Tuesday, 28 October 2008

3Bt for yesterday

  1. I survived the day. I was so tired and having not slept the whole night I thought it was going to be a nightmare but in fact I had a really nice day at work yesterday.
  2. The sky was on fire, the sky was on fire. (Or at least it looked that way - wow!).
  3. I got my first feedback about the Internet learning portal. (OK, it wasn't all that positive but feedback must always be seen as being constructive and for the future I know where I have to improve on the learning portal to make it more attractive and easier to work with.

Saturday, 25 October 2008

3Bt for Yesterday

1. The Friday morning girls group consisting of Heike, Beate and Anja were all on excellent form yesterday and we had a very pleasant and enjoyable 90 minutes together. Anja's new jacket (which she told me she had made her self was wonderful). Red and worn with a smart pair of black trousers she looked so attractive. I was positively impressed.

2. I was late for an appointment in Rhade yesterday and so with just 10 minutes to get there from Schermbeck I hit the Autobahn and pushed my little car to 170Kmh. It was exhilarating, to say the least.

3. Late at night, coming home from Cathrin's I had just turned into our lane when there on the road in front of me was a little bundle of spiky wonder. a baby hedgehog was taking the long way home and had evidently found the tarmac surface much easier going than cross country and so was busy shuffling his way along the lane. Problem was, there was not enough room for both my car and him and so I parked my car up, put the warning lights on and got out to have a look at him. He was gorgeous. His little long nose was wet and his tiny eyes were completely black and shiny. I was thrilled to see him but he was so spiky that I couldn't pick him up. In the end I make use of a couple of plants on the way side and using some hastily plucked leaves as make shift gloves I lifted him up to safety (the grass verge) and put him out of harms way. I do hope he got home safely. For me, the encounter was the perfect end to a long but enjoyable Friday.

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

On the subject of smiles

For the last entry in my blog, I googled to find images of smiles. Try it and see just how disappointing it is. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I think I was surprised at just how few really impressive smiles there were to choose from. Any ideas why? Answers on a post card please to Blue Peter at broadcasting house.......

Christmas is coming

I love being self employed, but it is so difficult to make ends meet. Now there is a wonderful English language idiom. make ends meet. Of course I know I simply have to pull my socks up and get stuck into building the business up but its all such a drag. I simply don't know where to start. It's a mystery to me how some people just seem to sail through life without a care or worry in the world and me, well I wake up every morning and find myself transported into a moment of madness and anxiety for which in truth, I have no real explanation. The Germans call it "existence angst" I call it bloody stupid, but it doesn't help any. Life is not plain sailing. It is an uphill struggle, its a can of worms and its bloody confusing, but - and this is an enormous but - isn't it wonderful




Monday, 20 October 2008

Fantastic Weekend

3Bt for the weekend
1. On Friday, Anja cooked a lovely meal for us and we all had a really nice evening.
2. On Saturday I had a great impromptu audience for a small unplugged concert.
3. On Sunday we finally got the lawns done and the cutting back and such stuff for the winter finished. Phew!

Friday, 17 October 2008

I hate chicken wings (I tell lies)

I ate chicken wings again today. Urggh, how terrible can one girl be? I don't want chicken wings for the next 6 weeks now. That is a self promise.

Three nice things that have happened today.

1. Sidney hadn't made a pee pee in my bathroom this morning when we woke.
2. A student complimented me on my teaching method.
3. Thank you God for the beautiful weather.

Now we are three

Last night, after a long work day I returned home with the idea of some chicken legs in the oven and a very large glass of wine. The dogs seemed to be OK, I made sure that they had been outside and I retired to my room. As I entered the house I shouted hello but nobody answered or if they did they didn't put much of an effort into it so I just assumed that they wanted to be undisturbed. Because it was so late I didn't ask if anyone wanted to join me in my late evening repast and while the food was cooking I prepared my room for the evening. Lights, camera, sound etc. No, but really, I set my laptop up and I chose the film "Ring of Bright Water" a film I first saw when I was a very young person. Over the years one forgets things but I have always remembered the role of Angus and his terrible deed. None-the-less, it still made me cry.

After the film and one or two glasses of wine I was ready for bed but before retiring I had to take the dogs for a walk. There is a beautiful autumn full moon at the moment and last night the skies were clear and the light was magical. The girls had less enthusiasm than I, but the cats made up for the dogs reticence by escorting us with a loud meow and an elegant swagger as we went along. We came back to the house and it was just too delicious to go back inside and so I sat on the door step and the girls sat around me and we just looked into the night. What was going through the minds of the animals as we sat there in the middle of the night starring at the stars in the sky I can't imagine but it was a very nice moment. Eventually of course we had to go in. I let the dogs in and then went to the toilet. When I came out I locked the door for the night and started for my room. To get to my room I have to climb the little staircase from the hall to my room and I was surprised to see Luna sitting there instead of being snug as a bug in a rug in her basket. Then, when I looked into her basket I could see why. There in the half light I saw a neatly curled up figure of the tortoiseshell cat. (I don't have a name for her). I didn't have the heart to move her. She is really rather poorly at the moment with a bad eye and she seems to be very old and more than a little blind. In my tipsy state I made the split decision to let her stay in for the night. I climbed the stairs to my room, collected the dog's day blanket and took it into the hall to make a new bed for Luna. She obediently lay down on it but gave me a look to kill. Something of mix between total shock and obtuse disbelief. A cat, and in her basket to boot! Well, it was enough to make me laugh and so I did.

This morning I awoke somewhat too late to extricate the cat before anybody saw her and so later when I was coming out of the toilet Lisa commented that the cat had been inside the whole night. I decided to play dumb and didn't really say anything other than to ask if the cat had done anything terrible in the house during the night. It was clear that Lisa was telling me in no uncertain terms that the cat should not have been let into the house but I really wasn't interested in hearing her opinion. The poor cats have to sleep outside every night and it is getting colder now ans she is old and well, what the hell do people have pets for?

Tomorrow I will put a picture of the cat on this site.

So for yesterday my three beautiful things were:

1. Giving a poor old cat a wonderfully warm and safe refuge for the night snuggled up in the dogs basket.

2. Seeing the most beautiful display of colours and weathers all in the space of a few minutes of each other. Washy blue cloud encrusted skies, black/blue cloud banks of menacing moments and oh, how the sun picked out the golden tops of the trees. It was the most beautiful sight to see.

3. Watching a lovely film and seeing that gorgeous scenery of heather land, mountains, sea, rivers and whitewashed cottages. I felt positively homesick.