading.

I am creating ... almost at the end of the second sleeve of my cardigan. Finished my cotton socks, and have started a colourwork pair. Will post a picture when I have more time.

I am listening ... Tevye reading Ramona the Brave to Cherub.

I am watching ... Britain's Got Talent, The Apprentice, So You Think You Can Dance, and Upstairs, Downstairs Series 4 on iTunes. Have got behind with Doctor Who.

I am enjoying ... knitting something challenging (the new socks). Mostly I knit stuff that I can knit while reading.

I am planning ... Cherub's birthday party for Sunday (her birthday isn't until next Wednesday, but the weekend before works best for her party). A dozen small girls and a bouncy castle in the garden.

Learning notes ... Angel's science exams went rather better than she was expecting (phew!). Only maths, graphic products, ICT and one RE exam left to go.

Cherub ... is in a state of high excitement about the whole birthday thing. Five, in her estimation, is BIG.

On the calendar ... a busy week, which is why I am so late posting this.

Tuesday: a family day trip to the seaside (Brighton, on the south coast)
Wednesday: a play date for Cherub with her best school friend
Thursday: archive day
Friday: a day at the zoo with Little Friend N and his mum
Saturday: a trip to a nearby town for a free kite festival. Cherub is hoping to take her own kite to fly, but there isn't much wind forecast, so she may be disappointed.
Sunday: Cherub's birthday party

On the menu ...

Monday: Sweet chili beef kebabs and potato wedges
Tuesday: We ate out in Brighton (taking advantage of Tesco Clubcard coupons to visit Cafe Rouge) Wednesday: Pizza for assorted girls; sausage and mash for Tevye and myself
Thursday: Chicken in breadcrumbs and chips
Friday: Baked potatoes with tuna mayonnaise and / or coleslaw
Saturday: Burgers? Maybe?
Sunday: Whatever we can fit in around Cherub's party

On my to-do list ... mostly party organising! Also tidying, cleaning and maybe trying to put flowers into pots in the garden before the party.

A picture from last week ... or rather, from Brighton yesterday. A sign spotted on the door of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Or Krispy Kreme No Doughnuts. Duh!

Learning Styles

2011-05-27T22:17:00.000+01:00

Angel is now over half way through her GCSE exams (yay!), with the worst - biology, chemistry and physics - behind her. I have been fascinated by her revision style. I had never realised how much of an auditory learner she is. Apparently when it comes to Angel and revision, podcasts and audio are the way to go. For English Literature and the sciences (the most memory intensive subjects) she downloaded a mix of literature guides and podcasts, recorded herself reading Of Mice and Men aloud, and has been studying by iPod.

For me, this is like watching a Martian at large - a completely alien way of studying. I am the most un-auditory person going. I find focusing on something I have to listen to very difficult indeed, and choosing to listen to something in order to learn it would be torturous for me. I learn best from books, and always have. I remember once having a conversation about lectures with some students. Some of us were frantic note takers because it the only way we could process a lecture was by converting it into text. Others needed to listen and would only make notes after the lecture once they had processed it aurally. Both groups were amazed that anyone could study the other way.

What is your learning style?

Party Planner

2011-05-24T12:47:00.003+01:00

Cherub is getting very excited about her upcoming fifth birthday party. Invitations have been distributed to various little girls at school, and this morning I found this stuck to her bedroom door:

A list of invitees, then separate "yes", "no" and "maybe" lists. Tidy minded, that child. And I love the pen sticky-tacked to the door ready for future updates.

[Picture quality not great, as taken on my phone. My camera has gone missing, thanks to a certain child who shall remain nameless. I am assured it is "somewhere in the house". Wonderful! That narrows it down beautifully. The case, minus camera, is in her room.]

This Week: 23rd May 2011

2011-05-23T15:20:00.001+01:00

This Week ...

The weather ... grey and windy. I hope the wind is coming from the right direction. There is another erupting volcano in Iceland, which threatens a repeat of last year's air chaos when UK planes were grounded due to volcanic ash.

I am wearing ... purple t-shirt and cardigan, jeans, blue nail varnish on toes

I am reading ... When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, by Andy Beckett, and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, though I haven't done any reading in the last week - or rather, all my reading has been for my course rather than pleasure reading.

I am creating ... cotton socks (just need to kitchener stitch the toe of the second sock) and cotton cardigan.

I am listening ... to builders drilling outside.

I am watching ... the new series of The Apprentice, So You Think You Can Dance, Doctor Who (still have to catch up with Saturday's episode) on TV, and Upstairs, Downstairs Series 4 on iTunes.

I am enjoying ... life!

I am planning ... to book a spa break for Angel and myself to celebrate her finishing her exams (and also as a belated 16th birthday treat).

Learning notes ... last week's GCSE exams apparently went well, apart from one biology paper. This week is the worst - English literature, PE theory, chemistry and physics, all of which are revision heavy. She is taking separate biology, chemistry and physics GCSE's (as opposed to combined science), which means that for each she has to take two papers - one is the same as the combined science paper for that subject, the second is an extra separate subject "triple science" paper. Due to a combination of poor teaching, disruptive classes and being put in the wrong science group she hasn't actually been taught most of the extra stuff for triple science and is having to try to learn it herself from the revision book. Biology she managed to muddle through, but physics and chemistry don't look good. Fortunately, she doesn't need good science results for anything she wants to do in the future, but she is a bit aggrieved that is likely to end up with a couple of poor results through no fault of her own. There will be a huge sigh of relief once this week is over. After that there are just maths, graphics, ICT and a final RE paper to go, which she thinks should all be fine.

Cherub ... slept in this morning, and I had to wake her at 8 o'clock. "That's funny!" she said, "it's usually me that wakes you up!" Indeed it is. Sometimes I forget that there was a time in my life when a lie-in didn't just mean being able to sleep later than 7am.

On the calendar ...

Wednesday: Cherub's first sports day
Saturday: Round the world meal with neighbours (our turn to make the starters)

On the menu ...

Today: Marinated lamb and beef steaks (eating up oddments from the freezer) with sweet potatoes
Tuesday: Chicken and mushroom casserole
Wednesday: Lamb kebabs with potato wedges
Thursday: Burgers
Friday: Pasta with pesto and creme fraiche
Saturday: Meal with neighbours
Sunday: Roast beef

On my to-do list ... getting as much studying as possible done this week so that I don't have much to do next week when the girls are on their half-term break from school.

