Advent catch up!

 Two years have passed, it seems, since I was last here....Well, I have been popping in occasionally to navigate to other blogs, but I haven't posted. What a lot of change has been going on in blogland.

So, the move to the south has brought change - and a lot of it: the girls now live in East Anglia with my dear UJ, who continues to be a faithful and wonderful presence in our lives. 

The EFG is a baker, working at her second bakery since taking up the trade about 18 months ago. She had had enough of working at Asda, and took a leap into a new world. Commercial baking is a world apart from domestic baking, and she makes things on such scale now that I can't get my head around it. She has been nominated, and shortlisted for an industry award as a promising newcomer already - she doesn't do things by halves!

The YFG is now in her second year of teaching - the first year was a steep learning curve for her as she had a large class with a lot of challenging needs, in a school in a huge Multi Academy Trust, which has made resourcing her activities difficult and she did think about leaving there at the end of the first year, but then decided to stick it out until she has passed her ECT stage. That was called NQT when I was Chair of Govs years ago, but things change and it is now a two year process, but she seems to be getting there. She has a smaller group of children this year and seems more positive. I still think she will look for another post eventually, where she can focus on outdoor learning and Forest School work more.

I was ordained in the summer and released from some of the oversight processes, which has been liberating. I LOVE my role here, and am thrilled to be doing this work. It is a world away from my previous life as I look back through the posts on here and remember breeding my beloved chickens, school governing, gymnastics coaching, etc - but that was that season and this is now - and it is good in different ways.

I planted a tiny vegetable garden last year and grew beans, strawberries, raspberries, courgettes and butternut squash in it, with tomatoes in hanging baskets and in big pots. The weather down here was warm but very wet this summer so I don't think it did as well as it could have done, but I shall try again in the spring. The ground is incredibly hard to work as it is heavy clay, so I had to put the garden in as a raised bed. I might get another one in 2024 and expand a bit.

The Christmas cakes are made and waiting to be iced, a lot of the presents for the various family members are purchased according to their wish-lists, and I am still knitting hats whilst I watch tv now and then. Some things don't change!!

It is lovely to be "back" and I just hope that I get back more often now - we shall see! Lots of love xx