July 26th

Pisces - Fish - Aquamarine - Waterlily



I don't know any Pisces people but while I was browsing around looking for a pretty picture ar somthing interesting about Pisces I found a website about the world's largest jigsaw. It has 24,ooo pieces and when it's finished it is 168.5 in x 61.8 in (14ft 0.5 in x 5ft. 1.8in). The finished picture is the one below but if you want to see it in more details you can look at it here. It is an absolutley gorgeous thing but who has time (or space) to finish such a monster. Maybe I'll put it on my list of things to do when I retire 'cos I know how much free time you retired ladies have to spare - lol.

July 25th

Aquarius - water - Amethyst - Fruit Trees



Aquarius - that'd be my Mum then. And my Nan. Not that they would ever have liked being grouped together in any way whatsoever. Two formidable ladies, two big influences in my life, both strong, charismatic and more than a little scary. They just never got on, at all.

I had a wonderful relationship with my mother for the whole of my childhood - she was my strength, my foundation. Her love and belief in me let me know that I could do anything I wanted, be anything I wanted and gave me the strength to follow my dreams.

If I could do one impossible thing before breakfast it would have been to allow my Mum to heal the rifts that grew so deep between her and her mother so that she too could have know the support and love that was there for her - even though she could never see it herself. My Nan really did adore her but had absolutely no idea how to show her that.

July 24th

Capricorn - Horned goat - Ruby - Ivy



I've been a really grouchy old goat recently.
The holidays are here now and I'm already starting to feel a little more human. Lazy days with no time-tables make me feel so much more relaxed. Who knows - I might even catch up with the housework!

July 23rd

Sagittarius - Centaur - Topaz - Dandelion



This is my adorable Saggitarian. I don't know if she's typical of the sign as I've not really known many other saggitarians. According to the stuff I've read on the 'net today she doesn't seem that typical - although she is definately quick-tempered and appears irresponsible (as her write-up suggests she would be) but she does not forgive easily and she is not particulary easy-going (contrary to her supposed typical traits).

On the whole my girl is loveable, intelligent, understanding, flirtatious, and sympathetic. She's going away for the holidays tomorrow - she's got a summer job working as an airplane mechanic near my Mother-in-law's so she'll be staying there for the holiday's. She's going to have a fantastic time there - planes, freedom, an abundance of guys to look after her (well, she is the only female there except for the secretary). I know she's going to be really happy.

Just wish I wasn't going to miss her so much....

July 22nd

Scorpio - Scorpian - Chrysoberyl - Geranium



This is me!

I have had this necklace for a loooong time: my Nan bought it for me for my 21st birthday. Well, actually, my Nan sent me the money to buy it for my birthday because she wanted to get me some jewellery that I could keep and when I saw this in The Great Frog in Carnaby Street I fell in love with it. She hated it! However, I still wear it lots so the essence of her wish is definately in her present.



As to the charaturisitcs of my sign - out of these lists I'd say that social, brave and jealous miss the mark but the others are pretty much true for me. Actually I'm not sure about the hypnotic part either, but according to at least one close friend that's true at times too.

July 21st

Libra - Scale or balance - Opal - Daisy



Balance - don't talk to me about balance!

Life without balance is a desperate and frustrating place, one that we probably all know intimately at times. Certainly one that I know too intimately at the moment. I have too much to do, too little time, too little money. Most of all, when I'm being honest I probably just have too many excuses and too little self-control. Or do I have too little help and too much on my plate. Some days I wish there was someone out there who had all the answers and could tell me exactly what to do to make everything easy and happy. Even when I know what some of the answers are it seems so impossible to make the changes that I need to make; I start off with great intentions then get distracted and go off at a tangent. Will I ever actually find a balance in my life?

I know I used to have balance but then I had children. Is it their chaos that makes me less centered? Will I return to being a calm and accepting person when they they are grown

I have a feeling that I won't know the answer until I'm well past this part of my life and I'm looking back wondering why I let it get to being like this. Or when I look back and realise that everyone has times like this (please tell me at least some of you do - is it really just me losing my head in this hectic world?).

