The passage of time.

It shocks me to see how time passes so rapidly these days. I can barely believe that it was in January that I last made an entry in this diary. Its now June and as I write these words the weather gods are having fun outside. The clouds are sweeping majestically across the sky and their colours encompass the spectrum. From cool heavy greys to the brilliant blue of the space bounded atmosphere.
It has been thundering quite a lot and one of my students has just told me that it has been announced that tonight there will be some really big storms.

It's been a long time - again

Well, here we are. New Year started and before you know where you are its the end of January. There's a strang kind of feeling floating about at the moment and I'm feeling really unsettled and unsure of myself. Don't really know what is wrong. Can't seem to put my finger on it but in truth the tides of change can sometimes be a little unsettling. Things are changing at home (again), things are changing at work and things seem to be changing within me myself. The little capitalistic bust that seemed to effuse me last year is well and truely out of my system now and the idea of immersing myself in all that madness and melee seems just a far distant nightmare now but mind you, at the time I was really getting in on the act. (Phew - that was a close one)!

Winter walks

3Bt for the weekend

1. Lost 5 kg following a crazy no no diet. Felt like something the cat had just brought up but was very pleased.
2. Caught a nasty little cold virus. (Wait a minute, I know what you are saying. How can catching a cold be seen as a beautiful thing? Well you see, its like this. Having a bad cold and feeling so weak and exhausted that you simply don't want to stand up is good because once those first few days have gone by, you start to get better and suddenly you remember how beautiful it is to be healthy. So, thanks for the cold and the one thing that could make it more beautiful is if it would go away in time for my concert on Saturday.
3. At the bottom of our garden, on the lawn in front of the summer house 3 great big Fly agaraic mushrooms have been growing. Ok, they are now past their best but they are a truely beautiful sight.

3Bt for yesterday

1. Day two of my diet and what a surprise! I am not very good at doing diets and I am very delighted to be able to report that I feel good and very positive about it.
2. For two days a dull deadening and all enveloping fog has been hanging around and making everything seem so dull and dreary. Late last night a wonderful playful wind kicked up and has blown all those creepy Halloween ghosts away. Thank goodness that's over for another year.
3. Had a good session with the children in Erle. It is always a nice feeling to come away thinking that something has been achieved.

Autumn bites home

Well, the lovely long and luxurious summer has long since left us and autumns dresses are lying ragged in the gutter. The dark outline of trees naked of garb is becoming more and more the norm. The ground seems to be permanently damp and the nights are so long. It starts to get dark at just after 17:00 and that makes for a very long night. Ok, in December we will have the longest night and then at least the cusp will have been reached and we can start looking forward to longer days and the hope of a fresh new warmer spring. Even so, autumn and winter have their own special qualities and they have something comforting about them. This is the season of hot pots of steamy tea and hushed conversations snuggled up on the sofa while looking outside at the wonderful variety of weather. Here are a couple of pictures I took last weekend of the wonderful colours that surround our house at the moment.

The difference between a smile and a grin.

To a native English woman, the difference between a smile and a grin is simple. One is used exclusively in a positive way and the other can be used both in a positive situation or a negative situation. The first picture is a smile and the second a grin. Can you tell the difference.
Try finding some words to explain the feelings that might lead to a smile and then compare them to feelings that might lead to a grin.


When you smile, you are usually expressing positive emotions and feelings. Such emotions as happiness or love or appreciation are typical.

A grin might be more appropriate in a situation where you are self satisfied or happy that something bad had happened to an enemy. Grins tend on the whole to contain something behind the obvious. The classic example of a grin is the grinning Cheshire cat in Alice in wonderland. It's grin is ironic and a little disturbing without being overtly negative. A smile on the other hand is a completely normal facial expression that occurs in response to something nice or funny or that makes you feel happy. Or can you perhaps tell us something else?