Growing, But Not Much!

2011-05-18T07:54:00.000+01:00

Towards the end of their Reception year, children at school get weighed and measured. Cherub, at almost five, is 101.5 cm (40 inches) tall and weighs 14.1 kg (31 pounds). That puts her a little below the 9th centile line for height, and bang on the 2nd centile for weight, and means she is exactly the average height for a girl one year younger and the average weight for a just turned three year old. She isn't quite the shortest child in the entire school - a couple of other little girls in her class are a centimetre or two shorter - but she may well be the lightest! Given that she was on the 2nd centile for weight when she was born, she is clearly sticking happily to her own petite little growth curve. She is currently at the taller end of her own normal height curve, which fluctuates a bit above and below the 5th centile. That figures as she has grown lately. She also has quite small feet - she has been wearing size 8 shoes (size 9 US?) since September and is showing no sign of growing out of them. And yes, we do feed her! She likes her food and eats more than you would expect for such a little dot.

While I am writing about Cherub, I'll throw in some recent Facebook updates (apologies for duplication, but putting them here means I get to keep them):

Cherub is busy re-labelling the globe ... Fishland (Honduras), Letterland (Iceland), Walrus Colony (???), Bossyland (Antarctica), and of course, Naomiland (Australia) ... Oops! I forgot Princessland (India).
Cherub and Little Friend N are being Rapunzel and her prince using "hair" she made out of three fabric belts sellotaped to a hairband. They have done the dangling hair out of the window bit. I think she is now using it to tie him to a chair. Seems a shame to break up the game to take them to school.
Am now an expert at translating Cherub's phonetic writing. I can turn "ishreembonutfootsatlet" into "ice cream, doughnut, fruit salad" without a second thought. Dessert menu, apparently.
The sight of a small girl dressed as a snowflake, wearing a dagger tucked into her skirt and shooting everyone with a very noisy, psychedelic flashing gun, is highly entertaining. Having one side of her hair loose and the other still in a plait kind of adds to the Princess Leia Gone Mad effect.

Life with Cherub is never boring!

And finally, a gratuitous Cherub photo ... here she is with Star and a guinea pig at the farm last month:

This Week: 16th May 2011

2011-05-16T07:51:00.000+01:00

This Week ...

The weather ... a cloudy, could-do-anything sort of morning.

I am wearing ... mismatched pyjamas. Blue bottom half and pink top half.

I am reading ... When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, by Andy Beckett, and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

I am creating ... the first sleeve of my cotton cardigan. Front trim and neckband are done.

I am listening ... to Star showering. Oops! She has just discovered she has no towel.

I am watching ... Upstairs, Downstairs Series 4. I watched North and South last week (now I have to read the book!) and I am looking for something else to download. I think maybe it will be Brideshead Revisited. I have read the book but never seen the TV version, and I know it earned rave reviews both at the time and since.

I am enjoying ... reading to Cherub. We have a nice routine of a picture book, her school reading book, and a chapter from a longer book before bed every night. She is very into Beverley Cleary's Ramona, and we have just started Ramona the Brave, the third book in the series.

I am planning ... how to fit 13 weeks of archive course into 10. It will probably take me the whole day, but by the end I should hopefully have a complete checklist of tasks for each week set up on Evernote. I need to get ahead as we will be on holiday in Spain during the two weeks meant for working on final assignments, and also know I will not be able to get as much done once the girls finish school for the summer.

Learning notes ... the first of Angel's GCSE exams is this morning - English Language. Tomorrow she has RE, on Wednesday the second English Language paper, and on Thursday biology. On Friday she and I are going to the school she is moving to in September to meet the deputy head of Sixth Form, so she can get to know us and explain more about how Sixth Form will work to Angel.

Cherub ... has had a rotten cold for the past few days. Not so bad during the day, but she has been waking up during the night with a nasty cough. Now she has kindly passed it on to me.

On the calendar ...

Today: First day of GCSEs for Angel, first day of second archive course module for me.

Wednesday: Lunch at my mother's and a chance to catch up with an old friend who is staying with her.

Saturday: Attending the funeral of the pastor of our neighbours' old church, who died too soon due to an aggressive and untreatable brain tumour. Band concert in the evening.

On the menu ...

Today: Baked potatoes and chilli

Tuesday: Lamb steaks and potato wedges

Wednesday: Marinated chicken

Thursday: Fish and chips

Friday: Pasta with pesto and creme fraiche

Saturday: Burgers

Sunday: Roast chicken

On my to-do list ... The book decluttering that didn't happen last week. Also, I have a job application to finish off and submit. Yikes! It is for a part time cataloguing job in another local archive, which sounds pretty much ideal - the sort of job that rarely comes up, yet alone part time and in such a convenient location.

Zdob si Zdub

2011-05-15T10:07:00.000+01:00

In case you feel your life is not complete without pointy hatted Moldovans:

The United Kingdom came 11th put of 25, three points ahead Moldova in 12th (yes, they made it into the top half!). The winners? Azerbaijan, which is not actually in Europe.

Eurovision

2011-05-14T21:16:00.002+01:00

I am on a TV binge tonight, So You Think You Can Dance (dancing talent show), Doctor Who, and now the Eurovision Song Contest. Eurovision is one of the stranger cultural manifestations of life in Europe. Held annually since 1956, singers and groups from across the continent (loosely speaking - quite how they manage to include Israel in Europe baffles me!) compete in a televised song-a-thon. An extraordinarily strange song-a-thon.

Back in the sixties and seventies Eurovision attracted high quality entries and produced some classic songs and acts. For example, Abba first hit the big time after winning Eurovision with Waterloo. Since then the quality has declined and the weirdness level increased. Most people in the UK now watch because it has a fascination of the horrible rather than in any expectation of hearing good music. At its best, it produces catchy, jingly songs and the occasional tuneful ballad. As for the rest ... well! Right now I am watching a Greek singer who started with something sort of rappish before morphing into a ballad ... ooh! now back to the rap bit again, with a group of male dancers / acrobats in the background ... and more ballad, with the dancers in statuesque poses ... morphed again to Greek folk music with Greek dancing. Phew! Finished. I think he was running out of genres. It has been worse. The group from Bosnia-Herzegovina included a triangle playing double bassist. Indescribable. Believe it or not, there has already been a semi-final stage, and only the "best" 25 have made it to the final.

