Going Postal

Has anyone else noticed Julie Kirk going a bit 'postal' recently?  Lots of ideas for using postcards and stamps and anything post related really.  So I thought I would set you a puzzle.  How did a liking for Davy Jones and the TV show The Monkees lead to a 45 year old friendship with a person I've only met three times?

 

The story starts in 1968, with me at primary school and loving the music of The Monkees.  I loved the TV show so much that I joined their fan club.  I used to get newsletters every now and again and in one edition they were advertising a pen-pal service to link up fans in different countries.  Oh wow.  I knew I wanted to get involved.  I filled in my form.  'What state do you want your pen pal to come from?'  Well the one state I had heard of that sounded glamorous was California, so that was what I wrote.  However, when they wrote back, they said they didn't have anyone in California (what?  No Monkees fans in California - I can't believe it!) but they had someone in Chicago who matched my likes and dislikes.  And so I wrote a letter to a total stranger, explaining how I loved the Monkees, especially Davy Jones, I had a black poodle and I loved  writing stories.  I wrote it on a special air mail letter that was wafer thin paper with little flaps and a striped edge to it.  I took it to the post office and posted it off.

 

I probably drove the whole family mad wondering when a reply would come, wondering IF a reply would come and who would be reading my letter. A few weeks later I was so excited to see a letter on the side with my name written in an unknown handwriting style.  It had an unusual stamp on it and a return address in Chicago.  It was from a girl called Cindy (I'd never heard of anyone called Cindy before apart from my Sindy doll and it sounded so foreign and exotic).  She was sorry it had taken her a while to reply as she had had an accident and had to have her arm set in plaster so she couldn't write properly.  She had a dog too, and she was just a little bit older, but loved the Monkees.

And so began a long distance friendship.  We've grown up together, each of us got married, had children, gone through the ups and downs that life threw at us.  We went from writing letters, to sending cassette tapes, where we would talk on one side and record our favourite Top Ten music hits on the other.  Then emails and now Facebook messages.  We've met three times.  She came over when we were 20, then we met up when I went to Florida with my family in 1998 and she came over a couple of years ago on her way to join a cruise ship for a European cruise.  All thanks to a chance letter sent into a fan club magazine!

 

There's been a fair few stamps stuck on letters and postcards and so I hope that this will work in linking up with Julie's theme.  Looking at these stamps, I'm guessing it costs a lot more than 20c to get a letter sent Air Mail from the US to the UK nowadays! 

Power down

A strange thing happened at work today.  At about 11.30 we had a power cut.  It's not something that happens very often because not only are we a school but we are only about half a mile from the local hospital, so we're kind of on a protected circuit.  When the power hadn't come back 5 minutes later, the guys in the IT network office started to get a bit twitchy.  Because the backup computer generator only lasts 10 mins and they only had 5 minutes to close everything down safely or there would be mega problems with loss of data. 
After about half an hour, rumours started to fly.  Parents started coming into school.  They were 'just passing' and wondered if we would be closing early.  Because of course, our whole telephone system crashed and no one could ring up to check.
Delivery drivers came in with tales of the whole town being without power.  Shops closing as their electronic tills couldn't work.  Traffic lights being out of action, roads being gridlocked.  The train station couldn't sell tickets as they are all automated.  The mobile phone networks must have been deluged with extra demand as it was hard to get a signal.  The school manager managed to use the payphone and talk to National Grid.  It could be out for up to four hours.  The canteen manager came to ask how she was expected to cook dinners for over 1000 people. 
Soon the rumours were stating a 24 hour shut down and it was not only our town but 'the whole of the South East of England.'  I guess it's a form of 'Chinese whispers'!
Now it's fairly easy for a teacher to carry on as normal, although any interactive whiteboards etc. were useless, but imagine being a secretary.  How much work can you do with no electricity?  No computer so no typing, no letters, no labels. Can't get on the school's database so can't do any reports, can't add any admission applications, can't even track down students if their parent's turn up with a PE kit that got left at home as we can't check their timetables.  So we tidied.  We sorted paperwork.  We filed.  By lunchtime our desks were pristine.  Never has my desk been so tidy.  And at half past 2 I was sent home!!!  Even once power is resumed it takes an hour and a half to reboot the network which took us past my going home time. 
And the even better news?  When I got home, expecting defrosting freezers and warm fridge - the power had just come back on my side of town.  But it really makes you realize how dependent we are on electricity because whilst we were smugly saying how we could use our mobile phones, what would happen once the batteries ran down? Those of us who grew up in the late 70s reminisced about the way things were during the power cuts back then and how we all soldiered on. 
So whilst it was nice to have an early end to my day, I've got a heck of a lot of work left to get through tomorrow!

