I love a good firework display and I have just come across the BBC recording of the 2009 New Year's display in London. Thanks Mats.
It really is good and the London Eye lends itself so well to something like this. I also like the way the lights reflect off the Thames. If you haven't seen it yet I hope you enjoy the show.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Friday, 2 January 2009
Family
Although I am very close with my daughters and am becoming closer with my son-in-law, my siblings have never been really close.
I remember I was close to my brother, when we were very small, and I loved my youngest sister, Caroline very much when she came along.
When I was a child I had jealousy problems with my other sister, Elizabeth, who was vivacious and pretty unlike my plain and sullen little self. During therapy as an adult, I found out that my whole childhood from age three had been one long sulk because she had been born when I was three years old and had 'put my nose out of joint'. I remember laughing when I was eleven and thinking 'So this is what laughing is!' My mother used to often tell me to stop sulking and I would always reply 'I'm not sulking. This is just the way my mouth goes.'
I left home when Caroline was eleven and at the time I did not like my parents and was very happy to leave. This did mean that I never really got to know Caroline as a teenager and young adult. This is a regret of mine.
As adults we have all gone our separate ways, even to different countries and we tended to hear about each other's doings via our mother. This year has been a change.
I just started to write about my younger sister Caroline and realise that I had already written a post about her so check it out if you missed it.
Well the update is she never did contact Mum even though I gave her all the information, even for Christmas. Of course I told Mum all about the conversation we had, thinking that Caroline would be contacting her soon. Mum is getting very forgetful these days and I often have the same conversation with her several times because she had forgotten about the other conversations on that subject. Well, we were talking about Caroline, and Mum said again that Caroline obviously gets her needs met by her mother-in-law and I said again that she does not contact her mother-in-law either, but feels content with her daughter and husband. In the past I have sent several long emails that have not even been acknowledged, and continued to send cards throughout the rift within the family but I must confess that I didn't send a Christmas card this year. It wasn't a conscious decision but I have got so used to not knowing where she was, that she is not on my list.
My other sister is in the USA and sent one of those printed book/photo albums to Mum and a Christmas present. Mum was very impressed. It was a lovely book. The story of the Axe family in pictures. I must say I was a little hurt by the fact that, although there are pictures of Mike's family, there was not a picture of my family in there even though we visited several times before they left for America. But I know that when they went they traveled light and only took a small selection of photos with them. Of course there is a possibility that they don't have the photos that I have of the two families.
Since she left in 1990 we have had two phone conversations, both of which have been very pleasant, long and chatty. So there is no animosity there, we just don't seem to feel the need to communicate with each other. When I lived in North Carolina I went to Seattle to a conference and suggested that as she was living in the same state, we get together for a chat. Unfortunately she had another commitment at the same time and so we could not meet.
My brother is the only sibling that lives in England and he has never lived abroad. In the past we have seen each other about every 2 or 3 years but this year we have seen each other a few times, emailed and phoned too. We have had some wonderful conversations and I have really appreciated getting closer to him. He has also been very generous, which has given me a lovely warm feeling.
The cousins have recently got in contact with each other via facebook. There is not much communication there, I think, but there is some connection.
The lack of communication between members of my family does not mean that I do not think of them. On the contrary, they are in my daily prayers.
I remember I was close to my brother, when we were very small, and I loved my youngest sister, Caroline very much when she came along.
When I was a child I had jealousy problems with my other sister, Elizabeth, who was vivacious and pretty unlike my plain and sullen little self. During therapy as an adult, I found out that my whole childhood from age three had been one long sulk because she had been born when I was three years old and had 'put my nose out of joint'. I remember laughing when I was eleven and thinking 'So this is what laughing is!' My mother used to often tell me to stop sulking and I would always reply 'I'm not sulking. This is just the way my mouth goes.'
I left home when Caroline was eleven and at the time I did not like my parents and was very happy to leave. This did mean that I never really got to know Caroline as a teenager and young adult. This is a regret of mine.
As adults we have all gone our separate ways, even to different countries and we tended to hear about each other's doings via our mother. This year has been a change.
I just started to write about my younger sister Caroline and realise that I had already written a post about her so check it out if you missed it.