The one thing I do know is that my kids are growing up well. I love them loads and they love me too. We're friends and makes everything worthwhile.

July 21st

Libra - Scale or balance - Opal - Daisy



This is our Virgo girl and today is her Leaver's Day assembly - she moves to secondary school in September. Not that she's worried about it as her two big sisters are already there to look out for her. Actually she doesn't seem to worry about much - or maybe she hides it very well. Of my four daughters this is the one I feel I know least well; she is still a bit of an enigma to me although she doesn't try to be in any way. She is gentle and kind and helpful to pretty much everyone (well, she usually is, although recently she's had a bad dose of year-six-itis: the arrogance that seems to affect most kids whilst they are the oldest year of their primary schools).

I often get the feeling that one day this girl will turn round and let us know that she's done something truly amazing without any of us knowing that it had even crossed her mind. She seems to quietly get on with things without ever seeing the difficulties that most of us see - she just takes things in her stride and moves through life with a smile and a reassuring hug to anyone that needs it.

July 19th

Leo - Lion - Perigot - Sunflower



This is my little Leo - the youngest of our little family and the sunniest (Leo is ruled by the sun, after all). She is, in so many ways, a typical feline personality: she adores fuss and attention, always goes her own way through life, demands cuddles no matter what you may be doing at the time but brings her own unique kind of peace to your day when her little blonde mane finds its way under your arm for cuddles. She seems to have an almost unbreakable pride in herself and will not bend her own ways or ideas to fit in with the crowd.

I hope her confidence and love of life stay with her for as long as she walks this earth of ours.

July 18th

Cancer - Crab - Emerald - Lily



More of the important people in my life have been Cancerians than any other sign. Four of my closest friends, my music teacher (who was an enourmous influence when I was a child), both my PhD tutors and the person that agreed to share my life with me. He's a bit of a hermit crab at times and hides in his shell when he feels uncomfortable - yes, even at parties! But on the inside he's loving, sensitive and very caring both of me and our daughters. He's my rock - he keeps me strong and safe and supported, whatever might by going on in our lives. He might not always seem as approachable as he would like to be but I always know that if I need him he will be there for me.

And I probably don't tell him any of this often enough.

July 17th

Gemini - Twins - Agate - Lavender

Gemini - the twins! Very appropriately I have been lucky enough to have had two really amazing Geminis in my life. Both were charismatic, vibrant, utterly irresistable people. Both were bouncy, fun-loving and generous (although with typical Gemini contradiction both are incredibly self-centered - but in a strange unselfish way that only makes them more endearing).

I'm not saying that I never get terminally frustrated with my adorable Gemini, because boy can they drive you nuts, but having them around certainly makes life a lot more fun...

July 16th

Taurus - Bull - Sapphire - Rose

I don't remember any Taurus people that have affected my life so today I'm going to send you off to see one of my regular blog visits: Ecotime - and amazing blog full of natural facts and amazing photos.

Before you go here's what he had to say about Taurus:

---

Taurus - One of the constellations in the zodiac. It sits large and prominent in the winter sky, between Aries to the west and Gemini to the east; to the north lie Perseus and Auriga, to the southeast Orion, and to the southwest Eridanus and Cetus.



One of the few first magnitude stars in the sky, the bright red Aldebaran, sits in the middle of this constellation. Aldebaran, a red/orange supergiant has an apparent magnitude .85



In the east of the constellation lies one of the best known open clusters, easily visible to the eye, the Pleiades. It is the brightest star cluster visible from Earth, and is comparatively young and has many blue stars.

July 15th

A new week, and this weeks prompts will be the Zodiac signs. Be inspired by birth stones, flowers, animals or the characteristics of each sign. For those that do not believe in Horoscopes, please feel free to take the flower as your inspiration
Aries - Ram - Bloodstone - Honeysuckle



I've only known one Aries person well and that would be my Grandpa. He was the most amazing person and I still talk to him often when I feel lost in this world. He died when my oldest daughter was 3 months old but I wish he could spend just one day with them all now because they would adore him and he would adore them so much. I often wonder if he is proud of me although I know that he would never judge me no matter what mess I got myself into .

