Changeable Weather.

School was an absolute nightmare today so for the time being I shall be focusing on family, home and garden.

We are currently under the edge of a weather front so one moment we have extremely heavy rain and the next bright sun.

At the time I took this picture it was lovely and warm though the air was somewhat pungent due to the liberal muck spreading that has been going on. That's farming for you.

A Lovely Day.

The sun has been shinning all day and it has been hot, hot, hot. Blazing hot out in the playground but lovely in the dappled shade and breeze in the Secret Garden which is where we took our children for this afternoon's playtime. Even first thing this morning it was nice and warm out in the garden. I was also in a good mood because my sore throat is much better today. One less ache and pain to grumble about.

Before work I had to drop the micra in for its MOT. I was a bit worried because a colleague at work has exactly the same car, even the same colour, we just have different stickers. Her micra had to have an MOT last week and the cost of the work needed was £1,000 so that's the end of her micra. I knew the exhaust was falling off my micra so for the last few days I've been driving Pete's car. Luckily the cost of a new exhaust plus the MOT and some welding came to just over £200 so my micra lives for another year.

As I walked into the school grounds a couple of squirrels were playing in The Secret Garden. We have a squirrel on the school logo so it was nice to see them around the place.

Here he /she? is thinking about leaping to the next tree.

This shot would probably be quite good if I lightened it with photoshop.

It was still warm this evening so it was another barbecue which we ate up by the scree garden which catches the last of the sunshine. I can't believe that we've passed the summer solstice and that the nights are now getting longer. In my mind summer doesn't begin until we break up for the school summer holiday which is 3 1/2 weeks away.

Early Morning Bats.

The evening sky on the way home tonight. Yesterday there was a most dramatic sunset which I failed miserably to take any decent photos of. After our photo trip Gemma showed me the manual settings on my camera, should have guessed what 'M' stood for, and hopefully with a little/lot of practice I'll be happier with my sky photos.


It wasn't too cold this morning and when I went out to feed the hens I was treated to the sight of 2 little bats swooping over my head.We have a small colony of pipistrelle bats which spends part of the year in one of the lofts. It is the same loft that the jackdaws nest in and I was worried that the jackdaws might have frightened the bats away, or worse, but I have been informed that bats have separate nursery roosts which is why they disappear for part of the year.

I spent the whole day teaching a year 2 class today and I'll be teaching them again tomorrow afternoon. I've just about got the names of all 120 children in the school sorted. Today was spent making cardboard and newspaper mexican-style masks and we even managed to get the first coat of paint on. That was quite an exercise in logistics as I was on my own with 28 children in the afternoon .


I found this clip of Lynton which gives a fairly good view of the town right next to The Valley of The Rocks. I'm not sure if the commentary is supposed to be straight reportage or dry humour , it falls somewhere between the two. Enjoy.