Samantha's Graduation photos....etc

Samantha was awarded and upper 2:1 Degree for her Bachelor of Arts Qualified Teacher Status Primary Education Degree, with Maths as her specialism, on Thursday 15th July at 10.00am in Carlisle Cathedral Cumbria.

I think it will be obvious how proud I am of her, and all the hard work she has put into this degree over the past four years.

Apart from doing a full time degree and raising her children, she never studied at home until they were in bed. She also did holiday cottage work in the summer season to bring a bit more money into the home.

I don't know how she managed it all but she did and Thursday 15th July was the proof of all that hard work.

She didn't aim for a first degree but got close to it nevertheless.  Her reasoning was that it would take all her attention from the children and that was not negotiable.

It was worth my having been diagnosed with breast cancer just to see her, at last, fulfill her destiny.

She was with me on the day I was given the diagnosis, as Bryan couldn't drive, just in case I was unable to drive back home again.  The previous week I had to drive thirty miles back home after being given a biopsy and that, I can tell you, was traumatic to say the least!

Outside the hospital, after the diagnosis, we hugged and talked.  I was happy to think that at least I had seen all my grandchildren born, with the exception of Amy Grace.  I had a very dear friend, I told her, who died of cancer and she never got to see her first grandchild.  There are blessings in life that you can find, even if one has been given devastating news like I had then.

This motivated Samantha into looking at her life when she thought.."Why not live the life I want right now?"

She missed out on entering the Charlotte Mason University of Cumbria at first, as her school qualifications needed updating.  So...a year at college got her the exam results for her to try again. She ended up being accepted this time, making Mathematics her specialism.

Her Maths teacher told her at school that she would never ammount to anything in maths, so her degree has 'cocked a snook' at her, whilst prooving her wrong into the bargain.

Samantha never forgot that teacher and promised that she would always look for the best in every child if she qualified.

Her 'last placement' headmistress, the staff, as well as parents, sang her praises. Straight away they gave her 'supply teaching work' for a week following her placement.  Sadly there is no place at that school for her, but she was told they would have her back any day.

The children adored her and she them.

She was also invited to their end of term staff dinner.

Below are some of the photos taken on the day of her Graduation.  There are some of her Graduation Ball too.

It was St Swithin's day, the day she recieved her degree. By jings didn't we know it!.  It sounded like a battalion of Irish dancers were tap dancing on the roof of the Cathedral.  Good job we were all inside at the time.

The 'Parade' of students managed to get inside on time too.

Thank the Lord!

Have a peek at the photos....

Samantha leaving her graduation inside Carlisle Cathedral.

Iain (Samantha's husband) with Samantha's 'study buddy' Steve.

Two of her tutors.

Outside the hotel where the graduation ball was being held.

Samantha looking like a film star at her Graduation Ball.

Samantha's best friend Clare had her mum make this.  She went to the trouble of using a diabetic recipe too.  Bless her!

Proud Mum and Dad.

 

I wont be around much this summer as we have a lot of visitors coming for their holidays.

My ex-sister-in-law is coming for a week this Monday and Samantha, hubby children and friend  with child will be coming next weekend to see the RAF Display Show here in the Lakes.

No doubt she will stay over for a few more days and then I expect my son to come and visit with his ' Little Munchkins' too.

I have not long said goodbye to my old schoolfriend Maureen who visited me, for the third time since my diagnosis, from Australia.  We had a brilliant re-union, putting my diabetes aside, we celebrated all the long weekend with her favourite tipple champagne, catching up in the lovely sunshine she brought with her.

Hollie..Maureen.. Ryan.. dressed up and playing to the 'audience'.  lol

Maureen and Bryan.

If you don't see me around much this summer.. I will be back again in the Autumn.
Stay well and happy.
God bless!

My Entry for Blogger's Community Photo Challenge

It was my birthday in May and these are my birthday flowers from my daughter.

