The return of the Madrass Check Rainbow dress!

Hello!

Hope you are well! 

I've had a manic two weeks. Reports, Rehearsals, concerts, Cycle ride supporting and among that, attempting to feed CBC and I and attempt to be a regular human!

Tonight, I finished my reports! Hurrah! I can't believe we only have about 3 weeks left of school! It's gone so quickly and been so crazy.

Happy to have been asked to play flute for a concert of Mahler 5 with Orchestra of the City.  It's fun to add another of the London amateur orchestras to my metal list of the ones I have played with.  I should keep an actual list

School has been another disrupted week what with Eid (takes several days out), Year 6 transitions and then next week, 2 day of teacher strikes. Never have I been so behind with all my plans.

Someone stole my lunch from the fridge today at school! We had had a Year 6 breakfast last week and there were TONS of cheese rolls (like sausage rolls) left. I rescued some last week and put them in the fridge and then put the rest in the freezer. Defrosted 3 last night. They were in the fridge in my own personal glass dish.  They were there at 8.05am when I went into the staff room). By 12.30, they had vanished and my glass dish was in the dishwasher, clean. Bizarre and very irritating!

Cooked a very weird combination of food tonight for CBC and I. He was very sceptical but declared, "I'm really enjoying this! It's a surprisingly good combination. I really thought it wouldn't work!"

It was 'Macaroni cheese pasta bake (posh Lidl ready meal in foil), home grown kale, Roasted turnips, onion scapes and aubergines!

You should know that I have cracked out the rainbow dress again. It is one of my favourite ever charity shop purchases and I wore it in a new combination.

Blue butterfly jewellery.

Mini Primark cardigan

The rainbow dress worn backwards

Charity-shopped Rieker white lattice shoes.

I always know Summer has properly arrived when the dress makes its debut!

I do love Summer- I LOVE my Summer wardrobe!

Hope you are well!

xxx

Funny children!

 I was doing a batch of marking last week and spied several hilarious things children had written which I thought I'd  share.

I wondered why there was a semi-circle  shape at the bottom of his sheet. Then I read the caption and realised it was a germ quarantine zone!😁

For the 2nd child, you need to refer to 'Name a sad fact about their life or music'. 

For reference, the two composers were J.S.Bach and Bela Bartok. The answer for Bach is spot on but the answer for Bartok....

I am perplexed as to where they got that answer from because there was nothing in the text to suggest this!

The children were asked to choose whose music they liked the best- Bach or Bartok and I explained they needed to give logical and musical reasons for their choice. Well, the reasons were not quite what I was expecting but very amusing!

There was a spot for the above child to write their name. I wasn't aware I had been teaching a deity!!! When I found out whose work this was, it was not a child I expected!

There is a little girl who has Autism who has been excelling at music this year. Although doodling on work is not encouraged, I did laugh at her portrait of her teacher.  My one, at the top, was a little more flattering!

They did make me laugh!

Xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Sarah Jane Smith from The Hand of Fear

This week, for TARDIS Tuesday, I am going with a Classic Who look again and it's the FIRST time for this outfit!  It comes from iconic companion, Sarah Jane Smith from her final Classic Who episode- The Hand of Fear.  Let's look at the inspiration:

Images borrowed from:
https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/sarah-jane-smith-the-hand-of-fear/

Elisabeth Sladen wore:

Red and white striped dungarees with side ties, red piping and 3 stars.

Red long-sleeved top

Red sneakers with white shoe laces

Red and white striped socks.

Before I go onto my outfit, I read this article with explains why this outfit was adopted! Did YOU know about the vicious, biting ladybirds???

Sarah Jane's iconic "Andy Pandy" dungarees in "The Hand of Fear" — a style of dress adopted by women in Summer 1976 as a result of a freak heatwave and an invasion of vicious, biting ladybirds, requiring breezy but full-body coverage (really. In particular, note the drawstrings around Sarah's ankles, keeping the trouser legs sealed from insects that would have been able to get up bell-bottoms). The heat, the ladybirds and the fashion trend were all swept away by a sudden downpour of rain that swamped Britain just as the first episode of "The Masque of Mandragora", the story immediately preceding "The Hand of Fear", was being broadcast on television.

