Hello. :-D It's me. Well, obviously it's me, who else would it be?
I think it was definitely the right thing to do to have a little blogging break, it was starting to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure, and I didn't like it feeling like that. I'm still reading blogs ('blurking' - a term coined by the lovely Chris), but not commenting very much. I've used the extra time the break has given me to start turning our rectangle of grass into something more like a 'real' garden. There are plants growing in it now, and am quite pleased with it, but I've got a lot more to do. I'm also doing a lot more photography, and quite active at Flickr - if any of you are over there, please mark me as a contact so I can see what you're uploading.
I'm still not ready to come back to blogging, I don't know what's happened to my desire to blog. I've looked everywhere for it - under cushions, in my pockets, behind the sofa, even in the shed. Nope, not there. I still feel like I have nothing remotely interesting to say, but wanted to record some 'bits' for June, so that when this is (hopefully) turned into a blog book, it'll 'be there' for the kids.
I apologise for the mahoosive size of thise post - it's a whole month's worth of my crubbish, so be warned - I'm rabbiting on and on and on and on!
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What first? Well, No.1's art teacher finally got a look at that Picasso homework. Her comment was as follows:-
Wow [No.1] - outstanding! A truly exceptional artist study. You have taken a great deal of care and attention to detail. Very well done indeed!
There was a similar complimentary remark for the Julian Opie homework, so No.1 is feeling better about Art now. Actually, she's feeling more than better, she's feeling quite proud. She came home with a letter the other week which said she had been recognised as 'gifted and talented' in the subject and was therefore one of only 9 students chosen to attend a special ceramics workshop next month. It's free and it's a great opportunity - I'm very proud of her. I wish I could attend that workshop.
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Also on the subject of No.1, she went on a school residential this month. The kids were split into 3 teams: The Red Team, The Green Team and The Purple Team. The whole trip was extremely competitive with points being won for all sorts of aspects of the experience. One of the things they were encouraged to do was to make their respective tents (they stayed in a tented village - 4 to each tent) look the best. As a member of The Purple Team, we thought some purple-ish bunting would be just the job to liven up the tent of her group. Thus these were rustled up between us:-
Twenty metres of purple bunting, which she said had been put to use decorating the whole of the Purple Team camp area. She had an absolute blast on this trip, and hearing stories about what went on makes me wish I could have gone too. Teachers playing 'I'm A Teacher, Get Me Out Of Here' and doing and eating various horrible things, was just the start of it. Boys and girls weren't allowed to go in each other's tents with the doors closed after one of each gender were apparently found snogging one another behind closed tent flaps. :-O No.1 got to ride horses, abseil down rocks, build bushcraft shelters, make rafts, go dragon boating, etc. etc. She came back filthy and smelly: always a good sign of a successful school trip.
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In other 'making' type news, I have knitted my first baby garment in many a long year. My lovely friend 'L' has a new baby in the family (it's not hers, I hasten to add!) - a little girl. I knitted this for her (that's the baby, not 'L' ... obviously it would look ridiculous on her, and I'm not sure it's her colour):-
Another 'make' was this monkey as a birthday gift for No.2's friend 'N'. 'N' supports Liverpool Football Club thus a monkey in appropriate 'club colours' was made. 'N' came for tea last week - I asked him what the monkey is called. 'Monkey' he replied. So ... here is Monkey Monkey:
'N''s mum tells me he loves that monkey, and that it has pride of place on the bed. I love that these sock monkeys appeal to all ages, genders and persuasions.
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I had a bit of an embarrassing moment this month. I am lucky enough to have a bedroom which is not overlooked by any other properties - there are tall trees in the gardens at the bottom of our own garden, and thus I wander freely au naturelle from the bathroom into my bedroom in the mornings. Imagine my surprise one morning to look out of the window only to see two tree surgeon chappies up one of the trees, with a perfect view of me and my bits. :-O
I hastily covered myself up, pulled down the blind and hoped against hope that they hadn't seen too much. They've cleared some of the trees completely, though thankfully have only lopped the two which are preventing my room being overlooked. That'll teach me to give my birthday suit such a casual airing, won't it?!