I thought I would make this bouquet a late entry in The Bloggers Community Photo Competition.  The theme is  'FLOWERS'.   It can be any kind of flower photo as long as it has flowers as the main subject.

Hurry along and take a look or make an entry at the last minute, just like me.

It's great fun and  such a pleasure to see all the other entries too.  Get your skates on!

Hugs

Jeanie

If you click on the photo, and then again when it opens in another window, you will see the flowers in close up.

The Midnight Hour

THE THOUGHT-FOX

(c)  Ted Hughes

I imagine this midnight moment’s forest:

Something else is alive

Beside the clock’s loneliness

And this blank page where my fingers move.

Through the window I see no star:

Something more near

Though deeper within darkness

Is entering the loneliness:

Cold, delicately as the dark snow,

A fox’s nose touches twig, leaf;

Two eyes serve a movement, that now

And again now, and now, and now

Sets neat prints into the snow

Between trees, and warily a lame

Shadow lags by stump and in hollow

Of a body that is bold to come

Across clearings, an eye,

A widening deepening greenness,

Brilliantly, concentratedly,

Coming about its own business

Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox

It enters the dark hole of the head.

The window is starless still; the clock ticks,

The page is printed.

I just enjoy reading Ted Hughes poetry.  It is out of this world!  It is intricate and full of depth of meaning.

This poem of his reminded me of a late night 'Fox Thought' which helped me to write a poem of my own.

I had originally intended to write my poem about Bryan my husband.  What he meant to me down the years and the things I admire about him.  I even got as far as to read some of it over the phone to my son and he liked what he heard.  Then strangely, one evening I was burning the midnight oil, trying to chisel away and improve on my original  poem,  whilst using the concept of a box and what was inside or outside it;  When I seemed to be taken over by another hand and I wrote the following poem.

Perhaps it was the fear of death through my having cancer at the time, which pushed the words out of my head and onto paper.  Who knows?  I do know that I didn't sit down intending to write it.

I suppose you could call it my 'Comfort' poem.

So here is my 'Fox Thought' poem.  No way am I classing it in the same league as Ted Hughes poem above.  I am just borrowing on the concepts and theme of his as to how mine came about.

The Box (c) Jeanie Kirkby 2006

 

Do not be afraid to hold this box,

Hewn by an immortal hand.

Hold it. Feel its life force

Springing from its sides.

Turn it and see your life

Before time stood still.

Be not afraid to turn it again to see how in spring

you ran laughing and playing

With your childhood friends;

In the park after dark

Climbing trees. All this you’ll see,

And more, when you hold the side

With the mirrors of infinity.

You see there is no need to be afraid.

When there, before you, on another side

Is a chimera of your family appearing,

And reappearing, throughout life’s ages.

Happily unaware of time slowing

Down, throughout your summer and autumn.

Do not be afraid to see through the leaves

Of time and look at what you had before

Time stood still.

 

Slide the window of the world open

On its other side, and smell the winter snows.

Bone chillingly cold as they rasp at the door

Of life and death.

See how they glow like crystal tears.

Do not be afraid to open the lid

And breathe in the scent of heavens

Warm welcome to you as a spirit of the universe.

Do not be afraid as the roots of the box

Disappear and you are revealed as a

Shimmering surge of the nuclei and atoms

Of all that you are and were to man.

You will see inside the box, as you lift the lid,

His world lays waiting for you to step into.

Do not be afraid.

All will be as you have known it.

Love Jeanie xxxxxxx

Manchester Museum Of Science and Industry

Manchester Museum of Science & Industry

                  Was a great Easter Holiday Expedition for us ‘old bods’ and our ‘little munchkins ’.

An early rise to catch a 7.55am train had us catching a taxi at 7.30am making sure we shifted our bodies out of bed early enough.

It’s only a couple of minutes up to Windermere train station but the older we get the more we need to make sure we are on time for any appointments. What an affliction when you could really do with a longer lie in bed having run around like a blue tail fly keeping the ‘ munchkins ‘ entertained for 5 days prior to the trip.

