It's been an age....

since I did a post. Where did Autumn go? Today I heard from someone on the radio that there is only 6 weeks until C*mas - WHOA! WHAT! WHEN? Did I fall asleep for 4 weeks? Oh my Goodness I got a little bit panicky at that thought - then I checked myself and made a very definite decision on that spot! I am not going to be lulled and coerced into that commercial money making scheme this year! Oh no sir-ree! So some members of my family may be a little disappointed but this year I am going to be liberated and by the end of December I am still going to have money in my bank account! That's a promise!

I have recently started working part time - only part time and by my energy levels I would think it was full time. Hopefully my SAD light will kick in and perk me up. I am on the very start of my new career and spend my afternoons in an infant school being delighted with little stories and tales from 6 year old children -I love it!

Hopefully - after my trauma of writing another essay I will update on my quilt and blanket but won't make any promises on that front just yet!

My son and I are still reading every night and have read Krindlekrax by Philip Ridley and are currently reading another of his books: Scribbleboy.

Until the next time,

Edited to add: whilst reading Scribbleboy last night we were in stitches at the crazy characters in the book and me trying to sound like a 'ganster rapper'.

October's last day

I do not look forward to this one day a year as it becomes a battle ground of intentions in my family. I want to switch the lights off and hide behind the sofa and my children want to terrorise the neighbours. Striking a balance is very difficult, hopefully this year I may have cracked it! Allowing the youngest child only 30 minutes to scare and beg and then heading off to a friends for sausages cooked over a fire with marshmallows to finish. How could they resist? Only time will tell.....

On the book front, I have finished The Amber Spyglass and am glad that I finally have completed the trilogy. I was a teeny bit disappointed about the ending but overall did enjoy the adventures the children went on and some parts were utterly heartbreaking which make me ache when I think about it! I am now re-reading Little Women again - so that I can write another essay!

I have working like mad on my daughter's quilt and didn't finish it in time for her birthday but have made substantial progress and she is delighted with it. Now I can finish it at a more leisurely pace and she can have some input too. I can't believe she is 13! Time sure flies by when you are having fun......

Until the next time,

Book Update...

The boy and I have been reading for 30 whole nights now! WOW! We have really made an effort to read every single night even though sometimes we were both tired but we did it anyway. Last night we ploughed through to the end of Predator's Gold even though it was way past his bedtime. What a feeling of achievement we both felt. He is already looking ahead now to the next book..... ready to begin another journey!

I have been so busy with 'other' things lately that I haven't had much time to dedicate to my quilt or blanket. But I hope to put in a few solid hours over the weekend!

Be back then...

Welcome October!

Wow, I wish we had this lovely weather when it was summer but I am not complaining! These last few days have truly felt like an unexpected gift. I can't believe how happy sunshine makes me feel. I took delight in hanging out the washing, took to a spot of clearing in the garden and even relished washing the windows - And I can tell you that don't happen often. It's normally a job I detest with venom!

I have officially started with the writing of my first assignment and I had forgotten how frustrating it can be when you have the idea's crystal clear in your head but for the life of you, can't get it down onto paper. argh!
I know I have to be patient with my little brain as it takes a while to mull over everything and it seems like when the deadline looms ever closer then it finally kicks into action! I have decided to write about Northern Lights...

I have now finished The Subtle Knife too. And yes I can see how it has caused some ruckus over the content! But as I am not overtly religious it doesn't bother me so much! I have lost interest in the story line now as I have moved onto The Amber Spyglass which is what I think happened the last time I attempted to read the trilogy of His Dark Materials. But I will persevere....

I should really get back to the dreaded assignment... hopefully later on in the week I will have an update on the Secret Mission!! Time is running out there too, as we have now hit October I am getting a bit panicky!

Till the next time,

A quick update....

I have now read Northern Lights (again). I can't really say I enjoyed it any more than the last time I read it but I had forgotten how heartbreakingly sad it was! I also read it the second time with possibly a little bit more attention as it is a set book for my new course I have just started and I have to report I don't know what all the fuss is about. On one level it is a thrilling adventure tale and on the other level is a more sinister theme of competing interests between religion and science. But I still don't really see the big threat it supposedly poses to children - perhaps after I have read the other two books I may have a different opinion! So that brings me on to my next book: The Subtle Knife, which again I have read before but have forgotten so much of. So I am going to read all of 'His Dark Materials' one after the other and will report back my official opinion on all of them!

This is officially on my list of places to go and things to see!!!
Until next time....

Working (at home) Wednesday....

Wednesdays are the only full days I have in the week at home. Today I plan to

• Wash the windows
• Bake a cake
• Sew a block for my surprise quilt
• Plan for Christmas
• Read some of Northern Lights
• Cook Pasties

My son and I read an interesting article in the newspaper about a father and daughter who read together every night before bed for nine years. It started as a challenge for a hundred days and when they achieved it they set it for a thousand and so it went on and on until she was 18. I thought this was a fabulous idea and so we decided to do the 100 day challenge and see how we get on. (My son did object to being 18 and having me still read to him every night!!)
We are reading together Predator's Gold which we both thought has hit a 'boring' bit but we are soldiering on and now it is getting better because we are making the time to read it, and some nights we keep going even though its past normal bedtime hours. I wonder how many books we will get through in 100 nights???
I will keep a list ~ one of my favourite things to do ~ making lists!

September has become my New Year. I think it is because I work with the academic year rather than the Calendar year. When I was in school this was the same - we started our new school year in January. In England September is the start of the new school year and it has become the month in which I encourage the children to set their goals for the year ahead and which I now do for myself too. (After years of making January Resolutions, which I never really keep) I have made lists of things I want to achieve, places I want to go and books I want to read. I have made lots and lots of lists of the things I want to make too. I have also made a 'bucket list'. When I have some time I may update them on here. It is so rewarding to see a list full of things that have been crossed off.
Something that is waiting to be crossed off:

My blanket nearly oh so nearly finished!  Until next time.

To Autumn...

TO AUTUMN.

                                            1.

    SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
        Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
    Conspiring with him how to load and bless
        With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
    To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
        And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
            To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
    With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
        And still more, later flowers for the bees,
        Until they think warm days will never cease,
            For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

                                            2.

    Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
        Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
    Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
        Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
    Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
        Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
            Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
    And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
        Steady thy laden head across a brook;
        Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
            Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

                                            3.

    Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
        Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
    While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
        And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
    Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
        Among the river sallows, borne aloft
            Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
    And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
        Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
        The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
           And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

This is one of my most favourite poems: I can't get through Autumn without thinking of this poem. When I see a bee buzzing around or watch the apple trees bend with fruit or witness the beautiful pastel colours of the sky melt into the night; I think of Keats. His words literally jump into my head! I love autumn: the smell, the colours, the fresh damp air all fill me with happiness! I wish I could bottle Autumn up so that all year round when I need a little bit of happiness it would be there. 

I am so tantalising close to finishing off my impromptu 'spring' blanket and I think I have been rocketing through the granny squares that I have given myself an injury. My wrist aches and the back of my hand is stiff (typing doesn't help it much either!!!) that I have had to slooooow down. It's so frustrating because I just want to see what it looks like finished, especially as I have a special little plan to finish this blanket. I'll just have to be patient.......

Until the next time,