France on hold ....

This is the post I scheduled to go out last night:

I'm taking a break from blogging as we're off to France for a few weeks

See you all in September!

This is what actually happened:

 With a ferry booked for late afternoon, we set off early. It was a lovely sunny day and we were all looking forward to the holiday. We'd only been driving for about 40 minutes when the temperature gauge went ballistic, and clouds of smoke billowed out of the engine. Disaster!!!

Thank goodness for road side assistance .... we were eventually rescued and taken home ...

the car ...

the caravan ....

and the three of us ... plus dog

Inca was as good as gold while it was all going on around her, but it was a bit traumatic lifting her into the high cab of the rescue vehicle.

So .... last night instead of enjoying a glass of wine on a campsite near Calais, we were back home. 

The car is in our local garage and will be having major surgery on Monday  ... it all sounds very expensive.

We are so disappointed,  but looking for positives .... at least we were still close to home, it didn't happen in France, and no-one is hurt. We're all safe and well, and we'll try again next week when the car is fixed!

July Scavenger Hunt

It's been a mad rush to finish this month's hunt and again, I've got nothing marvellous to show this time I'm afraid. I wanted to use this game to improve my photography, but it hasn't happened yet. I get very envious of some of the wonderful photographs that get shown by everybody else at the end of each month.  I'm always left wondering why didn't I think of that!!!

A celebration

Not just our usual Leavers' Service, when we celebrate Year Six's time at school, but a very special celebration for Father Myles, who is stepping down as our Chair of Governors, to take up a new position as Acting Dean in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral.

 A kite

A very complicated 'boat kite' from Goa ... does it fly? ... who knows, we've never tried it.

 Stripes

All the trees in Chester are wrapped in these rather fetching stripes this summer ... I have no idea why!

 A flag

Flags outside the rather swish Grosvenor Hotel, Chester

 Seashells

No shells on our local beaches, I'm afraid.

Red, white and blue

A shop display in Liverpool ... the Union Jack is very on trend these days.

Ice Cream

 A '99' is always a favourite ... whipped ice cream and a chocolate flake.

 Field

 A local cornfield .. our dog races through this every evening.

Strawberries

A strawberry tart with strawberry tea, all served up on my strawberry china.

Stars

A local pub sign 'The Seven Stars' in the lovely little village of Thornton Hough.

Flip Flops

These are the only flip flops I have ever been able to wear, as the whole 'toe thing' usually drives me mad ... but these are very comfortable. My poor white feet haven't seen sun for two years!!!

Something that makes you happy ... not a person or animal

Going away in our caravan always makes me happy ... we've been doing this for 21 years and I still get excited whenever we pack it up and set off. We've travelled from the tip of Scotland to the South of France and we have used the van in every single month of the year. This is how we'll spend our pension!!!!

Feel free to put your collections on the Linky at the top of my blog (Just click Scavenger Hunt and follow the instructions). As I'm not going to be around for a bit, I've also left a Linky for August ... it should come live at the end of the month.

Speaking of August, here's the next list:

a fountain
a boat
mountains
street food
a picnic
market day
a festival or funfair
bread
something bizarre
fabric
a sport
something ancient


Happy hunting!!!!

At last ....

It's the very best day in the year today ..... woohoo!!!!!

Project 365 ~ Week 27

This has been a long hard week at work, but with only five school days left I'm beginning to let myself feel a little excited about the summer! I've been so busy, and so tired, that I've haven't been able to do much in Blogworld.  I have still been reading everyone's posts even though I haven't had time to post or comment.

190/365

I've decided to keep a travel journal for our trip to France this year ... unable to wait until we actually get there, I've been playing round with watercolours and paper, and I've done the title page already.

191/365

The start of World Water Week in school ... I was doing an introductory discussion about how we use water everyday, when I was stunned to find out that less than half my class had cleaned their teeth or had a wash that morning!

192/365

'Engage for Africa' activity .... the children brought in old football shirts to send to Uganda, and in return we all had a football coaching session.

193/365

A perfect summer's evening on the Paradise Peninsula.

194/365

The reports are all finished and ready to go .... I hope the parents are  pleased with my comments!

195/365

Today we discovered that Inca has been having sneaky sleeps on the new sofa. She came to meet us as we came in, but the warm spot on the sofa gave her away!

196/365

A rainy day in Chester ... it's just like winter again!

I hope the weather is better where you are!

Go to Jail .... do not pass go, do not collect £200

Last weekend we spent the afternoon behind bars ... at Ruthin Gaol to be precise.