Eyes glued almost shut we arrived in our snug station waiting room. It was surprisingly warm and its benches had umpteen, sitting huddled over each other, sleeping oriental bodies waiting for their train too. The children began making loud theatrical whispers about them, as if trying not to waken them up, when they really meant to waken them up. I know them so well!

“They might fall off the bench”. Or “will they miss their train grandma whilst they sleep?” Another question” have they slept there all night?” were a few of the questions we had to hush down to a more polite under the breath reply in answer to their questions. Sheesh! Give me strength!

I was already brain dead before the day began.

If I have to be up really early in the morning I might as well stay awake all night as I clock watch until the crack of dawn, then fall asleep half an hour before I am supposed to wake up.

We changed at Oxenholme for Preston and then onwards to Manchester Piccadilly. Instead of going that far we got off two stops before as we were told that was much closer and not far to walk to the museum. Now that’s the kind of advice I like to hear.

This was to be my third train journey since the 1960’s.

My second one was to Cornwall to visit my daughter who had moved there just five weeks previously. She was homesick and needed Mum.

Bearing in mind that my first ever journey down from Glasgow to the Lakes was on a corridor less train in the early 1960’s, it was a giant leap for me to be on a train which needed buttons to push so the doors could be opened and closed.

I managed that and duly followed my daughter’s instructions about being able to leave my bags safely. Needing the loo off I went, pushed the button, entered and did what I had to do. Imagine my surprise when someone opened the door as I was about my ablutions.

“EXCUSE ME!” I called out as I straightened up.

The door closed quickly and luckily I didn’t see his or her face and they didn’t see mine. Much to my blushes. I began internalising about how I could walk back to my seat cool calm and collected.

What the heck! If I waited long enough then they might not know if it was me or not. (I hoped).

I got to my table seat which I shared with a young couple and noticed my handbag was where I left it.

“Hmm that’s good!” (Thinks me. Samantha was right that I could leave my bag safely).

When recounting my escapade to my daughter she rolled about the floor.

“You left your handbag!”

“What were you thinking Mum?”

“You told me it was safe to leave your bags” I said.

“ S’truth! Give me strength!



“You had your **** in the air when the toilet door opened?”

“MUM!”

“Oh well… at least I got there and back safely. How was I to know that you had to hit another button to lock the door?”

I’m not safe loose!

I guess I have been closeted in the ‘back of beyond’ for too long.  Sigh!

Anyway it cheered her up. lol



I digress…we were on a train to Manchester …
Memories were rushing back as to the fun and games the children and I could get up to this time.              Was I worried? Yup! I shadowed them everywhere

Even to the loo where I could educate them on ‘how to lock the door’.

Grandma’s know everything you know…wink! wink!

I still lost Hollie but that story is yet to be told towards the end of the trip and in another entry.

Below are some of the exhibition displays taken around The Science and Industry Museum.

What a place!

You can walk for ages around the site. In and out of buildings, which once were the homes of the various industries we were about to learn about and see. I huffed and puffed up and down the various floor levels. I didn’t mind as there was ‘treasure’ on every floor. We rode on a train passing the station in which was the venue for hands on learning of topical arts and crafts for visiting children, as well as being a museum for all sorts of things to do with trains and stations.



It was amazing to take in all the ingenuity of the Victorians and their inventiveness, as well as seeing textiles and machinery from early industry up until the present.



It is such a large place that we still hadn’t seen it all by the time it closed at 4.30 that day. We had spent six hours touring the site.

Another visit will be on the cards in the near future.

This textile screen or curtain above had glass inserts inside the net and material.

I liked this innovative idea.

This picture doesn’t truly show the ingenuity of this coat. It is made from real thistledown (the wild flower) attached to very fine threads and sheer net.

It was breathtaking!

Children’s Pottery Display In the Cabinet

A demonstration of what it was like in the cotton mills. Some children as young as five were employed to crawl in between the looms, whilst they were still running, to remove the fluff which might stop production. Occasionally a child would be killed by getting caught in the fast running machines.