Equally strange is the voting system, which merges national phone votes with the votes of professional juries into a dogs dinner of national prejudice. Countries cannot vote for themselves but tend to vote by blocks, so the Scandinavians vote for each other, as do the Balkans and the former USSR block. The UK and Ireland vote for each other, but as very few other European countries will vote for the British, the chance of the UK ever winning again is more or less zero. Ireland this year has thoroughly entered into the spirit of the thing by fielding teenage twins Jedward (a conflation of James and Edward) who reached the final stages of the British X Factor competition a couple of years ago, whose limited talent and lack of ability to sing in tune was somehow outweighed by their bouncy enthusiasm and over the top routines. For their Eurovision entry they were wearing giant shoulder pads, with blonde, vertical, Troll-style hair and singing almost in tune.

To add to the overall effect, the contest is being held in Dusseldorf, Germany, with presenters whose humour is heavy handedly Germanic (and I mean heavy handed - one presenter thumped another in the face, which was apparently meant to be funny). I could say it can only get better, but I carry on watching in the full knowledge that it won't!

Oh my! Moldovans wearing pointy hats, playing trumpets, complete with a pointy hatted fairy on a unicycle. You couldn't make it up.

This Week: 9th May 2011

2011-05-09T10:29:00.002+01:00

I enjoy doing these weekly daybooks - they are my online diary, and one day I will print them all out and scrapbook them - but I always struggle with certain prompts. I have been thinking for a while of tweaking it into a format of my own, with a few prompts deleted and others added. Let's see how this version works.

This Week ...

The weather ... a mix of blue sky and clouds this morning. Forecast is for pleasantly warm with some sun today and tomorrow, but colder and wetter later in the week.

I am wearing ... black linen trousers, black and white floral tunic top.

I am reading ... When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies, by Andy Beckett.

I am creating ... the body for the latest cotton cardigan attempt is finished. Just the sleeves and trim to go.

I am listening ... to Truly, Madly, Deeply (Savage Garden) playing on Spotify. I love my Spotify Premium subscription, which lets me listen to pretty much anything, anytime, anywhere.

I am watching ... Upstairs, Downstairs (up to Series 4 and the First World War now), and I have just downloaded North and South to watch this week.

I am enjoying ... Marmite. Marmite crisps, Marmite flavoured cashews, Marmite snack bars, and Marmite on toast.

I am planning ... to Aqua Aerobics. I used to go several years ago, but have long got out of the habit. Angel wants to try it now she is sixteen (the minimum age for adult classes at our local leisure centre) so has nagged me to book us into a class tonight.

Learning notes ... Angel's last week of school before she starts her GCSE exams next week. Cherub's topic this term is Jack and the Beanstalk (growing). Nothing notable from Star.

Cherub ... is being Rapunzel. She has taken fabric belts from various dresses and skirts, taped them together and attached them to a hair clip to make Rapunzel hair. It is now long enough to dangle from her upstairs bedroom window all the way to the patio below. I don't think it would quite take the weight of a Prince though!

On the calendar ...

Today: Taking Mum to a doctor's appointment, then Aqua Aerobics this evening.

Tomorrow: Spending the day in London with an old friend.

Thursday: Carpets getting a long overdue steam clean.

Saturday: Playing at a village fete with the brass band.

Sunday: Star is dancing at a festival, but is getting a lift with a friend.

On the menu ...

Today: Chicken stir fry

Tuesday: Chicken pie

Wednesday: Sweet potato cottage pie

Thursday: Slow cooker chicken in bbq sauce

Friday: Pasta with pesto and creme fraiche

Saturday: Salmon salad

Sunday: Roast beef or lamb

On my to-do list ... some deep hoovering (vacuuming right up to the edge rather than just the easy bits in the middle!). I also want to clear out at least five more bags of books to add to last week's six. I am trying to seriously thin out my book collection. I am increasingly enjoying eBooks, and I know a lot of the paper ones are never going to get read again, particularly as I have reached the point where I will dismiss a book purely on the grounds of print size. If it is small print, I'm not going there! I would rather pay to buy the book again as an eBook and be able to read it comfortably. Also I have a lot of reference books that have effectively been supplanted by Google.

Inspired by The Simple Woman

3 Quick Takes: 7th May 2011

2011-05-07T20:57:00.000+01:00

I started seven quick takes yesterday, but never finished them ... so here are a late three instead!

1. Smokey the British Shorthair cat has broken the world record for the loudest purr. As a former owner of British Shorthairs this does not surprise me in the least. Our British Shorthair Tom had the a purr that got him banned from our bedroom after a single night of sharing our bed with happy cat noises.

2. Cherub and Little Friend N were clearly inspired by the Royal Wedding. They have got married at least twice this week. On Tuesday I overheard Cherub say to him: "We got married yesterday ... that means we are King and Queen now ... [pause for thought] .... Soon I will have a baby ... it will be a little Princess!". On Wednesday they got married again, with Star coaching them through the vows. Apparently there was a slight hiccup at the rehearsal, when N took Cherub to be his "awfully wedded wife".

3. What is it with phone chargers? Star and I have got through three in the last couple of months - one lost and two dead. I just bought two cheap replacements from ebay. Will they do any better than the branded ones, I wonder?

Simple Woman's Daybook: 2nd May 2011

2011-05-02T08:09:00.002+01:00

Outside my window ... yet another bright, sunny morning, but with a chilly breeze. Lovely spring weather after the warmest April on record.

I am thinking ... how much I love spring and summer - more so as I get older. Autumn used to be my favourite season, but now, not so much.

From the learning rooms ... everyone has gone back to school in a half-hearted sort of way - the girls had two days back last week, Wednesday and Thursday, then a four day weekend thanks to the Royal Wedding and the early May bank holiday. I have one of my two final assignments for the first module of my course left to wrap up next week, then a free week before starting the next module.

I am thankful ... Angel's hayfever medication is kicking in. I was afraid she was going to end up sneezing her way through her GCSEs. (Note to self: must remember to get her another prescription.)

