Design

We finally had our Sports Day today after 2 cancellations due to the wet weather. Because a parent complained that we cancelled the last time in the morning (even though the weatherman accurately predicted that it would pour with rain at lunchtime) we held off making a decision until lunchtime. We had light showers and sunshine but we went ahead anyway. We have a mixture of flat races for each class and team activities where each team is made up of children of all ages and the activities graded for the different age groups so everyone has a go until the whistle blows and you move onto the next activity with points being totalled to find out the winning team.  On the way home I always enjoy watching the changing palette of the wildflowers. Right now the Rosebay-willow-herb (fire weed) is blazing in great swathes alongside the roads while many of the other flowers have set seed and are more muted browns and golds. The broken telegraph pole has been repaired and more and more win...

It has been a beautiful day again today. Unfortunately I had to spend a lot of time hunched over the PC first doing my planning and then more work on the reports. I did a quick tally and on each report there are 39 boxes to be individually thought about and filled for each child. That's not counting the precis for each term and the targets for the core subjects. No wonder it is taking so long. This lovely weather will probably be around for the next 3 weeks and then as soon as our summer holiday starts it will revert to miserable grey weather. I may sound obsessed with the weather but last year I kept a record and over the 6 weeks of our summer holiday we had just 4 good days. Peter went rowing early in the morning so we were able to go out later for a walk at Mortehoe. We went along the track to Bull Point before turning and heading back right around Morte Point. This is one of the older benches along the way. I stopped here to get a stone out of my shoe. It didn't feel too ho...

Last night's blogging was interrupted by a power cut, it was only brief but as a precaution the pcs were unplugged for the rest of the evening. Friday was looking good, a whole morning in the staffroom sorting out final inputting onto our on-line pupil tracker followed by a relaxed afternoon in class, handwriting followed by Golden Time. Instead it turned into a frantic nightmare. Half-way through the morning I found out that I had missed out large sections on the tracker so that was more work piling up. Then at 11.30 we were told that our end of year data needed to be on the tracker NOW. Got that done before rushing into town at lunchtime as I had to go to the bank. Had just settled into class with the children when a series of messages came about missing data. I thought that maybe in my rush I had forgotten to press the save button but then I got suspicious. When I checked the tracker using my log-in the data was all there but for some reason the office couldn't pick it up on...

Summer has arrived, for one day at least with the temp going up to 27C. The change in weather is not due to last but perhaps we appreciate it all the more when we have just had a cool wet week and we know we could return to that at any time. It was so nice to find the air lovely and warm at 8.00 in the morning. We went out for an earlier walk than usual as Peter was rowing in the afternoon. (They got stuck on a sandbank!) The cliff path was very busy as there was a marathon being run along it. Not good to be running in such heat and we could see lots of sweaty faces as they pounded their way up the steep path. We were sitting on a bench enjoying a cup of coffee when a friend ran past. He didn't notice us but we shouted some encouraging phrases as he went past which made him smile. The sea was an amazing colour and far below we could see (centre of the photo) a fat seal watching all the people up on the cliff. When Peter went rowing I conscientiously worked on some reports (we have ...

Still struggling with Blogger. The PC sits there ticking at me with a blank screen when I try my usual route which is rather irritating. Almost as irritating as waiting to talk to the student loans company to find out how I complete Romas' application for this year's loan. I had a helpful email directing me to a web site but when I got there I needed an special number ??? or if I had forgotten that I could give my secret answer. Only helpful if I knew what the secret question was. It's a good thing they don't record your comments while the cheery muzac is playing or the soothing tones of a recording tell you that they are very busy and you could go to the web site instead. I'm afraid my comments ranged from the not very polite to scathing sarcasm and finally inane babbling. When I finally spoke to a real person she helpfully agreed to resend my secret number and another secret question as well as sending me a paper form to fill in. The weather today has mostly been ...

A very pleasant day today. The weather wasn't so good but our morning was spent under cover at the local tennis centre where the children did all sorts of tennis based activities. There were plenty of youngsters there to run the activities and we just escorted the children around. In the afternoon I gave my class some handwriting to do before they had 'Golden Time' . Coming home tonight the lanes are full of flowers and looking lovely but when I stopped to take some photos I was quite shocked to see how the new wind turbines are marching across the sky line spoiling the rural beauty of the landscape. The 6 th turbine is in construction and when finished they will stretch for 10 miles. I suppose we will get used to them just as we don't really notice the telegraph poles that run along so many of our lanes. This evening I pricked out some seedlings and planted a few more seeds before cooking an easy meal of mushroom and cheese tortellini with a fresh mushroom sauce th...

The world has turned green in the space of a week. Everywhere the bright green beech leaves have brought life to the countryside. The hedgerows are now a riot of cow parsley sparkling against the new green growth with the blue haze of bluebells beginning to appear. It makes my daily commute a total pleasure. This week at school we are in 'wedding mode' and the children spent their day making flags, painting commemorative plates, rehearsing their dances for Thursday and writing invitations asking the parents to come and join us in our celebrations. Despite the relaxed day I felt quite tired by the end of the day. I still managed an hour's weeding at home while Peter barbecued some lamb for our al fresco supper. Finally more photos from yesterday's walk. A new path to explore. Heading out across the fields.

The day started off wet and windy but somewhere along the line, without me really noticing, the sun came out and we ended up with a lovely warm afternoon. In the school grounds the blossom and daffodils are already past their best, ..... while in the Secret Garden the big old weeping willow has turned a delicious shade of green. Driving along the country roads I have been noticing more and more trees and bushes breaking into bud. Already the hawthorn is covered with tightly curled green leaves and there are more subtle colour changes in other species as the new buds impart a pink or yellow tinge to the branches. The biggest and most looked for change will be when the beech trees/bushes/hedges open their buds. The bright lime green of the new leaves is such a refreshing change after so many months of dusty browns and greys. This morning I played a mild April Fool on my class asking them in the most upset tones I could muster why I didn't have any birthday cards or flowers. They l...