He was quiet and gentle and strong. He was, and still is, an inspiration to me. He loved my Nan dearly until the day he died and would have moved the world to make her happy.

I remember him catching my paddling in a puddle without my shoes and socks on when I was about six years old. He was horrified and very cross with me. I'd never actually seen him cross before so I knew I had done something really terrible. I begged him not to tell my Mum (if Grandpa was this cross she'd be ten times worse) and only found out after his death that he never ever did tell her. He never told her about the Crunchie bars he bought me when we went to feed the ducks whilst she was cooking Sunday lunches either.

July 14th

Pop(ular) Music - It is not a particular genre or style of music, but simply that which is the most popular for the tracked period of time
What are you listening too on your ipod, CD player, radio?

Most frequently played CD sin my life at the moment:

Korn Greatest Hits (I'm not usually a 'greatest hits' person but this had the two tracks I was looking for at the time)

Three Days Grace One-X

Him Dark Light

Maggini Quartet Rawsthorne's String Quartets Nos. 1-3, Theme and Variations

And our most frequently played track on YouTube has to be this one. It's the only way to get the kids up in a morning without them being grouchy. We play it loud and do the Bee Dance* all the way through.



^*The Bee Dance is a special family dance. It involves holding your hands up by your ears and wiggling your bum to the beat like a little bumble bee dancing to his hive mates. If you can do that without grinning you're not singing loud enough!

July 13th

Disco



Since this prompt went up I have had that silly D.. I.. S.. C.. O.. song running through my head (thanks Anna - I could go right off you today - lol). I have no idea who originally sang it but the tune seems to have got well and truly stuck in my mind. Consequently you get my version to listen to today - he he



D.I.S.C.O (3x)
She is disco

She is D dragon crazy
She is I insecure
She is S scared of failure
She is C chocoholic
She is O oh, oh, oh

July 12th

Rock and Roll



Before you ask, no this isn't me in a past life. It's my eldest getting ready for my Mum's wedding earlier this year - the dress just seemed right for this prompt.

I remember my mum teaching me to jive when I was a kid. Loud Elvis music on the record player and just the two of us jiving on the living room carpet on a rainy Sunday afternoon. My mum comes alive when she dances, as if all the cares of the world just can't reach her anymore. She loved Elvis, had loads of his records, but I also remember plenty of Jerry Lee Lewis and a little bit of Green Onions thrown in for good measure. Watching her dance to Elvis at her wedding with the guy she first danced with all those years ago was great. So good to see two people so happy.

July 11th

Classical



Classical music is astounding, awe-inspiring, uplifting, calming, rejeuvenating. It can also be tedious and irritating but I choose to ignore the pieces that make me feel like that.

There are so many people that just dismiss classical music out of hand - how can you possible say you don't like all classical music when there's such an amazing variety of it just waiting to creep into your heart and take up residence there. It's like saying you don't like landscapes.

Ok - so I'm biased.
I'm a classically-trained clarinet and piano player, although I don't play much now. If I knew how to get my piano into our boat I'd be a much happier person without a doubt. I so miss being able to sit down and just play, to let the tensions of the day disappear as the music takes over and fills my mind and soul with peace.
One day I'll have that again, til then there's always a concert somewhere close by.

And for those of you who aren't impressed just try listening to this. It's Tomás Luis de Victoria's Tenebrae factae sunt, argueable the most intense and evocative version of the Tenebrae repositories written. Close your eyes, sit back and and open your spirit to beauty.

