Saturday

There was a huge change in the weather yesterday.  Gone was the sun and instead the rolling clouds smurged into a blanket of dullness that covered the world and dimmed the colours.  By midday it was raining hard and it remained that way most of the afternoon, clearing up just before home time.  I didn't have a chance to monitor the effect on my new class but Carly said they were OK.  That's good!

This morning is cold.  I opened the back door and closed it again hurriedly.  Brrrrr.  While sitting at the laptop I couldn't help but notice the there was a very strange colour outside as the sun rose.  When I looked again I saw a most glorious rainbow although there was no rain here.  Quickly I grabbed my camera and snapped off some photos, none of which came out brilliantly but never mind.  As I finished, I felt the first drops fall so took myself inside quickly, but it wasn't heavy and now the sun is shining his heart out!  It's still chilly though, which I suppose we must expect for September.

I couldn't get anything like the whole bow in - it was massive, stretching from horizon . . .

. . . to horizon.
(as they do!)

As I was out there I noticed that there are plenty of runner beans ready for picking.  I only have three plants so they're doing jolly well.  Today's picking will do us for lunch tomorrow with maybe a portion to freeze for later.  They look so pretty, climbing up and along the archway, and I am definitely doing this again next year, starting earlier and making sure the slugs are kept at bay as that's what finished off the other plants this year.  There's little to compare with fresh picked runners for flavour - unless it's fresh picked tomatoes!

No wonder the Elizabethans saw them as decorative flowers rather than veg.  They are so lovely!

As the season moves on, I have started thinking about next year.  Tomatoes, definitely, runner beans, ditto.   I am sure I will be running to Beth for advice.  I'm also getting some raised planters of a good size to go where I would have another walled bed, should I be having my garden redone now.  When I did have it done, I had a little grandson who needed playing space and that space was perfect for putting up the climbing frame.  Now it really is wasted space that could be used for growing.
I just wish I had seen them before the term started as now I have the problem of someone in to receive them.

Good news from Eddie - is seems that the PC problem was caused by the graphics card which can be replaced.  He's also going to do a 'health check' while he is at it, so all's well (apart from paying and thank goodness for savings).  Actually, thank goodness for Eddie too - it was he who provided me with the external hard drive and got it all set up.  I can access old planning, etc, which is a huge relief.  Eddie is a star!

Today is busy.  There's a whole lot of housework and, as you will see from one of the photos, the fence isn't anywhere near finished yet.  Hopefully it will stay dry enough.  I have eggs to pick up, washing, drying and ironing to do and I must make some more tomato sauce as I have four bowls of tomatoes that need to be used up (because there's plenty more to come still).  Thank goodness the planning is more or less complete and just needs tweaking.

Better get started then, hadn't I?

Friday

End of the first week is in sight!  One down, seven to go before half term!

What a baking hot day it was yesterday,  It was still foggy when I got to school but by nine the sun was shining brightly and it continued to do so with vigour all day.  I was on playground duty pm and I have to admit we hovered under the trees most of the time, venturing out occasionally to comfort, console or - er - remind about the rules!

I feel we've got there this week.  The children have quickly become responsive to my voice and are starting to use quieter voices indoors.  They seem interested in things and yesterday we all played a game in groups and they were great, even the unsupervised groups played well.  A super start and I'm thrilled.

At home things are messy.  I mean that literally, I'd be ashamed to have anyone round.  This weekend will start with a good, big clean up before I can start to feel comfortable.  It's not just the time, it's also the energy!

It's supposed to rain today.  That would be good for the ground but not so good for playtimes.  I've put in an order for clear intervals at those times but who knows?  I can't even see what it's like right now, except that it's cloudy, because we now have the street lights off between midnight and 5a.m.  It's not universally popular but I love it.  I love the dark, the lack of light pollution, the way we suddenly seem to have so many more stars in the sky at those times.  It's brilliant and I hope they don't go back on this decision.

Better get on with next week's planning, I suppose.  It needs doing and now's a very good time to do it!

Thursday

I was right - the mist cleared to give us another wonderfully warm and sunny day, albeit with a chillier evening.  The children came in happy and left happy. So did I!  It'll break soon enough (the weather, not the happy), but for now I'm living in the present and enjoying it all.

Two days back at school and I'm back to early bed and early rise again. It does give me an opportunity to get my work sorted in an un-tired frame of mind in the early morning and it suits me down to the ground but it was nice to go to bed a bit later and wake up a bit later in the holiday.  It all seems a long time ago now.

Yesterday I had a full day, more or less, with my new class and we're getting there.  I did have an hour out for my performance management meeting with the head but that went OK and my new targets suit me and are manageable.   I'm not leading PM for my team this year as it's a new system (yet again) and S and N want to get their collective SM head around it all, understandably.  That's one thing off my workload anyway!

Eddie came round last night and whisked off my computer, muttering things about the motherboard, whatever that may be.  He didn't seem too concerned and I won't have lost anything anyway, seeing as everything is backed up to an external hard drive each morning.  He confirmed that I can connect this hard drive thingy to my laptop and access what's on there which is a big relief as last year's planning is all there and I need it!