From the kitchen ... baked potatoes and chilli tonight.

I am wearing ... pink pyjamas, blue dressing gown, and black and white striped socks.

I am creating ... another attempt at a summer cotton cardigan. I ran out of yarn for the last version, couldn't buy more as it is discontinued, and in any case, it had come out too large - so I took the plunge, unravelled, and have started another pattern. Fortunately, when it comes to knitting, I enjoy the process almost more than the product.

I am going ... into town for the annual May Fayre. Playing with the band this morning, then will go back with Tevye and Cherub this afternoon. Angel and Star are going with their friends.

I am reading ... The Warmth of the Heart Prevents Your Body From Rusting by Marie de Hennezel - a book about ageing I saw an enthusiastic reference to somewhere, but which I am utterly hating. I ploughed on as I had paid for it on Kindle and hoped it would get better. It hasn't.

I am hoping ... that the fairytale wedding on Friday will lead to a happy and lasting marriage.

I am hearing ... Cherub watching TV and Tevye in the kitchen.

Around the house ... Cherubic creativity. She has taken to arming herself with scissors and a glue stick, diving into the recycling bag and making random stuff - a camera made with an empty snack bar box and toilet roll tube, which she then later re-recycled by dismantling it and turning it into a house with the addition of an empty After Eight box. Then there are paper crowns, a cardboard hat (doll sized?), a "photograph" album, and who knows what else.

One of my favourite things ... my new black wedge heeled sandals for summer

A few plans for the rest of the week ... May Fayre today; polling day on Thursday (local elections and a referendum on changing the voting system); meal with neighbours on Friday; lots of work at the gym for Angel over the weekend. Otherwise back to normal routine, with dance classes for Star and Cherub, and band, orchestra and archive work for me.

A picture thought I am sharing ... This is our flower pot and our front door step - this is not, however, our cat, for all she looks thoroughly at home there! Puss lives several doors away, but is the most sociable cat I've ever met. She considers the whole street, all its inhabitants, and if she gets the chance, every house, hers.

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

Happy, Happy, Happy!

2011-04-30T17:47:00.000+01:00

And this is why ...

One big advantage of playing in a brass band is that they will provide instruments for players who don't have their own. Until now I have been playing on a small bore student trombone belonging to the band, but had pretty much outgrown it - able to blow too much air in, which instead of making a bigger, louder sound, made a nasty, raspy one, so I was having to try to remember to hold back.

So ... they bought a brand new, professional standard large bore trombone for me to use! Playing it is like moving from driving an old Mini to a Mercedes. It almost plays itself, and has a beautiful, flexible tone (most of the time, I've only had it three days and I'm still learning!). Easier to play loud, easier to play quiet, and better everywhere in between. I can actually sound good. Miraculous!

Seven Quick Royal Wedding Takes: 29th April 2011

2011-04-29T19:02:00.001+01:00

1. I love, love, loved the dress - simple and elegant, with that gorgeous lace. Though the BBC's description of the 2.7 metre train a "short" bemused me somewhat.

2. I also loved the music. The Church of England does music for big occasions so well. I loved Crown Imperial at the end, and the classic hymns. And I hope those choirboys are going to get a good holiday after all their hard work. They deserve it!

3. The hats! Hat watching while the guests arrived was one of our favourite parts. A couple appeared to be satellite dishes attached to the wearer's head. A tall blue creation looked like something from Star Trek (a milliner boldly going where no woman had been before?) and Princess Bea's attracted almost as much comment on Facebook as The Dress. "Pink octopus" was one of the more polite descriptions. Others were clearly giving their wearers trouble, in particular one so wide brimmed its occupant could only see where she was going by tilting her head backwards.

4. Tevye and the girls bought me a bottle of champagne for Mother's Day (which falls in March or April here) and I had been waiting for a good opportunity to drink it ... today seemed as good as any, so I checked off number 94 from my Day Zero Project list and drank champagne for breakfast. Then some more later to wash down smoked salmon sandwiches (with salmon we didn't eat at Easter because it was still Passover and we couldn't have bread). Very celebratory.

5. A bit of wedding trivia ... the first royal wedding at Westminster Abbey took place on 4 January 1243, when Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III, married Sanchia of Provence. Most of the fifteen royal weddings at the Abbey took place during the twentieth century.

6. Courtesy of Sally at Castle In the Sea (or rather, of her daughter), the royal wedding name game. The rules are:

1. You are Lord or Lady Somebody
2. Your first name comes from one of your grandparents.
3. Your hyphenated surname is a combination of your first pet's name and the name of the street you grew up on.

That gives me Lady Blanche Jock-Hollingdon. We didn't have a street name, so I had to go with the place name instead. Tevye could be Lord Felix Joey-Parfett. That's what comes of having a budgie for a pet.

7. And finally, wasn't it nice that it didn't rain, particularly after all the forecasts for showers over the past few days.

Read more quick takes at Conversion Diary

Aysgarth, Yorkshire

2011-04-26T08:46:00.001+01:00

I have a load of photos stacked up from various trips over the last month that I have been meaning to post. This batch made it as far as a draft last week, but never got any further. Ah well! I'll try to catch up this month.

On the way back from Cumbria at the end of March, we stopped off for lunch at Aysgarth in Yorkshire because we spotted a water fall marked on the map. The water fall turned out to be a series, and we only made it as far as the gentle upper fall.

This is St. Andrews Church, on a hill overlooking the falls:

One of the things I love about exploring old churches is that they often contain unexpected hidden gems, and this one had a spectacular one. Inside we discovered the stunning Jervaulx Screen. This is the rood screen from the medieval Cistercian abbey of Jervaulx, which probably dates from the fifteenth century. Jervaulx Abbey held the advowson (the right to appoint a priest) of Aysgarth Church, and the screen was moved here to protect it when Jervaulx was dissolved by King Henry VIII.

A close up of the fan vaulting at the top of the screen:

And of marquetry on the end of one of the built-in seats:

Looking down from the top of the falls:

This waterfall is all of about two feet high - not exactly Niagara! A very pretty setting though.

