Blue Eyed Boy

So, this one had thrown me for a six!!!  Reading it last night completely spun me out ... total confusion, which means that I must continue so that I can comprehend what is happening!!!  Joanne Harris ... you do mesmerise me!  This is so different, so disturbing, and yet so typically riveting!!!!

Holidays!!! Time to Read!!!

So at last, I am on holiday.  Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh ...   Results are done and scores have been sent ... overall, a fantastic set of awards. I am such a happy mother hen :)

So now it is time to READ!!!   Hallelujah!

I just do not really know where to start...   Currently I am reading Joanne Harris' Blue Eyed Boy - so different, so engaging, so disturbing - I love it!!

Just received Chris Womersley's Bereft in the post today.  Don't you love it when you order a book online, forget, and then it arrives??  I do!!

And there are so many others piled up, waiting in the wings ... five weeks will not be enough, but I will do my best to devour as many as I can.  I LOVE summer holidays <3 <3 <3

A tough day ....

Today I attended the funeral of a four year old boy who lost his courageous battle with cancer last Wednesday.  I do not think that words can come close to expressing the emotions I experienced and witnessed today.  What I saw was a beautiful little boy with a great big smile who has lived and loved so fully for his short time on earth.  I have seen a family who have shown such love, devotion and courage to this amazing little boy ... it breaks my heart.  It breaks my heart to see their loss, and I wonder why ... why him and why them?  As the mother of my own four year old son, it has affected me deeply.  I keep thinking of words, images and sounds that I absorbed today, and I make connections between Charlie and Liam - their love of toy catalogues, Thomas the Tank Engine, cuddles, stories, swimming, family ......... my heart breaks for this beautiful family and that adorable little boy who fought so hard.  RIP, Charlie, you are free to run and play and laugh forever now in heaven.

I am not allowed to ...

This is my version of a writing exercise I once gave my students :)  It's very therapeutic!!!

I am not allowed to ….

Eat Pringles for breakfast
 
Listen to loud music when my children want peace and quiet
 
Drink a bottle of wine every night 
 
Ram into cars that do less than 110kmh down the southern outlet  
 
Accept free tickets to bands from young girls 
 
Burn students’ assignments because I can’t be bothered marking them
 
Go swimming at the gorge after midnight
 
Ignore my mother’s text messages
 
Flirt with hot guys because I am married 
 
Run away to France for a year 
 
Keep a dragon as a pet 
 
Be facebook friends with students till Dec 31
 
Make voodoo dolls of people
 
Eat my children just because they look delicious
 
Tell students what I really think of them 
 
Buy myself Christmas presents
 
Buy a new Volvo V50 wagon 
 
Marry Eddie Vedder … apparently ?  (well, maybe I will)

Bereft ....

It is with a heavy heart that I write tonight. My fluffy little Writing hatchlings have flown the nest …. and I am left alone.

 I worry about how my baby birds will fare in the big wide world: my wayward sons, Sam and Josh, what will become of them? Who will save them from themselves? Not even …



   

                                                                                                               

My beautiful little girlie chicks .. how will they fend off all those boys whilst pursuing their ambitions to change the world? And how will I keep my nest in order without Zoe to save me from chaos???

 They have shared their stories with me, both on paper and in life. I have witnessed their joys and frustrations, deep hurt and indifference. They have made me laugh and curse, wonder and admire.


So … it is the end of an era of cupcakes and coffee, ‘misplaced’ keys (I guess I can now publicly confess that they were in my pocket all along – oops!), no laptops and excuses ….

What will the bag Nazi do without Dee (and countless others) who have broken the laws about bags in IT – risking death in the pit of fire in their transgressions. Tsk tsk. It is not only me who will feel the loss of this mixed bag of lollies that is English Writing 2010 (I cannot bring myself to say ‘was’).



A whole year has passed – and not a single classroom romance? Or is there still time for one to blossom??

I am left alone, with only final results before me, unsure what to do with myself – a life? But what is that? I do not know. I have our final farewell dinner to live for … and then perhaps I am destined to wander, “lonely as a cloud” … Fly, my little chickadees, spread your wings and fly.

And a huge THANK YOU to the wonderful Makayla for letting me use her amazing photos <3

'An Ode to Marking'

Now, I confess that I am no poet, but as the mountainous pile of assignments begins to overwhelm me, I felt the need to release and talk back to those nasty writer's notebooks, writing projects and folio drafts.

Anyway, here it is.  It has made me feel better for writing it!

‘An ode to marking’

I know you mock me.

You, you white sheets of purity,

You think you are so saintly.

But no, you are tainted.

Marked with blackness,

With your insipid romances

And melodramatic tragedies,

Your violence and your wars.

No, you are not pure or perfect.

Are you oblivious to your mistakes?

You are riddled with the diseases

Of poor grammar

And punctuation errors

And words that don’t make sense

Or sound just plain lame.

Do you think that you are everything?

That I have no other life?

Well, I do.  I have a LIFE.

A life that is my family, my garden,

A house to keep, and books to read.

Do you not think I deserve to sleep?

Or to eat? 

Maybe even watch a tv program, or a movie

Just once in a while ….

I know you do not care for any of that.

You just demand and consume me,

Trying to destroy me.

Well, you won’t.

I will have my life, and you can wait.

So next time you mutter

About deadlines and results,

Just remember:  I have a LIFE!

just an update ...

My creativity has been somewhat stifled by an overwhelming mass of Writing Project drafts of late .... (sigh)   However, I am still reading - Pearl in a Cage is the current tale of choice, and I have to say that I am quite engrossed.  I will endeavour to post some details in the near future ....   I am also very excited about the forthcoming release of Kate Morton's latest novel, The Darkest Hours.  I cannot wait for this - bring on November 1!!