View out back of caravan. Lovely end to day taken Apr 14, 2018 @ 19:55
Batch lot of Delia’s Ragu. We had fresh last night & now to be frozen in Sqk size portions. Easy tea for a boy who loves bolognese. taken Apr 17, 2018 @ 16:21
Watching Sqk have fun in one of his favourite places. Had a lovely walk around estate as well … taken Apr 21, 2018 @ 11:30
Rocking headphones & hat look….. taken Apr 21, 2018 @ 12:29
Enjoying our favourite pastime … watching trains taken Apr 29, 2018 @ 10:55
Getting ready to scoot …. taken May 06, 2018 @ 15:36
Tag: adoption
Instagram: Images
Drone lady has joined today to go with yesterday’s helicopter. taken Dec 18, 2017 @ 17:57
Today in snowboard boy is joined by chainsaw man taken Dec 20, 2017 @ 08:16
Snowboard boy admiring the angel who has appeared in taken Dec 21, 2017 @ 08:09
Drone lady now has a powered snowmobile to get around Snowboard boy is impressed…. taken Dec 22, 2017 @ 08:00
Well that is cake iced – T admitted last night he preferred royal icing so that is what we have. Now to let it dry then it can be finished if I can find stuff for top …. taken Dec 22, 2017 @ 11:00
Running Sqk – out for a walk on first day of his holiday. No chance of wearing him out but he is pretending Henry-dog is with us taken Dec 22, 2017 @ 12:25
Nails done for first time in a year taken Dec 22, 2017 @ 22:38
Snowboard boy getting excited in by the arrival of a sleigh but where is the big man himself? taken Dec 23, 2017 @ 08:32
Lily & Sqk are finally making friends it seems…. taken Dec 23, 2017 @ 13:11
Hear rustling behind me as wrapping presents. Look to see Lily happily ensconce herself in bag I used to get presents to dining room floor taken Dec 23, 2017 @ 14:33
The big man has arrived in to the delight of snowboard boy. taken Dec 24, 2017 @ 09:17
One very content Lily-cat….. taken Dec 24, 2017 @ 22:33
One happy Sqk this morning – snowman building later he tells me…. taken Dec 29, 2017 @ 08:54
Fire-bathing Lily-cat…. taken Dec 31, 2017 @ 22:30
Instagram: Images
Writing practice … first time he has wanted to all holiday…. taken Sep 01, 2017 @ 13:30
Well we have just purchased new caravan – T having passed extra license a fortnight ago. Pick up in 5 weeks… same dealer as we brought from 3 years ago… taken Sep 03, 2017 @ 13:23
My current view …. someone hungry it appears…. taken Sep 16, 2017 @ 09:53
Fire bathing cat … taken Sep 23, 2017 @ 20:54
So proud of Sqk- getting this at end of week 3. Good listening 🙂 taken Sep 23, 2017 @ 21:22
One Happy Lily-Cat …. taken Sep 23, 2017 @ 21:44
Reflections
Yesterday after sorting out a few things at work I got back to my office at work to discover the news that Gareth Marr has passed away. It has surprised me how much the loss of a man who I met three times in total – and heard speak twice has affected me. I was teary-eyed at the news – and in tears talking about it with T last night. I really do feel like I have lost a friend – and as the many tributes on twitter have shown so do so many of us in the adoption community.
I first met Gareth at the Adoption UK conference in November 2014 although we’d been corresponding on Twitter before then about adoption and education. Education has always been something I have a passion about due to growing up as the daughter of a teacher and now bothe the sister of a teacher and working in higher education myself. I am former school governor with special interest in PP and Gareth and I connected discussing the #adoptionschooltrain.
Every time I met him he was always well turned out with his trademark hat and that deep voice. When he talked you listened. Having met him in Birmingham when I heard he would be up to speak at the Yorkshire & Humber Adoption Consortium educaiton conference in May 2015 I immeidately invite dhim to speak to the local Adoption UK support group. We even got Ralph berry – a Bradford councillor with an interest in education and social services to come along. It is an evening that will live long in my memory and one that empowered a lot of us to go and talk to our schools. He certainly inspried me – my one regret is that T never had a the chance I had to engage with him.
When the education white paper came out earlier in this year and I realised that finally it would be recognised that our children in education terms have very similar outcomes to those in care (KS2 pass rate: 49% previously in care; 46% in care compared to 75% average nationally) I thought immediately how please Gareth would be. It was a bright spot for me in what has been a pretty horrible few months – little things with Sqk and major things with my work that I will blog about another time.
Now as I said on twitter yesterday we need to ensure that his legacy lives on.
Look how far we’ve come
Currently sat on my laptop in a lodge at Center Parcs in Cumbria with a sleeping Sqk upstairs and a yawning DH behind me on sofa. Almost a year since we took Sqk on his first holiday – also to Center Parcs (Sherwood Forest that time). Not had any swans visiting us this time but still had a great 3 days.
Reasons to be Cheerful
I know I know – other than Instagram posts I haven’t updated in ages (last post in November to be precise). Blame work then Christmas then work – second half of semester 1 is always busier and I came back on 5th January straight into exams – then a week in Tenerife then back to semester 2 and marking. However getting some semblance of normality back and Sqk is settled again after the aggro of changing childminder and Christmas. I am finding it interesting this semester balancing work and life – it is my 14 hours a week in the lab + 1 hr seminar semester so busy. Once you add in new PhD student (which a reason to be cheerful in itself – helps on promotion quest), research project kicking into high gear, 4 final year project students and two PGT students – well you can see why I wonder where my week goes – along with meetings galore (I do no have a Wednesday afternoon free to late March).
However, enough of work – on the other side of life Sqk is doing well although seemingly settled at nursery given he is pushing boundaries now – and apparently being defiant (getting ‘no’ lots end of this week). He is doing really well with new childminder who is working with us and hopefully helping us get there on toilet training. He did really well on our week away in Tenerife.
Instagram: Images December 2014
Hard to believe this is 4 years ago. I’d walked home previous day as uni shut. T had walked from his pharmacy as car was stuck & walked back in morning. Ricki just sank in the snow… taken Dec 02, 2014 @ 09:20
Lots and lots of engines required…. taken Dec 12, 2014 @ 17:53
We decided we wanted all our trains & carriages & trucks on track…. taken Dec 13, 2014 @ 16:19
It’s starting to look rather Christmasy taken Dec 13, 2014 @ 16:21
My current view….Snowman recorded on our PVR last Christmas. taken Dec 24, 2014 @ 17:39
DH’s evening task….one spoilt little boy… taken Dec 24, 2014 @ 20:34
All our trains including Toby who came today… taken Dec 27, 2014 @ 15:48
Remembrance
Today has been Remembrance Sunday in the UK which has some poignance for me. Of my grandparents, two served in Navy late in WW2 (well Granny in Wrens) which is how they met on a wireless operators course. My other grandfather was a radar boffin from 1939 – which I did not know till I was doing my MSc in 1997/8. I knew he had been in Air Ministry on a summer placement in 1939 before returning to Queens’ College, Cambridge to do a PhD in Physics but until then had always been told he was in RAF. I am incredibly proud of the work he did as well as the work his brother did as an engineer involved in jet engine research. Unusual family in that both brothers were not in uniform, but both contributed greatly in their own ways although never really talked much about it. My Wren Granny I have in the last year discovered was actually in Y service acting as a listener to enemy transmissions which went to Bletchley Park for decoding so again an important role. My other grandmother was a cook and housewife – they married during war and my aunt was born in 1943.