Today is another full day with my class.  This new timetable is so much better for me and I'm thankful for it.  So it's Word Workshop, literacy, maths, PE, theme and some singing. A nice day.

I hope yours is too.

An almost 180% panorama at Streele Farm.  (I need to take some more photos!)

Wednesday

Well, wasn't it another lovely day yesterday?  Sunny, warm/verging on hot, just gorgeous.   This morning is cool and misty at the moment which probably means another lovely day later on.

 It was also a lovely day at school.  Children were a bit noisy but then they are little and littlies make noise.  I think we will get along just fine!

It's going to feel very odd later.  Since I don't know how long, year 1 PPA has been on Wednesday morning.  Suddenly, this year, it is Tuesday afternoon.  It is going to take some getting used to, I have to say, being in my class on a Wednesday morning.  But it is so much better.  I now take two out of three PE lessons.  I take my class for nearly all literacy and maths.  There's a pay back in that some foundation subjects won't be taken by me but all in all I am really pleased with the way it is all working out.

I am also pleased that I am being given some fresh challenges this year.  It's all too easy at my age and in my position to sit back and feel you've got it made.  You've never got it made in teaching and it's nice to be feeling that one is moving on (or being moved on) in a pleasant way rather than being forced into something one knows one has no aptitude for.

So, all in all, life is good.  Very good indeed.  I have a fantastic team working with me this year.  No teacher could ask for better.  Again, I am very fortunate.

On the home front, I continue to pick more tomatoes than I can eat and can see another cooking session coming on.  The mini hundreds and thousands are really coming into their own now.  I've already picked and eaten hundreds of the sweet beauties and there's many, many more to ripen.  The runners continue to provide green deliciousness.  The carrots are coming on too - I will be pulling some thinnings soon.  The radishes are over now but my word, they were good while they lasted.  And the chillies just keep on coming.

(I wish they would ripen though)

Life is good!

Tuesday

Finally it has arrived.  The first complete day of the new school year.  In three hours time my bay will be buzzing with little children, hopefully happy to be back at school and in Y1.
Everything is ready.   The bay is tidy.  The planning is complete.  The new registers are on the table, waiting for the first red lines that say 'present'.  I wonder how many dinners will be recorded wrongly in the dinner register as the children struggle to remember if they are school dinners or packed dinners.
Slightly ironically, I am in with my class until playtime.  Then it is coordinator time.  Then PPA in the afternoon.  Happily, my cover teacher had them last year and they know her well so it shouldn't cause too many emotional hiccups.

Yesterday was busy, busy, busy.  Another meeting, fire fighting training, staff meeting and in the bay after lunch.  But we're ready.

I popped out this morning to water the garden (I forgot yesterday evening) and pick the tomatoes only to find that one of the two redlove apples had fallen off.  Darn it.  It was too small to be ripe but I cut it in quarters, dug out some manky bits and tasted.  Yup, sour and dry but with promise of tasting really lovely.  Fingers crossed for the other one and even more for next year.
In looks it delivered though.  See the photos.

Monday

. . . and here we are, at the start of a new school year.  I'm always very nervous at this point, unsure as to how it will go, whether we will all get on together, will they learn what the need to learn . . . and so on.  The old tum is churning a bit but it's only nerves.

The tortilla I made yesterday was really delicious and I don't know why I don't make it more often.  There's two portions left which will be perfect for lunch today and tomorrow.  Today is the start of store-cupboard fortnight and all is planned and ready.

The planning is printed out, I've done the afternoon play timetable, all is ready.  Goodbye holiday!

We had an absolutely beautiful sunset yesterday and I managed to grab a few photos.  .

Sunday

Half past five, more or less, and it's still dark.  No idea what the weather is like but the forecast is good.  I opened the french window to air the house as I have done all summer and hurriedly closed it again - just a bit nippy and I have no desire to start the heating going.

As always, very boringly, yesterday was lovely.  Great weather, not too hot, lovely sunshine, loadsa ripe tomatoes, October's Good Food magazine in Morrison's so, of course, I bought it (I love that mag, it's a great read), and then out to dinner in the evening.  Perfect.

I read that one can boil eggs in a halogen oven so I had a go but never again.  The timing is too inaccurate.  I'll stick to Thermione where it always works perfectly.  It wasn't a wasted egg but she does it better.
I had half a lump of pasta left over from the previous day so I made another batch and used it to make six single portions of lasagne for the freezer in foil dishes.  There was still some pasta left so I cut it into long strips, tagliatelle style, and must remember to use it up in the next  few days.

Today - very last day of the summer break - has the usual Sunday visit from Beth and Alex and I am doing a vegetable tortilla with salad for me and Beth and Alex can have a pork burger with his salad.  It is now store-cupboard fortnight so, of course, we will eat like kings (and queens).

Tomorrow normality returns!  Ho hum!