 

Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FashionDissonance  

And here is my version:

Firstly, I have the wonderful Ang Almond to thank for this outfit, as mentioned in my previous post.  She, her imagination, adaptability and sewing skills plus her wonderful, whizzy embroidery machine, are responsible for this outfit.  She talks about how she adapted these in her post at the link above- do show your appreciation by visiting her post!

I found a red and white striped lightweight jumpsuit on Vinted. It was originally £3 when I looked but by the time I'd gone to buy it, it had been reduced twice to £2 plus £2.89 postage.  It originally had wide legs, no piping and skinny tie-top straps.  Ang repositioned the shoulder ties to the sides and used some incredibly well-matching binding to make new straps with buckles.  She then added the piping and used her whizzy embroidery machine to make the stars and then hand-sewed them on as well as adding elastic to the ankles. I am truly astounded by how amazing they are!  She also sent me detailed instructions via Whatsapp of how to adjust the straps as I wasn't sure how!

I realised that I don't have a long-sleeved, red cotton top to wear underneath it but what I DID have was a red jumper I first used for a Yaz Khan outfit that I could wear underneath.  Love a bit of a cosplay reuse!  In terms of the shoes and stripy socks, again, I realised that I could use a couple of Clara items.  I had a pair of high-top cut out trainers from New Look that I used for her Oswin outfit and the socks that go with those.  They're not super accurate but I am not bothered!

I decided to try and make an alternative, Summer-version from what I had too so I wore a red Clement Ribiero pointelle sweater instead which also works!

Had a go at recreating the picture above.

Oooh, I almost forgot, in the duo picture, I am holding a labradorite pendant in place of Eldrad's ring which is part of the plot in the story. "Eldrad must live!"

I am really so excited to have these dungarees. I didn't think this would be an outfit I'd ever be able to recreate and these will be perfect to wear at my Music Camp too- practical for camp yet chic and light! Last Summer, in tribute to the organiser of music camp, who died last year, loads of people wore dungarees for a photo. Loads of people own them but were asked to bring some to wear, if they had any, as he always used to wear dungarees around camp! Green or claret ones usually!

I hope all is well with you!

Are you a fan of dungarees? Do you own any? Have you ever worn any? What are yours like?

This is my 2nd pair as I bought lilac linen ones last Summer but apart from that, I haven't worn them since I was about 6. I had a pink corduroy pair and I got told off in Infant assembly at school for an honest mistake, so I've associated dungarees for most of my life, with getting told off!

x

16 Happy Things

It's been a while since I did one of the posts where I list things that have made me happy. There have been numerous things in the last week or so and I thought it would be nice to list them! 

1.  The Genius of Ang Almond:  I count myself as so lucky to have so many friends through this blog community we have here. I value each and everyone of you.  Ang is someone I am lucky enough to be in touch with outside of the blog and she has been so generous over the years to be an enthusiastic help in some of my cosplay adventures.  In the past, I have sent her cosplay projects which she has done a marvellous job of.  However, I sent her a couple of cosplay projects based Classic who characters which she absolutely surpassed all expectations with her sheer genius and dedication!  The parcel arrived back last week and I am astounded, humbled and grateful for her efforts.  Look forward to seeing this, and another project at some point soon!

2.  Wordle.  Since last Summer when CBC's family went on holiday to the South of France, I have been in a Wordle Whatsapp group with his siblings and mum (he's not in it!). I LOVE the daily interactions with them over it and over friendly, but definite competitiveness over it.  We had the most hilarious interaction last week over the word ENNUI which was the word on 5th June.

Here follows the conversation in the chat.

J1 and I had completed it in 3 guesses.  T had completed it in 4. J2 had not completed it at all.

T:The word I convinced myself it must be turned out to not even be a valid word

J1: Well, when I got 4 different yellow in the first two guesses, I just went for a wild stab at the maddet word it could have been.  They seem to swing from tricky niche words to really easy ones, but with multiple different possibilities....

