Illyria

Well, I like this play. Teaching it is like getting into some comfy slippers - I’ve done it almost each year since I was a student. I like the fact that it is based on history from where I grew up. I like that it treats good and evil in a poetic justice type of way. The witches are definitely not the cute boarding school type of characters. The language is pretty good too.

On another matter entirely, the cat gets neutered tomorrow.

Is that penguin carrying a handbag?

Tigger’s new tricks are climbing the blinds and turning kitchen roll into confetti. At least twenty sheets of it.
He also likes knife throwing and playing slidies on the tablecloth.
I’m now trying the laying-on-of-hands approach.
Anyone got any ideas?

After the wonderful weekend conference with JPJ and Mark Stibbe I was all excited about going to school on Monday. I have been back at work for two days now and no one has noticed my inner light yet! I have beamed and radiated and the only thing I knew about anybody was that someone was going to ask me for a lift!
Still I suppose it’s a start.

I’m continuing to log the crafts we do with our girlie cell on Fridays, just in case it’s helpful to others. Scrunchies are the ruffly hair accessories normally seen on ponytails and plaits, for those of you that like my husband said, “What?”
You need:
Fabric that is 50 - 60 centimetres long and 12 cm wide
Elastic that is 0.5 - 1cm wide
Matching thread
Sewing machine for speed
(This took us half an hour with machine, longer if sewing by hand.)

Cut your fabric and fold right sides together, pin and sew a seam leaving 3cm open at each end.
Pin open ends together (right sides together again) and sittch.
Thread about 15cm elastic through, securing with pin at one end. Pin an overlap of about 2cm.
Stitch elastic firmly by excessive use of the reverse gear on your machine.
Fold in opening and stitch in place.
Voila!

If you wanted to be extra fancy you could silk paint your design first.

…a dog. He runs to welcome you coming through the door and plays fetch. He likes chewing shoes and will sit staring at you lovingly.

And then he’ll pull ten threads in your new expensive suit that you bought for parent’s night next week.

Here is my recipe for making a festive or other sort of candle.

1. Pour wax of a stong pastel shade into an old clean large marge tub, up to about an inch or two deep. Leave to set overnight.
2. Cut wax into uneven chunks of about an inch and place into a mould with the wick already secured by blue tack at one end and tied round a pencil at the other. The wick should be very taut - this is easily adjusted by pulling out the blue tack and replacing it when wick has been suitably tightened. The chunks look most effective when pressed up to the edge.
3. Heat white parafin wax in old saucepan. Add stearin if desired for even burning, but it’s not neccessary. Don’t let it get too hot. The recommended method is using a double boiler but I don’t.
4. Add a small amount of ordinary glitter and carefully pour in wax. Add one or two drops only of essential oil if desired. Leave to set overnight. If you are in a hurry, you can set the candles in a sink of cold water for a couple of hours.
5. Loosen from mould by carefully scraping top edge with sharp knife and trying to let the air in the sides. Remove pencil and tack and voila - a beautiful textured subtly coloured candle.

This took us about 20 mins plus setting time. If anyone wants to borrow moulds I have three decent ones and other wee ones.

I am Galadriel.

Possessing a rare combination of wisdom and humility, while serenely dominating
your environment you selflessly use your powers to care for others.

Its true.

Even the tallest person can change the course of the future.

No, its not a fix as mr Ben suggested!

I defy anyone to produce more Galadrielishness than me. I even have the dress.

I also have quite a lot of Eowynishness too. As two people have said to me in the last week.

The solo talk is an assessment dreaded by the majority of pupils and often causes them to say and do things they really shouldn’t. One got up and said “I am going to be disgusting…” instead of discussing. One boy did a talk on an evil asassain and he was asked the question, “So do you see many similarities between the character and yourself?”

My all time favourite has to be a second year pupil on the topic of penguins. I had thought my instructions were sufficiently clear, but the boy, a new pupil to the school, turned up with a foil parcel and requested a tape player. The bit he had obviously really taken to heart was about the visual/auditory aids. I was intrigued. As yet I didn’t know much about him and he was quietly mysterious. Following the exemplary five minute expositions on healthy eating and artificial intelligence was always going to be hard.

We had thirty seconds that went something like this:

“I’m going to talk to you today about penguins. I’d like to start by playing you the Pingu theme tune…oh the tape seems to be broken… anyway, penguins eat fish, so I’m going to pass this fish round for you all to look at. (Unwraps foil parcel and hands to squeamish pupils.) Penguins live near the Antarctic. Are there any questions?”

The class were tickled by this subversion of the genre and the fact that the new boy had a gift for quirky humour. I was laughing so hard I was practically bent double with my head on the desk unable to speak. There have been very few stand up comedians that I have enjoyed more, so that’s what I marked him on.

I really want to know what he said to his mother about why he needed a whole salmon for school that day…its not like we taught Home Economics in that school.

Do any of you have public speaking stories to share?