Tuesday

At home with both things that are shooting through the school right now - or maybe it is one bug that shows in different ways, who knows?

Yuck.

Have a better day . . .

Monday

So here we are, back at school in a short while, all ready and prepared (mostly, anyway) with time to have a nice relaxing bath.

Yesterday was good.  It was a very warm day with plenty of sun, although it did get cooler come the evening.  Beth, Alex and I went out to the Flyer for lunch and when we got home, predictably, I went to sleep.  That was nice.  What wasn't so nice was the increasingly sore throat and bunged up nose.  Yes, the first cold of the new school year has landed.  It didn't stop me sleeping well though!

Today is a usual Monday.  Hopefully there will be nothing unusual and nothing different.  Fingers crossed . . .

Sunday

Yesterday was a very gentle day.  I enjoyed it very much and feel rested and relaxed, which is nice.  There's more to do today but it's all good.

I hope that all my readers have a very pleasant day too, whatever situation you find yourself in right now.

Saturday

Woo hoo.  The weekend has arrived.  Three cheers.  Now we really are half way through the half term!

Yesterday was a mixture of good and muddled, nice and disappointing.

It started with me making an early morning order with Just Eat for yesterday evening.  I mentioned in yesterday's blog (or maybe it was a bit before, I can't recall) that I had a friend coming round and I was getting a take away Chinese.  I ordered plenty, partly because I like to have variety when having a Chinese and partly because I love to have leftovers either for the next day or for freezing in single portions (or, preferably, both).

With that off my mind, the day itself went swimmingly well.  Got a lot of work done, set up some finger gym programmes, looked at some IEPs and taught my class in the afternoon.  And I do feel they are now 'my' class.  This week has been great!

Came home and after a while checked the old mailbox to find an email from JustEat asking if I needed the takeaway tonight or tomorrow night and if they didn't hear from me within 24 hours they would cancel the order.  This has happened before so I was none too pleased.  Last time it worked out OK as I just cancelled the order (remember, Sonja?) but this time I was expecting the delivery and didn't want to cancel.  I guess JustEat doesn't handle early morning orders all that well!

So I emailed off high priority to confirm (rather tetchily) that I wanted it for tonight, yes, they had the right phone number but no, as I had told them before, being hard of hearing, I rarely answered the phone as I more than likely wouldn't hear what the caller had to say and anyway I was at work all day and being a teacher I couldn't just leave . . . oh, you get the idea.  A bit of a mini rant, in fact.  And I did add that I had a guest coming too so a non-delivery would not be a terribly acceptable thing.

Then I just had to wait . . . and wait . . . and wait . . . and I was beginning to wonder if I ought to go out and get something in when a reply pinged in.  Very nice, very apologetic, saying the delivery would be made on time.  So I sent a nice answer because, after all, I have been brought up proper.

And then, not long after, there was a bang at the door.  That's early, thought I, much too early.  So I stalked to the door, only to find S, my guest, looking like death warmed up, apologising and saying that she felt terrible (she did look poorly too) so would I mind if . . . and then she presented me with a lovely bouquet as an apology.

Poor S.  Of course, I told her to go home, wrap up, snuggle somewhere comfortable and look after herself.

So . . . I had a substantial amount of food (no complaints), two bottles of alcoholic grape juice (no complaints) and a quiet evening to myself in a clean and tidy house (still no complaints).  I did offer S one of the bottles but she rejected it with a shudder.  Not good. poor lass.

See what I mean - it was a fair old muddle but, while very disappointed, I was glad I am comfortable with my own company too.  And I opened a bottle immediately.  After all, it WAS Friday evening.

And I still have an evening with S to look forward some time soon and a beautiful bouquet of flowers to enjoy over the next week.

Apart from that, illness was still rampaging through my class yesterday and I reckon I got off lightly with my little stint over Wednesday night.  Five away yesterday plus one with an appointment in the afternoon.  Still, always the teacher, it gave me an opportunity to reinforce how to take away from a whole ten (there are 30 in the class) by using what we know about pairs that total ten and a number line!  Any teacher worth his or her salt makes maximum use of little contretemps like this to make hay, so to speak.

So today I have a substantial amount of Chinese to sort out and freeze, bread to make, pears to preserve (chutney and jam but not together), a pile of ironing and some school planning - quite a lot of school planning.

And tonight it is Strictly AND Doctor Who.  What more could one ask for?

Friday

More apologies, this time for yesterday's non-appearance.  It wasn't overwork, it was snoozing!