T: This one seemed like a tricky niche word but it turned out to be very boring.

J: [Laughing face emoji]

J2: I'm stuck.  can't think of any boring words (or tricky niche words) that fit.

T: Maybe it's both [head exploding emoji]

Me: Yawn! You lot need to find something better to do with your time.

T: Oh Kezzie, you sound weary and dissatisfied!

Me: Whatever PEASANT!!!

J1: Why don't people sort out their boredom by just brushing up their French? Just to fill in the time!

T:  Or play some games to allevaite the boredom? Perhaps on Wii?

Me: yes, my preferred games console [Grinning and laughing emojis]  J2 hates us right now, if she could summon up the effort to feel that intense an emotion.

J2: [Intense Crying emoji]

Me: Fun fact: I know a song that includes this word! [Grinning face]

Soon after

J2: ENNUI!!!! [aghast emoji and WHAT? emoji] I've never heard of that b*** word!

J1: Clues: French: boredom: On Wii.  (very clever T)

J2: I wouldn't even know how it is pronounced!!! [Angry and crying emojis]

J1: Brush up your French!

J2: My French never advanced beyond 'le chat est sur la table'

J1: You're a disgrace to your clan!

J2: Or 'ou est la piscine'?

T: CLUESSS? In here????!

T: [Insert Carry on meme saying 'I'M SHOCKED! SHOCKED I TELL YOU!"

J2: Stupid b**** word.  Looking forward to it going back to TABLE!

J1:  Ah, but then you get the other sort-sometimes more trouble... table, fable, sable, cable, label.  FAIL!

Me: Where are your squares J?

J2: I didn't post them because I couldn't think of a valid answer so I cheated and googled it.

Me: I knew Ennui as it is in a song in one of my favourite childhood movies, The Slipper and the Rose!

J2: It wasn't in the Argos catalogue. [Sad face]

The whole thing was utterly hilarious!!!!

3.  Happy thing no.3 leads from that.... yesterday, I GOT WORDLE IN 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never thought that day would happen! To be fair, glancing at my MiL's squares did help me to make my first choice of word. Never did I expect it to be right though!!!!

4.  I left my waterbottle at my Gamelan rehearsal on Thursday. This is a lovely 750ml stainless steel bottle that I won in an Insta competition a few years ago. I really am fond of it and have taken good care of it. They cost £20 new. I was so sad as I'd left it on the floor in a seating area outside the Gamelan room and it was likely that a) it would just get chucked away or b) someone would pinch it. I realised as I was on the way home so I speculatively emailed the university, guessing a generic email address and enquired if someone was able to look for it and put it in the gamelan room, not really expecting a response  to be positive.  I received the following last night after school:

Hi K,,

Sadly I don’t have a key to access the Gamelan room, but if you look to the left directly below the tap in point you’ll see it tucked away there.

Best wishes,

David

Thank you to whoever David is!!! I will hopefully find it next Thursday!

5.  Gamelan:  Ah, it has been a delight going back to it these past 2 weeks.  We have been learning a new piece called Tabuh Aras Arum (Fragrant Forest) from a wonderful teacher called Pak Dewa who is here with his lovely wife and daughter for a few months.  His style of teaching is really helpful and his pace is great.  It has been super satisfying to learn a new piece. It's not too hard but it is interesting and I was able to to do some 'working out' of the Sangsi part (everyone learns Polos first- this is the ON BEAT part... Sangsi then slots in between this) which was satisfying. It is from an older type of Gamelan called Semar Pegulingan which I LOVE and so has taken me back to my time in Bali when I learnt this.  This week, we revised it (I forgot most of it but then got it!) and then revised a dance piece called Margapati which I THINK I had learnt about 17 years ago but I'm not sure. It was so satisying to revise it and again, I was able to work out the sangsi and remember it!

