They're spreading blankets...

They're spreading blankets on the beach...the Youtube bit. 'Cause it was playing on the iPod while I was taking these pics and it seemed the perfect song for the perfect spring day in Cape Town.

How to fly a kite.

It's best if there's someone there to help you get started.

You have to trust the breeze and be brave enough to let go.

Keep looking up.

Hold on tight.

Play with the string....know when to ease up on things every now and then.

Feel free to run

and dance

and smile.

Don't forget to smile. 

Note to self.

Do not ever. Ever.

Leave telephoto lens at home.

Hires pics in Flickr

The best thing...

The best thing- the Youtube bit

Sooo....Forty
How the hell are ya?
People say you're cool. You don't give a happy hoot what others say. That's fine by me. I was kind of heading that way already.
It means I can continue to sit at my computer and watch freshly downloaded TV in the morning before school.
While applying eye-makeup, blow-drying my hair and finishing off a maths worksheet on fractions. Multi-tasking is effortless when you're forty.
I've learned stuff.
I've learned to embrace my problem hair. Celebrate it even.
I've learned how to conquer some fears... I can now stand up on a stage and talk to a hall full of people without dissolving into a quivering mess.
I've learned that it really is best to wash your dishes after supper.
I've also learned the incredibly vital skill of downloading torrents.
And I'm more organised now. I have a filing system and I know how to use it. Most of the time.
I've learned I don't have to apologise to anyone for liking ELO or Bad Company or the Barenaked Ladies.
That I can sing along with any one of these so-not-cool bands in the car.  With people watching. And I don't give a damn.
Perhaps that's the theme for the next decade....I'm forty and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

Can I get a hallelujah?!!!

  Thanks to my lovely family for a stunning birthday weekend filled with many best things.....

 

 

...can't think of a better way to celebrate one's fortieth. 

Thank you ; ) 

Check out more photos in flickr.

The boys are back

Boys are back ..the Youtube bit.

So. What have I done during my little week off?
Not much, actually.
I bought a quilt that I'd actually love to be able to make myself. Making my own quilt is on my bucket list. No bungee jumping or climbing Kilimanjaro for me, no sirree....a lovely big quilt. Made from bits of old and much-loved clothing, just like the Quakers did. Or still do.

And while sitting on said quilt I have squeeled and chortled and clapped my hands with glee at the return of ALL my beloved boys....that's right. I have watched a shitload of TV this week. 
.

Dean and Sam!!!!!!*squeee*

 Chuck!!!!!!! *gah*

Eric (Coach)Taylor (and Tami!)whoohoo!!

Riggins!!!!!*thud*

 Ned!!!!! *sigh*

 McDreamy! *woot*

Denny!!!!! *slurp*
Wait, isn't he dead? Ewww!

Woops...my inner fangirl just got out. But that's OK every now and then, isn't it? She'll soon be replaced by someone who has to plan a workshop introducing the IEDP (oh, if you really want to know...Individual Education Development Plan) to a jaundiced staff. 

Let her have her moment, please.

Let it all hang out

let it all hang out

What do you get when you take a bunch of teachers wine tasting at the end of a rough term?
A slow, inexorable slide (well, maybe not so slow) into drunken debauchery. Well, maybe not too debaucherous, (spell check says there's no such word but you know what I mean) ...but drunken slide into something.....
...Silliness. And comradery.... and the sense of  freedom that drinking five half glasses of champagne in quick succession (with nougat chasers) can bring.


If anyone finds themselves near the JC LeRoux Estate with some time on their hands, a craving for sweets and the desire to get really pissed really quickly, go for the champagne and nougat tasting.

Names and faces are blurred to protect the innocents they teach. And because I might not have had the steadiest hand at the time.

Somewhere in Stellenbosch. 

This shot was taken from inside the hired van we used for the day. I'm amazed that any pics post champagne guzzling tasting came out, quite frankly.  We went on to do another wine farm and had lunch at some stage but the memory's a bit of a blur at this point.
It rained a bit. We ate. We drank some more.
And suddenly all the dramas and politics and clusterfucks of the term faded into insignificance.
We were bathed in the glow of achievement and sheer gratitude that we had made it out alive.

what teachers make












ETA- After working on this bloody code for the last three hours and exceeding my geek quota for the day I give up. How the hell do I get that godawful blue in the title post to GO AWAY?!!! J- do you know? The little bugger is sitting embedded in a wad of CSS that I actually thought I understood but is now total gobbledegeek. *sigh*
That colour is killing me.
Fixed. *g*