BTW, the poem below "There are sweet fields" is the poem Woo chose last week - I realise I didn't include it or the title.
Finishing off other threads - here is Bunnykin's map of the European continent:
That was Monday I guess - finishing off the map and all the usual tidying up. Rather there wasn't all the usual cleaning as I wasn't feeling great, hayfever I think, - my sinuses were busting out of my head - so I ended up not going to Ukuleleland practice either.
Tuesday I still felt a bit bushed, but we had our school field trip. This time we watched an episode of a house through time which is currently set in Bristol. The history relating to slaving felt particularly relevant at this time and we were all rapt by the detail and the close to home history.
In the afternoon, Bunnykins and I got started on one of her school science topic tasks. The topic this term is light. We built a periscope including talking about and working out the angles to get the light all the way through the thing.
Bear of course was busy people watching...no help at all...
The fruit in our garden is getting riper every day. I think with all this sunny then rainy weather it will hopefully be a good crop.
On Wednesday I was out taking some pictures of the deck to send to people to quote on creating some kind of outdoor covered area for here. I am getting a little obsessed with it. Since the railing came down, this area has been even more unwelcoming, though at least now it's tidy.
Bunnykins got all her maths and english done quickly so we got on with an extension task for her english - to create an animation relating to a story they are studying called "Eric". We took some pictures of Rackles as Eric.
Then Bunnykins did the editing.
The finished result:
On Wednesday afternoon Ukuleleland had a gig. We had assumed it would be called off due to poor weather, but the forecast gave a last minute reprieve and we were there for 3pm start, though unfortunately Geoff got in a bit of a muddle and didn't join us 😟.
The gig was in the garden of a local care home. The home is quite modern with several floors, each having common rooms with balconies. The residents were sat on the various balconies far removed from us. Naomi had to set up on her own, then we came along and stretched ourselves out along the garden path and plugged in our mic's. There's a thing...I have my own mic now! It was a covid-19 necessity, but how much of a rockstar am I?! 😎😜😝😂
It was lovely to see Ben too. This was our first socially distanced gig. Normally Ben and I stand together and he shares my book which has all the notes written on each song about whether we start at a funny spot or repeat the end verses or whatever. He had brought his own book, but I realised with some horror a few songs in...he didn't have the notes and he tends to lead. My shocked looks did nothing helpful to convey that he was starting in completely the wrong place for our three little bird medally 😨 but we all styled it out and I will get his book sorted for him before we have another gig (hopefully we have another gig).
The gig went really well. It was a beautiful garden to play in and it was lovely to see the residents sitting on the balconies smiling and singing along. The carers were wandering about and dancing, they also took a few pictures for us and some videos. They are doing a great job looking after the people here. They were saying how wonderful it was to have a little bit of something different and fun here after so long.
It is really nice to hear us all together and the set went well.
I particularly enjoyed our cover of 500 miles that we did and also Lifting me Higher. It felt really good to get to the end of each and feel like we had done them well and to see people singing and dancing along. We do alot of the older tunes for gigs like this, especially this year we had got together a VE day set of 40s songs - sadly not to be performed. Those kind of songs are great on the Ukulele and work well as sing alongs for the care homes: When you're smiling, don't sit under the apple tree, we'll meet again, it's a long way to Tipperary and knees up mother brown and the like. But I really enjoy the songs that have a bit more depth and detail to them, when we get harmonies going or slightly more complex arrangements.
Our last song was Somebody to Love. It was the best we've played it so far. There was a bit of freestyling from Kevan in his section, but we were able to work with it and I picked up my section and felt confident with my singing. My voice isn't that much to speak of, but I get the high notes. Naomi has a beautiful voice, but it is certainly alot deeper than mine and she struggles with some of the really high stuff. My section ends with the high held "sombody toooooo ...." (love). Each time I come up to it, and with lots of other bits or solos I have to do, I have this strange confident blankness. I can't see in my head what the next bit is, I just remember that I had always felt like that and I know that I will find it at the moment I need to. It was a lovely feeling to be in that moment, in that beautiful garden, doing something nice for those people in the home. I got to the high note and found it confidently and out it came as clear as I have ever managed it. It is held a moment to silence and then I sing "love" and everyone else joins in because that is where it goes low and then I sound terrible 😂. But that point where everyone joins in is like a huge breath out. After that point I am then just leading us to the finish which went really well too. I felt really upbeat, euphoric even. Sure it wasn't perfect but we are moving forward with it and it was appreciated. It felt really good.