Looking up the falls from the road:

Simple Woman's Daybook: 25th April 2011

2011-04-25T09:46:00.001+01:00

Outside my window ... bright and sunny. Again. This has been the warmest Easter I have ever known and is set to be the warmest April on record. High 70s on Thursday, Friday and Saturday - may even have hit 80, which is unheard of for April. Really, it has been like the best summer weather. Forecast to cool down after today, though. I just hope this doesn't mean summer has been and gone for the year already!

I am thinking ... how nice it is to able to be hospitable. Having two American students staying over last week was a lot of fun. Cherub and I took them to Warwick Castle on Thursday, where Cherub confounded me by bolting from the meet-a-princess attraction she had been looking forward to, and immersing herself in the fighting knights display I thought might frighten her.

From the learning rooms ... testing Angel on GCSE chemistry (and learning new stuff as chemistry has clearly moved on since my day!), and cheerleading Star through left-to-the-last-minute English homework.

I am thankful ... for a beautiful Easter and a long holiday season - this four day Easter weekend is followed by another next weekend, with a bank (public) holiday on Friday for the royal wedding followed by the May bank holiday on Monday. Lots of people have taken Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week off work and the weather is adding to the holiday mood. The girls are back at school on Wednesday and Thursday, but I suspect it will be a rather half-hearted two days!

From the kitchen ... still out of sync due to holidays and Passover. Matzoh meal pancakes and Easter leftovers today, fish and chips tomorrow, a pasta bake from the freezer on Wednesday, and I haven't though beyond that yet.

I am wearing ... black and white pyjamas.

I am creating ... nearly finished the first of my blue cotton socks, and working on the first sleeve of my summer cotton cardigan.

I am going ... for a walk this afternoon. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just want to take advantage of the weather!

I am reading ... Climbing the Bookshelves by Shirley Williams (autobiography).

I am hoping ... for a good summer term for all three girls.

I am hearing ... Cherub watching TV, which Tevye and I are about to co-opt to watch an episode of Upstairs, Downstairs. We are half way through series 3.

Around the house ... summer clothes, sandals, sunhats, sunglasses.

One of my favourite things ... chocolate. Especially after a chocolate free Lent.

A few plans for the rest of the week ... Today: jobs round the house this morning, then out for a walk this afternoon; Wednesday: girls back to school; Thursday: one of our American student friends will be back with us again for her last night in England; Friday: will probably watch the royal wedding in the morning, but other than that no plans yet for the weekend.

A picture thought I am sharing ... Cherub enjoying sun and sand at the local open farm on Saturday.

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

The Gallows

2011-04-22T23:41:00.000+01:00

In his Good Friday homily this afternoon our priest asked what we would think if we came to Church and found a noose, a guillotine, or an electric chair above the altar. Would it shock us? Well, yes, it certainly would me. Does a cross or crucifix still shock us? Or do we take it for granted? Are we desensitised to the reality of crucifixion?

I imagined a gallows standing by the altar instead of a crucifix. I thought of how a picture of a hanging, or even an empty noose gives me a sinking feeling in my stomach. I think of Nazi victims, of the gruesome image of a corpse left hanging at a crossroads where it would be seen by travellers (as happened in the old days), the horror of life twitching away at the end of a rope. Even the thought of the worst of criminals dangling from a gibbet horrifies me. I hate the death penalty. I can accept the argument for just war, that there are times when a fight to the death is awful but necessary. But execution in cold blood? I can't get my head round it. Another terrible image is the lynch mob. The cruel mob that drags an innocent man to his death, by beating, by hanging, by stoning - or simply causes a miscarriage of justice when the authorities, under pressure and fearing a riot, condemn an accused man unjustly.

And that is the essence of Good Friday. A jeering mob baying for blood. A miscarriage of justice. A gallows. A public execution. Horror and pain.

And God Himself died.

For us.

For me.

Can I truly get my head round that?

Simple Woman's Daybook: 18th April 2011

2011-04-18T09:25:00.001+01:00

Outside my window ... another beautiful morning. I could get accustomed to this! Cooler than it was a week ago and forecast to cloud over this afternoon, but still very pleasant spring weather. Lots of green on the trees now.

I am thinking ... I must try to get to sleep earlier. I have realised that during the school holidays when there are people around all day, I buy myself quiet time alone by staying awake far too late.

From the learning rooms ... Angel is determinedly revising for science GCSEs. Unfortunately, she spent a week revising the wrong section of the books, but at least she realised her mistake before she got too far with it.

I am thankful ... I made it half way through my 40 bags in 40 days challenge. Admittedly, I am not going to manage the other 20 this week, but 20 bags is at least respectable.

From the kitchen ... oh HELP!!!! Passover starts tonight, which makes menu planning extra complicated; we have a couple of American students staying over Wednesday and Thursday; Angel and Star come and go at random times in the school holidays, sometimes with friends. Yikes! Think maybe lazy chicken (chicken and potatoes slow cooked in a casserole) and chilli may be on the menu somewhere. As for the rest ... ?????

I am wearing ... very old blue pyjama trousers and mismatched pink pyjama top. The elastic has pretty much gone in the trousers and the time has come to accept they have reached the end of the line. I'll cut them up for cleaning cloths later on today.

I am creating ... still socks and cardigans. Finished Mum's socks, and have now started a pair for myself to use up the cotton yarn.

I am going ... to do battle with a long to-do list today. Lots of unexciting but necessary chores.

I am reading ... Climbing the Bookshelves by Shirley Williams (autobiography).

I am hoping ... Little Friend N continues to recover well. He had a tonsillectomy the day after we went to the zoo last week.

I am hearing ... Cherub watching TV downstairs. Actually, I suspect Cherub is playing and not watching at all so I should really go down and turn it off, but I am being lazy.

Around the house ... reasonable order considering it is school holidays and the girls are home. I have reinstituted the "five minute tidy" I used to use when Angel and Star were little. Set the timer and everyone tidies for five minutes. Amazing how much can be done in five minutes, and how racing against the clock motivates Cherub!

One of my favourite things ... small girls in long nighties. C.U.T.E. I bought Cherub a couple on Saturday to replace her old outgrown ones.

A few plans for the rest of the week ... Today: Catch up day for housework, supermarket shopping and a little studying, and Star gets back from her weekend away with her friend; Tuesday: To Tevye's sister's for a seder meal; Wednesday and Thursday: hosting an old homeschooling friend's son and his friend (they are spending a semester studying in Rome and have some time off to travel); and of course it is Holy Week and Easter weekend. Probably won't manage to fit in my archive day and band practice this week.