6.  My Peri cosplay:

This week, I wore this outfit for TARDIS Tuesday and in my Insta post ,I had mentioned the Actress, Nicola Bryant in my post as I had gained the idea of this adaptation of the cosplay from her.  To my utter delight, she came and looked at my post and left me a comment!!!! I couldn't believe it! It was so nice of her!

7.  Last Sunday, I attempted to make a pea hummus from the Anna Jones recipe book.  It uses peas, mint, basil, olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice.  I had 105g of fresh peas (I think frozen are better now) and a small avocado- this made it up to 205g- the recipe called for 300g. I didn't have any Basil but I did have mint. I used all the the other ingredient plus poppy seeds.  Rather than faff with the blender, I tried the stick blender... Anna mentions you can use a handblender...are these the same thing??? It went everywhere so I then attempted to mash it with a potato masher and then a pestle and mortar.  It wasn't really working so in the, I had this pea, avocadoey stodge which I put in a box with a large quantity of grated carrot.  It has been a lovely fresh-tasting ingredient to eat with either bread or left over Naan this week for lunch...even if I have had some funny looks!

8. I cover Teacher PPA in tandem with S, our sports coach.  We've got to know each other better this year.  We are very different and didn't really have so much to do with each other in the past but we've been getting on well this year. He's a complete joker.  Yesterday, he mentioned how hot it was and I said, "You need to have a bucket of water chucked over you!" and he laughed and said, "Yes, maybe I'll turn the hose on later.  Later on, I was filling my temporary 1litre plastic water bottle (a reusable, I hasten to add...) and I remembered out conversation.  I knew he'd be tidying the sports room so I called to him.. he came into the playground towards me and as he came towards me, I lobbed the entire bottle of water at him!  He was stunned for about 2 seconds as I instantly ran away and then I heard him laughing raucously, the entire way I ran across the playground.  Haven't seen him since but I know it will have made him laugh a lot!

9.  In Choir, I have been teaching them, Me ol Bamboo from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for a festival we are taking part in and they practised the routine I've taught them and it's starting to look really good!

10. In drumming club, I have 3  children this term who have a SEND statement (special need) and who usually all have 1:1 TAs.  It's really lovely having them in it and seeing them doing really well. They don't always join my clubs and it's nice that all 3 of them are there and able to do well without any additional support.

11.  It was my Year 1 final Spring lesson this week and it's one of those 'let's choose an instrument' and compose a class piece lessons which can be really chaotic- I've finally cracked how to teach this really well without it being stressful!  Success!

12.  I may be getting actually be getting my music room back in September if the builder complete the work on time and in addition, my Headteacher may be getting me an interactive whiteboard for it!

13.  I've been really enjoying the Kate Shackleton books by Frances Brodie. They've been on my shelves for ages but I am working my way through them. Death of an Avid reader, which I finished last night, is the best book so far!

14. I ordered a limited edition Hungry Caterpillar necklace (inspired by Eric Carle's famous book). It came on Wednesday and I AM IN LOVE!!!!

15. It was my Gamelan friend D's birthday on Wednesday. She paints her nails with Nail art and posts them every few days and she posted that she had painted them with Ladybirds just because she loves them. I was seeing her the next day for Gamelan and I realised that I had a tiny pair of Ladybird studs in my present stash so I thought I'd surprise her with them! When she saw them, she was so excited and surprised! It made made really happy!

16. I  will be seeing my family today for my sister and Dad's birthday!

Is there any particular thing making you happy this week?

TARDIS Tuesday- Peri Brown- The Two Doctors Closet challenge

I've come to realise that the majority of my blog friends and readers are perhaps not so interested in my TARDIS Tuesday posts these days as in general, the comments are so much more plentiful on all my other posts but these! This is a little sad but since I do these for my own enjoyment, it wouldn't stop me from posting them. Sometimes, I see people on Insta complain about engagement on their cosplay posts and say perhaps they wouldn't continue them, which to me, seems a shame, if it something you really enjoy!

Today, I thought I would put together another closet cosplay outfit, e.g. one where you haven't really bought anything specifically for that cosplay but rooted around in your wardrobe to find  garments or accessories which could do a good job.  I like this, as it's a fun way to look at your wardrobe and try things together that you might not have done before.

