Getting Ready For Christmas.

Time ran away with me again at school and the moon was out when I left. This rather shaky shot was taken in the school carpark where I was the last to leave. It is a lovely clear night and when I got home the sky was a mass of stars with the Milky Way clearly visible. It was a shame that the sky was totally overcast for the Leonid meteor shower 3 nights ago. We always try and watch the Perseids in the summer but I had been keeping a check on the conditions as the Leonids were forecast to be spectacular this year. Despite my interest in meteors and the lack of light pollution here, I'm not very good with the constellations. I can recognise Orion's belt but mainly because it is part of the saucepan. From then on it's all a bit hazy.

I finally got all the choreography for our 2 dances worked out, it's rather sedate but I've played safe and not relied on children being in specific formations, they're just allocated to rows and as long as they watch me gesticulating wildly in the audience in front of them, we should be fine. Now all I have to do is keep practising and organise 31 costumes. From next week the school timetable is taken up with rehearsals for one event or another. As far as school goes Christmas is nearly here. This morning I nearly overslept dreaming & worrying about putting up decorations in my class, I have a large stash of tinsel that I keep just for school - I'm a firm believer in making my classroom a winter wonderland. This afternoon in class the children were making masks to wear at an afternoon children's parade in town on Sunday before the evening official Lighting The Lights parade and the turning on of the Christmas Lights. One year when my boys were at school the school children made enormous withy and tissue paper sea-creature lanterns, Vytas' (and friends ) effort was 6ft long. They carried these, lit by candles, in the evening parade. Much excitement when some went up in flames or blew away. I enjoyed being in the parade with the samba band and other bands but I can't see myself going into town to watch it on my own this year.