A picture thought I am sharing ... Tevye and I spent a lovely day pottering around Cambridge yesterday. There were quite a number of buskers, including this one with a unique selling point - he plays the guitar and sings from inside a litter bin. Bizarre!

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

7 Quick Takes: 16th April 2011

2011-04-15T09:18:00.001+01:00

1. I love the way small children go through phases of fixating on a particular skill they are developing. (Come to think of it I guess that applies to any age, but it tends to be more obvious in little ones). Last year Cherub went through a stage of drawing like a maniac at any opportunity. This Easter break, it seems to be writing. She sits there, carefully sounding words out to herself, then writing down something that bears a slight passing resemblance to a phonetic version - usually with just enough common sounds for the reader to make an inspired guess at the word. For example, all stories start "Wunsapoltim" ("Once upon a time ..."). Unfortunately she hasn't yet grasped the need to leave a space between words, which makes the guesswork a little trickier. Direction is also hit and miss. Sometimes she starts at the back of a book and works forwards. One page started at the bottom and went up. Occasionally there is a hiccup and she writes backwards. But on she writes ... stories (always about a girl called Rose), lists of names (registers?), and even instructions for playing a game.

2. She is also thoroughly into the Brian Wildsmith books. As predicted, when she likes one, she likes them all. We have read Jesus, The Easter Story and Saint Francis. Moses and Mary arrived yesterday, and we are already well into Moses (some of these are meatier books than others, and I am splitting them up rather than trying to blast through in one reading). I forgot just how much I love his Saint Francis. Beautiful pictures and flowing text, written in the first person as Francis speaking. One of my all time favourite picture books.

3. Alongside Brian Wildsmith, she is on a Ramona kick. Wildsmith and Ramona, together with her school reading book, currently make up our bedtime reading routine, occasionally with an extra picture book added in if we have time. The Ramona chapters are quite long, so mostly we don't. We made it to the end of Beezus and Ramona last night, and have Ramona the Pest ready and waiting for tonight. Star used to love Ramona, and I bought a set of six books from The Book People for her. Frustratingly book number five has gone missing. Why? Where? Now I will have to search for another copy in the same edition, because having an odd one in a set would irritate me!

4. Angel is job hunting and was out this week dropping CVs into various businesses in town. She already has one part time job, coaching at the gym on Saturday mornings, but wants to start saving for driving lessons. The minimum age to learn to drive in the UK is seventeen, and to drive solo everyone has to pass a very thorough and rather intimidating practical driving test. Professional driving lessons are really a must for beginners, which makes learning to drive an expensive business, particularly when you add on the fee for a license, a theory test, and other incidental expenses. Insurance for under 21s is also incredibly expensive - adding Angel onto the insurance for our small car will at least treble the insurance premium. We have said we will pay to insure the car, but she has to pay for lessons. She still has another 11 months to go before she hits the magic age, but she is determined to have the money ready so that she can learn as soon as she can.

5. American readers ... I know the rules are different in the US, and that teens can drive at a younger age (is sixteen the norm?), but I don't know any more than that. What qualification, if any, do they need to drive unaccompanied? Is the expense of training and insuring a young driver an issue for you too?

6. Blog post of the week: Everything you'll ever need to know about makeup by Jen Fulwiler, guesting at Betty Beguiles. There is stuff here that I wish I had learned decades ago. These days I am a light foundation, dash of concealer and lipstick person - foundation and concealer to even out skin tone and for the built in sun protection, and lipstick because as I get older my lips look bleached out without it. They have become part of my morning routine and take only a minute or two to apply. Jen may have inspired me to experiment with a couple more items. Mascara more than once in a blue moon? Lip pencil? (I've never had one of those!). I wear just enough make up to have a favourite brand - Boots Number 7, partly because I genuinely like their products, and partly because Boots often give out discount vouchers which mean I can buy higher quality makeup for budget prices.

7. A plaintive Facebook message from Tevye this morning. A colleague at work has demolished the kettle. He does not function without a regular supply of tea.

Read more quick takes at Conversion Diary

10 Boys I'd Let My Daughters Date

2011-04-14T20:07:00.000+01:00

Pragmatic Mom is posting a list of the Top 100 boys in Children's Lit You'd Let Your Daughter Date. Very fun, although she is much more up-to-date with (American?) children's books than I am and I didn't recognise a lot of the boys she has chosen so far. On a smaller scale, here in no particular order are ten boys I would pick for my daughters (or myself in my younger days!):

1. Peter from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I'm afraid I can't get past Edmund's stupidity in being fooled by the White Witch, so it has to be Peter.

2. Dickon from The Secret Garden. The strong, silent, nature-loving Yorkshire type.

3. Charlie from Lauren Child's Charlie and Lola books. He is so sensible and tolerant with his exuberant little sister, you just know he is going to grow up into a wonderful young man.

4. Harry Potter. I could use a wizard around the place. (And as runner-up, Neville Longbottom - not obviously exciting, but reliable, loyal and courageous.)

5. Gilbert Blythe, the boy who eventually marries Anne of Green Gables. Anyone good enough for Anne is good enough for my daughters!

6. Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Nothing to do with character - though as it happens he is a nice boy - just think of the endless supply of chocolate.

7. John Walker of Swallows and Amazons. The romance of a sea captain, and it would be reassuring to know my daughter was not dating a duffer.

8. Julian from Enid Blyton's Famous Five. To quote Wikipedia, 'tall, strong and intelligent, as well as caring, responsible and kind'. And let's face it, what British child hasn't wanted to be a member of the Famous Five at some point.

9. Nicholas Fetterlock, the merchant's son who helps to foil a plot against the wool guild in The Wool Pack by Cynthia Harnett (which I have a feeling may have a different title in the US?). A sensible and eminently marriageable young man.

10. John Trenchard from Moonfleet, a classic adventure story and a favourite of mine. A bit hot-headed, but learns from his experiences. I wouldn't want my daughters to have to wait for him as long as Grace did, though.

And an honorable mention for Francis, the merchant in The Thirteen Days of Christmas by Jenny Overton, who isn't a boy so can't be in my list ... but a young man who buys his beloved a partridge, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold rings (you can extrapolate the rest) is a truly romantic soul, even if it takes a little prodding. (Very good, very funny book, by the way.)