The inspiration today is another one worn by Classic Who Companion, Peri Brown, as  portrayed by Nicola Bryant in the 80's.  It was worn in multi-doctor episode, The Two Doctors which included Colin Baker AND Patrick Troughton as well as Jamie McCrimmon.

I think they may have filmed in Spain.

What did Peri wear?

Image borrowed from:
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/p/peri.htm

She wore a pastel multicoloured patterned lame cropped top with a matching headband worn along the forehead- very 80's!

She teamed this top with turquoisey-blue high-waisted shorts, worn with a red belt, her curious yellow and red keyring/charm and some turquoise peep-toe shoes.

Now, I confess, that I wouldn't have considered attempting to do my own version of this outfit but for this post which the actress herself posted where she shared someone from a convention who had done their own version of it. Instead of a lame blouse, they wore a rainbow checked shirt, tied up and I suddenly realised, I had something similar and thus suitable which I could use for this outfit!

And when I thought about it, I realised that I had pretty much everything else I needed for the outfit. And this would be a good summer home and gardening outfit!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nicola Bryant (@thenicolabryant)

And, da naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Here it is:

It was fairly easy to convert the shirt. I tucked in the collar so it was hidden and did up 2 of the buttons lower down and tied up and tucked in the rest of the shirt. I rolled up its sleeves too.

Next, I added this pair of vintage high-waisted shorts and added the tiny belt which came from a vintage dress I no longer have. I probably wouldn't wear my blouse tied up like this unless I had high-waisted shorts. I have realised that these are so much more suitable for my shape than modern low-waisted shorts which are too big for my waist if they fit my hips.  

I did contemplate adding a little photo keyring I had but instead, my eyes fell upon this yellow and pink personalised 'pencil' keyring I received as a present from a child at school last year. 

Ha! I thought it would be funny to recreate this photo I found on the internet of Peri expressing her heat-levels. Yet, it was like that this weekend here!

You can just about spy my turquoise pointy Croc shoes above. I didn't think I still had turquoise shoes until I went into the garage and put these on to get something. They are kept in my garage to put on when I go in there to avoid getting dirty-feet! I take these to music camp with my usually.

If you are thinking I forgot the headband, fear not! I suddenly remember this rainbow elastic-headband I bought from Claire's Accessories about 20 years ago!

It's a pity my hair isn't as short as it was but this is close enough for me.

And that's the whole outfit! I am super, super pleased with how I have managed to adapt this into something a bit more wearable than the slightly impractical lame original.

Like Peri's last outfit, 2 weeks ago, I will be wearing this one for work but again, adapted so the shirt is tucked in and the collar and buttons worn a bit more demurely.

How would you have reinterpreted the rainbow lame top if you were putting this outfit together? I'd love to know!

xx

Three Cards

 It's been a while since I either made any cards or posted any pictures of those I have made.

Since next weekend I will be seeing my sister and Dad for their birthdays, I realised I hadn't actually made them cards! I thought I had but I hadn't!

Often, I don't have an idea in mind for a card until I look at some item of material in my crafting supply. 
I had recently bought a new flower crafting punch for £4 in the charity shop. It was a triple punch so it had 3 different flower shapes which it cut which you can either use separately or together. CBC had ripped open a magenta envelope very messily so I decided to salvage as much of it as I could so I punched as many flower as I could out of it and put the remainder in the recycling.

As I went into the dining room, I saw the little pot of pink flowers and decided to use those.

In addition, I also spied a roll of floral washi-tape in a pencil case. I grabbed a frame card from my card stash.

I used washi-tape to cover the frame- happily, it had pink flowers on it.

Next, I grabbed a set of pink flowers and a tool which looks like a thick-nibbed ballpoint pen. When you rub it  in circles all over the flower, on top of a piece of funky foam, the flower starts to curl at the edges and look 3D. I did that with all the layers of the flower and proceeded to do that with all the pink flowers I had. 