Well the update is she never did contact Mum even though I gave her all the information, even for Christmas. Of course I told Mum all about the conversation we had, thinking that Caroline would be contacting her soon. Mum is getting very forgetful these days and I often have the same conversation with her several times because she had forgotten about the other conversations on that subject. Well, we were talking about Caroline, and Mum said again that Caroline obviously gets her needs met by her mother-in-law and I said again that she does not contact her mother-in-law either, but feels content with her daughter and husband. In the past I have sent several long emails that have not even been acknowledged, and continued to send cards throughout the rift within the family but I must confess that I didn't send a Christmas card this year. It wasn't a conscious decision but I have got so used to not knowing where she was, that she is not on my list.
My other sister is in the USA and sent one of those printed book/photo albums to Mum and a Christmas present. Mum was very impressed. It was a lovely book. The story of the Axe family in pictures. I must say I was a little hurt by the fact that, although there are pictures of Mike's family, there was not a picture of my family in there even though we visited several times before they left for America. But I know that when they went they traveled light and only took a small selection of photos with them. Of course there is a possibility that they don't have the photos that I have of the two families.
Since she left in 1990 we have had two phone conversations, both of which have been very pleasant, long and chatty. So there is no animosity there, we just don't seem to feel the need to communicate with each other. When I lived in North Carolina I went to Seattle to a conference and suggested that as she was living in the same state, we get together for a chat. Unfortunately she had another commitment at the same time and so we could not meet.
My brother is the only sibling that lives in England and he has never lived abroad. In the past we have seen each other about every 2 or 3 years but this year we have seen each other a few times, emailed and phoned too. We have had some wonderful conversations and I have really appreciated getting closer to him. He has also been very generous, which has given me a lovely warm feeling.
The cousins have recently got in contact with each other via facebook. There is not much communication there, I think, but there is some connection.
The lack of communication between members of my family does not mean that I do not think of them. On the contrary, they are in my daily prayers.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
2008 A personal journey
So what happened in my life this last year?
I lived with my daughters - Claire all year, and Helen for part of it. Helen and Orion had many visa challenges so spent their first year of marriage mainly living in different countries. They are at present living together in Helena, Montana. We moved from a crowded furnished two bedroomed flat with a lovely view overlooking a green park to a large unfurnished 4 bedroomed house with a large garden and orchard. We picked lots of apples and sold them to the local organic co-op 'cos we don't eat apples. We did eat a few though, and they were delicious.
The garden has a lovely long washing line! I can get three washing machine loads on it. I furnished the house from furniture other people were throwing out, thus saving landfill space. I managed this courtesy of Freecycle. (Google it to see if you have one near you.) The furniture looks good and we even got some matching curtains to exactly fit two different sized windows in the lounge and they match the settees and large rug we got too. Actually the rug came for a yard sale. Most of our lamps came via the local car boot sale too.
I don't have a car at the moment so all the stuff was transported using a guy from the local LETS group. LETS is short for Local Trading Exchange Scheme. I pay him petrol money and give him 'readies' for his time. Readies is what the exchange currency is called in Reading where I live. This guy has also done several odd jobs around the house. I have done various things in order to earn 'readies' to pay him. These include several gardening jobs, helping someone move house, looking after a child, EFT with a person and a dog, and cutting someone's hair.
The rent is large, although much smaller that you would expect for the size of house, because the whole house needed decorating. I've done most of the rooms and we have tenants renting 2 of the bedrooms to help pay our rent. It took me a few months to come around to the idea of sharing my house with strangers but it has not been as bad as I had feared. Ideally I would not have tenants but it does help us live here. They are quiet and keep to their rooms mostly.
I changed jobs this year from a large school in a very deprived area with really difficult-to-teach children, to a school that has a private-school-feel to it. It is a small catholic school in a middle class area. The children are wonderful. There is only one difficult boy in the whole school and he is fine whenever i have him! They are mostly intelligent and keen to learn. I work 3 days a week there teaching all the classes whilst the teachers have planning time. There are 2 challenges to working at this school. It is too far away to cycle comfortably for me. Each journey is 50 minutes and there are several hills. The bus journey takes the same time but it is not quite as tiring. (I have to get two buses.) The other challenge is that I have to plan and do evaluations on all the lessons I take. Planning takes longer than teaching the lesson and I'm doing all the classes/age groups and don't know the children as well and the class teacher so I'm up 'til midnight 3 days a week. I don't get planning time either! The other 2 days I usually teach in a variety of schools and do not have to plan for those.