The noise was horrendous!

It doesn’t bear thinking about why parents were forced to make their children work at such a young age! What dire straits they must have been living. It just beggars belief.

Towards the end of the afternoon we paid a visit to the Planetarium in the Air and Space Museum. Was that the best of places…yes!

On sitting down on the tilted sofas, so that we could look up and view the night skies, my old body heaved the biggest sigh, having been on my feet most of the day.

My near neighbour agreed with me that this was the best part of the day. She had three children with her. You don’t realise how far you travel and how long you are on your feet until you sit down at times like these.

I tried to stifle a yawn or two but eventually became engrossed in the names of all the planets above me and how they got their names.

All the children were mesmerised.

Some of them were real boffins and knew all the star names.

These textile tapestries were made by Manchester primary school children.  Out of all the exhibits I loved these the most.  The work in all of them was amazing!  When they were all put together...there were more of these photos,,, they took up a large expanse of wall in the upstairs textile area. On looking closer I noticed that they were maps of the area around their school and places of interest too.  They all interlinked with each other too.

There was the zoo and the airport.  Parks, churches and mosques. Theatres, rivers.  A wonderful depiction of what Manchester is all about.

Well done to the teachers and the pupils!

Above is an actual ceramic tile in which the inventor has embedded lacework.

What a clever idea!

Yes it is glazed over to protect the material.  How clever is that?

We had a 'tootle' along the short railway line on this little steam train.

I had to put this bicycle, see above, for Julie. 

It is made of wood and I guess if she rode one of those for a while she would want to put back on all that wonderful weight loss she has managed so far.  One needs one's comfort on a bike ride Julie.  lol

More photos to come another time.

We are off out for the day to a lovely seaside town tomorrow.

Hope the weather is as nice as it has been today.

Love Jeanie xx

Spring Paints the Land with Footsteps of Colour

             

Spring Paints the Land with Footsteps of Colour © Jeanie Kirkby 2010-03-30

The air smells different in spring. It has an aroma of new life emerging from the forest floor.

Wild garlic pervades my nostrils so much that I could dine out on the air.
So redolent of passing by on narrow streets full of tantalising Bistros on balmy summer holiday evenings.

Such memories rush back instantly, as I stroll along the lane, reminding me of warmer times.

Not this bleak iciness that we have all lived through this winter just gone. Not those long drawn out remarkable snowfalls which harassed us, and still do in some areas, these past winter months.

Now spring is releasing all her prolific artists of colour.

Daffodils, crocus, heathers and grape hyacinths lighten my steps and reward my sepia steeped winter eyes.

Celandines carpet the forest floor amongst the crunchy empty nutshells of the squirrels repasts, when they woke from their snug drays with rumbling stomachs, on the warmer sunnier days of their winter sleeps.

The roses are oozing their leaf buds from their stems with red and green tipped eagerness. The clematis too is joining the race.

The hazel trees unfurl their long catkins like golden furry caterpillars hanging out to dry on their branches.

SPRING PAINTS THE LAND WITH HER FOOTSTEPS OF COLOUR AND I AM HAPPY AGAIN.

Happy Easter Everyone!

I have the 'Munchkins' staying for a week so I may not be around very much.

Take care and have a lovely holiday.

Jeanie xx

Another poem of mine to save to Blogger.

The Greenwood Gate

(c) Jeanie Kirkby 2006

Step this way, and follow me;

A path leads down between those trees.

Towards a forests dank and dour

With leaf mould strewn about its floor.

Come, follow me through yonder door

Wherein you’ll find great views, I’m sure,

Which nature gave to you and me.

Her visions framed in every tree.

It’s free of charge; there are no fees

Through this green tunnel where you’ll see

Mirrored reflections on rippled ponds?

Or magic tap of magician’s wand?

Come; take in views that cost no more

Than sitting here upon a floor,

Of dappled shaded greenery;

With grass and moss as your settee.