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No.2 has played in a couple more football tournaments this month. The first, staged by the arch-enemies who are coached by his team's ex-assistant coach (are you keeping up with me? If not this post explains all). The two teams were drawn against each other and this time a 0-0 draw saw both leave the pitch with dignity intact. Neither team won the tournament, but No.2 came back with this medal:-
The second tournament was held a bit further afield, but will be memorable for the fact that he scored another goal, and the boys got to see, touch and have their photo taken with the SPL Championship Trophy. Quite what this trophy was doing in Oxfordshire, I'm not quite sure, but there you are. Here's his medal from that day:
This month he was also picked to represent his school at the Area Athletics. I don't know where he gets the energy from, really I don't. I get tired just watching him! His school's team came third overall - a fabulous effort.
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June was the month I found myself a teeny bit, moderately, ok ... rather addicted to a game called Farm Town on Facebook. I have never really been one for games, but this one is cool. Your little farmer (who you can, of course, personalise to look like you) starts out with a modest square of land, and 6 squares of ploughed field on that land. You then have to, by sowing, harvesting and selling crops, develop your farm. There is a market where you go to get work and hire other farmers. There is a 'realtor' office where you buy more land, and as you go up the levels you unlock more 'things' to buy for your farm - different animals, trees, flowers, seeds, and material things.
Yes, that's my farm and I worked hard to get it like that. It's been a bit of escapist nonsense, and I've 'met' some friendly farmer folk from all over the world.
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I guess I shouldn't let this month pass without mentioning the recent deaths of two 'icons' of my youth. Firstly, Farrah Fawcett Majors lost her battle against cancer. Anyone who was around in the 1970's cannot have missed the numerous pictures of a tanned, gorgeously blonde Ms Fawcett Majors. One of the stars of 'Charlie's Angels' she was the pin up of legions of teenage boys across the planet. I might have had a passing flirtation with those 'flicky' side bits in my hair, but never embraced it fully. By all accounts she was a good person - my thoughts are with her friends and family.
And then, of course, there is Michael Jackson. A true musical giant. His music was never my 'thing' - I don't possess a single album of his - but I could appreciate what a consummate performer and gifted songwriter he was. My personal opinion of him as a man was that he appeared a bit 'poorly' in many ways - possibly as a result of his childhood (I read that his father spent years referring to him as 'Big Nose'. If it's true, it explains a lot). But so often extremely talented people are slightly 'eccentric'. I feel desperately sorry for his three young children - who are now left with a surely massive void in their lives?
He only ever seemed 'comfortable' when performing. I hope he's now at peace.
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This was the month my brother took one look at my car and said "Jeez, it's filthy!" He's the sort who keeps his cars clean and looking nice, and thinks everyone else should too. Whereas I'm the sort who thinks 'God, this car's disgusting' but then just gets in and drives it. Anyway, he called me the day after his comment, and said he'd booked her in for a professional valet! Woohoo, result! I've never, ever had a car cleaned properly by someone else before. Miss Maisy (that's our car's name) looked absolutely beautiful.
What's more, the man that did it was such a nice guy. We had a lovely chat about life, the universe and how he plans to retire to an existence of travelling the canals of this country in a narrowboat. A couple of days later, a bird had the temerity to use Miss Maisy as a latrine. I was horrified. I came indoors and got a damp bit of kitchen roll and immediately wiped it off.
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I don't expect people to read or comment on this - I realise I'm being a bad blogger at the moment as regards taking part in the blogging community as a whole. But for anyone who passes by, I'll leave you with a picture I took this month of a chrysanthemum bloom. I bought the plant for Mum because it was Dad's birthday, and I knew she'd be thinking about him a lot (as was I). Anyway, I'm pleased with the photo:-
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