old photos

I really enjoy coming across old photographs. I am tidying my house in readiness for sale and so I am sorting through drawers that I have not opened for ages!
When I look through the stuff I have stuffed in there over the years I find all sorts of interesting things ranging from wrapping paper for Christmas to photo's taken years ago!
I also enjoy trawling through the files containing photos on my computer.
I thought I would include some here!

progress!

Things are proceeding nicely with my house sale. I have found an energetic, motivated Estate Agents. They are visiting me on Saturday when I will sign the agreement to get my house officially on the 'open' market.
They say they have applicants who would potentially like to view the house as soon as it comes onto the market which is very promising.
I am excited!
I am in the process of clearing my house of any excess possessions and am enjoying the benefits of a less cluttered existence.
I will keep you posted...

I don't think my new home will be a boat but the possibilities are endless! I couldn't resist posting this photo. It was taking in the lovely Summer holiday on one of our camping trips!

Debden~ last camp of the season

Graham and I took the dogs camping this weekend. It was lovely.
I am glad we went as that was the last camping weekend at Debden in 2014.
We were so lucky as the weather was beautiful and we had a great fire.
Ollie was quite naughty running off and approaching other campers and barking like he owned the place.
Graham brought a delicious stew and so I had my first dumpling stew of the year!
I am home now.
I spent Friday night at my caravan so all in all it has been a great weekend!
Ollie is snoring as I type he was worn himself put with all that barking!

things are proceeding

I am happy to say that things seem to be proceeding regarding the house sale....I think I have found a good agent to market the property, just confirming this week and then hopefully it will be all systems green to go on the open market.
I have been very happy in my house but it is time for me to move on.
I am excited to be carving out my new life and believe my current house will make a cosy home for a new young family.
Fingers crossed!

dilemma

I had a strange old journey back from school today. I went home via a different route as there are roadworks causing chaos on my usual route.
I negotiated a surprising number of broken down/crashed vehicles on the journey.
I had just exited a roundabout when a man flagged me down. It looked like he had broken down on the hard-shoulder.
He asked me in German if I spoke German. I shook my head no and then he asked if I spoke French.
I told him (in French) I speak a little so he spoke to me in fairly rapid French. He explained that he needed some diesel and his credit card had been blocked.
I explained that my car is petrol fuelled so I couldn't help him.
He then asked me for enough cash to get to Dover ( about 45 miles away.)
I took the decision to give him the money.
He started taking of his rings as if to give them to me and I explained that I did not want them.
He seemed very grateful, I drove off.
It was on the way home I started wondering if I had done the right thing.
On  the one hand if the man was genuine I am happy I could help him in his hour of need.
On the other hand he may not have been.
I took a risk, I realise than now. There is no harm done to me and I may have helped someone in genuine need and so I will leave it there.
I don't suppose I will ever know the reality of the situation. All I know is I acted in the way I thought was right at the time.
What would you have done?

Motivational Speakers

I am listening to Lisa Nichols~ If you have never heard of her I thoroughly recommend that you listen to one of her speeches. She is truly inspirational and so human with it that I find listening to her a real pleasure.
She is kind but she encourages you to be honest about yourself, where you are now and where you would like to be.
She travels round the world now changing people's lives but she came from a poor background and really struggled to make ends meet.
I am so grateful to people like Lisa who devote their lives to serving others and helping them to achieve
their dreams!

no stopping me now!

After clearing out the shed there is no stopping me! I am washing the net curtains. Yes I know - for those who know me that is a very unlikely pass-time for a Monday in September. It's not even Spring Cleaning time...
I believe this 90 day challenge is doing me a power of good.
Each day I work on my three targets even if only for a short time. The effort I put in  one day somehow gives me more energy to complete the next task the next day and that energy is expanded the next day and so on.
I wonder what I will be doing next!?

I really like this picture it was taken  in USA- the streaks of light and the blur somehow reflect the buzz.

day 17 of my 90 day challenge

I can thoroughly recommend playing 'The Game of Life' with yourself. It was all Jim Bunch's idea. You take action daily in the areas of health, wealth and happiness- even small steps of action count but the deal is you take action daily for 90 days.
I am currently on day 17 and am loving the whole process. I am convinced I would not have cleaned out the shed yesterday without having challenged myself, for example.
I am clear on the things I wish to achieve in life and every day it is becoming clearer the actions to take to achieve my dreams.
I am feeling happier each day and life gets easier and more exciting as each day passes.
I am genuinely excited to see what happens next....

