Friday

. . . and thank goodness it will be the weekend soon.  Because of the cold and a few little upsets, I am feeling ridiculously tired for so early in the school year and am starting to wonder how I can deal with this, given that it will all get a lot more demanding as the term goes on.  I don't think it's age related:  a number of my colleagues are also looking very weary.  One of the things about working in an 'outstanding' school is that there are pressures.  pressures to not only maintain standards but to improve and when you are already giving all you've got, working out how (and where) to improve is not at all an easy matter and can be quite stressful.

From all of this you might have guessed that it is performance management next week.  Targets to review, new targets to set and another thing to add to an already busy weekend as those of us who are team leaders get everything ready.  Oh, the joy!

Thursday

Croak, croak, croak.  No, it's not a frog, it's me trying to talk.  To be fair, it comes and goes and it is always worst first thing in the morning but it's quite uncomfortable and frustrating when I need to raise my voice as firstly nothing much comes out and then, if I push it further, it's much too loud and harsh.  Ah, well, nearly the weekend again - two more days, that's all.  And we are now more than half way through the half term too!

What a glorious day it was again yesterday.  Although the mornings and evenings are much cooler, it was warm, sunny and very cheering.  I guess it can't last all that much longer so I'm enjoying while I can, leaving the classroom door and windows wide open to let the fresh warm air in.  We now have extremely efficient double glazed windows and doors and it can get hot in the classroom.  On the other hand, come the winter it is very much appreciated!  Swings and roundabouts, isn't it?  I'd rather have it that way than the way it is over in the demountables - baking hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter.

Wednesday

Wasn't yesterday a beautiful day?  Tuesday is my playground duty day - in the morning for the whole school and then in the afternoon for the infant playtime.  It was a little dull in the morning and still damp from the overnight fog, but the afternoon was glorious.  Sunny and warm.  Long may it continue.  The nights are pretty chilly though and I no longer need the bedroom fan on overnight.  I guess it won't be long before I will have to close the window overnight too or risk the heating clicking on.

I had to laugh yesterday.  Mrs X was out in in the playground when she saw a little lad laying into another little lad.  Hurrying up she separated them and said the usual stuff, including 'We mustn't go round hurting people like that.'  Little lad replied 'I didn't hurt any people, I hurt him'.
Goodness knows what species he thinks 'him' is but he was soon put straight!

I didn't pick any tomatoes yesterday, I decided to leave them on the vine for another day.  Today is supposed to be nice and sunny so there should be a good picking this evening, I hope.

Better go and run the bath now, or I will be late.  Have a good day!

Tuesday

It's about 6:15 and I am already tired and wanting to go back to bed.  No, not really, but I've just finished making the batch of mulled wine plum jam and it's far more rush and riot than I am used to in the mornings!  

I had to really.  It was supposed to be made yesterday evening when I brought home the sugar but I was just too tired (really too tired) to cope with jamming then.  So I set to this morning and now I have eight pots plus three and a half mini pots of really rather gorgeous jam.  A bit for me and most for others.  In the end I didn't mull the red wine with the appropriate spices, I used ready mulled wine instead, having seen it in Morrisons.  A lot easier and the mulling spices come through deliciously.

So what with all the other preserves plus the cranberry jam I intend to make nearer the time (because the keeping time is shorter), that's more or less my Christmas gifts sorted out.  Excellent!

Monday

Yesterday never seemed to stop from beginning to end, but it was a good day.  I had DG all day because DD took her Tonk cat to stud and, as the journey might take some time, DG would be happier at home.  As it was, the traffic on the M25 was light for once, the cat settled quickly and she was back early afternoon.

When she brought him over, DD also brought some pickings from the garden/allotment.  After looking at them and at what I had in the fridge, I decided to concoct an 'allotment chutney' recipe, mainly based around vegetables and with a spicy base.  It was fun to do, a bit nail biting because I have always followed recipes before, but I think it worked out OK.  Time alone will tell!  It was abviously the day for experimantation.  I had some nice looking pork ribs for dinner so I slow baked them and then threw together some ingredients to make a sticky sauce to finish them off.  With that we had roasted garden veg (peppers, squash and tomatoes) and it was all very delicious.  Everything got finished anyway - no leftovers for today.  For dessert we had some autumn raspberries that I picked from DDs allotment in the morning.  They were still sunshine warm when we ate them and very delicious they were too.