I'm sure I have forgotten some favourites there, but I am letting go of my inner perfectionist.

Who would you pick for your daughter?

(HT: Facebook link from Lissa)

World Heritage Sites

2011-04-12T08:18:00.002+01:00

One of my Day Zero Project ideas was to visit seven World Heritage sites that I hadn't been to before. I was checking the official list out for possibilities yesterday, and decided to list all the sites I have already visited (this one is mostly an aide memoire for myself, so please feel free to skip!). So far I have managed 37 out of the 911 on the list:

Historic centre of Brugge (Bruges), Belgium
Mont-Saint-Michel, France
Palace and Park of Versailles, France
Rheims Cathedral, France
Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne, France
Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Old Town of Corfu, Greece
Historic Centre of Rome, Properties of the Holy See
Vatican City
Buda Castle Quarter, Budapest
Andrassy Avenue, Budapest
Masada, Israel
Historic Centre of Florence, Italy
Piazza del Duomo, Pisa, Italy
Venice, Italy
Historic Centre of San Gimignano, Italy
Historic Centre of Siena, Italy
Assisi, Italy
Old City of Jerusalem
City of Valletta, Malta
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, Malta
Megalithic Temples of Malta
17th Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd, Wales
Durham Castle and Cathedral, England
Stonehenge, England
Studley Royal Park and Fountains Abbey, England
Blenheim Palace, England
City of Bath, England
Hadrian's Wall, England
Westminster Palace and Westminster Abbey, England
Canterbury Cathedral, England
Tower of London, England
Maritime Greenwich, England
Dorset and East Devon Coast, England
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City, England
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, England

Simple Woman's Daybook: 11th April 2011

2011-04-11T08:12:00.001+01:00

Outside my window ... a beautiful morning, with blue skies and newly green trees. We have had a few days of weather that is more like summer than spring. It is forecast to end today, though, with temperatures dropping back to normal for April.

I am thinking ... about shoes. Last week's summery weather made me realise I need summer shoes. I ordered a pair of chunky wedge heeled flip-flips to replace a similar pair I wore out last summer. Now I need shoes for "work" (the archive). The pair I bought last year rub terribly - they felt fine when I tried them on, but just didn't wear in. I am now on a mission to find a comfortable pair with medium height heels to replace them for this summer.

From the learning rooms ... Easter break for two and a half weeks. GCSE revision for Angel.

I am thankful ... that I have the final assignments for this module of my archive course mostly done. I have to do an essay and a report. The essay is written and just needs proof reading and the footnotes sorting out. The report is nearly two-thirds done. They aren't due until early May, but I didn't want to have them hanging over me all through the Easter holidays.

From the kitchen ... oh dear! My menu plans always fall to pieces in the school holidays as we are so out of routine. I don't even know what to cook for dinner today. Let's see ... what do I have? I think maybe orange chicken.

I am wearing ... black and white pyjamas.

I am creating ... socks and cardigans. Half way through the second sock of a cotton pair for Mum.

I am going ... to bed early tonight. I indulged my inner night owl and stayed up far too late last night watching The Red Shoes (classic movie for my Day Zero Project list) and puttering about on the computer. At some point today I am going to regret the lack of sleep.

I am reading ... a biography of Shirley Williams (politician daughter of Vera Brittain, who was the friend and literary executor of Winifred Holtby, who wrote South Riding - think I may have set myself off on a rabbit trail).

I am hoping ...to get back on the decluttering wagon. I didn't do any last week. I did get back on track with housework, though.

I am hearing ... birds singing outside and Cherub scuffling around downstairs.

Around the house ... appliances breaking down. Last week both the washing machine and the microwave broke. The washing machine needed a new pump and is now fixed (phew!). Then a cover fell off the top of the microwave when I was cleaning it and kind of fell apart (at least I was following my new cleaning regime, even if it did have unintended consequences!). Fortunately it is still under guarantee and should be fixed tomorrow.

One of my favourite things ... spending time with my daughters.

A few plans for the rest of the week ... Tuesday: Little Friend N is coming to play with Cherub in the morning, then we are going to the zoo with him and his mother in the afternoon; Wednesday: band practice; Thursday: archive during the day, then a pub night with old friends from Angel and Star's toddler days; Friday: Star goes to Devon with her friend's family for a long weekend; Saturday: Angel and I are planning a shopping trip; Sunday: Angel is going to take charge of Cherub and Tevye and I are going on a day trip to Cambridge (unless the weather is awful).

A picture thought I am sharing ... Cherub enjoying the nice weather yesterday - lounging on a pillow in the swingboat while wearing Angel's sunglasses.

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman

A Chuckle of Cherubisms

2011-04-07T21:49:00.005+01:00

I entertained myself today reading back over some of my old Facebook status updates about Cherub. Here for your amusement are some classic Cherubisms (apologies for repetition to any Facebook friends who also read my blog):

Cherub's topic at school this week is the moon. According to her there are full moons, half moons, and "present" moons.

Oops! Four year old + CBeebies website + super simple wireless printer = shortage of pink ink. (And no, I didn't teach her how to use it!)

Cherub is having problems with YouTube on the iPad. She keeps getting Peppa Pig in Polish.

After a particularly stroppy start to the day from her night owl sister, Cherub has coined a new noun. According to her, Star is a "stroppamator". [Translation: a strop is somewhere between a sulk and a tantrum]

Surreal conversation with 4 year old this morning. Her: "I know what drawing means" ... Me (confused): " What?" ... Her: "Drawing. Like a nap is sleeping drawing the day". Me (starting to get her drift): "Ah! I see! During the day." Her (giggling at my stupidity): "Ha, ha! You thought I meant drawing when I meant DRAWING". ... Drawing. During. Whatever.

"Grandma, can you think of a fruit beginning with T? It's something the big girls like." Grandma couldn't. The answer? "Termites". I never realised my daughters were anteaters. Do you think they would prefer them roasted or fried? (For the record, she was thinking of pomegranates!)

Bad enough that I couldn't get to sleep last night and was woken at 6 by a small person, but having to try to explain the difference between a prawn and a prong before 7 in the morning is just too much. ("A prawn? I thought that was the thing that holds sweetcorn.")

