Sunday 6th feb.

More snow today! I stayed in again because the cold just makes me cough, poor dear. Since I've been stuck in the house I have become more attached to the radio. I used to listen to it far more than I do now. This morning I listened to desert island discs which featured one of our more distinguished actors, David Suchet. He is probably most famous here for his portrayal of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, but, in fact is a fine Shakespearian actor. His father was a surgeon and didn't approve of one of his sons going into the theatre, but eventually accepted it. David spoke about being sent to boarding school at the age of 8 and how he hated it. He was beaten for having a chocolate bar in his cupboard after a visit from his mother. Can you believe that? Every Sunday the headmaster would get the boys in a 'crocodile' and walk them into the sea. they only managed to do it by holding hands and singing 'You'll never walk alone'. Hopefully, none of them drowned. I wonder if the headmaster did a risk assessment before he took them down to the sea - you can't breathe now without a risk assessment in England! I also watched a debate on TV. The two questions were, can you be a christian and believe in the theory of evolution - it is Sunday after all. The other was are working mothers selfish. (This follows a report from the children's society which says that children in the UK are the unhappiest they have ever been). The debate was interesting and some good points made. There were some extreme views expressed and some arrogance shown, particularly by one Cambridge professor, who labelled anybody who didn't agree with his points as intellectually lazy. I do like the radio as you can listen and get on with other things if you need to . I remember when I was little, our granny lived with us and she loved to listen to the Saturday night play. Mum and dad would go to the cinema and granny would let me stay up reading or playing as long as I didn't disturb the play. Then it was up to bed as quickly as possible before mum and dad got home! I have also done some painting so have had rather a good day!

Thurs 5th February

Well, I'm still coughing well and now I can't hear very well. Apparently this is a side effect of my antibiotics 'particularly in the elderly'!! I certainly don't think of myself as elderly so I'm a bit miffed! I've done some washing and hoovering today and then decided to try some drawing. I found a lovely photograph of an Indian girl and tried to copy it. My drawing doesn't look a bit like her so I'll have to keep trying. I think I'll try and paint her in watercolour and then try it again in oils at my art class. I'm determined to get on the 'good table' at my class! Kev's out again with the boys, so it's just me and the telly. I think I may just get my book to read.

weds. 4th February

Still coughing and spluttering and feeling sorry for myself. It's still very cold outside so I haven't been out as I lose my breath. Poor old me! I had to miss my art class, so I decided to spend the morning finshing off two of my pieces. The first one is a pastel drawing of a blue tit and it doesn't loo too bad. The second is a watercolour of a sky scrape. I' m not too happy with that. Like my last watercolour, the sky is quite good but I don't like the buildings. I don't think I've got the angles right and that's down to draughtsmanship. I was going to show them here, but then I looked at my friend's blog and hers are so much better!!! So I won't. Next week we are starting an oil portrait.which I think will be hard for me, but we'll see. I think that I'd better practise drawing faces this week. Nothing else to say - I'm in the middle of a novel which I didn't think I'd like, but am actually quite enjoying. I can't remember the title or the author off hand! Time to go for today!

Tues 3rd February

It's a beautiful day today - the sun is shining and we have at least 6 inches of snow outside. The little ginger kitten next door doesn't quite know what it's all about and is running in and out and having great fun. The children are sledging in the park and me? I'm sitting inside feeling proper poorly! I've had a bad chest infection for a couple of weeks and yesterday the doctor gave me some different tablets and they're making me feel a bit off. Still, I have read a couple of books which is always nice. I enjoy reading biographies and the two I've read this week are Michael Parkinson's and Paul O'Grady's. Other people's lives are always interesting. Last night I watched a TV programme called 'Who do you think you are?' The programme helps a well-known person to trace their roots and sometimes finds some amazing stories. This is the third series and has inspired my K. to trace his father's family. His father died before he was born and his mum didn't really keep in touch with family. K was doing quite well until he started being busy again.
We went out to Manchester Art gallery to see Anthony Gormley's latest work. It was a good job K. was with me because the sculpture is oused in the newest part of the gallery - glass stairs, glass lift, glass walkways which are not good for people with vertigo! I liked the sculpture but I'm not quite sure what it represents. I think that everybody has their own response to art anyway. Well, I'm going to have a cuppa and try to amend the mistakes in my latest materpiece.

Tues. 27th January

What an exciting life I have! Yesterday I spent the morning ironing 12 shirts, 4 tee shirts, 3 jumpers and 2 pairs of trousers. In the afternoon I did some planning and printing for today and in the evening I was watching TV and had a 1 hour 30 minute phone call with a friend.
Today, I was in a boring meeting. I sit on a panel for school appeals and some of the procedures are due to change, so that's what we had to learn. In the afternoon I was in charge of Praise and Play with the little ones. It went very well, thankfully. Now I am catching up on my e-mails. I don't know how I stand the excitement.
I've been looking at my friend's blog and she's got some of her art work on. I don't dare put any of mine on yet, but who knows. It may happen soon!

Sunday 25th Jan

It is 10.20 on a Sunday evening and we are waiting for the bread to cook. It smells absolutely gorgeous and will taste good too. We have a bread making machine and are now using it regularly. Unfortunately we are now eating too much bread!
We've had a funny old day. friday was my sister's birthday and we spent ages yesterday looking for presents for her. Today we were supposed to be at her home for 11am for coffee and then we were taking her out for lunch. Off we set in time, but needed some money. We stopped at the garage for petrol and found that the ATM was out of order. Off we go again and call at the supermarket for money. Off we go again and discover that there's no water in the windscreen washer, so we stop at the next garage. I go in my handbag for my phone to ring my sister to say we are on the way, and discover that my phone is at home and, even worse, so are my sister's presents! Anyway we had a nice lunch and afternoon and I shall meet her again for lunch on Friday. Hopefully I'll remember the presents!
I haven't even read my newspaper today and it's an 'Obama souvenir edition' which I am looking forward to reading. I just hope that all the expectations the world have for him are not too much. Anyway, it's bedtime. The loaf is cooked and looks delicious, so we can sleep easy. Tomorrow is another day!

I'm back!!

Well, here I am back after 2 months. Where does the time go? Such a lot has happened since then. The Guide concert was brilliant - the girls did really well and we were very proud of them all. My Carol service went well too, although it was a bit short. I've made a costume for K. to be in the adult nativity and entertained my sister for Christmas. Jo's tiny baby is now 10lbs in weight and has had lots of cuddles from yours truly. Now things are back to normal and the weeks seem to fly by. We had a nice time last Saturday. Our friend's daughter was 30 and we were invited to the family party in Leeds. It was a real family do, with our friends' three daughters, their grandchildren, nephews and nieces etc. Of course the younger ones went into the city later on to the clubs whilst we old ones went home! Laura was one of our bridesmaids and now she is working in product design. She has a job with the famous Betty's teashop in harrogate and is now working on their Easter catalogue.
My art class is back and I have been working in pastel mainly. I have almost completed a picture of a bluetit which is looking OK and a landscape which is finished and doesn't look too bad......not good, but not bad! I did a beautiful watercolour - the sky was lovely and so was the mid ground, but then I spoiled it by making a mess of the foreground!
Well, I am going now to try to beat the champions on Countdown, so will close now. Back soon!!