Not a muggle any more!

Don't worry, I haven't recently relocated to Hogwarts, nor am I suddenly only 11 again!  I'm still the same lovely unmagical me.... but I have recently joined a "secret" community which separates me from many of the rest of you muggles.  Yes.  It's out and in the open.  I'm now a geocacher.

My dearly beloved husband has snorted with derision at last year's Pokemon Go craze, and has dismissed our local Whanganui Rocks community out of hand (check out the Fb page if you're not sure what it is... it loosely involves painting and hiding rocks, finding other people's painted rocks and either keeping or rehiding them. It has been a great way for families to get out and about our lovely city's parks and gardens with their children over the school holiday) but was quite intrigued with the idea of geocaching.

So this afternoon we decided to give it a go.  He had created a profile for us on an app, and found that there were a couple of sites in our city centre, so off we went.  A brisk walk down to the river led to the first victorious discovery (I'm quite pleased there are hints and photos or we'd never have spotted it because it was only 1cm x 1cm x 1cm!), but the second one proved a little bit more difficult to track down.  We got there in the end, and a very satisfying conclusion it was too - especially as it was no more than writing our name on the geolog and dating it!

So on top of working full time, writing a book, running 2 companies and giving professional development workshops every week until Easter, I now have a new hobby too!

We decided that we'd try and get out every Saturday afternoon to do a spot of geocache hunting - and next weekend will take us much further afield as we're driving our eldest son back to university.  I can't wait to see what we find there!  But I do know I'll wear more appropriate footwear - geocaching is murder on 4" stiletto heels!

Treasures

I've been reflecting a lot on gratitude, and the ability to be thankful for what you have.  Too often people concentrate on the things that they have not got but really want rather than appreciating the treasures they have in front of them.

I've had my first week back at work, and although my class is quite large and it is not going to be an easy class, the children in it are by-and-large good kids.  Some have been dealt a raw deal by life, and some will challenge me through the year in a range of ways, but they are good kids at heart and I must remember that on the days that are less easy.  I'm spending a little bit of time this weekend writing a postcard to each of them welcoming them back to school and telling them one thing they've done this week that I appreciated.  I'll pop them in the post on Tuesday and wait for them to receive them in their mailbox at home.

And even on the days when my job feels difficult, challenging, frustrating and all those other things that teaching can be, I must remember that I have a job that I love, in a school where I feel valued, supported and appreciated.  So many people don't have jobs to get up for every day, or worse still, get up for jobs that they hate going to.

This afternoon I spent some time in the emergency department of our local hospital (not through choice, you understand, but because one of my nearest and dearest needed help.... situation resolved now, thank goodness!).  I was there about three hours, during which time we were helped by the receptionist, at least five different nurses, a doctor, two porters, an orderly and a radiographer.  Behind the scenes, somebody was running blood tests on our behalf.  There were periods of time when we were left to our own devices and didn't see anyone for a while, but the department was busy the whole Sunday afternoon that we were there.
A lady in the bed on the other side of the privacy curtain had been there a little longer than us, and she was clearly in some pain.  When her friends arrived she let rip about how bored she was, how she'd been ignored, how she'd been promised a bed on a ward in ten minutes' time (over an hour ago) and how she had no idea what was going on.  Her friends listened for a while, and I think they appreciated it was her pain and fear speaking, but finally one stopped her and said, "They're doing their best for you.  They're really busy out there, but they'll get to you when they can.  You're in the best place, and you're being looked after."
I wanted to go round the privacy curtain and give her friend a hug.  Because we are lucky.  When something goes wrong for us we can turn up to the hospital and be seen (in our case) within 3 minutes.  We get blood tests and x-rays, we get the machines that go 'ping' and monitor our vital signs.  An orderly changes the sheets on a bed as soon as a patient has left, and wipes everything down with sterile wipe and anti-bacterial spray.  We are offered a seat, chilled clean water to drink and a sandwich if we're there for a while.
We are lucky.

We should treasure these little things that we take for granted.  And that includes our nearest and dearest.  They are there as part of our lives, and it is important to tell them how much we appreciate that.

I'm grateful for my loved ones around me.  I appreciate the unconditional love that my dog shows every time I look her way.  I am thankful for the fact we have a great hospital in my town, that I have a car to get me there when I need to, that the staff are there with a smile on their faces even during the busy times, and that we had clean, comfortable surroundings while we were there.

I am especially grateful that I could bring my loved one home in one piece with me today.  That's the best feeling.

Heigh ho, heigh ho....

Well the heady days of summer are just kicking in for real, but it's time to leave my idyllic at-home existence for the hurly-burly of the classroom.  There are exciting times ahead, as this year is full of potential, but potential comes at a price.

Hopefully the well-laid routines that I have established during the long summer holiday will see me and my little family through the busy days of Term 1... and they are certain to be busy because they always are.

Time to test the trusty cape and tights again - hopefully next week I'll be able to regale you with stories about how brilliant my new class are!

Paying it forward.

We have had a lovely day out with our teenage sons today.  We didn't go far, geographically, as the destination was our home town - a mere five minutes by car.  We did, however, travel back in time as it was the Vintage Weekend.  This is a celebration of all things Vintage, with our main street lined with vintage cars (everything you can imagine from 1906 to 1980!), shopkeepers and stallholders at the market dressed in a range of vintage fashions, Generation Wedding Dress and Steampunk fashion shows, buskers, stage bands, traction engine rides and generally lots of family fun.

