And a Happy New Year!
Waiting
We’re in the season of advent – a time of remembering and celebrating the birth of Jesus, and expectant waiting for when He comes again.
In just one week we’ll be celebrating Christmas Day. It’s worth contemplating the first Christmas, and remembering that
the Light has come…
Rejoice!
Clowns And Carols As The Rain Came Down
We’ve been to two carol/Christmas services today – I’m feeling very festive!
It’s been raining most of the day, so the cheer had a faint dampness about it… not enough to dampen the fun, though. The journey to the service tonight was a bit dicey – at some stages we could barely see ahead through the rain – but we got there safely.
I AM SO GLAD WE WENT! 😀
I have been doing so much better this year, but I still have bad days. On a bad day the thought of going to not one, but two, biggish events would seem almost impossible – even if I got there, I may be too fatigued/in pain to enjoy it… Today was just right. Lots of joy and reflecting on Christmas truth. Lots of singing! The morning included drama, littlies banging drums or singing (while Mary swung poor baby Jesus round, sometimes by his head), and some great singing. The evening included drama/comedy, clowns, a full choir and band…and some great singing.
We paused to take a breath amidst the bustle of the season.
And remembered the baby, born to be King.
Here’s the story (in the words of children) that was played during the service this morning.
Rhapsodising
We went to see Bohemian Rhapsody earlier in the week. Loved it! Here’s the trailer – watch it and then go see the film. 😀
We took Sweet Bean along, even though it was still school time, and he had some exam/assessment work to do (which he finished well by the end of the week). We had the chance to go, so we took it – I’m putting it down as music history 😉
It’s an experience. We went in the afternoon. This was the cinema when we went in –
We did get some companions by the time it started. Only around ten people. That’s one of the perks of going during the day in term time…
This was the first time in a long time I’ve been to the cinema where everybody has stayed in their seats until the credits finished – no-one wanted to go.
One question for anyone who goes to see it – how long did you last until you began to sing along? I held out till this…
I may also have cried…
Cold Day
No, not the weather! Although I have had the air conditioner on for a little bit tonight… I’ve had a bit of a cold this week, which got better mid week, then mutated to a minor chest infection over the last two days. This has meant I haven’t done anything too strenuous lately – just catching up with some stuff. Not the mending. What is it about mending? The more I do, the more it seems to multiply when I’m not looking…
Part of my non-strenuosity(?) has been listening to some new (to me) music. For King & Country is playing at Riverlife Church at the end of January – there were still tickets available as of today, but get them soon before they sell out! Here’s some songs.
I have also been trying to figure out what we need to organise before Christmas… I not only need to get my ducks in a row – I have to work out how many ducks I’m supposed to have! I’m looking forward to Christmas this year – just have to find where all the carol services are! 🙂
Another song to finish with – and good night ❤
Fourth Time’s The Charm…
Finally (finally!!) succeeded with my mending. When I stopped to think about it I realised that this is the fourth time I’ve tried various ways to fix it, without success (until now). While I love to reuse and repurpose, sometimes it’s necessary to get something new. We went down to Spotlight this morning to get some heavy duty hooks and bars to replace the broken zipper from yesterday. We also got a packet of safety pins – why do safety pins seem to vanish? Do they go where pens and single socks go? Picked up a latte with Turkish Deight syrup as a treat…
One of the good things about using a Keep cup is that you tend to get slightly more than you would with a takeaway cup. Some places still refuse to use my cup, but most will… even so, they tend to overfill it. I don’t mind! 🙂
My day has been better than yesterday, but still climbing out of the abyss. The cream you can sort of see to the left of the cup is a hormonal balancing cream I used to use all the time, but haven’t been able to afford for a while. Got some this morning – slathered it on straight away. The boys are calling it my “happy cream”…
My fingers are quite sore from all the sewing, and there will be more to do – just not today! I sat on the patio with it and listened to music – some old, some new – just taking YouTube’s suggestions to see what I could find.
This one I knew, but it suited this morning.
I had never heard of these, but enjoyed what I heard.
The sun is setting. Time to rest.
Temporary/Perfect
You know when you’re strolling effortlessly along a straight, grassy, flower-strewn verge and then suddenly – huge pothole. Quicksand. Mire.
Today’s been one of those days. No reason, really – just feeling down and flat. I spent ages this afternoon mending something I really want to wear again – it was fiddly, with difficult edges and sometimes nearly impenetrable fabric. I finally finished, tried it on, and found the zipper was too flimsy (and old – it had been repurposed) and it broke.