Cherub has almost, but not quite, grasped the technology message. She made a paper "laptop" for Star, but instead of an apple on the front, she drew a slice of watermelon.

Cherub is desperate to play Chinese Buffles. It seems she has got muddled somewhere between Chinese Whispers and Blind Man's Buff!

Listening to Cherub having a conversation with her Playmobil: "Yeeowww!!! Yeeowww!!! ... Oh no, it's a wolf howling! ... No, it's not. It's her baby having a little whine because she can't find her rabbit ... Yeeowww!!! Yeeowww!!! ... Quick! Search! Calm her down! ... Yay! We found bunny." Thank goodness for that. The yowling was beginning to get to me.

Noticed Cherub still wearing her PE t-shirt under her school clothes. Apparently she didn't notice because it was "just a bit camouflaged". Well yes ... white t-shirt, white top, I see the problem!

What's On The Calendar Wednesday: April 6th

2011-04-06T07:53:00.001+01:00

Today is the first day of the new tax year in the UK. If you wonder why our tax year runs from April 6th - not the most obvious date to pick! - here is the answer:

Until the eighteenth century the New Year began on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation or in English parlance, Lady Day (which, logically enough, falls nine months before Christmas), and this was the date on which taxes were due to be paid. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1752 eleven days were skipped during September, with September 14th coming immediately after September 2nd, and the date of New Year was changed to January 1st. In order to collect a full 365 years tax, the missed eleven days were added to March 25th, moving the date for payment of tax on to April 5th, with the new tax year starting the day after on April 6th.

Archivist's note: The change in the date of the New Year means that when describing documents from before the change they often have to be given a double old-style / new-style date. For example, February 2nd 1688 (old style) would now be written as February 2nd 1688/9 to show that it was February 2nd 1689 according to our current calendar.

Meme invented by Pamela at When Good People Get Together.

Book Review: South Riding (Winifred Holtby)

2011-04-05T22:30:00.000+01:00

I was inspired to read this by the recent BBC TV series. I loved the TV adaptation, but the book was better. Winifred Holtby was, quite simply, a superbly talented writer, who tragically died aged only 37 just when her talent was in full flower. South Riding was published posthumously by her literary executor, Vera Brittain. Extraordinarily, the framework of this novel is local government - not a subject that I would expect to be the basis of such a gripping story. This isn't high politics and high drama; it is the nitty-gritty of everyday politics, of the people that make the little decisions that affect people's daily lives, and their muddle of social concern and self-interest.

There is too much to this book to describe in a short review. On one level it is a romance, with a dash of Wuthering Heights. On another it is a portrait of a place - the fictional South Riding of Yorkshire, in reality the area around Hull - and its people. Holtby's characterisation is superb, bringing to life dozens of individuals, all very different and all very real. I love her fairness, showing the good even in the less attractive personalities, and understanding the motivation of those whose politics were opposed to her own, real life socialism. And she wrote beautifully. This was a book I didn't want to put down, because I truly cared about the characters. Definitely a book I would recommend.

Simple Woman's Daybook: 4th April 2011

2011-04-04T20:50:00.001+01:00

Outside my window ... it is dark now, at 8.15pm, but I am loving the lighter evenings. Forecast is cool and damp for tomorrow, but with some lovely warm, sunny weather later in the week.

I am thinking ... how perverse it is that I am getting better at the trombone and it is making my playing go wrong! I can now put in too much air for the small / medium bore trombone I use, which makes loud notes come out raspy and splitty, Then I keep playing too high because high notes have suddenly got easier, and I am confused by no longer having to force them out.

From the learning rooms ... coursework deadlines and practical PE GCSE assessments for Angel this week. She says today's netball didn't go too well. Gymnastics and trampoline are already done, as she had to video her routines for those at the gym. Just rounders to go on Wednesday. She has stayed late at school most days over the past two or three weeks to get her graphics and ICT coursework projects done, and they are now ready to hand in tomorrow. Now she can take a breather before getting stuck in to revision for her exams, which start in the middle of May.

I am thankful ... Mum has made a full recovery from her cellulitis and is back to her previous level of mobility. Also that my brother, who managed to slice his finger nastily to the bone, didn't do anything worse!

From the kitchen ... more banana muffins. Last week's were a big success, so I made them again today. I love this recipe. It is the first time I have managed to achieve soft, fluffy muffins. The few times I have tried them before they have leaned towards rock cakes.

This week's menu plan:
Monday: Baked potatoes, savoury mince and broccoli
Tuesday: Chicken with roasted sweet potatoes
Wednesday: Salmon fillets with potato cakes
Thursday: Something instant from the freezer
Friday: Takeaway fish and chips
Saturday: ????
Sunday: Roast chicken

I am wearing ... jeans, white long-sleeved t-shirt, white hand-knitted socks, earrings.

I am creating ... socks and cardigans. One and bit of Mum's socks are done, and I am plugging on with the mountain view cardigan. I am taking a break from the aran cardigan, as I want to knit a little turquoise shrug for Cherub and a pair of cotton socks for myself.

I am going ... on a tour of the National Archives on Friday, as part of my course.

I am reading ... nearly done with The Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert. Meanwhile, I am building up quite a wishlist of Kindle books.

I am hoping ...to manage my "forty bags in forty days" decluttering. I am behind, but thanks to dealing with a paper mountain last week, not too far behind. Sixteen bags done so far.

I am hearing ... Tevye watching TV downstairs.

Around the house ... turning a corner with mess and clutter, I hope. I have started the Motivated Mom checklist, and cleared out lots of files of history notes - ten carrier bags of paper to recycle!

One of my favourite things ... reading to Cherub before she goes to bed. We have got into a nice routine of reading for thirty minutes or so, rather than just the quick bedtime story she used to have. It is nice to be beginning the chapter book read-aloud stage again.

A few plans for the rest of the week ... Tuesday: an outdoor play session with Cherub at school to fit in with their "up in the air" theme (playing with anything that flies - kites, balloons, bubbles, aeroplanes and so on); Friday: trip to London to visit the National Archives; Saturday: hoping to work in the library and get my second end of module assignment drafted.

A picture thought I am sharing ... another animal staring me out on our trip up north last week.

Find instructions and links to other daybooks at The Simple Woman