This evening my husband went out to do some photography.  It was not quite work, as he wasn't getting paid for any of it, but good photos come from practise not purchase so he enjoys the chance to shoot something out of the ordinary for once.  And last night, it was just about as out of the ordinary as you could get!  He was photographing the Vintage Weekend Burlesque Show, which featured a range of performers of both genders, and which had a sell-out audience.

He left home at 5.00 and didn't get home until nearly midnight, because he helped with the final set-up and also with the tidy-up afterwards.  How could he not?  The organiser's a friend of ours, and she needed a hand.  He will also spend the next couple of days working on the images, making sure they are all just right before he releases them onto the Victory Burlesque Facebook page.  They are all downloadable and if any performers need a higher resolution image for promotional material they just email him and he makes it available to them.

He doesn't earn any money from this, and it takes hours of his time. So why does he do it? (and the roller derby games, the trolley derby on Monday, the opening of the new RSA cafe, my school leavers' formal dinner etc etc etc)

Because we both believe in paying it forward.

Acts of generosity make our community a better place to be.  Everybody feels appreciated and valued - and they are more likely to behave in a lovely way as a result.

This is why we organise a pechakucha-style event in our town.  Called Pic/Chat 19/19 we have a number of speakers who talk about their passion.  They show 19 slides and talk for 19 seconds about each slide.  We work alongside a trio of people from our local art gallery (which was set up in 1919, hence the timeframes) to contact speakers, hire the venue, serve the refreshments and send handwritten thankyou notes to our speakers after the event.  I curate the Facebook page, and post twice a week about the event, including photographs and video of the speakers.

We fill our venues every time, but make no profit - that's not what it's about.  We cover our costs, and do this voluntarily, taking no money for ourselves either.  That's not what it's about.

Be the change you want to see in the world, said Ghandi.  Well I'd like people to be more open, more kind and more generous with each other, and I guess that starts with me.

A handout or a hand up?

This may become a little rant-ish, but I don't often do that so I'm giving myself permission to ponder today.  Here's the situation:
I have a couple of friends who are in the same profession as me.  We chat regularly and they sometimes ask me for advice about our profession - ideas, current thinking, resources to use and so forth.  And I don't mind sharing because I think that together we can all achieve more than we can as individuals.

But I've become aware that these friends of mine are using my work (again, don't mind that - no point sharing if you have to keep it a secret!) but taking credit as if it were their own.  And this I object to.
If I give you a planning template I'm really happy for you to use it if it makes your life easier and you don't have to reinvent the wheel.  But I do get peeved when I see it submitted as part of an appraisal and find that you're taking credit for creating it.

Am I wrong to feel this way?  I do use other people's ideas at work and in my business, but I always credit where I found them.  To me it is bordering on the dishonest to be any other way.
Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe I'm too pedantic about this.
But I can't help the way I feel, and it taints my interactions with those friends.  In fact, I've stopped sharing with them both and I feel mean to behave in this way.

What do you think?  I do believe that we should give each other a hand up in life.  But to take those stepping stones and use them as a handout....?

The best laid plans....

Oh well.  It was a nice idea at the time, but November had other ideas about how I should spend my days - and writing for pleasure certainly wasn't on the list!  I did not get one single word written outside of my work requirements *sigh*.

I am not, however, berating myself too hard for this.  Life is messy, and the last term of the year is demanding for any teacher.  This is particularly true when it is your first time through the routines, as it was for me in 2016, and I am just pleased to look back on the end of the school year feeling proud that my reports were done well, the students remained calm and on track right up to the last day, they got personal achievement certificates at our very successful Leavers' Dinner, my awards for Prize Giving were organised in plenty of time and we threw a 2-day school camp into the mix just for good measure.  So, on the whole, while I would have liked to do the writing I proposed in my last post I don't actually feel bad about not getting there.

And now Christmas and the New Year are done, and life begins to return to normal after the New Zealand summer shut-down.  I'm still in non-contact time from school, but have plenty of other things to be doing.  This time last year I was away in the UK, visiting family and friends, so the normal summer tidy up/sort out/renovate or maintain jobs that I do around our house and garden didn't get done.  I am working through the house slowly, and feel so much better now I'm reclaiming it room by room.  Papers are getting sorted and filed, boxes are being emptied and recycled, cobwebs are a thing of the past and the vacuum cleaner gets emptied five times a day!  I have recovered the dog's bed and replaced the old fabric that she managed to break through in her restlessness - she now  sleeps in comfort and style once again - and have enjoyed having my sewing machine out so much that I'm planning on making a summer dress or two once payday rolls around and there's some cash in my account again!

My sons are both at home at the moment, the elder being back from varsity.  They're helping out around the house too, as neither of them have summer jobs, and we've reached a working agreement.  I leave them alone to be teenagers in the morning and they have a list of things that need doing in the afternoon.  They choose at least one every day, and the list is quickly disappearing.

We've also been eating at the dining room table each evening, as a family.  Now, through the last year I must confess that although we ate together whenever we were all at home, we did so in the living room with our plates on our knees.  And it was my fault.  I'd buried the dining room table under paperwork and unfinished projects, you see.  So my first tidying up priority was to get it clear, and I'm really enjoying our family mealtimes once again.  It gives me a good incentive to keep the table that way.

I've also been playing my piano again, which I have missed, and reading books for pleasure not just work.  And half way through my long summer break I feel fabulous!  This "looking after yourself" lark really does work!

I'll have to keep on doing some of that as I go through this year.

Next post will be about my new year resolutions - or rather, the lack of them!  But I do resolve to write it in the next few days.  I'm aiming for twice a week, and the habits starts now!