Yesterday was an experience day.  A Great Fire of London experience day, in fact.  You can see what it is about by following this link.  http://www.historyoffthepage.co.uk/courses/great_fire_london.htm

Because of this, I didn't have any work to do Wednesday evening which was just as well because I fell asleep on my recliner before Bake Off started and woke in time to see Martha leave - so it is just as well I can watch it on iPlayer.  Off I went to bed, almost straight to sleep but woke in the middle of the night with tum cramps so spent a while contemplating the towel rack in the bathroom - hardly an inspiring sight.

Fortunately, I managed to get a bit more sleep but was pretty woozy Thursday morning.  After having almost 100% attendance this term, I had three away and another went home not long after the start of the day so it looks as if something shot through some of us!  A great shame because it was a fab day, the children loved it and they were brilliant in both work and behaviour.

After a general introduction around a map of the City of London in 1666, they had to pretend they were apprentices and went to different tables to try weaving, candle making, learning to be a surgeon and various other trades of the time.  In the meanwhile, as they were working, a fire started in Pudding Lane (a flame coloured scarf on the map) which got bigger and bigger with rats escaping now and again.  Some of us made chains with buckets to try and put the fire out . . . oh, you get the idea.  It was really good.

After lunch they were archaeologists and had to 'dig' up objects and work out which profession it came from.  Again, excellent, covering various ways in which we can find out about the past.  It finished with a story of a family who managed to escape the flames.  The children were utterly engrossed in the tale.

We were worn out afterwards but it was more than well worth doing and has helped to make the whole thing come alive.

Since we started this topic, many of the children have been taken to London to see Pudding Lane, the Monument, St Paul's, etc., by their lovely families.  It makes such a difference.

Today is SEN in the morning and I am taking my class in the afternoon.  And then it is another weekend.  Where is the time going?

And finally, Must do a bit more tidying up because I have a friend round for a Chinese and a chat this evening.  It has to be a takeaway because I have no time to cook, but she's OK with that, thank goodness.  I'd better get going then!

Wednesday

Wednesday already.  The time has flown this week.  In three more days we will be half way through the half term.  Incredible!

Today is a busy day.  Reading revelry, violins and then library, all before play.  After lunch it's mentor and PPA times.  Everything's ready so I'm quite relaxed.

Have a lovely day, everyone.

Tuesday

Brrrr - it's a bit parky this morning. It was yesterday too.  I was on playground duty am and we both shivered a little bit, especially out of the sun.

It was a nice day with plenty of smiles and fun.

I wrote the above this morning but didn't have time to finish.  So I will finish now.  Sorry!

Monday

After a great night's sleep mostly snuggled under the quilt, I'm feeling most satisfied that much of this week's work is done and dusted.  Planning, resources, smartboard slides, powerpoints, assessments and a report I have to give on Wednesday.  Three cheers.

I have discovered that if I set the laptop to print off one of the school printers (which it won't while I am at home), as soon as I log onto the network, it automatically prints everything on the list out without any further action from me.  So that's what I am doing from now on to save myself the paper, the ink and the fact that I no longer have to remember to take piles of paper stuff to school.  Why did it take me so long to discover that?

I'm not sure I feel all that rested after the weekend but I do feel ready and that's good.  I hope my optimism is well founded.

Sunday

Thankfully, it is a little cooler this morning and I doubt very much we will have another storm before daybreak.  Two mornings running with storms is a bit unusual around here and I am thankful for the increased freshness.

I didn't get as much done as I expected yesterday.  I did a fair amount of school work although there's more to do, but other weekend stuff took rather a back seat.  I shall have to give that some priority today, I think.  I've decided to have another PJ day (as yesterday) which means I won't be doing a shop.  Fortunately, with school just over the road from Morrisons, shopping is not in any way a problem.

I did do a few bits and bobs.  I made some bread and decided to add oats to the bread but I think I added a bit too much and the 'crumb' wasn't as I expected.  It's OK, it tastes good and it won't be wasted, but it will be toast rather than sarnies.  Fortunately, we have a toaster in the staffroom so that's not a problem.

Earlier in the week a colleague, H, used some apples and lemons in maths (weighing) and offered them to me as she'd heard that I made jammy, fruity things and she didn't need them.  So yesterday I made two pots of lemon curd, one for her and one for me.  I'd have made more but I am out of eggs.  Using Thermione, making lemon curd is a total doddle.

