Trying not to think about going back to work

Another gorgeous day in the garden. I caught up with some knitting. Will have my sock monkey finished soon. I've had to make a lot of it up as the pattern I chose doesn't seem to be very clearly written. Maybe it's just me.

Next up, this:

Destined to be Sackboy.

I'm re-reading Men at Arms when I'm not knitting. It's another book that I must have devoured when it first came out. I'm finding so many things I missed in these books as I read them for a second time. Next on the pile is Monstrous Regiment.

I love my battered old Birks

It's this time again!




The last six weeks just whizzed by! In my last post I was moaning about the cold, but today it's 25 degrees C on the deck.

What have I been doing?

At work: occupied by preparation for SATs and then SATs, interviewing for new teachers and moving rooms around. Coping with the latest pressures and initiatives from the Government (APP - Assessing Pupil Progress, FNE - Free Nursery Entitlement, CC - Duty to Promote Community Cohesion, to name but a few acronyms)

At home: coping with being the parent of an increasingly independent young man. There is currently a space on the drive beside J's car, where my Fiat Punto usually rests on its weekends off. Today it's somewhere, filled with young men buzzing around Teesside. Yes, j passed his driving test and I am now the mother of a driver. More things to worry about.
Apparently, it's liberating driving without me in the passenger seat making 'that face'.


I've been knitting on the deck this afternoon after retreating from the shops at Middlesbrough before lunch. I can't handle that every weekend, but I do like a mooch. I bought some 'lovely' tops in lightweight cottons and cheesecloths. Looks like I'll be back in Middlesbrough next Saturday, returning them. I think I'm too old/too fat for frills and smocking.

Every year Buddah gets burried more and more by marsh marigolds and siberian irises. It's nice and shady down by the pond though.