Ice and Fire

Well, ok, more like snow and fire really.

Here's this week's Pleasing Photo. More iPhone magic, I'm afraid - it's these lightless evenings that make real photography such a challenge! Here's the shot I've (reluctantly) chosen from the (uninspiring) collection of images taken this week:

PP#6 Treefinger

"Treefinger" because it really looks to me like the tree is pointing - or trying to reach the tree on the other side of the road (rather like God in The Creation of Adam - or at least that's what it reminded me of, but then I am coming over all intellectual this week what with downloading iTunes U and listening to philosophy lectures on my way home from work...)

"Snow" because of course the tree is covered in it, as is the ground in St Albans. Great fun for all today, but we're a little concerned about the freeze which seems to come after snow.

"Fire" because, until I took the above this morning on the way to church, number one contender for PP#6 was another fire photo:

This is the fire that Noah lit to melt the ice in the firepit so that we could clear out the ashes, lumps of charred wood and bent nails and cover it up properly. Ironic, then, that before the fire had even burnt out it started to snow?

PS
I know my challenge also involved sewing at least one pleasing item each month. I have completed my item for January! Mum and dad even saw it over Skype before the month had ended. But I haven't had chance to get any good photos of it yet (mainly because it's been too cold to wear it for general use without covering it up with more woolly layers). I'll tell you all about it soon though!

Preposterous Skirt

Back in the day (as Noah would say), I had a pair of preposterous trousers. Extremely long, far too big for me, the widest flares you could imagine and in a set of - how shall I put it - quite noticeable colours.

They were my preposterous trousers, and I loved them. You too may have known and loved them, if you were part of my university life.

You can behold their glory in this (rather odd) photo:

Much though I loved my preposterous trousers, I didn't wear them nearly often enough. This was due in part to the excessively large waistband, which increased the ease of slipping out of the trousers to rather a dangerous degree; and in part to the excessive length and width of the legs, which soaked up water as far as the knee if I went out in the rain and soon became a ragged mess of muddy fabric at the hem. They spent a couple of years in my so-called mending pile* before making their way out into the garage.

Along came Greenbelt, John-Paul Flintoff, a £30 sewing machine from ebay and a book called Design-It-Yourself Clothes with a simple-looking section on skirts.

A few evenings of greaseproof paper, careful snipping, somewhat cavalier pinning and a steep learning curve on the buttonholes later, and... ta-daa!

My new skirt. Lovely. All it lacks is pockets. (And some better lighting for the photo, maybe?)

(Also a button came off the other day. What is the good and proper way to sew on buttons?)

*As a child I had a t-shirt I loved which got a hole in it. My dear mother told me to put it in the mending pile. Quoth I, "Oh no, I don't want to do that. I'd really like to see this t-shirt again one day." My own mending pile, alas, is something of the same ilk.

Love Hearts

So this week has been quite busy. I know everybody knows OFSTED mean business, but I'm not sure if everybody knows exactly quite how much busyness... it's been a pretty hardworking week at school! And in consequence I really don't have any worthwhile photos from this week. So I cheated and edited one I took last weekend. Here's my favourite (I think!) - see below for a different take.

Pleasing Photo 5

Love Hearts are also relevant because this afternoon I convinced Noah to purchase a large quantity of them on the internet. They're not for me. I won't tell you what they are for, but if you have anything to do with St Paul's youth then you'll be finding out before too long. Mmmm, love hearts!

Anyhow, here's that other take on the heart picture. This one is actually a different shot, and is also edited differently. I think I prefer the overall effect of this one actually, but I chose the other because our names and wedding date are much more clearly visible and I like that.

Almost PP#5

What do you think? Which photo do you prefer?

An emergency Staff Meeting at break time usually means...

Yes, that's right. OFSTED are visiting my school.

There is not a little consternation among the staff. Her Majesty's esteemed Inspectors have given us two days' notice of their intended visit. Which is jolly nice of them really, especially as from September they'll just be waltzing in without so much as a by-your-leave [1].

Anyhow. It's made something of a change to everybody's weeks, as you can imagine. Not that we're intending to change anything because of the inspection, but suddenly everyone's trying to do the things they were planning to do over the next few weeks all at once. Displays are going up at an alarming rate, and I spent most of my PPA time this afternoon transferring assessment information from various different places to a single folder so it'll be easy for them to see. It would have happened by the end of term - just not in a single afternoon!

This would happen the week I'm poorly, we have a class assembly to learn AND it's the marble treat tomorrow so I have to go to school dressed as a princess.

I just hope I don't have any plans for the weekend!

[1] It'd be fun if they actually did waltz in...

Worky Week

It's been a really busy week. In fact I'm still working. AND I'm feeling poorly :(

What is this photo supposed to be of?

But here is this week's photo. As I said on flickr, I'm not totally pleased with it. I think the composition could be much better. But it was my favourite of the ones I've taken this week, mainly because of how cool the sky looks. I love a picture of a good sky.

As for sewing... apart from making half of a hood on Monday I haven't managed any at all! January somehow seems to be a lot busier than November and December were. Anyone else having that problem?

Here's one more contender for PP#4. I didn't choose it because the star was too blurry.

Venus?

