Where Have You Been All My Life...

...I refer not to the crocuses, though they were lovely while they lasted...

...nor to the cat, though she's quite cute. This pic taken by A.

 ...the sun has re-appeared, washing has been on the line, the garden's a mess, brambles are taking over...

...my commuting trips on the train into town for uni are coming to an end. Aside from one day next week that's all our lectures and tutorials finished. I start another placement tomorrow. It's for P1-3 (age 5-7), I'll be in one class though I don't know which yet. I'm worried I'll be rubbish - the theory is all very well, but it's the putting it into practice that's the most important thing. I didn't enjoy the nursery placement and my first P7 placement (which I did enjoy) seems a long time ago. I had such a good class teacher for my first placement, can I be lucky again?

 Smudgy view from the train.

 Hidden treasure - coins in a wishing well.

Here are my uni buddies. I've been lucky to end up in a lovely group. They're all so much younger than me - at one point I was twice the age of the youngest (she's since had a birthday), but they don't seem to mind at all. We were in the middle of an outdoor learning lecture here, sent out to explore near the lecture theatre we ended up in garden of Provand's Lordship examining the well.

 Back to our garden, there are nice bits despite the brambles. This is the first year my hellebores have flowered...

Now to the THING I have just discovered, that for some reason I never knew existed...

...a favourite cosy, woolly cardigan. Bobbled and not looking great...

 Tada! Transformed.

Accomplished using a simple pilling comb, bought for a couple of pounds from ebay. I've lots of cardis needing the treatment. It's not the most exciting job though...

 and it does create some amount of fluff!

 Another restoration project: my favourite purple jacket. Looking faded and past its best. However, the fabric is still in good condition, and I still like it as it fits well- jackets with long enough arms can be difficult to find. After seeing Lucy's post I was tempted to try this for myself. What colour to use though. The "intense violet" looked too blue and the "burlesque red" too red. Well, two packs were required so I decided to use a one of each.

 And here it is. The sun was a bit strong (not a complaint!) so not the best photo, but you get the idea. I was very pleased with the results and look forward to wearing my "new" jacket. The two packs of dye cost just over £10 altogether, plus you need salt and several cycles in the washing machine, but still a lot cheaper than an actual new jacket.

Shepherds pie from last night. It looked and smelled yummy and the camera happened to be nearby. Tasted good too!

Lastly some cat and crochet photos. I caught her lying on A's bed...

Pretty! And the cat's not bad either...

Hanging On In There...

Some catching up. February was a busy old month.

The cat managed to find time to relax though, in a cosy nook in the study.

 At the beginning of the month I found time for a little crochet.

A juggling ball. I have made two more, but I'll need to make another one as this first one was too holey and the pop corn I used to fill it in in danger of working it's way out!

Like much of the country, we have had a very wet and gloomy February. There were a couple of sunny moments though.

 More sunshine.

I spent most of February on a teaching placement. It was in a nursery and I now know nursery's not for me! Not that I ever really thought it would be, and teachers are being taken out of nurseries here anyway to save money, but sometimes it's good to know these things for sure. While on placement I made good use of my laminator making up some resources, I enjoyed that part...

...though I did make quite a mess in the process.

In nursery, the focus one week was on sorting so I brought in my rather well-stocked button tin. The children especially loved the gold and silver buttons. Many "cools" and "awesomes" were uttered as the "special" buttons were discovered.

I also made my own discovery - can you spot the difference between the next two photos?

The Gruffalo, first in Scots, then in standard English. One of the other students on placement brought in the Scots version when the children were doing a Scotland topic, I rather enjoyed it and now have my own copy.

Like I said, the weather hasn't been great and I've not been tempted to venture out into the garden much...

 ...except for one glorious afternoon when the sun shone warmly and it felt like spring was just round the corner.

 The crocuses were glowing.

 Hubby's had another birthday, the children decorated the cake.

And lastly, an eagerly awaited package arrived for me. I was rather worried when I saw the state of it -I fully expected to find what was enclosed to be in pieces.

But it wasn't, phew! It's a ukulele, I was lucky to find this one on ebay at a bargain price. I had been trying and failing to learn guitar. I just found it too painful and my progress was excruciatingly slow. I wanted an instrument I could take into class (my double bass isn't good for singing along too!). During a music session at uni the tutor suggested a ukulele as an alternative to the guitar. I have to say I love it! It's so dinky and a joy to play. Today, before catching my train home from Uni I bought this book. I'll be dabbling in uke practising when I have any spare moments as a respite from yet more essay writing, next one due in two weeks time, eek! Time is just flying by! Enjoy the weekend...