Windflowers dance upon the floor,

As you step through the wooden door.

This links the outside world to here,

A place for calmness no more fear.

Wildlife abounds within this bower.

I’m sure you’ll browse for countless hours

In contemplative solitude,

Find peace at last in this green wood.

You’ll find out soon in quick point rhyme

How flowers in the forest will dance in time

To every heart beat that you drum

Knowing that here…. His kingdom’s come.

HUGS....JEANIE XX

Windows (Community Photo Challenge)

This month's photo challenge is "WINDOWS"....or "Window". The main focus is "window". You can use your imagination & be creative. You can use the window as a framing tool, but it must have a window in it. You can have one window, or many windows, but remember the focus is on windows.
Starts today & ends April 15th.
Post your windows on your blog, come back here, click the blue button, follow easy directions, post your image on here.

http://communityphotochallenge.blogspot.com/

I had aother window photo to put on here but for one reason or another that's beyond me...it didn't want to play the game.  I have spent ages trying to get this far. Anyway...I have had another go at this competition.

Why don't you try it yourself?

Jeanie xx

Just giving some old poems of mine a home on Blogger

A Spring Bouquet

When I woke to the Sunrise this morning

The birds sang their sweet sounding trill.

The flowers of the meadows and woodlands

Still slept upon my windowsill.

I had gathered them up in a bouquet

To place in full view for to see

Their beauty as nature unfolds them

With her magical mystery.

Their colours were vibrant, yet fleeting,

As their lives slowly faded away.

Their vitality was not for my keeping.

I could not, with love, make them stay.

Much better by far that they’d lingered

In the earth from whence they came forth.

To light up our lives for much longer

Than plucking them out with such force.

(c) Jeanie Kirkby

Images

by Jeanie Kirkby ©

Images around me seem

Just like phantoms in a dream.

Colours take on different hues

Fiery Red, Purple, Blues.

My daydream shimmers in the heat

Perusing dancing children’s feet.

Their arms linked through like metal chains

As they sing to God for Blessed rains

Their earth is parched there is no yield

Of grain or oats in these dry fields.

The famine hits both man and beast

As yet again there’ll be no feast.

The brazen sun beats down its rays

Drying out hope that soon one day

The parched and sandy fields will be

Places of verdant grass and trees.

© Jeanie Kirkby

Memories of Guy

                                   A Vist of  an Angels Wings on a warm summer's day.

 Memories of Guy (C) Jeanie Kirkby 2009

A long time has passed since we were last together walking in companionable silence.

A memory of you flits into view now as a bee drones by intent on gathering nectar in the summer’s sun.

A time when you almost got too close for comfort when you pressed your nose curiously towards another bee on a similar summer day.

Closing my eyes to capture that memory, familiar lanes and woodland paths appear ahead of me of our usual walk. I look through the gloaming and see you fleetingly as you slip from tree to tree. You are always tantalisingly ahead and out of reach.

Only your back is visible, yet I know that you smile widely. You were never without that lollopy smile. This familiar knowledge warms my heart and turns my lips up into a loving smile too. I sense that you are happy and mischievous.

Deaf to my calls, when you know it doesn’t matter if you answer them or not, you push onwards following the well worn familiar trail.  I just want to keep you close to me and in sight, but you slink from view with only the sound of your feet for me to follow.

I skliff  amongst the crunchy leaves you have disturbed with your feet. Smells of damp rotting forest floor detritus extrudes familiar earthy smells.

In view again in a clearing you haltingly lift your head briefly to the suns rays while simultaneously sniffing the air, then you skip on, still elusive.

Today, I am reminded of those walks where we shared our love and companionship, listening and watching for the thrum of life in our beloved woodland.

The sun has warmed the earth for yet another year.

Floral perfumes hang redolent in the balmy air tempting me to breathe in deeply and absorb them into my spirit.

Just as the earth absorbed you, my beloved dog, when you left me here to walk the woodland paths alone.