Project 52 2019 week 20-21

This week’s project 52 is coming in bulk, with last and this week together. I was away on Blog Retreat for a weekend at the end of week 20, and there was only wifi in the other accommodation, so it was snatched, and certainly not enough to full on blog. So I’m on catch up mode this week for week 21.

Week 20

On Sunday we went to meet up with my best friend and her children at Trentham Gardens which is near enough half way. It was a beautiful day, and we explored some new areas to us as well as the children enjoying the playground and barefoot walk.

On Monday it was back to work, and N started his after-school tennis club. 3 weeks have been missed so far with 2 bank holidays and then the coach being injured. There’s only about 7 of the children doing it, but a mix of ages from year 1 to year 4. N said it was ok but it wasn’t good when they were paired with the youngest children because they had to come right up to the net and do gentle shots. I reminded him that it’s good practice for keeping control of the ball. Hopefully he’ll still enjoy it because that extra play, even if just group tennis can only help the rest of his game.

Tuesday was the usual swimming afternoon for him at school, and work for me.

Wednesday they have drama and were practising their key stage 2 performance. He was pleased that the chorus didn’t have to be there all the time.  They’re also doing music education rather than just learning recorders, so they’ve been learning about composers.

Thursday was more of the same – they’ve been doing athletics recently to practise for an athletics event they have next week. I finished work early due to a bit a of extra flexitime to use up so could pick him up earlier than normal from after school club.  Then it was packing and preparing for my weekend away.

Friday I dropped N at school, then got the car washed, nipped to the shops, before heading off to Wales for a Blog Retreat. I’d seen all the photos and write ups about it last year and decided I’d try and go if they ran it again.  I was surprised how easy the journey was – just head west for 3 hours and I was nearly in Aberystwyth. The location was beautiful in the welsh hills, even more in the sticks than my house. The first night I spend relaxing and getting to know people rather than doing the canoeing.

Saturday, I woke early. Thankfully the rain was holding off. I was down for a few sessions, product photography, bush-crafting cooking, and a low light photography walk. So lots of practice with the camera, which I’m very lazy about using nowadays. There was a lovely group of people on The Retreat, and it’s nice to get to know the bloggers I’ve met before better, and those I’ve never met to meet.

Week 21

Sunday started at 5 getting up for a sunrise photography walk, which ended up too misty to see any sun. It gave me a chance to have a bit more of a chat with Holly from Holly Made It while the others went back to bed.  I went on a waterfall photography walk which was beautiful, but crikey the walk back up the hill afterwards was horrible.  I also did a session on photographing children.  The organiser’s teenage daughter obliged with modelling for us and I got some lovely photos of her. Quick lunch then the drive home. 

I missed getting to N’s tennis match by some way as they must have raced through the matches finishing in under an hour. They won again which was great, although N kept saying how he had a bit of a ‘what happened to my game’ match against the number 1 which he was amused about given he thought he’d have usually been able to win.

Monday wasn’t as expected as N was ill – really exhausted, a cold and saying he felt sick. He wasn’t thankfully, and by late afternoon he was fine.  I worked from home.

Tuesday was the same as usual, just work and school. The OH was working late rolling wool for the sheep shearing, which N had a moan at – although he did pop his head in to say goodnight at N’s bedtime. We did play a bit of tennis on the patio before his bedtime though. It’s nice to be able to sit and do stuff outside in the nice warm evening sun.

On Wednesday was at an outreach athletics event at a local prep school. He actually noticed children he knew from other schools, and said he really enjoyed it.  I’m not sure he’s set out for field events though – he told me the first time he tried to throw the javelin, he managed to knock the back end of it on his bottom.

Thursday was another normal day, although N finished off the day helping out with rolling and stamping down the wool in the bags at shearing.

I was forgetting everything on Friday. N confused things by questioning non-uniform day then forgetting his PE kit. That meant I forgot to give him money for non uniform fund raising, and then forgot it was open morning. So I missed my chance to speak to the teacher and look at N’s work. N did win Learner of the Week so it wasn’t all bad.

We finished the day with N’s tennis lesson – he did some great serving and nearly beat the coach in a individual challenge, doing the best of all the children. I think the kids moving outside and now using the proper felt red balls instead of the indoor foam ones really does help. His tennis has improved just in the last 2 weeks.

Week 21 ended with just usual Saturday things. Quick nip into town to butcher and baker, a failed attempt to find some cheap school shoes (why is it N always needs new ones from the summer half term), swimming and then some tidying up of the lodgers’ garden as they’ve moved out.