Fun goals, skipped stitches and painting with light

Pleasing Photograph #3

I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions - I dislike the stigma of not eating chocolate for the first two weeks of January, going running once, and then forgetting all about them. But when my dad went to Argentina for New Year a few years ago he brought back a tradition I preferred. There, people choose twelve goals - not so much resolutions as things they would like to achieve. I find this much more fun and exciting because you can choose things you're really interested in, rather than 'worthy' things like working harder or trying to lose weight. Two of the goals I chose for this year are relevant to two of my favourite hobbies, so I thought I'd mention them here.

The first is my project to create at least one pleasing photograph every week. Note my cunning use of the term "create" - it's a bit of a get-out-clause in case I REALLY don't have time to take my camera out one week, and it means I could get away with editing an old shot to create something new. But my intention is to be taking at least one pleasing photograph each week. I'll be posting them here every Sunday (and also on flickr). Above is this week's Pleasing Photo; see below for some close contenders.

My other hobby-related goal is that I'd like to create at least one pleasing sewn item each month. I know there are crazy people out there who aim to sew a garment every week, or refashion something every day - but I don't have that kind of time! I do think, however, that I should be able to manage one a month.

Having said that, I'm running out of time for January... and if my sewing machine continues to behave like it did yesterday I might be in trouble! In the three hours (approximately) I spent sewing, I managed to complete one, yes one, finished seam. Initially it was because the machine kept skipping stitches, a problem which I only partially solved. But I do have my own mental capacity to thank as well, because in trying to follow these simple and admirable instructions for adding pockets I managed to over-think things (I always do...) and sewed all four of the pocket pieces on backwards. Grr. Unpick, unpick, unpick.

At this point the ever-charming Noah decided that the only thing that could possibly cheer me up would be a good blaze. He took some scrap newspaper and a bit of the fence that had blown down a few weeks ago, and set to work in the firepit. I did a little more unpicking but soon determined that my time would be better spent outside, where the fire was now going. So I grabbed my tripod, changed into jeans and headed outside to snap about a million photos. We had a really good blaze going and then, as the flames died down, we decided (as we always do) to try a bit of cooking in the embers. This time we had a good idea of what to make: "hobo bags", a la Danielle's wedding. Noah parcelled up some chopped potato, onion and garlic in tinfoil, with some seasoning of course, and the result twenty minutes later was delicious.

Here are a few more firey photos that didn't quite make it as PP#3. What do you think - did I choose the right one?

Stargazing and home-made bread

This week has made me think about how I spend my time.

Tuesday night is 'Date Night' for me and Noah. We watched a film, which is a fairly common date night activity. That's fine - it's something we both enjoy and I think we often feel kind of tired and don't want to expend much energy. After the film I was playing around with Star Walk (the app which made me really interested in iPads in the first place) and suggested going into the back garden. But Noah had grander plans and ten minutes later we were walking over to the Wick - the local dog-walking hotspot just across the road from where we live - with an old blanket and a flask of hot chocolate. It was absolutely lovely (if very cold and muddy!) looking up at the stars, remembering all the constellations my dad taught me to recognise - and remembering also how it used to be when Noah and I were first getting to know each other. We used to go out for night (and sometimes daytime) walks, looking at the stars, climbing trees, talking and talking. Noah lived in a house with a proper fireplace and we'd spend ages lying and staring into the flames.

I felt as though, recently, I'd become too embroiled in agonising over the details of a busy life. But more than that - as though having this teaching job is a bit of an excuse to not do anything deep or complex or interesting, because I'm always too tired. We have takeaways, watch TV, go out to the pub - all very pleasant things to do, but you can have too much of them. 

In the summer I heard a very interesting talk by John-Paul Flintoff, at Greenbelt. He was talking about making your own clothes, and one thing he said was that people often make the excuse that they don't have time to do that. That's all very well, he said, but really when people say they don't have time, it means they don't want to. I think at first I was a indignant, because there are *lots* of things I "don't have time" to do. I work full time as a primary school teacher; I have a 45-minute journey to and from work; and I spend a lot of my evenings and weekends doing youth work or other church stuff with Noah.

But. As time went by, I realised that J-P F was talking about choices. We may not have time to do everything, but we can choose how to spend the time we have - and most people have time to do *something*. I tend to find that if I don't plan an activity I can spend a lot of hours wandering aimlessly around the internet. Whilst spending some time online brings me enjoyment, useful information, laughter, ideas and fun, it's really not satisfying to look back on an evening and realise that's all you've done. So this week I've been trying to do something with those little bits of time I have. On Thursday Noah and I played Scrabble before he went out to his PCC meeting. On Saturday my parents came to visit; we went to a new cafe (discovered, yes, with the help of Google!). This evening I've been baking bread and finally reorganising the kitchen cupboard.

I feel much more satisfied and also calmer after spending my time in a more useful, reflective, tranquil or interesting way. Because I seem to tend towards being rather lazy it does take some mental effort to choose an activity that demands a bit more exertion, whether mental or physical. But the benefit is definitely great. I hope I can get into the habit of spending my time wisely. I don't mean that I mustn't watch TV or follow link-trails around the internet - I just want to make sure that I choose an activity worthy of the amount of time I spend on it.