There's been a prison on this site since the 17th Century, and it's the only purpose built Pentonville style prison open to the public as a heritage attraction. We were able to explore the nooks and crannies of this fascinating building, and learn about life in the Victorian prison system ...

We saw what the prisoners ate ... a very 'appetising' plate of scouse at weekends (often much better food than on the outside)

We went into a number of cells on the lower floor

The old bath was still there ... every prisoner had a bath once a week in cold water, bad enough if you were first in the queue, but horrendous if you were 20th!

this is the governor's office

Female prisoners did laundry work and spinning

Jobs for the men included treadmills and unravelling rope.

Upstairs we were astounded to see the true scale of the building as the floors opened out above us.

This is the condemned cell where a door led to the gallows outside. The last execution was in 1913 ... I felt quite sorry for the man until I read about his crime.

While the building was very interesting, we found the stories of the prisoners even more fascinating. The tales were heartbreaking at times ... most people were imprisoned for petty thieving as life was so difficult for them.... they were probably just trying to keep their families alive. So sad!

However, the most infamous inmate was the Welsh 'Houdini' .... a certain Coch Bach Y Bala ... or the 'little redhead from Bala', who spent more time in British prisons than outside. He was a kleptomaniac, and stole things that were of little use to him. Managing to escape from the prison three times, instead of lying low, was prone to boasting about his exploits in the local hostelries, leading to his swift recapture. He was eventually shot by a landowner, and hundreds of locals turned out for his funeral, even selling postcards of the event!!!!

It was a very unusual, but thoroughly fascinating visit ... and at only £3.50 each, an absolute bargain!

Project 365 ~ Week 26

Another hectic week at school .... as we hurtle towards the end of term, the pace just gets more and more frantic. This week, as well as finishing reports and records, I've moved classrooms for the second time since Easter ... last time it was for a refurbishment, this time I'm moving year groups. So all my 'stuff' is sitting in the corridor waiting patiently to be sorted.... again. I must be mad!

183/365

Spotted this lovely scrapbook layout on a trip to Hobbycraft for some supplies for school... I realised I miss scrapbooking. I haven't done a proper layout since I started blogging.


184/365

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The tiny red thing above the school is a rocket fired by Year 3 .... we're learning about pneumatics, and this is the most exciting way to get the topic started!

185/365

This little guy is the only chick that hatched from a clutch that our reception class was incubating. He's got the loudest cheep ever ... in fact it's so loud that, when he went home with Dot, the T.A., she couldn't hear Eastenders! As he's on his own, he's going to have to go back to the city farm much quicker than usual, so he can be with other chicks.

186/365

A slightly blurred photo of me in Tate Liverpool, dwarfed by this enormous table and chairs.


187/365

A big blue bear came to a breakfast event in school today. Families were invited to come in for a breakfast and do some reading together. It was a lovely occasion!

188/365

Inca snuggling in to her favourite toy of the moment ... a slightly scruffy dog that she's had since Christmas and hasn't 'killed'.

189/365

We loved these ceramic figures on display at the Ruthin Craft Centre. They're part of an exhibition called 'Fables and Figments' that we visited this afternoon.

The weather has been shaping up nicely today ... let's hope it continues well into next week.... I'm getting tired of the rain!

 I hope it's sunny wherever you are! 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

What shall we do on Wednesday?

This week we headed down to Tate Liverpool to see the new Magritte exhibition.

Rene Magritte, the Belgian Surrealist painter is, according to the guide booklet, 'most renowned for his mysterious imagery which combines the banal with the strange and erotic for disturbing effect'.

Some of the paintings were familiar, all bowler hats and pipes ....

This made me smile. I always tell my class that all teachers have eyes in the back of their heads. Being 7 years old, they usually believe me!

Things got stranger ... and some pictures were so erotic I couldn't possibly show you.

Some works were hidden behind a curtain for good reason .... we didn't linger!

I found that I couldn't relate to the work at all ... I found it all terribly flat, and just a tad boring! 

I've come to the conclusion, though, that you don't have to like every piece of art, even if everyone else praises it from the rooftops.

I did quite like the blue sky pictures  ... we have backing paper for school displays just like this.

I'll be totally honest, the only thing that got me excited in the whole show was this lovely umbrella in the shop .... wouldn't you just love to have blue skies above your head as you walk in the rain?

Sadly, at £55 it won't be me!

( All images from Google, as photography was not allowed in the exhibition)