Eats plants
The finale for Elizabeth's school of Highland Dance end of year show was last night. We went to the opening night and it was fantastic. Yesterday I was wishing I'd bought a second ticket so I could go and watch it again but they'd completely sold out. Never mind, we'll get the DVD when it… Continue reading Highland dance finale, sushi, school reports, and a cat pic
I had a bad haircut just before Christmas and couldn't stand it any longer so today, on the spur of the moment, I went in search of a haircut. All the women reading my blog will understand the impossibility of my quest: one does not simply walk into a hair salon on a Saturday afternoon… Continue reading A hair cut, pea and mint soup recipe, and giant violins
I had my booster shot on Saturday and that completely wiped me out for the rest of the weekend. I'm only just feeling better today. I got a half dose of Moderna after having had two jabs of Pfizer. I had a similarly bad reaction after my second Pfizer dose with fever, aches, headache, and… Continue reading Booster shot and back to school
We had Meatless Farm burgers for dinner last night. I've become a Meatless Farm convert: they're UK-based and much cheaper than the Beyond Burger but with similar ingredients. Both are made with pea protein. They taste delicious too and are good for a quick, easy meal when you don't feel like cooking. As part of… Continue reading Meatless Farm and Elizabeth’s biology poster
The kids started back at their online school yesterday. Everything went very well and I think they even enjoyed it. They were both ready to go back. Elizabeth started labelling all her notebooks last week and transcribed her French dictionary into the new book. The school gives them a nice structure to the day as… Continue reading Online schooling
There was a good article in The Times last weekend - Coronavirus: The new rhythms of life will jolt and jar as we try to live with this horrible teenager. In particular, I thought it would be good to get people's thoughts on this quote: “In Asia we are doing mandatory quarantining,” says Ben Cowling,… Continue reading Would you agree to quarantine in a “facility”?
There's a Chinese curse, may you live through interesting times. On a personal level, the Christchurch earthquakes make this pandemic seem like a walk in the park because that was a much tougher period of time for us. Nevertheless, both events brought strange changes and have made me think of the Chinese curse. But there… Continue reading May you live through interesting times
I saw this on Twitter yesterday. I don't know where it was taken but it's obviously somewhere in the UK - the scenery, the sky, the houses, the signs, and the Dalek on the left side of the road all point to somewhere in the UK. https://twitter.com/Jamin2g/status/1246145580402966528 It's school holidays this week and next and… Continue reading All humans must self-isolate by order of the Daleks
Elizabeth competed in the Robert Burns World Federation North East of Scotland schools competition today. She recited The Banks O' Doon by Robert Burns and did marvellously. She came third and got a bronze medal. I took a video. The standard was high and there was lots of tough competition so we're very proud of… Continue reading Elizabeth got a bronze medal
Elizabeth has applied to be on a Scratch game creator team at school. She completed the application form all by herself. We never even saw it until she'd filled it in and she's done a terrific job for a 10-year-old. I'd hire her! Filling in forms is not easy to do but it's an important… Continue reading Elizabeth’s application form
Daniel started high school last month and he's loving it. I was worried about it all summer but I needn't have been. He's settled in so well, his best friend is in his class, and he's enjoying the wide variety of subjects he gets to study now. He especially likes home economics where they get… Continue reading State schooling
The Scottish state-funded education system is brilliant. Daniel will be starting secondary school in August and they have a transitioning program for pupils that starts in primary 6, two years before they leave primary school. This began with short visits to the secondary school and has culminated this week with pupils getting to spend two… Continue reading Scottish education, doggies, and Brexit
Parents in Manchester have been protesting outside schools about the No Outsiders programme which teaches kids that it's ok to be gay. When I first saw the protestors I thought schools must have been showing kids x-rated pornography, but it turns out all they are doing is explaining that some kids have two mummies and… Continue reading LGBT lessons and protesting parents
I'm so proud of this boy who was voted House Captain by his peers! Well done, Daniel. You can't see the yellow badge very well so I took a closeup although it's a bit blurry. The vote happened on Wednesday and there were two others going for House Captain in his house. Daniel gave a… Continue reading The amazing Daniel
It was parent-teacher interviews at school last night and I'm so proud of the kids. They're just amazing in every way. Elizabeth, according to her teacher, finishes her maths work in class then goes around from table to table helping other pupils with theirs. Her writing is also exemplary and she is spelling to the… Continue reading My kids are amazing and I was on TV!
Elizabeth (who is 8) and her friend have started a committee at lunchtime called The Plant Police. The aim of this committee - from what I understand - is to protect the plants in the playground from rampaging children. I know what you're thinking - she's my mini-me. I almost feel a bit bad: what… Continue reading The Plant Police
I have spent most of this weekend hard at work in the kitchen. The school had an international festival today and the mum organising it asked me whether I'd like to bring some vegan food. I was delighted to be asked and felt I had to put on a good spread as a representative of plant-based… Continue reading International Festival
It's tough when your kids don't have any friends at school. That has been the case for Daniel until this year. He was put into the wrong year when we first arrived and was the youngest in his class both in age and maturity. The children were all nice to him but they didn't view him… Continue reading Making friends at school and cycling in the rain
I spent most of my day off yesterday working in the school garden. Somehow it doesn't look much better despite my best efforts. It's just an ugly garden. Most of my time was spent removing a rogue bamboo which spreads faster than any other plant I've seen. I do like bamboo and I wouldn't mind it… Continue reading The school garden
We got some great news today about Daniel: it looks like they're going to let him repeat year 5 next year at school. It might seem like a strange thing to be happy about and also a very simple thing to arrange but it really wasn't. They don't let children repeat years in Scotland for two… Continue reading Repeating a year at school
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