Tinted Eyelashes!

The day has been mainly dry after several torrential downpours first thing. I didn't get a chance for a proper lie in this morning as Linas needed a lift into town. He is spending the day at MIA running round shooting other airsoft enthusiasts. It's based down in Cornwall but he was getting a lift from Barnstaple. He'll be returning with too much armament to carry on his scooter which is why he'd requested a lift. At least I was in town early to do my food shopping and then had a rather aimless wander about the shops. I feel rather in limbo at the moment and can't make plans for Christmas or the New Year, normally I enjoy making lots of lists in my head and making decsions early but I'm reduced to focusing on one week at a time. I have booked an appointment to have my eyelashes tinted, (friends will have fallen off their chairs in amazement as the only make up I ever use is one kohl pencil). I gave up with mascara many years ago as I have a tendency to rub my eyes and make a mess of mascara. I just thought that now my eyes aren't hidden behind glasses it would be worth doing my eyelashes. I couldn't have them done straight away as they had to do a patch test to make sure I'm not allergic to the dye, very sensible.
I haven't done much at home either. Just a bit of bumbling around, a walk in the garden, some piano playing and now maybe I'll get some school work done.

Friday At Last.

This was the view as I left school this evening, looking across to the junior school ( a completely separate establishment to our infants' school.

A much better composition but rather too blurry. It's hard to hold the camera still for 2 seconds without a tripod and a cable release. My only solution is to jam myself up against a wall and try to hold the camera as still as possible. I'll have to keep on practising.

We've been focusing on characters and settings this week and it was rather gratifying when one of my much less able kids looked at the back of the story book that I was reading them and pointed to an illustration, asking " Are those the characters? " Success. The children have been playing with their torches in a 'Dark Area' and today there was much screaming and activity as they played 'Zombies'. Um, hopefully the excitement will wear off and they'll think of more savoury adventures to have in the dark. Monday and Thursday after school are parent interviews with Thursday being the late day going up to 8.00. I always stay at school when it is the late session as I couldn't bear the thought of going home for an hour and then having to come out again. Right now I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend once I've cleared my school paperwork. We're still having fairly wet weather though not as wild as in the middle of the week. I daren't risk any outdoor work yet but I expect I'll be doing more house tidying, a seemingly never ending job.

Nothing Much.

Not a single photo taken today.I had hoped to get a few evening pictures when I left school but I kept finding the odd job to do and by the time I finally walked out it was pitch black. (This is one of my night time experiments taken a few days ago.) Not unusually I was the last out of school, (apart from the caretaker), but I much prefer to spend time getting everything ready. That stops me worrying about some disaster happening in the morning and delaying me with the subsequent stress of getting the day set up in a limited time. It was so nice this morning to walk into my classroom and see everything already organised. That gave me time to make a start on some of the admin jobs on my to-do list and to pass the time of day with my colleagues.

Wild, Wet And Windy.

This is the state of our drive after last night's rain. We had 2 cm of rain in short sharp bursts and the resulting accumulation of all the rain that falls on the hillside, gathers on the road and is channelled onto our land is a flipping nuisance. All the gravel and even small rocks end up in the yard. The only solution would be to concrete the drive and create a hard channel to take it into the stream. But that would be far too costly as whatever happens we will not be living here long term.

Some of those ruts were a good 8" deep. I didn't dare try raking though I did some pushing with my feet, so once more Linas had to be drafted in. When I arrived home this evening after yet another wet and windy day, he had already put up the boards and dams to divert the water.

After a lunchtime staff meeting where we were sorting out all the Christmas schedules, (there's the whole school play and a Nativity & carol concert at the local church as well fitting in the Christmas Fair, class parties and a puppet show), Chris and I had a planning afternoon and got lots of work done. I must remember to get up and go to work tomorrow morning, not just turn over for an extra snooze.

Evening Power Cuts.

It was rather nice not to have to leap out of bed at 6.00 this morning as I wasn't going to work until the afternoon. By 7.30 I was downstairs and getting to grips with the kitchen. The trouble with our house is that no sooner do I clear surfaces of all those piles of paperwork or tools or stuff, then they are seen as an invitation to store all those items that the rest of the family can't be bothered to put away at the moment. I finally managed to replace a few missing wall tiles that needed doing in the kitchen, not a good job but adequate and I'll finish the grouting tomorrow. There was a brief interlude of bright sunshine during which I had a little wander around the garden.
We had over 3 cms of rain last night and the stream had spread right over the bog garden. It was an easy afternoon at school and afterwards I managed to make a good start on some new displays for this half-term. As I left school the sky was looking interesting with navy blue clouds in a pale blue and pink sky. 10 mins later all was dark.

Once the sun had gone down the full moon was creating dramatic back lit effects on the cloudy sky. Later we had sudden downpours and a wild thunderstorm accompanied by brief power cuts, one after the other. I hate to think what state the drive will be in tomorrow morning.

A Flight Of Fancy.

I haven't managed to take a single picture today. I set off for work in the grey half-light and when I left school at 5.30 it was pitch black and raining. Nothing of note to say about work, many of the staff had their half-term holiday spoilt by a nasty sickness bug or bad cough, we do seem to be a poorly lot.

As I can't bear the thought of a post without some pictures follow me into my fantasy world - the place where my imagination takes me when I'm observing the beauties of nature. Here we have the ruins of an ancient city, nestled under towering crags. In the millenia that have passed since the heyday of this once noble civilisation, the city walls have crumbled and the fertile fields that spread out below them have dried up and become a barren wasteland. What natural catastrophe or attack by ravaging hordes has caused such utter desolation?

And on the coast little remains of what was once a bustling port. A few remnants of harbour walls that rang with the sounds of creaking wood and the crack of sails being readied for voyages across the treacherous seas. Barely discernible are the foundations of magnificent watch towers from whose summits blazed welcoming beacons. While in the background great mountain ranges sheltered these lands from the icy winds blowing down from the great ice cap..........

It's amazing how just a few feet of rock can lead to such overblown prose.

Wave Watching.

The winds have changed direction and the temperature is dropping. We had heavy rain first thing and wild winds. As I watched from the warm comfort of my bed the leaves were being blown horizontally across the windows. We had been forewarned and so yesterday Linas and I put up the dams across the road to divert the water into my neighbour's field instead of washing away the drive. Midmorning Peter and I decided to go down to Woolacombe for a spot of wave watching. As we drove down there was a heavy shower but it dried up for our walk and there were even some patches of sunshine.

We parked on the same road but this time went down to Barricane Beach, another first visit. There are fewer steps down to the beach and lots of interesting rock formations.

We spent some time scrambling over the rocks exploring the rock pools.

There weren't too many people about, just a few families exercising the kids. I expect most of the half-term visitors will have headed home and it's just us lucky locals who get to enjoy the sea and beaches.

Back home I've sent off my CV to more schools, sorted out the last of my school work for the week and am about to unearth my sewing machine to finish altering a top I bought yesterday. I bought the top in a sale and I could see it had possibilities. First I spent quite a while unpicking some garish sequins that were splodged over the shoulders. Then I chopped about 6" off the bottom and it is all pinned and pressed ready to be sewn. Then hopefully I'll have a top I'm happy with.