Last week on the mummies call, Sharon mentioned there was a new hunger games book out - a prequel. I hadn't heard about this but went online and found it and ordered it. I know that all the ladies of TeamChallis would be keen to read it. It came and I offered it to Woo first as the biggest fan. It's a big book, but she has been devouring it which is lovely to see. When I got back from the gig, she was reading and Bunnykins was creating a weapons room...
I particularly liked the two person vehicle that one person drives and the other stands on the platform at the back to work the weapons (including flame throwers).
Woo nipped out to get some fruit, even in a few days we are now finding that there are raspberries to be picked in addition to the strawberries. The redcurrants and gooseberries are probably a week or so away - but soon.
Wednesday after tea was our inaugural art club meeting. We had agreed the theme the week before - World Issues. Maybe that was the inaugural meeting? 😏
Mark started us off. He had done an artwork based on the George Floyd murder. He wrote out the number of seconds that the police officer had knelt on his neck and how for the last 163 seconds George was unconscious. I think the girls were interested as to this being art - i.e. something that was about an idea rather than about drawing skills. We have dragged them around enough modern art galleries so hopefully it's not too foreign. It was very powerful and moving. It is alot of seconds. Counting out that time and thinking about the pain and distress he was in - he was dying - and no-one helped him. It was the police that killed him. It didn't need to be a fine and fancy drawing to get that across.
I explained mine last week, but here is the finished version:
Woo's was about love protecting people. I liked the detail of the grass and flowers and how she had worked out that composition and the little patch of world where things were still OK. The girl was protecting the boy by taking the arrows. I hope she pulls through that OK.
Bunnykins talked about her work which was to have two sides of a street. One side was her idea of a nice world. Everyone was walking and cycling. Hannah and I are on there just back from charity shopping, Woo is cycling with Mark and Bunnykins is enjoying being with her friends. There are the things a nice place needs; cakes, restaurants, care home, hospital, the beach and museum are nearby. On the other side of the street are lots of cars and a rotten broke down old pub.
I loved the freedom she had with it. It's colourful and exuberant. I love all those cycling people with their jolly legs and hats. It reminds me of how she used to draw. I think it's great. The people are simple but still so expressive.
The theme for next week is food.
On Thursday I had a delivery of some plug plants in readiness for making the near deck a bit more pleasant. Woo helped me pot them on.
I then did some tidying around of various spots including this table in the back room so I could set up a still life. I wanted something that looked like a traditional still life but had elements of things that were important in this lockdown. Getting hold of mug cakes has been a devil of a job. Then of course there is loo roll at the back. There was a week or two when wine was looking hard to get hold of. The jar has rice in it, which has been rationed effectively by the supermarkets. Bread flour (and flour in general) has been one of our biggest hard to get items. I think I've said previously how it's about the packaging, well it's getting easier now but in thinking about the theme of food - I wanted to make some seemingly ordinary foods the subject of a homage to how important food is. And not just getting basic food - sure we have never had to face the idea of starving. But it is things like chocolate and wine and mug cakes that have become huge highlights when Mark has brought them triumphantly home.
In the post we got a lovely surprise. Bunnykins had won the KS2 500 words competition and got a £10 book token - great work!
It was a miserable afternoon. I persuaded the girls to come out for a walk (best time to be in the park is when it's miserable). The suggestion of popping by the hatch was seized on, so off we went.
Just incase it wasn't clear, these first photos are the girls holding their umbrellas like they are studio Ghibli characters...😄
Heading straight for the hatch...
We had a good wander around. When we arrived back it was clear to me what the final part of my still life should be...
I added in the cup. I missed my decaf mochas while the cafe was shut. It was a luxury indeed to be able to just go out and get a lovely drink like that. Don't get me wrong - I know I live a charmed life. I just want to celebrate those food and drink items that I have realised I can take for granted.
Thursday evening was ukulele lesson with Ben. We have been working on some Dolly Parton songs. One I think will be just a me and Ben thing. Another one might be one that Ukuleleland like - we'll see. But it is fun playing around with it all even if it is at a distance.