July 10th

Country



People always comin' up to me and askin'
"Dolly, what's your secret?
With all you do, your attitude
Just seems to be so good
How do you keep it?"
Well I'm not the Dalai Lama, but I'll try
To offer up a few words of advice

You better get to livin', givin'
Don't forget to throw in a little forgivin'
And lovin' on the way
You better get to knowin', showin'
A little bit more concerned about where you're goin'
Just a word unto the wise
You better get to livin'

A girlfriend came to my house
Started cryin' on my shoulder Sunday evening
She was spinnin' such a sad tale
I could not believe the yarn that she was weavin'
So negative the words she had to say
I said if I had a violin I'd play

I said you'd better get to livin', givin'
Be willing and forgivin'
Cause all healing has to start with you
You better stop whining, pining
Get your dreams in line
And then just shine, design, refine
Until they come true
And you better get to livin'

Your life's a wreck, your house is mess
And your wardrobe way outdated
All your plans just keep on falling through
Overweight and under paid, under appreciated
I'm no guru, but I'll tell you
This I know is true

You better get to livin', givin'
A little more thought about bein'
A little more willin' to make a better way
Don't sweat the small stuff
Keep your chin up
Just hang tough
And if it gets too rough
Fall on your knees and pray
And do that everyday
Then you'll get to livin'

The day we're born we start to die
Don't waste one minute of this life
Get to livin'
Share your dreams and share your laughter
Make some points for the great hereafter

Better start carin'
Better start sharin'
Better start tryin'
Better start smiling
And you better get to livin'

Better Get To Livin' - Dolly Parton

July 9th

Punk



I am an antichrist
I am an anarchist
Dont know what I want but
I know how to get it
I wanna destroy the passer by cos i

I wanna be anarchy !
No dogs body

Anarchy in th UK - The Sex Pistols
Scarily enough I really like this track - especially when I'm feeling put upon by the world and all in it

July 8th

New week and new prompts.
This week we're looking at music genres for inspiration for photography and journalling.

Glam Rock



I always hope that when I grew up I would be one of the effortlessley glamorous elegant women you sometimes see around. An Audrey Hepburn or Sharon Stone type.

I guess seeing as my oldest daughter is now taller than me I'm as grown up as I'm going to get. The glamour hasn't developed yet but I can still hope.

Although remembering to actually put my make-up on before taking my glamourous photo would probably be a good start....

July 7th

Sneezy



About five years ago I started to get hay fever. It's not good! Streaming eyes, sniffles and lots & lots of sneezes! The most irritating thing about it is that if I sneeze more than twice (which is pretty much guaranteed once I start) my Mum tells me that more than twice is just bragging. I know she's joking, but it really doesn't cheer me up at all. And she sounds so much like my Nan when she says it - the same sensitivity and love in her voice (not)!

Mum - if you ever read this - don't say it! It's more irritating than the sneezing.

The one good thing is - I don't seem to have it at all this year so I really can smell the roses for a change.

July 6th

Sleepy



I'm am so sleepy right now - I always am by the end of the school term - so ready for an end to school runs, to fighting to get everyone up and ready in time at the beginning of each day and then fighting to get them in bed on time at the end of the day. So ready to stop worrying about homework timetables, afterschool clubs, washing and ironing uniforms, PE kits, karate gi, swimming kits, orchestra rehersals.

Roll on the quiet peaceful days of the long summer holidays, lazy days of fun and relaxation, not getting up 'til I'm actually ready to get up and not constantly watching the clock to make sure everything gets done on time. Time to bake and play, time to watch the flowers grow and the clouds roll past overhead. Time to recover and grow. Time to just be.

July 5th

Happy



Things that make me happy:

sunny days

chocolate

a full moon

fast rollercoasters

Ben & Jerry's

shoe shopping (preferably with someone else's credit card)

jumping in puddles

kicking through crispy autumn leaves

catching up with old friends

the first coffee on my own on Monday mornings when everyone's gone to school

hugging my kids

curled up with my head on my hubby's chest settled down in bed at the end of the day - our own peaceful time together

July 4th

Grumpy



OK - this photo doesn't make me grumpy. Far from it!

