Learning Styles

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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