The Music of Life

It has been a satisfying month.  I have settled into my classes and am very happy with the groups that I have been allocated.  Most of the children are joyous and this year I have no really difficult characters to deal with, only a couple of stubborn mules and one or two chatterboxes, that is the luck of the draw.  In the past couple of years I have had some really difficult students who could singlehandedly disrupt an otherwise peaceful and productive class and almost reduce me to tears. 

The Westies lending a hand with a bit of lesson planning.

The children in one of my classes in particular really enjoy singing.  We sing songs about everything and, while the children work filling out worksheets and cutting and pasting, we sing together.  At the drop of a hat they can begin singing spontaneously.  It puts a spring in my step as they mimic my voice without even realising they are doing it.  I have to drink a lot of water to keep my vocal chords supple and I conduct the choir with my hands while doling out scissors and glue and pencils.  Talk about multitasking, no wonder I am exhausted at the end of the day.

A couple of my groups are fairly motoring through the books, which gives us a great opportunity to play a game or do a structured activity at the end of class.  Of course they enjoy this and they all seem to play fairly, though of course, they all love to win!  I, however, must now spend this weekend researching, devising and making some new games to play.  The children are voracious!

On the last day of the month I also finally felt that I was getting into a groove with my PET (exam) group.  The first two classes simply did not work, for me at any rate, I cannot speak for the students.  But sometimes you just have to fish around before you get it right.  Still, that lack of spark in my work depresses me and I had been walking home on my PET nights with stooping shoulders and a slower gait.  Last night I felt more lighthearted leaving the academy, surely that had nothing to with it being our first TNO (Teachers’ Night Out) of the new academic year!  A couple of bevvies later and I was fairly dancing my way home, though today I am nursing a slight hangover.

The wind has been blowing violently for the past two days.  I went out yesterday morning to find my tomato vines lying flattened under the huge tobacco plant, I have several of these growing wild in my garden.  I almost wish I smoked.  This one was a particularly impressive specimen, with candelabra branches ending in clusters of pretty pink flowers.  

The tobacco plants (topped with pink) can be pretty impressive.  Though neither of these pictured match the 'King' that was knocked down by the gales.

For over an hour yesterday morning I battled with the storm trying to prop the tomatoes up again and to dissect the tobacco plant, which was unsalvageable.  It was a pretty tough battle and after I went inside half of the vines sank once more to the ground.  

Looki, with a greenish face, protects the remains of the King of Tobacco plants.  The tomatoes have been propped up in this picture, only to be knocked flat half an hour later.

There they lay, within striking distance of Looki, the tomato thief.  His face is stained green by this time from foraging.  He loves picking tomatoes.  He does not always eat them, thank goodness, because I think that one can eat too many tomatoes, especially if that one is a smallish dog.  I find tomatoes now in all sorts of random places, usually with a dog’s nose resting a few inches from them.  This morning Looki has been walking around with a huge tomato in his mouth.  When he lies down he puts the tomato close to him so he can keep an eye on it and when we all troop upstairs or downstairs again he gently picks it up and brings it with him.  If I really wanted to I could tell him to relinquish it, but he is catching no harm and it keeps him happy.  It is too late for the tomato anyway as it has puncture marks all over from Looki’s remaining teeth.

Tomatoes with teeth marks are popping up all over the house.....

I came home rather late last night on account of the TNO.  The dogs started making their funny welcoming sounds long before I put the key in the door and they went absolutely mad when I got in.  Looki did his ‘mad five minutes’, running up and down the corridor and skidding with glee on the tiles as he turned to run back the other way and then jump at me in delight.  Kerry gargled and barked with reckless abandon following me at a Lippizzaner trot as I walked towards the living room.  Candy was doing her crazy circles, chasing her tail. Then she suddenly took off ahead of me and must have taken a swooping dive at the couch….from across the coffee table.  Being a few feet behind her I only heard the noise of a Whoooosh!  But on entering the room I saw her sitting, looking slightly dazed on the couch and the coffee table was cleared along the middle.  On the floor to the left and to the right were pencils, papers, remote controls a candle and a rubber.  One piece of paper was still gently see-sawing down to the floor.  Looki took advantage of the situation and tried to eat the rubber.  No!  I said sharply and he dropped it immediately.  I suddenly had a vision of his poos bouncing all over the place in the morning. 

Those dogs are not only tomato thieves, every day they steal a little bit more of my singing heart.