I used up some tomatoes, as mentioned yesterday, in a sauce type thing.  I decided to add some home grown chillies and, as the first one I used a while ago was really mild with precious little kick, I use two and didn't seed them.  Bit of a mistake as the resulting (very tasty) sauce is quite hot.  It won't be wasted though as I can use it in things like chili con carne (or veg equivalent) but I must make sure I label the pots accurately.

Looking at what I've said above, it looks as if I spent all day in the kitchen rather than on school work but I didn't.  All the dishes above, with Thermione's help, are things where you start it off and just leave it to progress while you get on with other work - school work in my case.

I'm going to have tomatoes on toast again.  It's my fave breakfast and almost all home made/grown so the flavour is wonderful.  Better get going, hadn't I?

Enjoy the day.

Saturday

So here we are, three weeks down and another weekend has started.  It's been quite a stuffy night and I turned the ceiling fan on after weeks on not needing it.  Yesterday was ditto - lovely and sunny but with a humidity that I really have not missed in the last several weeks.  Even the children were listless.  Mind you, that might be because I have worked them hard over the week.

The tremendous storm I woke up to yesterday lasted for quite a while and, I gather, kept several colleagues and children awake in the early morning.  There were more than a few yawns around the place.  I don't know if we have had another one: as I said, without the hearing aids it wouldn't wake me and I certainly haven't been bothered by lightning.

I should have had guests this weekend, as I said yesterday (I think it was yesterday) but I am thankful that I cancelled.  You can sometimes tell when a difficult decision is the right one, can't you?  In this case the immediate sense of relief was overwhelming.  The work is still there, still has to be done, but I no longer feel that sense of suffocating panic.  It will get done and I may have some time for resting too.

One of the not-school things is dealing with more tomatoes.  The black Indigo Rose tomatoes are now ripening after months on the vine.  I moved them out of the growhouse  after learning that they need to be in direct sunlight and that seems to have done the trick.  The pear shaped tomato plants are now also giving me ripe fruit.  They were quite late in and I did wonder whether I'd get much from them.  The large plum tomato is still going strong although the yellow cherry plum is more or less over now, as is the red cherry.  The beef tomatoes have been most prolific and seem to follow their own rules.  I go with the flow.

Indigo Rose tomatoes (photo borrowed from the internet).  Most of mine have looked like the ones on the left for months (it appears that it takes three months for the fruit to ripen so no wonder I was waiting), but now some are looking more like the ones on the right.

I was excited to see that at last the accidental hundreds and thousands fruits are reddening.  They truly are an extra and while I won't get all that many in the time left, I shall enjoy what I do get as a gift from nature.  With all the blight warnings and the humid weather, blight cannot be that far away and I don't feel I can spray most of the tomatoes any more.  The only ones I haven't treated so far are the accidentals so I might give them a squirt!

Anyway, all that rambling was just to say I have a window ledge full of tomatoes to deal with so I shall make some more passata for the freezer, I think.  That is easy and I can work in between parts of the process.

I was pondering on next year's crop.  It is fun to get different kinds and see what happens but I think I will probably restrict myself to a couple of large plums as this year's plant has been brilliant, maybe a cherry or two and the rest will probably be sungold.  My dad swears by sungold and I agree with him that the flavour is just out of this world.  They are so sweet and so juicy and the skins are not tough in the least.

Aren't they lovely?

Well, after rambling on for ages (see the effect the weekend has?) I'd better stop and do my planning to get it off my mind.  Then I will start off the bread dough - I think I shall make some more soft rolls as they were super.

Have a lovely weekend, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Friday

I slept badly last night, one minute hot so on top of the covers, the next minute cold so snuggling under.  I came down early, only to find that it was lashing with rain and we were (still are) in the middle of quite a storm.  No wonder I was so hot and sticky at times.  The thunder isn't an issue as my hearing aids are out but there have been some significant flashes of lightning!

Annoyingly, I could have slept a bit longer this  morning but as I'm up and wide awake I may as well get cracking on with work.

Work is, as I've whinged several times, a bit of a dominating factor in my life right now.  I was going to have Mum and Dad round for the weekend but I've postponed this as there's so much to do I would be a lousy hostess.  They were good about it but I am very disappointed and I suspect they might be too.  I don't see them often enough as it is.  Ah, well, c'est la vie!

Enough pity partying!  Today is SEN day and there's plenty to be cracking on with on that front too, as I didn't get it last week and there are reports to go through, not to mention paperwork.  Ah, that ever present paperwork!!!  I'm a thankful lady that most of it is now being dealt with by K, our new SENCo, who is wonderful, fantastic and brilliant!