Projects

I'm not sure that I've really got time to go to work at the moment, there's far too many interesting things going on.  I'm absolutely loving my quilting and so excited to be taking part in the Friendship Quilt organized by Fiona.  She sent us the information for the first month and I was fortunate enough to have the day off work on the 2nd of the month.  Abi had chosen the colours of 'neutral with a pop of colour' and I loved the excuse to go browsing for some new fabrics.  I know that Abi is currently at university in Durham where there is a beautiful cathedral and I also know that the church is a big part of Abi's life - so it was perfect for me to do a cathedral window pattern.  I made two squares, one with pink on taupe and one with taupe on pink then drove the family mad by asking which one they thought was best!  This was the one they chose:

So of course, I get to keep the alternative one ;-)

We've now got the colour schemes for everyone else so I know that my next one will be peach.  Which gave me the perfect excuse to go out shopping for more fabric, which was also the perfect excuse to go out in my new car!  I thought I loved my first mini but I really love my new one.

So, I'm jumping ahead of myself - Saturday was the EK crop and the class was taught by Ann Freeman who had designed two lovely layouts for us.  In the morning I 'did my own thing' (drank mugs of tea, ate cake and did a lot of chatting with Jane) and even managed to get a couple of scenic photos of Ibiza onto a layout. 

For the first of Ann's layouts I used a couple of pictures that we took when we went out for a meal after J's graduation.  Photos of him and his sister are rare now so it was lovely to get one of them together as well as one of him and his girlfriend.

Karen had cooked up a storm and provided us with scrummy cupcakes.

Clearly a scrapper needs to keep her sugar levels up to keep the creative energy flowing. 

And so onto the next of Ann's layouts which I used as an opportunity to display a self timer picture of me and Paul.  We always do a self timer picture on hotel balconies when we are on holiday and it always involves about 20 pictures before we get one that we both like! 

I had my performance appraisal at work on Friday and my line manager said that no matter what was going on, and however busy we were, I was always cheerful and everyone always comments on what a positive attitude I have all the time. I think she was a little taken aback when I said that the reason for that was that I didn't work full time and that because I have Wednesdays off, I am never more than two days away from a day out of the office doing something I enjoy (ie not being at work!). I suggested that it might be nice if everyone only worked 2 days then 1 day off then 2 days and then a weekend, but she didn't seem to think the board of governors would agree to it!  Shall we take a vote?  Hands up who thinks that everyone should have an extra day off mid week.  Motion carried, see you all on Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storytelling Sunday - A Level Toys

Act One
Scene One

Three 16 year old friends are sitting around a table in the needlework classroom of a secondary school.  The teacher is telling them the items that they will need to make in the next two years in order to get their A Level: an outfit for themselves comprising of a jacket and at least one other item, an item of children's clothing incorporating hand embroidery and a soft toy. 

The girls search through a Simplicity sewing pattern book for inspiration.  The smallest of the group sees something that takes her eye.  Something that will fulfil the last criteria and give her the opportunity to customise it to show off an extra sewing skill.  In order to make life much more difficult for herself, she decides to make the base of the toy out of cordoroy which will prove very difficult to work with and cause endless frustration trying to line the fabric up with the pile going in the right direction and all stripes of the cord matching exactly.  She will also choose to do hand sewing to make the major part of the toy, trying a technique she has never used before.  Something that seemed a good idea at the time, but will untimately reduce her to tears as the teacher looks at it and says 'No, I can see your stitching.  Unpick it and start again.' 

After finishing the items and passing the exam, they will be packed up and put in the loft.  They will be transported during each future house move and each time she will be quizzed 'Are you sure you want to keep this?' and she will reply 'Yes, I spent HOURS making that, I'm never throwing it away'.  For it does not only represent an exam project, it reminds her of the hours spent in the company of good friends, chatting, laughing, sometimes crying, discussing hopes and dreams for the future.  It holds such memories of two years of growing up from a school girl to a young woman.  And one day, someone will encourage her to bring down that toy and share it as part of Storytelling Sunday.

My Month in Numbers - September

Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

 

 

Any other fans of Earth Wind and Fire out there? Ah, takes me back to my youth ...