Sometimes one persons junk is...

Sometimes one person's junk is another person's....JUNK!!!!
Yep I am now at the clearing out the shed stage of my 'getting ready to move.'
I have had two very grubby trips to the tip today and called into ASDA on the way back from the first trip to buy some shoes.
I was covered in dust and spiders-webs but by this time I really didn't mind the stares. I am just happy that I have managed to very nearly completely  clear 2 sheds full of junk, some of which has been shoved in there for 11 years!
They say 'tidy house, tidy mind' so I guess my mind is that little bit tidier! :)

The last time things were tidied to this level was about 4 years ago when I moved everything out of my house, decorated then moved it all back in again!

My car wanted to play musical statues!

Hettie is a weird car! I like driving her but you never quite know what odd thing she is going to do next. She has recently developed a radio fault where sometimes the radio stops working and then as I drive along it will suddenly work again. Today was funny. I was in a traffic jam on the M20 and we were all crawling along. As we moved along the radio came on and then when the traffic stopped the music often stopped.
I have never played Musical Statues with a car before and I am not quite sure who won!

sun makes it better!

I was walking along with Ollie and was thinking how wonderful it is to be walking in the sun after work. September can sometimes be cold, wet and somewhat dull but this year we have had sunshine almost every day!
I like a crisp winter with clear winter skies. The sun still shines but not as warmly.
The sun in Spring is such a treat after the long, dark nights.
The Summer sun is what we all hope for  and yes I love Summer sun but it doesn't hold the same surprise and pleasure for me as Sunny September!

still reading the diaries!

It is intriguing reading my diaries from years ago. Sometimes people come and go from my life but essentially my hopes, dreams and wishes remain the same.
It is good to read my own writing -pouring out what I want for my children, myself, my family and friends .
Essentially I am the same person but feel so much less anxious and more positive. It makes me realise all the books I have read and all the personal development techniques I have adopted have made such a difference to my life.
I truly believe that our thoughts become things. What we focus on most has a habit of arriving in our lives.
I will keep the diaries and journals that I am writing now and will look back on them in years to come. Life is an exciting journey!

I've been reading my diaries!

Do you keep a diary or journal? I often keep one. I write in all my hopes and fears and then once it is full I tuck the diary away in a drawer and forget it for a long time.
As I am getting ready to move I am clearing out a lot of things I  no longer need and am taking this opportunity to read through some of my old diaries.
About 5-7 years ago I wrote a Gratitude journal as part of a book I was reading on personal development. The idea was to show gratitude for things that were happening in  my life and also showing gratitude for things that had yet to arrive in my life.
This makes rather confusing reading as I show gratitude for things like passing my driving test before actually passing it!
It is interesting to see how many of the things I showed gratitude for have since appeared in my life.
I have passed my driving test, for example.
I was impressed at the number of things I was able to show gratitude for particularly as I did experience quite a toug
h time around then.
Feeling grateful for the incredible things I have in my life has slowly become a habit.

I can't describe how much richer life is when you take time to appreciate the little things which you start to realise are really the big things!

a few of my favourite things!

I had a lovely weekend.
Here are some of my highlights:
~eating cake with my colleagues at the end of school on Friday.
~being reunited with my delighted Ollie dog and driving to the caravan
~spending the night in my beautiful caravan
~being reunited with Graham, Burt and Rufus
~ eating doughnuts  at the Wanderers Haven Open Day
~ watching Ollie wallowing in the mud!
~ eating a delicious Chinese takeaway
~ watching Ollie having fun sniffing with all the other dogs!

What a simple and sweet weekend!

The simple things are often the best. This is me in my daughters wellies on a sunny summer holiday day!

the unexpected joys of being an English teacher!

One of the great things about being an English teacher is that I get paid to read books and watch films! I would never have watched War Horse or read Lord of The Flies if I had not been asked to teach GCSE.
War Horse is a great book and I love the film and it is great making the books relevant to today's young people.
Shakespeare is also fun to teach although I would never have imagined it would be. There are a lot of very helpful websites available to make my job easier.
I am currently taking a group of students for Drama lessons too  and we are having fun studying Romeo and Juliet.
None of this was on my list of things to do with my life.
This is one of the exciting things about life.
You set out on one journey with a destination in mind and you end up taking so many exciting detours.
I look forward to seeing where my life will take me next!

