Monday
Bunnykins had been very pleased with her weekend. I did laugh to see this appearing on the side...I suppose it is fair though as it was a birthday present 😀.
Got Bunnykin's phone finally sorted and wrapped. Ran round with a bit of cleaning and then went to pick up Bunnykins.
In the evening we were back in Geoff's garage for UkuleleLand practice. Naomi was with us this time, so we had a go at "I know him so well" - it should be good, but I am definitely the weak link. There is a bit where Naomi sings harmonies to my singing the main verse. I am entirely aware of me in my head staring sternly at myself and saying "CONCENTRATE ON YOUR BIT...SING YOUR NOTES...DON'T FOLLOW WHAT SHE IS SINGING!!!!!" and surprisingly I manage to get through it even with all those things jostling around 😄.
Ben got a moth on his hat...not a great excitement, but worth a picture....
I had put out my new solar lantern earlier, when I got home it was looking lovely on the back deck.
Including the phone....
She has long been fascinated by pop up books and likes to make her own. This was one from an artist recommended by Pippa - Robert Sabuda. The pop-ups are incredible.
She wanted to start making her lego before school. We had got her the room of requirement and Granny and Grandpa had got her one of the Hogwarts towers.
Having Luna's Petronus was the main attraction of the room of requirement...
She went off to school and of course the first priority was selfies with one of her Besties....
after school she was straight on with the Hogwarts' tower.
Tuesday
It was Bunnykins birthday. In her birthday plan, she had specified a birthday breakfast. Mark and I had got it laid out the night before and we both got up a bit earlier so we could all be together around the breakfast table while she opened her presents. She was really chuffed with everything she got.
She also loves a 3D jigsaw...and what could be better than a Harry Potter one!
She went off to school and of course the first priority was selfies with one of her Besties....
It did remind me of this picture of her from her birthday back when I think she was 4!
And then on the way home...
Wednesday
Wednesday was a pretty nothing day. Mark was in the office, I ran home, did the usual messing around. Had a shower. Then my aim was to submit my application for the Leeds job. I had another go over it, but I really wanted Mark to have a look at it and he wasn't around. So in the end I think I didn't really do much at all.
When he got home, he gave me a few comments. I got the changes made and got the thing submitted.
Thursday
It was nice to wake up with a feeling that I didn't have anything that I had to do. I mean that I had got those two applications in, there was nothing more to be done there. My intention at the moment is to focus on those two. If neither come off, then I will keep looking. Otherwise I am just going to try to make the most of this time and freedom. If I end up working full time at either one of them, then I will miss this time.
I walked Bunnykins to school. It was raining steadily, so I took the new golf umbrella that Mark had bought recently. It was windy going through Downend, so I closed it. But by the time we got past the high street it was much calmer and the umbrella was doing a good job of keeping us both dry.
I saw Bunnykins go in, turned around and started to walk home. A slight gust pushed the umbrella back a bit and within a second the bloody thing had not only turned inside out but at least 4 of the struts had bent and pinged out of the body. So there I was, stood in the rain, trying to wrestle this thing the right way round. There were no bins nearby, I wasn't going to just dump this thing. It wouldn't have fit in a bin anyway, it was bloody ridiculous. I finally got it the right way round and with the broken struts aligned back in just so I could shut the damned thing. I carried on home in the rain. I was so mad!!! I know this seems crazy...but it seemed symptomatic of a world with all it's values wrong. To make something using all these materials that can be just sold without a care, even though it can't do it's job under the slightest of adversity. What a damn waste! This thing had only made the world worse. And for a while I just walked home thinking "What is the point? What is the point to living? What the hell is this all about?" And I felt mad, and I felt dark and angry. I look at that now and know how that makes me seem like a crazy person, but I go there sometimes, not for long, but at the time all I see is how wrong the world is and I see it with horrible clarity and I know (when I look back in) that for that time I am lost to everything good. And then it disappears and I think - how can I have been in that place? I think what brought me out was that I imagined Mark being cross that I had killed his umbrella and I realised that in this mood, the furry that that would unleash within me - it wasn't good. So I used some mindfulness - the 5,4,3,2,1 exercise is handy:
- 5 things I can see
- 4 things I can feel (including physical sensations like the feel of my foot in my shoe)
- 3 things I can hear
- 2 things I can smell
- 1 thing I can taste
I got home feeling like me again, and of course Mark was entirely lovely - he had messaged me to ask if I wanted picking up as it was raining so hard but I hadn't heard my phone. He was cross with the umbrella too, but entirely caring about me...there is of course so much good in the world. I do know it.
I did some yoga and decided to research buying us a bloody good umbrella.
By lunchtime the rain had eased. Mark and I went for a walk around the park. I was surprised with how much the leaves had turned already just since I sat under here last week.
Friday
I got with sorting out some photo books, which was good to feel I was making progress on. I don't think there is otherwise much to say about the day!
Saturday
I had called on Thursday to check, but the canoeing couldn't be rescheduled to Saturday from last week. The river was too high. Mark took the girls over to Chepstow anyway so that they could go for a walk with Marian and the twins. They had a great long walk past an ice cream place and up to the Devil's pulpit.
I had a few chores to sort but then got on with the mural. I put on some podcasts on BBC Sounds and just got stuck in.
I had a walk out to get a coffee from the hatch (Decaf' mocha, no syrup), but otherwise I worked fairly steadily on it and was just finishing painting the last of the wood on the bobbins when Mark and the girls arrived home. I didn't feel like I made a lot of progress, but working with wall paints isn't like painting with a paint box of colours. Mixing them is time consuming, they dry quickly on the surface. Anyway, I had enjoyed the process. Little My is one of my favourite characters.
After tea I finished my book sat by the window. I really enjoyed it. It is a long book, I felt like I had lived a whole life with Alma the heroine. Not just that, the scientific detail is compelling, you could almost believe you have lived the life of a botanist. There was a lot that I identified with Alma. Much of it is summed up in this paragraph towards the very end of the book.
I then thought I would add them in for the other Moomin characters. The pencil marks are easily lost when painting with wall paint. By black outlining the character features they are visible even when painted on and can then just be refreshed at the end.
I won't outline the plants and other features, but they are not so hard to get correct. No-one can tell in the same way if a rose petal is a bit too large, but they would see it in Moomin-mamma's nose.
Sunday
Woo came into my bed after Mark had gone down to make breakfast. She brought Bear with her asked him questions on philosophy and the meaning to life. He is a wise old soul. The three of us had a good chat a while until called to eat pancakes.
After breakfast, Mark and Woo went off to frisbee. Bunnykins wanted to do some school stuff - competing on Times Tables rock stars. I went over my painting from yesterday, re instating the black outlines.
At 3pm I spoke to Stella on the phone. It was so lovely, we just talked and talked. We were laughing about how great it would be to have our own podcast or radio show where we can just chat for hours. We would cover fashion, music, philosophy, mental health, anything really!
I think that I will post this now even though it is only 5pm, but I don't suspect that I will do much else of interest this week. My plan for the rest of the day is to read my book and look out at my begonias; if I get to do that then I will feel pretty content with how things are.
No comments:
Post a Comment