This is yet another great sing-a-long in the car songs, volume up, singing at the top of your voice - no wonder no one ever takes me up on the offer of a lift home anymore.  Talking of cars and let's get the exciting bit out of the way early.  Number of new cars ordered.  ONE.  Excited?  Me?  Pah!  I can't stop smiling!  You see, I have a mini already and I love it.  I'm not one for fancy cars, and really couldn't care less about the gadgets and gizmos but I just love my mini.  It's easy and fun to drive and I love it.  I have loved it since the day I brought it home in 2004 but that's now nearly 10 years ago and I have to face facts that it is going to start costing me money as things wear out and so I have traded it in.  For a shiny red one.

So, let's think what else has been happening.  Three birthdays this month so 152 candles used up. 

Our wedding anniversary was this month.  33 years.  Oh my goodness, unless I was a child bride (I wasn't) that makes me officially very old.  How wedding dresses have changed since then.  1980 was the year of the crinoline style dress with hoops under the skirt which felt really weird to walk in but very elegant I guess. Bit of a challenge getting into a cubicle in the ladies loo at the reception but hey ho! 

I went to one crop this month.  I completed the album containing all 21 items in Rinda's Scavenger Hunt and partially made the mini album which was the class that Karen taught. 2 cup cakes found their way from the kitchen to my mouth.

3 meals out. Mexican, Mediterranean and Indian. Please don't make me count the number of glasses of wine consumed.  It was not a good month for healthy eating/drinking/living. 

1 visit to the vets for Coco's 2nd annual check up.

I finished my 4th quilt.  This could be becoming an obsession.  My husband is wondering when the dining room table will be available to use again as a dining room table and not a place where I do my sewing.

 

3 days that my son was home visiting.  Which made me very happy. Right up until we got to the point where he said 'well, I guess I ought to leave for the airport now.' When we had dropped him off at the departure, I'm not sure who was 'mithering' the most in the car.  Me or Coco.  Well actually it was Coco, who managed to howl from the airport to the motorway roundabout. I don't know where I picked up the word 'mither' because apparently it's a northern word and I'm definitely not a northerner.  As proved by the first item in the communal count.  (See how I seamlessly linked these two parts together?) 

How far do you live from the first school you attended? 7 miles .  I haven't moved much have I? Just over the county border between being an 'Essex girl' and the Hertfordshire County set. 

And, milk.  How many pints and how much does it cost. Well it's about £1.29 on average for a 4 pint bottle and 89p for a 2 pint.  I tend to buy a 4 pint container over the weekend and then top up with smaller ones during the week.  We got through 32 pints this month.  That's between 3 of us, although my daughter really only uses milk in coffee.  If we had done this when my son was still at home it would have been a lot, lot more!

This post is brought to you via Julie's blog where you will see that her month included cake, massages and potentially radio-active spiders.

 

 

Let's sit and have a cup of coffee

It's the 27th again and time to sit down, relax and have a well deserved cup of coffee.

 

Boy it's been busy at work, but I would explain how relieved I am to have an 'inset' day today and not  have to go into work. I would tell you how I have taken on some new jobs in the office, one of which is helping with admissions. It was our Open Evening last night and I suspect that when I go in on Monday it will be crazily busy. We're the only single-sex school in our area so we are greatly oversubscribed each year. 160 places and regularly over 300 applicants.

The cake I made for when Jon came home last weekend has long gone, but I've some rather nice biscuits here, please have a couple, I need to step away from their temptation. I'm still aching a little from the Fitsteps exercise class I took last night, but it is a fun way to keep fit.  It's designed by one of the Strictly Come Dancing professionals and I would ask if you were a fan of the programme. It starts this weekend and I can't wait!

Talking of TV I would ask if you were watching the Great British Bake Off. I love it but can't decide still who I want to win.

We would probably notice that Coco has made herself comfortable on the new quilt and I would tell you how excited I am to be part of Fiona's friendship quilt team. I can't wait to get started. Plus my niece has asked me to make her two children patchwork floor cushions for their Christmas presents. My sewing machine hasn't seen so much action in years!

Where has the time gone? It's been great to catch up with all the news and I guess that now you will be heading off to Abi's to see who else is joining in.

Thanks for visiting!

Chevron quilt

It's finished! 

And while I will hastily try to draw your attention away from the imperfections that I know are there, I am really pleased with it.  They all add to the character of it!  But as I hand stitched the last bit of binding to the last edge I was left with one overwhelming feeling ...

... what can I do next?  I am super excited to be joining in with Fiona's Friendship Quilt and can't wait to get started on the first square.  Especially as someone had the brilliant idea of making two of each square, sending one on to its new owner and keeping one yourself to add to your own quilt.  I need to start looking around for some ideas and places to buy some new fabric.  Excuse me, I feel the need for some retail therapy.  I need to make an appointment with Mr Google and Sir YouTube ...