From debt to freedom...

savingholmes

Glad something positive came out of self isolating. Good that ex at least brought dinner and best of all didn't come in. We have been self-isolating too so couldn't bring DS home. He's now feeling ill at uni - so torn.

Honeysucklelou2

It’s so hard to know what is best isn’t it?  My DD1 is still at uni and every fibre of my being wants to drive there and get her safely home but she is determined to stay there and get her work done. 

The younger DDs cracked on with their home learning today. I got to the allotment and got  started on digging over a bed. There were some huge hogweed roots, tough to get out. The mange-tout are looking well in the greenhouse. The tomatoes are looking better for their second layer of protection. I could have happily carried on but the rain set in so we had to stop. Still a start has been made.

A NSD today !

VelvetFreak

Sashy, I must admit that I do also enjoy reading about Magpies. I was reading this last night and the comments are hilarious  http://voice.gardenbird.co.uk/all-about-the-magpie/

Honeysucklelou2

I’m thinking that I need to make sure we have some sort of routine to our day, if only  to make sure that the school age children are doing some sort of work. Not sure what DD3 will do as most of her work had been simply to revise but if the exams don’t happen, there doesn’t seem much point to revising. I’m glad that she got her DT food practical exam out of the way last week. The marks make up part of a grade so if they end up having to take account of mock grades or practicals already done, hopefully her grade will be realistic. Maybe I should steer her towards a reading project...the works of Jane  Austen or Shakespeare! 

Humdinger1

HSL

Yes, I think we are all going to be falling back on the classics! Humdinger x

sashybo

VelvetFreak said:

Sashy, I must admit that I do also enjoy reading about Magpies. I was reading this last night and the comments are hilarious  http://voice.gardenbird.co.uk/all-about-the-magpie/

 🤣 Velvet, magpies are obviously a "marmite" bird for the people on that thread. Ours are pretty amusing to watch to be honest even though they're definitely bullies and eat all my gooseberries. 😂 

Honeysuckle, I know you're joking but think Jane Austen might be more enjoyable for your DD than Shakespeare, at least in ease of reading! I didn't enjoy Shakespeare until I studied it at uni and read a lot of books about the plays. It helped me to understand it a lot more and appreciate the humour and all the clever bits that kind of bypassed me at first because I didn't understand the language or the references he was making. 

The classics I enjoyed when I was a younger teenager (11 onwards) were Jane Eyre, Black Beauty and several Dickens stories like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and David Copperfield. Admittedly a lot of it went over my head at that age and I didn't "get" a lot of it until I was older and re-read them. I also read Edger Allan Poe short stories and gave myself the creeps with The Telltale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado. 😱 I blame the aunt who gave me a set of classic books for children that included Edgar Allan Poe!! 😆 

Drawingaline

My daughter is gcse age too. She is hopeful her photography work will be graded, if they can take the finished product into school by deadline. She already has her business grade as she sat that in October so one down.

And I am laughing at you setting her a classics reading list. I gave my daughter Jilly Coopers Polo 😂😂😂 told her it's my favourite book of all time and to remember that real life is nothing like it 😂

Drawingaline

sashybo said:

VelvetFreak said:

Sashy, I must admit that I do also enjoy reading about Magpies. I was reading this last night and the comments are hilarious  http://voice.gardenbird.co.uk/all-about-the-magpie/

 🤣 Velvet, magpies are obviously a "marmite" bird for the people on that thread. Ours are pretty amusing to watch to be honest even though they're definitely bullies and eat all my gooseberries. 😂 

Honeysuckle, I know you're joking but think Jane Austen might be more enjoyable for your DD than Shakespeare, at least in ease of reading! I didn't enjoy Shakespeare until I studied it at uni and read a lot of books about the plays. It helped me to understand it a lot more and appreciate the humour and all the clever bits that kind of bypassed me at first because I didn't understand the language or the references he was making. 

The classics I enjoyed when I was a younger teenager (11 onwards) were Jane Eyre, Black Beauty and several Dickens stories like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and David Copperfield. Admittedly a lot of it went over my head at that age and I didn't "get" a lot of it until I was older and re-read them. I also read Edger Allan Poe short stories and gave myself the creeps with The Telltale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado. 😱 I blame the aunt who gave me a set of classic books for children that included Edgar Allan Poe!! 😆 

Sasybo I also had a children's classic version of Poe. Loved it! I was much older when I read Jane eyre, wuthering heights (still ranks as the worst book I have ever read, hateful characters, just hateful!) Emma, Pride and Prejudice. I read the full version of Black Beauty at about 8 though. I was very much a horsy child/teen.

Today I took the chance to go to the town library to stock up. The idea of maybe having to isolate without at least 15 new books to read 😱

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you Sashybo and DAL.  I did suggest my reading list ideas to DD3 who didn’t react as positively as I’d hoped !! I’m hoping that my younger DDs will read The Secret Garden or The Railway children or The Little White Horse with me. I think they would enjoy The Family at One End Street as they can relate to the many siblings aspect.

Today has been productive. I got some more digging done and chopped back a buddlejia that haD  self seeded in my blueberry bed. Not sure if the blueberries have survived.  The jostaberry had gone wild, so have cut that back to a more manageable size. I was delighted to find 3 whole seed try sized cell inserts at home. I thought of Foxgloves’, phrase “ shopping from home”.  Promptly sowed them with beetroot and a second sow of mangetout. I’ve potted  on another 5 tomato plants - these are a variety called “ chocolate stripe”. Never grown this variety so am intrigued. I got a tray of snapdragons in, called “Appleblossom”. They are half hardy so will bring them inside to germinate.  It helped to be doing something positive.

In between  this I’ve had lots of work emails to deal with. Despite not being physically at work there has been lots to do online.

I got out for a walk with the younger ones this afternoon taking  care to stick to my more remote routes to avoid meeting people. There was a refreshing breeze for which I was very grateful. The elderly lurcher enjoyed getting out too.

The children requested macaroni cheese for tea so I’ve made that. Trying to be as thoughtful as I can about the food we are using. 

Cherryfudge

I was going to say I'm sorry you're isolating but... well, it sounds so nice! Especially while the weather's good and you can be gardening or walking with the children.  
You will have the most colourful selection of tomatoes in Britain!