The setting for War Horse:

email

Isn't it funny how things change. A few years ago I created a free hotmail account. I didn't really use it for much and now a few days later I use my email daily for work and leisure.
Since I have been using email the price of stamps have shot up and and so I send out fewer and fewer letters.
I love writing to my Gran in USA. I love receiving her notelets and you can't really beat receiving a real letter but emails are so useful for rapidly passing on information and keeping in touch.
It is amazing how communication is changing so rapidly.
I love the fact that it is a free, easy and instant way to remain in touch!

Nerd Alert!

I find Greg James's Nerd Alert very entertaining. (BBC radio 1)
People email in complaining about inaccurate statements made by famous people/DJ's etc on the radio.
The comments that cause such offence to our lovable nerds are usually pedantic and absurdly technical. They can range from people using the wrong words to express themselves to complaints when someone gives inaccurate information such as calling a spider an insect.
I love people who care about these things so passionately,particularly as they can also laugh at themselves.
They know that they are Geeks and they are proud.
All Hail to our wonderful Nerds!!

The steps leading to Canterbury's library. Libraries are excellent stamping grounds for nerds.            

superb sun

I am loving this extra sun squeezed in at the end of the Summer and the start of Autumn.
I love this time of year when it is warm and sunny. The trees are laden with berries and the crops are all being gathered in.
Apparently the apple harvest is brilliant this year as the trees received a perfect combination of warm weather and enough rain.
I think this has been a wonderful few months.

Challenging myself

I listened to a webinar by Jim Bunch a few days ago he was encouraging people to accept the challenge to play The Game of Life that he has developed and it is intended to support people to achieve goals in the areas of health, wealth and happiness. The challenge is to work on something to support each goal every day for 90 days.
I think this is a brilliant idea and although I have not decided to join the game myself at this time I have set myself a 90 day challenge to carry out something every day for 90 days to support health, wealth and happiness goals that I have set myself.
I started on Friday and so far I have been successful for day 1,2 and 3 of the challenge. I will let you know how it goes!
My health goal is to meditate daily. Meditation is something I have started from time to time but stop even when I feel the benefits.
My wealth goal is to do something daily to help me save or create extra money. This can include writing a page of a book towards my dream of writing a book or marketing my business in some way. It can even include going out of my way to look for bargains in the Supermarket to help me to save money.
My happiness goal is linked to selling my house and moving into my caravan as a first step towards my future life so anything that I do that supports this such as paining the house to make it more appealing or clearing items ready for the move will count.
My brain likes challenges so I am hopeful this will be a very exciting 90 days!

Writing

I think I mentioned a while back that I used to love writing and spent a lot of time writing for pleasure. I think mainly due to work pressures my love for writing dried up for a while which I found rather sad but did not really know what to do about it.
Recently I have started writing again. I am a little self-critical but this is definitely a big step in the right direction.
I have worked on Personal Development this past few years and feel that it is all starting to come together. I appreciate what I have so much more than I used to and am excited about life's possibilities. This has freed my mind and helped me to become more willing to take risks so that I am able to do the things I really want to do.

back to school!

I am back at school along with a lot of other school staff and kids all over the land.
It was good to catch up with everyone and hear how they have spent their summer.
We have just over 7 weeks this term and apparently the weather might stay warm and sunny. That would certainly make it easier for everyone to adjust to being back.
Ollie was ecstatic when I got home and it was light and sunny enough to go out for a nice walk over the fields.
The weird thing about going back to work mid-week is that it is very hard to remember what day of the week it is!

This is a picture of me and the dogs on the beach a few weeks ago.

Walking

I love walking in the countryside. I particularly love walking with my dog. He finds everything so exciting and his excitement is infectious! He is particularly fond of rolling in unpleasant substances and so this adds a dimension of risk. I have to try and head him off before he gets stuck in or I have to take him home stinking!
I am off to walk in the hills today and I am taking Ollie to see my son Jack. Jack is on a holiday in Sussex which borders Kent.
I can't think of a better way to spend the last day of the summer holiday.

More wonderful camping!

We have just got back from another wonderful camping trip! We went to The New Forest again. It is one of my favourite places ever.
We went for some lovely walks, the camp-site was good and the weather treated us well. The dogs had ideal walkies conditions: woodland, heathland, puddles, rivers....they loved it!
Ollie did not enjoy the dog-wash at the end!