This morning Peter had been invited to play golf which gave me the chance to go for a longer walk. First shock of the day, the parking fees had gone up from 60p for 2 hours and £1.20 for all day to £1.40 for 2 hours and £2.60 for all day. That's more than double! I headed out on the Bull Point track which does start off as a dark dank lane but soon opens up to this view of the cliffs and the sea. I had intended taking the first steep path off the track down into the coombe but the presence of a vehicle and the sounds of industry below me lead me to believe that some repair work was being done to the path so I carried on along the main track. This lead me up onto high ground and magnificent views of Rockham Bay and the whole of Morte Point. Instead I took the next path down to the coombe . This path is all earth and very steep and pretty treacherous in wet weather but today it was dry and I was able to carefully make my way down to the valley bottom with its stunted trees a...

Wow, my PC actually turned on tonight. But it is definitely in terminal decline and uploading photos from my camera seems to send it into a coma. I think that my blogging is going to be a bit hit and miss for the foreseeable future. Today we have had the most glorious sunshine and at times it felt positively warm. No need even for a light fleece over my sleeveless t-shirt. With the sunshine and not travelling in the dark my spirits are feeling so much brighter. Also I've had confirmation that I shall be full-time until the end of the year (Sept) which means that our finances will be healthy this year. Once the sun went down the temperature dropped so rapidly that I've put the heating on for an hour to take the chill off the place. The bill for last week's oil delivery has come and it is over £200 less than the last lot for the same amount of oil. I need to keep my fingers crossed that the situation in the Middle East doesn't send prices rocketing again. Yesterday I ...

I've been tree hugging today. Not in a free spirit 60's sort of way but in a hanging on for dear life while balancing on top of a wobbly ladder to cut all the branches off a tree sort of way. We have 2 willow trees that need to be polled each year, the only alternative would be to cut them down completely as the branches grow up to 10ft in a year and the trees would soon be out of hand. That job is now done and all the branches cleared away so I'm happy. My gardening came after a walk down at Morte Point with Peter. It was very windy but nice and sunny. The irritating thing about living a few miles inland is that, as was the case today, it is sunny at the coast but inland grey clouds hide the sun. So many times we've had a great time at the coast only to return to gloomy conditions. One more reason to move right to the coast when we finally leave this place. Out at Morte Point there was a very strong offshore wind which made the homeward stretch exhilarating but a l...

It was sunnier and warmer today with the outdoor thermometer showing 2C but the bitterly cold wind was still around. Maybe I should rename my blog Ruta's Weather watch but it does play such an important part in my life. Will we be able to drive the cars up the hill? Will we have to turn the heating on? Can I get out into the garden? Will the children be cooped up in class all day long? I don't even think of myself as an outdoor worker but the weather does make a difference to my daily living. Not to mention the fact that seeing the sun lifts my spirits. After spending the obligatory few hours sorting out my school plans for next week I took myself and my camera off for a hike around Morte Point. There were a few people about but for most of the time my view was only populated by sheep. (The eagle- eyed among you might have spotted Lundy on the horizon.) This was a good walk to break in my new walking boots on rough ground. They felt rather heavy and the tipped up soles are...

Despite that it was a bitterly cold morning and I was running a little late due too having to de -ice the car windows, I had to stop and take some pictures of the morning sun lighting the tops of the clouds. It was even prettier than the pictures show. The plateau in the distance is Dartmoor a good 70 miles away to the south. Swinging slightly west I had a glimpse of the western edge of Barnstaple as it straggles along the River Taw . I think the large grey buildings are the airfield at Chivenor , a Marine base. I've had a reasonably relaxed day in school today. Having a teaching student working with me has meant that I have spent a lot of time going through lesson plans etc with her but this is balanced by being able to sit back while she teaches some of the lessons. I get to make notes (helpful I hope) on her but much more importantly much needed assessments on my children. Bloody OFSTED is turning us all into nervous wrecks especially as we hear they are about to inspect 2 sc...

Came home in the dark after seeing nearly all of my 30 sets of parents for Parents' Evening so no chance to take pictures. Instead one more from yesterday's walk looking across Woolacombe bay to Baggy Point with Bideford Bay and Hartland beyond. It was an early start this morning, the clouds were purple black in the morning half-light with just one vivid streak of orange in the eastern sky. As I reached the main road and headed south the sky had started to lighten, the clouds were a softer dove grey and the sky behind was washed with pink and turquoise streaks. In the valley by the side of the road skeins of mist were suspended below the hill top. Finally as the road swung to the south the sky showed a promise of blue. (Guess who's been working on adjectives in class?) I've no idea what the weather has been for the rest of the day as I've been ultra busy in class with sock puppets, PE and literacy followed by Parents' Evening.

After getting most of my school work done this morning we headed out to Morte Point for our weekly walk. Just for a change we took a new route swinging back up to the crest of the hill. It was a bit of steep climb, here Peter is checking his pulse, I actually had a slower heart rate yet he's the one who goes to the gym regularly . My job must be enough to keep me fit. From the view point which was once the site of a coastguard's look out, we could see down to Rockham bay and Bull Point Lighthouse in one direction, while on the other side was Woolacombe Bay, and ahead was our beloved Lundy . (To give a sense of scale the white dots in the mown area are sheep.) We tried exploring to find a different way down from our spot but the only paths led back inland towards Morethoe so we had to retrace our steps and then continue on our usual walk. No seals about today and the sea was almost flat. We still enjoyed watching the sea while we had a cup of coffee. There were not so m...