Well, I need to get on with work so wishing you all a great day with few hassles!

Thursday

. . . it is still all go.  I'm thanking my lucky stars  that a major responsibility has been taken off my shoulders this term because if it hadn't been I'd be crumpling by now and, although a little crumple is OK now and again, the third week in is awfully early, don't you think.  Not whinging, just saying.

At the weekend I bought something that is going to help quite a lot.  I bought a foldable plastic trolley so that carrying books (for marking) home each evening is as easy as possible.  It arrived yesterday and is all packed and ready for the new day.  It will take the books, the stuff that always goes back and forth and there's also room for my school laptop which I now take home each evening so I can get the smartboard slides ready well before hand.

I had my second session on the finer points of Target Tracker yesterday.  It's a bit brain aching but I'm glad to have been given further info about how it works because it has some very useful functions indeed.  Now I need to create my groups and get cracking.  Not sure when, but . . .

(and just to confess - I'm writing this during Bake Off on Wednesday evening so that it's certain sure to be sent Thursday morning!)

Wednesday belated

Better late than never, I reckon.  Apologies to my small but elite group of regular readers for not being here this morning.

Things are still going OK here.  I'm enjoying year 2.  Can't go into details but it's good.  A shame about staff meeting this evening but never mind, life goes on regardless, doesn't it?

Enjoy yours.

Tuesday

Sorry about forgetting yesterday.  I'm still in a bit of a rush but - well, there's time.

Going back, Sunday lunch was really successful.  As I mentioned, it was all home made.  Home made tomato soup with garden tomatoes, home made soft bread rolls and then spiced courgette and apricot muffins.  There wasn't a lot left by the time we had finished.

Yesterday was a happy day one way and another, although I am finding that I am rushing from pillar to post a lot of the time with scarcely a moment to catch breath.  Therefore I was very happy when I had an hour of PPA when I could sit with individual children as I marked their maths, going through any misconceptions and sorting out their ideas with them.  Time well spent and I wish I had more opportunity to do this.

Better go and have my bath - or I will be in yet another rush!

Belated Monday

Ooops.  I was so busy this morning that I totally forgot to write my blog, which is amazing because usually I miss it when I don't write it.  That'll teach me not to leave things to the last minute.

Hopefully I will remember tomorrow morning.  :-)

Bread rolls

Just to say - I've made them, they're lovely and the recipe is here.

Please do pop over and take a look.

Sunday

Hello!  It's a much nicer morning today than it has been over recent days, which have been gloomy and misty.  There's glimmers of sunshine and a clear view across the country as I eat my tomatoes on toast for breakfast which promises a good day ahead.

I got a fair amount done yesterday.  There's home made bread now and two loads of tomato soup, one made with vegetable stock for lunch today and one made with chicken stock that has been portioned out and is ready for the freezer, to be used for school lunches.

I decided to make some soft rolls for the soup and tried a new recipe which was a bit of a disaster.  The rolls ended up in the bin and I have a fresh lot of dough on the rise now using a different recipe.
I usually use a Paul Hollywood recipe which is dead easy and works up a tread.  Looking at today's soft roll recipe, it seems that all you need to do for softer rolls is to have a bit more butter (or oil) and use milk as well as water.  Well, we will see, won't we?

I managed to get some marking done but the runner beans are still hanging from the plants.  They're starting to look a bit bedraggled now so I am not sure how much longer they will go on for.

I forgot to mention, my lovely TA brought in a bag of pears from her garden so I am looking up likely preserving recipes.  I've found a jam and a chutney which should see off most of them but they do need to ripen just a bit more first, I think.

Well, I think the dough is reasdy to knock back and shape, so I'd better be off.  Enjoy your Sunday.

Saturday

Again, writing on Friday evening after a lovely but rather exhausting day.  I think we are all glad that it is Friday evening and there are two days of not-having-to-go-into-school.  I very carefully say this because I have now joined the ranks of 'real' teachers who have to take home marking.  Generally, in year one the littlies didn't write enough to make marking in any way onorous but, to my sort of delight, my not-so-littlies have had a fair old bash at writing a recount entitled 'Goldilocks' Day' which has produce enough wordy stuff to make it impossible to mark in school hours which are (before anyone mutters 'nine til three') seven thirty until six o'clock, which is, for most of us, from when the school is unlocked until when the ground manager throws us all out because he's locking up.

Am I complaining. Nope, just saying!  After all it goes with the job and I did manage to mark, standardise and work out the spelling age and centile rank for a spelling test AND mark their maths work.