I then laid them out inside the frame. Would you believe I had punched the EXACT amount needed to fill the space! I glued the flowers on top of each other using prittstick and then added a little centre using my silver Sharpie pen and glued them down.

I'm rather pleased with it and hope she likes it!

Next, I decided to do the same technique on some orange flowers I'd punched out of the concert tickets which I had snaffled from the recycle bin at CBC's work.  Using the frame taken out from the previous card, I placed the flowers on top of it and decided to add green stems using a fine liner pen. I layered this on top of a gingham card I've had in my stash forever! I have sent this card to an Insta pal who loves florals but has been suffering with her mental health recently. I really hope she likes it!

As with my sister's card, I had no preconceived ideas about what I was going to do for Dad's card but my eye fell on this piece of gold and green patterned packaging I'd saved from a toiletry gift pack from Christmas and cut a panel from it.

I simply then used my alphabet mini craft-punches to spell out the letters plus a few stars using some blue metallic card. I used the corner-rounder punch to round the edges.

It was really fun to make some cards again and I hope to make some more soon!

Totally chazzered!

Lots of us in Blogville love charity shopped clothing. The thrill of finding  something a bit different or a sought-after  item is a great one. And if you  like something  new  but don't  want to contribute to the fast-fashion eco-disaster, a charity-shopped item is a solution! 

I wear charity-shopped items daily  but rarely is an outfit completely from a chazzer!

But today's  outfit is.

I really love all the items involved and all have  already  been worn loads despite nearly  all being  fairly recent  purchases.

The dress is F&F but bought from the Hexham hospice charity shop for  £3. It's  a bit different  to all my other dresses but also works as a tunic. 

The cardigan was purchased  in the same shop and was a £6 Karen  Millen  one I'd  actually looked at on eBay.

The  shoes, £12 for virtually new Timberland suede MaryJane shoes from  HebdonBridge  are my Summer  shoes of choice  particularly  as I have  a black toenail  from the Pennine  Way.

The corduroy trousers were £6 brand new in my local Haven hospice charity shop and were something I've  been wanting for a while. 

The earrings were bought about 20years ago in an Ilford charity shop.

This is one of my favourite outfits in recent times and super comfy! 

Had SUCH a great evening at Gamelan tonight.

We have a guest player with us at the moment, Pak Dewa and his wife Sonja and he taught us to play a new piece tonight. It was SO satisfying to learn a new piece from the beginning and not be playing catch up.

Plus, it comes from a Gamelan type called Semar Pegulingan which is a different type than we usually play and it was SO fun with the best type of funky drumming.  Plus, it was a short piece with repetitive parts and we finished it in one session! I was sitting at the front playing Pemade next to Daria and we really enjoyed learning it.  Plus, in the break, Emily had bought a mega bag of snacks. She used that app called 'Too Good to Go' and had been to a bakery and come out with about 15 fresh bakery donuts. They were utterly delicious and the perfect snack! After the break, we played through a piece called Cender Wasih which I haven't played for about 16 years. It's utterly amazing, the muscle memory to remember that after so long, from memory. I was perfect, but I remembered quite a lot. It was SUCH a joyful rehearsal.

Tomorrow, I am going to my old primary school for the 70th anniversary of the opening of the school! My old headmaster is going to be there and I am TOTALLY EXCITED to see him and go and sity under my favourite childhood tree!

Xx 

 

TARDIS Tuesday- Kate Stewart- The Brigadier's Daughter Closet Cosplay

Hi there,

I'm back for another TARDIS Tuesday entirely drawn from items I already own, i.e. nothing bought especially for a Cosplay outfit. I like doing these as it challenges me to look creatively in my wardrobe to see what can be used in a creative way!

Today, I thought I'd make a visit to Kate (Lethbridge) Stewart, who is the famous Classic Who Brigadier's Daughter who was in charge of UNIT in the eras of the 11th, 12th and 13th Doctors.

I attempted another closet cosplay on her 'Power of the Doctor' look last Autumn.

This outfit features in the Zygon Inversion.