The things that does make me grumpy is how incredibly difficult it is for kids to have access to music these days. Our local Borough has music lessons in school. Great! Or so you might think. Unfortunately they provide 15 minutes a week, if the teacher actually turns up, which my daughter's cello teacher often does not, and only for about 30 weeks of the year. So only seven and a half hours lessons a year! And they don't teach above Grade V so it seems to be in the teachers' best interests to teach the kids as slowly as possible so they dont get above Grade V before they leave school!

For the first year my daughter came on really quickly - she has a lovely naturally full tone and she worked hard beacuse she really enjoyed having lessons. However, over the last year she has been bored bored bored of playing the same pieces for weeks on end. Finding out that she would get the same cello teacher when she moved up to secondary school in September made her very grumpy.

'Time to find a new cello teacher', I thought. 'Thats not a problem.'

Wrong!!!

The library no longer keeps lists of local teachers 'in case we look biased'
The local authority will not give out contact details although they took mine and passed it on to a teacher who, again only gives 30 lessons a year, is retiring in 12 months and wanted to give my poor daughter pieces that were so easy she could play them in her sleep. Oh and she wanted paying in advance for the year.

There are no music shops near us, except for electric guitar and drum type places.
According to the internet there are only two cello teachers in the whole of London, which only leads me to wonder if classical music teachers really do live in another more beautiful and simple world with the composers whose music they surround themsleves with. Although there may be more if you search through the 12 pages of music teachers in Middlesex that Yell.com provides for you. Apparently no-one would ever want to search for anything more specific than a music teacher - we dont care what instrument - just music is enough.

Bah!!!!!

Well - we're going to meet another lady next week who will hopefully turn out to be just right for us. She is one of the two cello teachers listed in London and fortunately is only about 10 minutes from home.

The thing that really makes me growl with frustration is that DD2 needs a new classical guitar teacher (all the school teachers want to teach her rock or bass, neither of which she is slightly interested in learning) and we found out last Friday that DD4s wonderful, inspiring and dedicated violin teacher is retiring at the end of this year.

Me.....

Grumpy......

Heck yes!!!!!!!!

July 3rd

Dopey



I am certainly getting more and more like Dopey as I get older. I'm not sure whether my poor brain is over-loaded with things to remember or if it's just lost too many brain cells over the last few years, but I forget so many things these days. I've given up carrying a handbag most of the time because I've left it in too many places. I often find letters half finished or, even worse, folded into their envelopes and left unposted for weeks. I lose my car keys so often that there's now a hook on the ceiling right next to the door so I hang them there before I even take my shoes off (that's not as daft as it sounds when your ceiling is less than a foot above your head).

I think I need to sit down and relax before I forget that I've made coffee otherwise I'll find it later all cold and abandoned....


...again

July 2nd

Doc



A long time ago in a previous life I though I'd be a Doc instead of a mother.

I did a PhD in Molecular Immunology, looking at the possibilities of engineering a plasmid vector that would inhibit the reproduction of the HIV virus inside the white blood cells that it infects. I loved the intellectual side of research, although the day-to-day monotony of repeating experiments left a lot to be desired, and dreamed of changing the world in some significant way.

Then I realised how much my husband meant to me and that there was life outside the ridiculous hours that my work required of me. I couldn't have a family and this career and woke up one day just knowing that a family was more important.

I often wonder who I would have become if I'd not made that life-changing decision and instead I'd gone on to run my own lab and devote my life to science. Would I have cured AIDS?? Totally unlikely but a girl can dream...... I would certainly have been a harder and less compassionate person. My home may have been much closer to my perfect ideal but the cost would have been an empty heart.

July 1st

'New week, New month and I am feeling the need to have some fun! Let me introduce you to Snow Whites seven little helpers!'
Bashful



I most definately have my Bashful side.

I get toungue-tied and nervous in company of lots of people, especially those I don't know well. I expect most people will not notice me, those that do notice me will not like me and those that already know me will have forgotton about me. I'm terrible at accepting compliments although I crave them most of the time. I need to learn to see my achievements for myself but only really start to believe I've done well if others tell me so.