I really enjoyed volunteering at the conference in Montana this summer. I helped in the Conference Program Assistant office. I especially enjoyed finding a problem, working out a solution and following through to see it sorted. I also worked in the information booth where I did similar work. It was the 50th Anniversary so there was a celebration gala which was wonderful. The house I rented in Gardiner and subsequently rented bed space for nearly 30 European participants was mostly a success but I ended up out of pocket because a few people stayed an extra day due to a misunderstanding and as I was charged for that day.
At the moment I tutor children everyday after school either at their house or mine. I enjoy this. I have one 4 year old who is learning to speak English so we just play and sing songs twice a week. The other children have more sedate lessons and are more restful.
This year I have been doing quite a bit of EFT on myself and with others and even had some paying clients.
I am looking forward to see what 2009 has in store for me. I feel a change coming. I would certainly like to leave conventional school teaching and get involved in autonomous learning. I would love to home-school using this method. A big challenge, though, is that I don't have any children of my own do do it with. :-) So does anyone know of any children who would benefit from me facilitating their learning in the autonomous style?
I lived with my daughters - Claire all year, and Helen for part of it. Helen and Orion had many visa challenges so spent their first year of marriage mainly living in different countries. They are at present living together in Helena, Montana. We moved from a crowded furnished two bedroomed flat with a lovely view overlooking a green park to a large unfurnished 4 bedroomed house with a large garden and orchard. We picked lots of apples and sold them to the local organic co-op 'cos we don't eat apples. We did eat a few though, and they were delicious.
The garden has a lovely long washing line! I can get three washing machine loads on it. I furnished the house from furniture other people were throwing out, thus saving landfill space. I managed this courtesy of Freecycle. (Google it to see if you have one near you.) The furniture looks good and we even got some matching curtains to exactly fit two different sized windows in the lounge and they match the settees and large rug we got too. Actually the rug came for a yard sale. Most of our lamps came via the local car boot sale too.
I don't have a car at the moment so all the stuff was transported using a guy from the local LETS group. LETS is short for Local Trading Exchange Scheme. I pay him petrol money and give him 'readies' for his time. Readies is what the exchange currency is called in Reading where I live. This guy has also done several odd jobs around the house. I have done various things in order to earn 'readies' to pay him. These include several gardening jobs, helping someone move house, looking after a child, EFT with a person and a dog, and cutting someone's hair.
The rent is large, although much smaller that you would expect for the size of house, because the whole house needed decorating. I've done most of the rooms and we have tenants renting 2 of the bedrooms to help pay our rent. It took me a few months to come around to the idea of sharing my house with strangers but it has not been as bad as I had feared. Ideally I would not have tenants but it does help us live here. They are quiet and keep to their rooms mostly.
I changed jobs this year from a large school in a very deprived area with really difficult-to-teach children, to a school that has a private-school-feel to it. It is a small catholic school in a middle class area. The children are wonderful. There is only one difficult boy in the whole school and he is fine whenever i have him! They are mostly intelligent and keen to learn. I work 3 days a week there teaching all the classes whilst the teachers have planning time. There are 2 challenges to working at this school. It is too far away to cycle comfortably for me. Each journey is 50 minutes and there are several hills. The bus journey takes the same time but it is not quite as tiring. (I have to get two buses.) The other challenge is that I have to plan and do evaluations on all the lessons I take. Planning takes longer than teaching the lesson and I'm doing all the classes/age groups and don't know the children as well and the class teacher so I'm up 'til midnight 3 days a week. I don't get planning time either! The other 2 days I usually teach in a variety of schools and do not have to plan for those.
I really enjoyed volunteering at the conference in Montana this summer. I helped in the Conference Program Assistant office. I especially enjoyed finding a problem, working out a solution and following through to see it sorted. I also worked in the information booth where I did similar work. It was the 50th Anniversary so there was a celebration gala which was wonderful. The house I rented in Gardiner and subsequently rented bed space for nearly 30 European participants was mostly a success but I ended up out of pocket because a few people stayed an extra day due to a misunderstanding and as I was charged for that day.
At the moment I tutor children everyday after school either at their house or mine. I enjoy this. I have one 4 year old who is learning to speak English so we just play and sing songs twice a week. The other children have more sedate lessons and are more restful.
This year I have been doing quite a bit of EFT on myself and with others and even had some paying clients.