I may have thrown a minor tantrum.
An adult, dignified, fairly restrained tantrum, but I was Not Best Pleased.
Nevertheless, I know that this mood is temporary. It may change tomorrow, it may take a few days, but I know that underneath my life is Good. Just look at this blue sky!
That’s what I saw on my walk yesterday – playful, dancing clouds and a sky that stays bright regardless of my concerns. There’s always beauty. I just have to remember to look.
Nothing is ever completely perfect in this world, but some things strive to attain it. In the depths of my grumpiness this afternoon I heard this again…
Life is a mixture of highs and lows. Sometimes the zipper breaks. Sometimes there’s opera. The clouds still dance, and the birds still sing. It just might take till tomorrow to see it…
Elementary, My Sweet Bean
This term’s workshop was focused on history – the task was to choose a person (or event/invention etc) of interest and present a 1-2 minute talk. As you can imagine, 2 minutes doesn’t leave much time to say a lot… it concentrates the mind on what’s important!
We had a host of famous characters visiting today (costumes were encouraged), including Queen Elizabeth II, Fanny Crosby, Mother Teresa, Samuel Morse, Lewis & Clarke & Sacagawea, as well as a history of the Cherokee nation, of the British East India Company, and a look at the history of dolls.
Sweet Bean went as Sherlock Holmes, to talk about his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Rather than focusing on literature he talked about Conan Doyle’s contribution to forensic science and the way a criminal investigation is run. Here’s his talk –
He was a bit flustered about the microphone – he’d worked out an opening sequence with the pipe and magnifying glass, but he couldn’t work out how to add in the microphone… My blurry filming style probably doesn’t help!
Here’s a couple of shots of the great detective himself 🙂
The cloak was an old skirt split at the back seam and hemmed and tucked in places, the deerstalker was two baseball caps sewn together and covered with dark fabric, and the pipe was cardboard and papier mache, with paint and a foil embellishment to finish.
A tiring day, but satisfying.
Now, time for bed…
Rising Up
Just been watching the third episode of the new series of Doctor Who, where they interact with Rosa Parks, and ultimately ensure that history is made in spite of alien shenanigans…
I was intitially a little skeptical that it would turn out well – there are so many ways it could have been handled badly. Thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂
My post title comes from the end credits, and a song that fits well with Rosa’s story. It wasn’t written for the show – it’s a few years old, and has become an unofficial anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement.
I’ve really been enjoying this new series. It’s different in a lot of ways (and also the same in many). I can’t quite put my finger on just how it’s different… obviously different writer, and that shows. The companions seem to be more prominent in the storylines than we’ve seen before, and I think that’s working well. Mostly, with this episode, we got a bit of a history lesson (a concept that I believe was part of the very early origins of the show), and perhaps a bit of a reminder for the future…
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Perhaps it’s time to look around and take stock of where we stand right now?
Potato, Thriller, Queen.
The first week of the final term went well. We did a simple (but satisfying) experiment – microwaving a potato to destruction, in order to find the percentage of water in it. It was around 84%…
Here’s the potato afterwards. I put it on the patio after we finished because there was steam/smoke pouring from it for a longer period of time than I was happy with, and I didn’t want it to burst into flame in the house…
This was the first experiment from a free course on basic science, which covers the importance of keeping a journal, and looks at the applications of experimental data in real life situations. It’s from a site called FutureLearn, which has a range of topics to choose from (good for homeschoolers!) I decided to do a bit of basic science with Sweet Bean as we haven’t done much in the way of hands on science this year. Hopefully we’ll finish this course by extracting DNA from a kiwi fruit.
Yesterday we also finished the day by watching a variety of YouTube clips, starting with Queen and moving through Chuck Berry, Little Richard, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis and a little bit of Elvis. There’s many more to watch, but we ran out of time…
I’ve been enjoying watching reaction videos – a young bloke watching classic rock clips (and some opera etc.) for the first time and sharing his reactions – go here to have a look! I found his channel while watching a variety of reaction videos from people seeing Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time, and just kept watching…
I realised that Sweet Bean knows Queen’s songs but hasn’t seen them live. Apart from being enjoyable I thought it was an opportunity to see what a band can aspire to 🙂 Learning a bit of rock history seemed like the obvious next step…
Here’s the first clip we watched – Queen’s performance at Live Aid in 1985.
Today I watched a few more reaction videos and decided to share vintage Michael Jackson with Sweet Bean…
The unveiling of the moonwalk…
…and the birth of a classic thriller.
1000 Fields of Roses 