Image borrowed from 
https://www.planocritico.com/critica-doctor-who-9x07-e-8-the-zygon-invasion-the-zygon-inversion/

Image borrowed from:
https://jemma-redgrave.net/2016/02/21/jemma-redgrave-as-kate-stewart-doctor-who-hd-captures-stills/

She wears a sand-coloured trench coat with black buttons.  Underneath she wears a pale blue shirt and navy blue trousers and boots.

She wears a blue and gold pashmina scarf tied around her neck.

Here's my version:

I started with the trench coat. Mine was charity-shopped at least 6 years ago and has been worn for cosplays for the 13th and 7th Doctors.

Next, I added a blue charity-shopped blouse I've had for about 8 years. It's really boring but quite a useful staple I have kept as it works very well with different pin badges or brooches pinned to the lapels.

My navy blue trousers are from Just Female and were bought 2nd hand but new.  My boots are from Clarks men's section.

The scarf was from one of those cheapy shops that you get all over East London

It was fun putting this together but the day I wore it for school, L, the lovely TA who helps me with choir said, "That's a very conservative outfit for you, K. Not what I'd usually expect from you."

I said, "HA, I am secretly cosplaying Kate Stewart from UNIT" to which L repleued- "YES, I can see it!! I might have known".  In case you hadn't guessed, L is a Who fan!

I think if my hair were a leeeetle shorter, this might have been even better.  But never mind, this is good enough for me!

What do you think of this look. Be honest!

xx

A day at the beach

 On Friday, my sister dropped round as my niece has trampolining lessons at my local leisure centre.  She'd been for a 20km run so she came in and we had a cup of tea, then she had a shower. 

After this, she suggested that I join her and my niece at the beach to spend some time with their friend at their beach hut. I demurred at first because I had school work to do.  Not having been well meant I'd had that brain fog and then we went to the Suffolk coast on Thursday.

However, in the time we went to collect K from her trampoline class, I decided that I should go with them. I don't see them all that often and perhaps some WARM sea air (it was freezing in Aldeburgh on Thursday!) might do me some good.

K was delighted I would come along with them too which made it worth it!

We parked at the beach and found that my sister's running friend's beach hut was just one groyne along from mine and K's favourite place to swim.

It was quite breezy and the tide was going out, however, all three of us decided that we had to have a swim, no matter how cold it was.

It definitely wasn't hot but all three of us managed to stay in the water for about 30minutes. We waded and had a little attempt at swimming out, despite it being quite shallow. It was quite refreshing though I didn't want to get too cold because of my cough.

After a while, we came back to the beach and started to dry off with towels. We ate some lunch (I had crackers, cheese, tomatoes, carrots) and then K and I got a little bored.  We went for a wander and then I suggested we have a 5 minute timer to write each other's name on the beach.

K did mine with a brown stone heart and a shell K.

I made hers with oyster shells.

I then suggested that we work on something together.

We began with a heart but then K suggested doing a butterfly instead.

It took us about an hour!  O, the daughter of H, the beach hut owner, came and joined us a quarter of the way in (she's the O in the initials)

More of the running friends turned up and we managed to enlist some minions to collect oyster shells for us.

Oyster shells for the wings, brown stones for the body, black stones for the antennae and pink shells for the bits at the top of the antennae.

We were very proud of our efforts.

After this, K and I went for a wander further down the beach where we had a really fun music improvisation session using stones, shells, the wooden groynes, our feet- alla Stomp.  K seemed to really enjoy it as she kept going with me, making some funky rhythms and apparently, the rest of the beach enjoyed it too!

Eventually, it was time to leave.  We helped pack up the beach hut and then we walked back to the car.

They dropped me home and then drove themselves.

I made myself a much-needed cup of tea and CBC came home around 8.50pm, after a 120mile cycle ride!  I made us dinner of Pie Minster Filo pies with new potatoes and veg and then it was time for bed.

It was a really enjoyable day and I am glad I joined my sister and niece at the beach!

xx

May Flowers

Here are some  flowees that  have been growing in the gRden thus week!