At last I managed to start the mulled wine plum jam too.  I got as far as cooking the plums in the mulled wine and then found I don't have any jam sugar, so the rest will have to wait for tonight.  It won't hurt and, I suppose, gives the flavours time 'to develop'!

And now the weekend is over and it's back to work again.  The big question is will my voice survive?  Again, time will tell!  Have a good day yourself.

Sunday: garden update and other stuff



The cosmos has been wonderful this year.  Too much of it, really, for my small patch, but oh, the pleasure it has given me has been huge.



Pink and white . . .



. .  . beautiful in close view . . .



. . . or further away . . .



. . . except for this one which has grown and grown and grown, put out a few blooms earlier in the summer and since then has steadfastly refused to flower, putting all its energy into being bigger than everything else in the garden, as if it wants to replace the bush that thought it was a tree.  Last week I told George we'd probably have it out soon.  You can guess what has happened - suddenly it is covered with buds!

 

The tomatoes are now earning their keep.  Eight yesterday, nine today and, as you can see, there's likely to be another good picking tomorrow too.



This is the bay that 'died' last winter.  Pretty good, isn't it?  I should call it the resurrection bay!

So much for the garden.  It seems to be giving me one last huge effort, as if it knows that time is shortening with the days and the angle of sunlight and is determined to force me to remember it in the dark days to come.

DG is here with me today.  He's sitting in the recliner in the corner with his laptop connected up (I am so glad I got a wireless thingy that enables him to connect to the Internet here), snuggling under a quilt and singing softly to himself.  He sings so sweetly (when he wants) and I will be sad when his voice finishes breaking, which can't be long now.

When DD dropped him off, she gave me the key to the allotment with instructions to go down and pick all the ripe raspberries I can find and eat them!  I think that's one order it will be hard to disobey!  She also bought a bag with some other produce - red and green peppers, courgette, a baby butternut squash - which I think I will turn into chutney, using some of my ripe tomatoes as well, seeing as I have a bowlful of them with more coming.  I don't have a recipe so I will trawl through what I do have and work out some proportions of vinegar and sugar to vegetables.  It can't go wrong really!  However, I will save one red pepper and the baby squash to have roasted at lunch time.  I have some ribs I want to cook in a sticky sauce and roasted tomatoes and red pepper will be an ideal accompaniment.

Well, I'd better get going.  There's plenty to do, that's for sure.

Saturday morning

Already the weeks are zooming by.  I'm quite glad this week has come to an end - two days of doing different stuff is a rather pleasant thought and already I have been up, had a hot honey and lemon drink (very soothing and comforting) and gone back to bed for another snooze.  There's a pile of tomatoes in the kitchen, more ripening on the plants and I have enough plums to make the mulled wine jam this weekend too.  I have some idea now of my parent helpers this term so I know how many of what I need to have made and ready for the festive giveaway!

I also have a pile of carrots.  I love carrots but there's too many for me to eat so I think carrot cake or carrot muffins are in order here.  I think I have recipes in my recipe folder but, if not, there will be plenty around.  Or maybe carrot fritters or something similar?  We will see.
Because of the pile of tomatoes, it's time to start thinking of making yummy tomato sauce I think.  I feel another recipe hunt coming on.

The soil and manure (in pong tight bags, you will be glad to know) is all still in the car so at some point I need to lug them round to the back and fill the willow deep bed thingy - when I have decided exactly where I want it to go, that is.  There's also bags of bulbs to plant.  I keep saying then need planting and never get round to doing it!  Must get my act together.

Of course, I won't get half of all that done.  I'll probably sleep, read and sleep.  And watch Doctor Who.  But whatever I do, it is the weekend.  Yay!