I am looking forward to see what 2009 has in store for me. I feel a change coming. I would certainly like to leave conventional school teaching and get involved in autonomous learning. I would love to home-school using this method. A big challenge, though, is that I don't have any children of my own do do it with. :-) So does anyone know of any children who would benefit from me facilitating their learning in the autonomous style?
Friday, 19 December 2008
What can I do about the economy?
Anyone who is alive in the developed world will know that there is a problem with the world economies at the moment. Most people feel powerless about what is happening here.
There are however certain things we can do to help the world at this time.
One good thing to do is to refuse to tap into the mass consciousness of fear. But how do we do that? Mantras are a good way to change our consciousness.
Here is a good mantra along with an interesting visualization.
The mantra calls on the name of God - I AM THAT I AM. This name was given to us when Moses saw the burning bush that was not consumed by the fire. He asked who shall I say sent me?
God replied "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh." Exodus 3.14. The English translation of the Hebrew used is I AM THAT I AM.
So when we say "I AM...." we are really saying 'God in me is....."
This mantra also refers to the US economy. Of course you may wish to substitute the name of your country in that phrase or you may wish to say it as it is. In my opinion the US economy is so important to the world economy that it is wise to pray for it to be upheld.
There are however certain things we can do to help the world at this time.
One good thing to do is to refuse to tap into the mass consciousness of fear. But how do we do that? Mantras are a good way to change our consciousness.
Here is a good mantra along with an interesting visualization.
The mantra calls on the name of God - I AM THAT I AM. This name was given to us when Moses saw the burning bush that was not consumed by the fire. He asked who shall I say sent me?
God replied "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh." Exodus 3.14. The English translation of the Hebrew used is I AM THAT I AM.
So when we say "I AM...." we are really saying 'God in me is....."
This mantra also refers to the US economy. Of course you may wish to substitute the name of your country in that phrase or you may wish to say it as it is. In my opinion the US economy is so important to the world economy that it is wise to pray for it to be upheld.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
The Little School
I came across this video at homeschooling ideas.com
It is about a School in Denmark where the children learn autonomously. It looks like it was filmed in the 1970s. It is black and white and crackly but well worth spending 35 minutes to watch it.
It is about a School in Denmark where the children learn autonomously. It looks like it was filmed in the 1970s. It is black and white and crackly but well worth spending 35 minutes to watch it.
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Do schools kill creativity?
This guy talks so much sense and he does it so entertainingly too! One of the stories he tells is of a successful and famous dancer/choreographer who couldn't sit still at school. Fortunately someone realised that she didn't have a learning disability but was in fact a dancer. She had to move to think. As he says, it is a good job she wasn't given medication and told to calm down!
Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
Monday, 8 December 2008
Validation
Here is an interesting film about the power of validation.
I'm sorry that the music is jazz, but it is worth watching nevertheless.
I'm sorry that the music is jazz, but it is worth watching nevertheless.
Friday, 5 December 2008
Sebastian
We have a small black cat called Sebastian. I must admit that I often refer to him as 'her'. This is probably because he is small and thin like a female. He is under two years old so I hope as he gets older he will fill out.
He was meowing at the back door this morning and so I picked him up for a cuddle before I put him outside. He immediately turned around and came back in the door. It is cold outside so I was not surprised he didn't want to go out. I picked him up again and he enjoyed another cuddle. (Apart from the rubbing around the legs when he is hungry this is the only contact he likes as he never comes on laps. When he is curled up he will bite a person who strokes him more than twice.)
When he wanted to go down I left him and he sat at the door meowing again. This time I opened the door and let him go out on his own. He sniffed the cold air and backed away from the door.
I picked him up and told him I could not change the weather, and if he wanted to go out he would have to brave the cold. The next time he meowed at the door, a few minutes later, I gently nudged him out with my foot. He hesitated then walked away.
About 5-10 minutes later I saw him being chased by another cat in the garden and a silent fight ensued. It was not vicious so I did not intervene.
I wonder now, that it may not have been the cold that caused him to not want to go out. If the other cat was already in the vicinity he would have smelled him.
Before Sebastian came to live with us there were several cats to be seen wandering about our garden so they probably think that Sebastian is intruding on their patch.