In between marking some hopefully excellent writing I intend to make several batches of bread, deal with a glut of runner beans and make tomato soup and passata for the freezer.
What's the betting I don't.

Apart from all that, today has been lovely with lots of happy words, smiley faces and a gift of a wee pot plant from a little treasure who chose to spend pocket money on a gift for teacher. I am not good with house plants but I will treasure that.

I am very lucky.

Friday

I'm actually writing this Thursday evening as I have time, so there will be no comments about weather, sleeping well, etc.

It has been a lovely day.  I've had kisses, cuddles, happy and smiley faces and an invite to dinner (although I suspect mum had no idea).  What more could a dedicated teacher want?  Retirement???  No way!

If you remember, not that long ago I was whinging about lack of copious anounts of ripe tomatoes.  Can't complain any more.  Today I brought in an armful of tomatoes this morning and another armful this evening.
OK, so I have large plum tomatoes (so scrummy) and quite a lot of beef tomatoes (somewhat on the large side) so an armful is comparatively easy to achieve but, with the weekend coming up, I have a very large bowlful overflowing and will be making more tomato soup (wonderful stuff) and more passata/chopped tomatoes for the freezer.  So, as I said, no complaints.

For the first time in absolutely ages, I had to buy some bread.  Oh, the shame.  So, as well as tomato production, I intend to make several loaves for the freezer.

Then I will be picking shedloads of runners and preparing them for freezing.

September is a good month, I have  decided.

Thursday

Another quick one as life continues to be busy and fulfilling.

Next week is traditionally 'try out week' so I guess I will have to be on my mettle then, even more so that at the moment.  I tend to survive though!

Today is my coordinator time and I intend to sort out the Christmas Show.  I might even do it too!

Have a good day!

Wednesday

. . . and nearly half way through the week.

Yesterday was good.  Warm, sunny (I did play duty pm so that was important) and the children learnt stuff.
After the success of Charlie the Croc, today we are rounding to the nearest ten.  Did you know that Ben 10 is so called because he hates units and likes numbers to be whole tens?  No, I didn't either, but there you go.  I do now!!

What a hero!!!

I got the brilliant idea from resources on the TES teachers site and I bet it will be just the hook to hang this skill on.  Looking forward to teaching it now.

Shame about staff meeting but there you go!!!

Tuesday

Good morning!

Wasn't yesterday a lovely day?  It was here anyway.  Warm and sunny and just perfect for being on playground duty.  Monday playground duty is good because you get it over and done with at the beginning of the week but if they were all like yesterday it would be delightful.

As always, I had some chuckles through the day.

We were doing < and > in maths and I was using Charlie the Crocodile to show them what each symbol means.  You see, Charlie is very greedy and ALWAYS eats the bigger number.

Here he is.

So we were going great guns with it.  We practised writing the symbols and then I sent them off to do some individual work.  When I marked the books one little person had given me some beautiful examples, all absolutely correct, obviously understanding with each symbol used flaunting a set of gnashers!  Bless.

Looking forward to today after such a great day yesterday.  I hopoe yours is as good.

Monday

Well, after a manic weekend, I have a feeling I will be back at school for a rest.  Phew.  It was a good weekend though, my friend arrived here safely and is hopefully sleeping sweetly in the spare room.

Dinner worked out well and was really delicious.  No complaints from anyone there!

And now I have to rush as there's plenmty to do and little time to do it.

Have a super day!

Sunday

It's just after 9:00 and already this morning I have made a batch of blackberry and apple jam, some pastry for the pies for dinner, two loaves of soda bread, dough for ordinary bread (that's rising as I type) and the chicken filling for the pies is simmering away gently, making the house smell wonderful!

Whoever said Sunday was a day of rest?

Never mind, not a lot more to do and then I can take a break from kitchen duties and go and pick/pull the veg.  Runner beans and carrots sounds good with chicken pie.

It was misty and moisty earlier, a typical autumn morning, and it is still dull now although the air has cleared.  I wonder if we will have any sun - hope so for the tomatoes' sakes.  After a second full Smith period warning from blight watch, I sprayed again and am hoping from day to do that they will be OK.  It's quite a damp atmosphere which isn't helping at all.  Ah, well, we will see.  There's not a lot more I can do about it.

It has felt a long week this past week.  It's rather early to feel weary but I think things will settle as I get used to my class and they to me.  And now I'd better go and check that they have done their online homework!

Have a good day.