Friday we had a go at another of Bunnykin's science tasks, looking at refraction.
Tbh she was really not interested and it was a massive pain in the butt 😀...such are the joys of home schooling. 😜
To brighten up my afternoon, a package arrived.
It was some shoes for my birthday from Mark. I have previously had some very similar, but I wore them and wore them and they have fallen apart to a point that cannot be repaired. So I had these made up for me. I was nervous that they wouldn't fit. But the fit was great and I love them already 😍
Mark also has new shoes for his birthday which he cheekily persuaded me to let him have as his old runners were bust.
Bunnykins had been studying a Maya Angelou poem earlier in the day so read that to us very beautifully.
Mark went for some Seamus Heaney
On Saturday morning, I started some weeding. Mark and Woo were moving wood out of the greenhouse to the new wood store. I had also said that I would like to tidy out the greenhouse a little so Mark moved some big bits of insulation he is storing there. Only to find a wasps nest (which turned out to be 2 wasps nests). Bit of a pain and everything is still a bit of a mess and we currently can't get in there to sort it. Mark keeps going out and bit by bit getting bits of it sealed up...or hitting it with a long stick...not so sure about the logic of that but hey rather that than a short stick.
I weeded around the fruit bushes and started picking some fruit. The raspberries are really going for it now.
We had a parcel arrive with Wye Valley treats from Marian which was lovely.
I sat down to have a go at my still life.
Then Bunnykins wanted to play her board games. She makes great board games. I love this one shown here. It's quite complex, the squares are colour coded. If you land on a red you get asked a maths question and if you get it right you go forward a number on the card and back if you get it wrong. If you land on blue you pick up a blue card which generally has bad things like missing a go or going back. If you land on a square with a ? you take a chance card which can go either way. If you land on a purple you take a power up which is good stuff like going forward or moving to the next colour X or skipping a blue card. If you land on a green you get asked a pointless question, things like "what food have you never tasted but would like to try?". Each turn is quite a dance of backwards and forwards but it is quite nicely balanced so that for the most time it isn't some endless back and forth.
We then played another game she had created which was a little more like snakes and ladders. For some reason you had to choose from 4 colours: red, blue, pink or flying (yes, flying is a colour apparently). Each character had a special bonus square which you could miss entirely or if you landed on it your own you got a massive boost. There was a funny thing like a square saying "nice coat!" and then a few squares later a thunderstorm square. It wasn't clear until Bunnykins told us but you couldn't pass the thunderstorm without a coat so had to go back. Then entirely randomly for the last 1/4 of the board you start earning money with each throw - but it's entirely random cards - could be £100 could be £13,000...Woo and I were laughing away trying to understand it, but loving it all the same. Bunnykins of course felt it was all entirely logical...
On Sunday we thought it was father's day so celebrated that and made a small fuss of Mark with presents and cards. Turns out it wasn't but hey!
He and Woo went off to archery. Bunnykins and I played more games - brainmaster, who's who and prickly pile up. Bunnykins was lethal at who's who. It hadn't really dawned on me that because we were not adding the cards back to the pile of who we had had that she was remembering who I had had and who she had had and discounting them from her guesses. I know I am supposed to be clever, but I did feel very dumb when with about 10 flaps still up she would correctly guess my character. I didn't catch on for ages! 😂
I was finally released back to doing a bit more on my still life. I decided to use watercolour pencils as they can be quite precise which I thought would be good for all the lettering.
The finished item:
During tea time, Bunnykins suddenly exclaimed and spat something out. It has been so long since the last one that it took me a moment to realise it was a baby tooth.
We finished off with a game of cluedo, which I thought I was about to win - guessed the murderer etc. but of course got wrong. Nothing like a day of board games with the kids to make you feel like an idiot 😀.
I think if I was going to sum up how I am feeling towards the end of last week - it's both hemmed in and wanting to hide. The world outside feels chaotic and unsafe still at the moment - I have a strong instinct to hide and make home even more homely and nice and never go out. I do love being here with Mark and the girls. There is so much to be grateful for. On the other hand I have at times started to feel hemmed in and a little suffocated by this same small existence. I imagine there is nothing at all surprising with that.
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