I did intervene once in a fight in the summer because it was vicious and noisy. I went out and shooed the other cat away but I'm not sure that was the correct thing to do for Sebastian's sake. Maybe he needs to establish his ownership of the space.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
The Fire Dance
Well, I couldn't show the videos of fire to the class (of 5-6 year olds) because not only was You Tube site blocked (as I suspected) but the blogger site was also blocked. There was no provision for teacher override so I checked on the BBC (which is not blocked) and found none there. We just had to talk about it, which was very unsatisfactory for the 2 children who are just learning English. I didn't even have a still picture of a fire because the picture searches are blocked too. And by the time I had found all this out it was time for the lesson.
However, these two unfortunate boys aside, the lesson went really well. All the children had had some experience of a fire. There was a lively discussion giving descriptions of fire and one girl said the flame of a candle acted totally differently to the flames in a bonfire.
We went to the hall and they showed me how their bodies could interpret flames. The children suggested that sparks and smoke acted differently to flames so we interpreted them too.
When they had all practiced their interpretations, I called out different groups for the rest to observe. One girl asked if they could comment on the children's performance that they thought good! So they did and came up with great comments.
They then modified their interpretations and that was the end of the first lesson. This was without any music.
At the beginning of the next week's lesson we listened to the music, Trisch Trasch Polka by Strauss ( 2.45 minutes) and freely interpreted the 3 elements of the fire - flames, sparks and smoke.
More watching groups and commenting on good interpretations.
They then talked about shaping the dance. Lots of good suggestions were incorporated into a beginning of an unlit bonfire, gradually catching fire, then sparks flying off around the room, then smoke, then the flames dying down.
It is wonderful to work with a class with good imagination and good communication skills. My planning for this series of lessons was minimal because I wanted the children to shape it. This has paid off and they have exceeded my expectations.
The next lesson will be refining the shaping, giving people 'roles' and talking about costumes.
However, these two unfortunate boys aside, the lesson went really well. All the children had had some experience of a fire. There was a lively discussion giving descriptions of fire and one girl said the flame of a candle acted totally differently to the flames in a bonfire.
We went to the hall and they showed me how their bodies could interpret flames. The children suggested that sparks and smoke acted differently to flames so we interpreted them too.
When they had all practiced their interpretations, I called out different groups for the rest to observe. One girl asked if they could comment on the children's performance that they thought good! So they did and came up with great comments.
They then modified their interpretations and that was the end of the first lesson. This was without any music.
At the beginning of the next week's lesson we listened to the music, Trisch Trasch Polka by Strauss ( 2.45 minutes) and freely interpreted the 3 elements of the fire - flames, sparks and smoke.
More watching groups and commenting on good interpretations.
They then talked about shaping the dance. Lots of good suggestions were incorporated into a beginning of an unlit bonfire, gradually catching fire, then sparks flying off around the room, then smoke, then the flames dying down.
It is wonderful to work with a class with good imagination and good communication skills. My planning for this series of lessons was minimal because I wanted the children to shape it. This has paid off and they have exceeded my expectations.
The next lesson will be refining the shaping, giving people 'roles' and talking about costumes.
My plan is to peform this at an assembly.
Monday, 3 November 2008
The Fireplace
I just love real fires and was so pleased to find a few on you Tube.
Actually the real reason why I am posting a fire on here is because I am doing PE with a Year 1/2 class on Tuesday and we are doing Dance this term. The teacher is doing the theme of fire all term and wants the children to do a fire dance.
I wanted to show the children a real fire in case they have never seen one. So this is the introduction to the lesson. The You Tube site may be blocked for classroom use and hopefully this blog site will be OK.
I have nearly decided to use the music Trisch Trasch Polka by Strauss as it is so lively and short. but we will not be using the music this week. Just introducing the movements and getting ideas from the children.
It is a shame that the one I liked best had the embedding information disabled. So this is the second best one.
Actually the real reason why I am posting a fire on here is because I am doing PE with a Year 1/2 class on Tuesday and we are doing Dance this term. The teacher is doing the theme of fire all term and wants the children to do a fire dance.
I wanted to show the children a real fire in case they have never seen one. So this is the introduction to the lesson. The You Tube site may be blocked for classroom use and hopefully this blog site will be OK.
I have nearly decided to use the music Trisch Trasch Polka by Strauss as it is so lively and short. but we will not be using the music this week. Just introducing the movements and getting ideas from the children.
It is a shame that the one I liked best had the embedding information disabled. So this is the second best one.
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