second last day of September

By the time I press 'Publish Post' on this, it will be in the early minutes of the second last day of September, 2011.
what have i done this month?
I taught English, Irish and Maths, and other subjects to a class of 30 pupils, 8 and 9 yr olds,
I've written a lot of Yearly Plans for the upcoming year,
I taught my 5 yr old son to cycle without stabilisers on his bike,
I bought a wonderful hammock from Ticket to the Moon, for my 11 yr old, and hung it between two birch trees in the garden and I've been in it! it's yummy!
I taught my class to play Hot Cross Buns and Mary had a Little Lamb on the recorder,(blockflöjt), while simultaneously learning to play the recorder myself, using my mother's old recorder and her old recorder book!
I have stayed up way too late doing all sorts of school plans on computer and have neglected my knitting and spinning...
I have managed to wash and tease some wool samples from Långbacken, in Sweden, oh the joy of the feel of the soft curly wool...
I have burnt all my midnight oil and both ends of many candles...sigh...
I have realised that Sunday is truly a day of rest and should be left as such! A day to meet people and chat, and stay home and swing on a hammock and push a boy on a bike!
I have been busier than I have ever been in my life, but it feels fine so far.
Oh and I have almost lost my voice...
Hope you are all well out there,
regards till same time next month,
now itäs off to bed for this little Cinderella (Askungen), at the stroke of midnight my eyes close and i have to hit the hay, fall into the loppelådan(Flea box!)
liz

last day of August, last day of holidays,

It's 31st of August, the last day of the school holidays.
Tomorrow a new academic year starts.
I'm afraid to say that this will be my last blog post for a while, as I anticipate that my time online will be severely curtailed.
I am leaving the blog up online, and may manage to post a short update now and then.
I may even manage a photo or two, or a comment on your blogs,
but don't hold your breath waiting.....
The classroom awaits and with it all the other running and racing and ferrying and doing,
so Good night and see ye all soon-ish folks!

August tipping away, slipping away...

Vad fort tiden går!
Doesn't time fly!

We have had a visitor from Sweden for the past 2 weeks, and we crammed lots of sightseeing into the 14 days.
We went on several day-trips, eg to Fota Island Wildlife park in Co Cork, to Bunratty Castle, to Clare Glens and Glenstal, to County Clare and the Burren and Poulnabrone Dolmen and Fanore beach, to Dingle and Camp and Conor Pass and Slea Head and Gallarus and Kilmaelkaedar, to Ballina and Tountinna and Killaoe and Scooops Ice-cream shop and Lough Derg, to Craggaunowen and Knappogue and Quin Abbey, and of course to town, shopping.....
phew, I get exhausted looking at the list of it all, but it was great fun at the time, and a great opportunity to show my own children a bit of our Irish history and heritage and nature.
How I would love to have photos to show you all, maybe i can get a cd of the photos from hubby's camera and put some in here for you to see.
Now it's back to reality, I just spent a few hours at school tidying my old classroom. And I have almost finished the online Teacher's course i am doing this summer. Next planning and preparing for school for myself as a teacher, and for my children.
Then just to enjoy the last 2 weeks and hope the weather gets better, it's drizzly here, cool, overcast....

photos

Here are a few photos from the past months,
just a few snapshots in time.


This wool came to me as a gift of fiber from a raveller, Stitchlily. The wool came from Kerry Woollen Mills originally, near Killarney. Here it is as spun by me.



Four donkeys in a field, beside Mr Binman depot, Ballyneety, Co Limerick.


Cows on the road being herded home for milking, near Ennistymon, Co Clare, photographed on my way home from a spinning Skills Swap, mid June.


More spinning, this time of Angelica fiber, purchased from a raveller in UK. This was supposed to be my spinning project for February or March 2011, but I didn't spin it till June.

the Irish summer continues, den irländska sommaren bara fortsätter

so the Irish summer continues, ie, it is drizzly and overcast...
The difference between summer and winter in Ireland seems to be that in summer it's drizzly and overcast and a bit humid, whereas in winter it's raining and overcast and quite cold. wet and warm vs wet and cold.
I would not be able for hot temperatures anyway, so I do not complain. I like overcast days. I like the challenge of trying to get clothes dry outdoors in these conditions. I like the way one can think clearly in this weather. I do not like the way my brain melts in heat.

I am about to stop blogging very soon. Work will demand more of me this coming year and I will need to give more of my time to planning and preparation.
I have enjoyed reading your blogs enormously, and wish you all the best of luck in your endeavours. Thank you to those who have stopped by to comment.
Those of you who need to contact me probably already have my email address.
regards
liz

back in Ireland again, hemma på Irland igen

Nu är vi hemma på Irland igen, sedan i fredags egentligen men det tar sin lilla tid att vänja sig vid att vara här igen, efter nästan 2 veckor i Sverige.
Vädret här på Irland har varit mulet, regnigt och t.o.m. kallt ibland! Idag har solen kommit fram men inte har vi blå himmel inte, nej fortfarande molnigt. Men det gör mig inget, jag klarar inte av varmare väder ändå.
Ja så nu börjar det vanliga sysselsättningarna igen: tvätt, dammsugningen, köpa skoluniform till de 4, köpa skolböcker till de 4, och sedan planera själv inför det kommande skolåret, nu när jag ska ha 3e och 4e klass måste jag planera en hel del.
Inte kan man ställa sig framför 29 barn på den 1e sept och inte vet vad man ska göra med dem!
Och så vill jag hinna att sticka och spinna en del med, innan det blir dags för skolan igen. Och jag måste visa er bilder på den fina garnvindan jag köpte på loppis i Sverige, samt ett par handkardor, en stor stark slända, och en Knifty Knitter loom, och den lilla disktrasan jag virkade när jag var på semsetern, min allra första virkade objekt!

Now we are at home in Ireland again, we're back since last Friday actually, but it takes a little time to get used to being here again, after almost two weeks in Sweden.
The weather here in Ireland has been overcast, rainy and even cold sometimes! Today the sun came out but we don't have blue skies, oh no, it's still cloudy. But it doesn't bother me, I can't cope with warmer weather anyway.
So now it's back to the usual stuff again: laundry, vacuuming, buying school uniforms for the four kids, buying school books for them too, and then planning myself for the upcoming school year, now that I will have 3rd and 4th class, I will have to plan a lot. I can't just stand in front of 29 children on the 1st of Sept and not know what to do with them!
And then I really want to make time to knit and spin before I go back to school again. I also have to show you pictures of the yummy wooden woll Swift I bought at the flea market in Sweden, and a pair of hand carders, also a chunky spindle, and a Knifty Knitter loom, and the little dishcloth I crocheted while I was in Sweden, it's my very first crocheted items !

sommarstängt! closed for the holidays

well, not really closed, but just wanted to say that I am far from Ireland this week, we are on our hoildays in Sweden! usually this would have meant no access to a working internet connection, but luckily this year we have internet access and so here i am on my holidays writing a blog post.
Weather: mixed, as in cloudy morning, bright afternoon, rain shower in the evening. So far so good, we have been able to go swimming every day since we got here (here equals Karlstad)
so we swim and shop and eat yummy food and swim and read and relax.
wonderful.
enjoy wherever you are this summer!
liz