Saturday

It hasn't taken long to get back into old habits again.  Here I am, up stupidly early, writing my blog at four thirty, already awake for an hour with tomatoes, onions and other bits and bobs roasting in the oven preparatory to making a tomato sauce for the freezer.

Yes, the tomatoes have finally started ripening faster and I had a pile of large beef tomatoes and plum tomatoes asking to be used.  When it's all roasted up I will zizz it all in Thermione and then push it through a sieve as the beef tomatoes are a bit green-backy so there will be a few hard bits.  However, I did sort out the blossom end rot and the rest of the tomatoes are free from it.  Crushed egg shells!!
It's smelling rather good at the moment and I will post the recipe if it works OK.

Four days back and we are all surviving!  When super-teacher (and I am not being sarcastic in any way here, she really is) paid me the compliment yesterday of being 'very organised'.  It's early days yet but I was ridiculously pleased!  Whether I stay that way is in the stars!

It's Saturday and I have a day full of stuff.  Shopping, baking, jamming, sweeping, making up a bed for a friend who is coming to stay for five days and, minor detail (!), planning and resource making.  Hopefully, Sunday will be restful and at least there is Doctor Who to look forward to.

Have a great weekend.

Friday

Yay, Friday.  SEN day (just for one more term, then I stand down).  Super-teacher takes my class so everything is spick and span and ready!  My conscience is clear.

I was presented with some extraordinary info yesterday when we were writing about the great fire of London.  Among other things, the Eiffel Tower was completely destroyed during the great fire.  Wow!

In other news, the tomatoes continue to ripen at long, long last, there have been some whole Smith periods but (fingers crossed) mine don't seem to be affected by blight.  As soon as I got the warning, I sprayed them all again so I'm hoping.  My dad has pulled three of his plants up in the hopes of containing it.

Blight is such a pain and, potato famine to the contrary, seems to be fairly recent.  By that I mean when I grew tomatoes a decade or so ago, I don't remember it being any kind of problem at all.

Something nice - the other day I was given a punnet of blackberries, fresh picked from a friend's garden.  The young lad who picked them insisted that they were for me, not for his mum (!) so that was that.  I've cooked them with some apple in Thermione and tomorrow I will push the lot through the mouli and make blackberry and apple jam.  And young M will get a wee pot for himself, bless him!

The toast smells toasty so I'd better rescue it from the toaster and get on.  Weekend tomorrow.  Three cheers!

Thursday

And I was up bright and early getting things ready.  I can't see what sort of day it will be yet as it is quite gloomy but if it's anything like yesterday the gloom will burn off and it will be a lovely warm and sunny day.  Hope so, anyway.

It's all very hard work at the moment.  I had done Y1 for so long that I knew the lessons, really knew them well.  I had the resources, I had the knowledge, I knew the likely misconceptions and how to address them.
Now I don't!  This is not a whinge, it's just how it is.  I'm enjoying it though.

So it is all a bit of a slog right now but we'll get there.  Spare time is in short supply right now and I apologise to my email and social media friends.  I'll be back temporarily at the weekend, OK?

Cheers!

Wednesday

I survived!!!

In other news, finally, at long, long last, my pear shaped tomatoes are starting to ripen.  I popped out yesterday evening to water the garden and caught a flash of something bright, investigated and, lo and behold, there they were, two or three tomatoes definitely turning orange!

The accidental hundreds and thousands are, as last year, producing - er - hundreds and thousands of titchy marble shaped fruit but no sign of red there yet.  Keeping fingers crossed there.

All the other tomatoes are now producing ripe fruit faster.  I usually come in with handfuls!  OK, so one beef tomato is a handful, but you know what I mean!

I think I'm getting money's worth now!

Tuesday

New school year so of COURSE welcome back to waking at stupid o'clock.  Half past two it was today.  Mind you I went to bed at eight thirty last night so I've had a decent block of sleep, but couldn't doze back off because there's so much buzzing around my head.

Yesterday was fine.  Got loads done after a morning staff meeting where, guess what, we got loads done.  It's all go now . . .

Wish me luck!

Monday

It's coming up to six o'clock and it is still almost dark.  The days are rapidly getting shorter now and the mornings and evenings increasingly cool.  Fortunately, the daytimes are, or can be, warm and sunny and that's just how yesterday was.  A beautiful day.

I did virtually nothing.  It was the last opportunity to be bone idle so I took it and held it firmly in both hands.

And today we're back at school.  Just the teachers today and the office staff.  Hopefully there will be nothing too hairy.

Have a good day, whether it be busy or relaxed.