Poet’s Think They’re It

First, you take a twinkle in God's eye.

I don't know, perhaps being the Only One was

Too lonely, even for a Deity. So ...

In an explosion of imagination, it all kicked off.

Did She have to think about, for, like,

Eons? Imagining the juxtaposition of quarks

The spin of electrons and

The mass of a boson?

I doubt it.

I'm alert to the possibility that

God thought, one day, of Me.

"Now THERE'S a thing!" He cried. 

"Let's do this!"

And out it came!

The firmament -

The waters above and below -

Stars, bears, whales and flowers -

(I am especially fond of flowers)

!

I don't expect that God had to gather, chop and stir

I'm Old School. 

I think They said,

"Let there be Light,"

And there was light.

And at the end of it all,

There

Was

ME! 

Grandma School

This is a multiage, multidisciplinary project for my grandchildren aged 12. 8 and 5 years. . It comprises Geography, Orienteering, Observation, English language and literature, mathematics and science. It’s here for them, but might give  others some ideas too. 

1. Here’s a walk in Newent. It is less than 2km from your home. Find it on the map of the town:

2. Park outside Granparents house and make a lot of noise until they come to the window! Wave! 
3. Look at the compass at the top of the map. Head south until: HERE! 

3. Follow the footpath marked on the map. Spot where grandad was at these locations. They are in order:

4. When you get HERE, head south again towards Highfield Cottage. Without cheating, time how many steps you take in one minute. Count them. 

Sam count in ones. Abigail shout , “Buzz” on every multiple nine, Rosie, record the number of steps taken by Dad and Sam, and work out the ratio when you get home. 




5. On your walk you will see these plants. Find them on the internet before you leave and put a cross on the map where  you see them: 

Viola raviniana 

Narcissus pseudonarcissus

Arum maculatum

Ficaria verna 

Taraxacum officianale

Which one of these is also called pis-a-lit in French: what does that mean in English? 

6.  Find and read the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus.

7. Find and read William Wordsworth’s poem, ‘The  Daffodils’ as dramatically as you can. Then in a very silly voice. 

8. Wordsworth lived in the Lake District find how many miles away that is and Rosie, convert the total to km. 

9. What does the word, “Dove” have to do with Wordsworth, and what was his Sister’s name? 

10. Make a video about your walk and put on your family web page! 

Most of all. Have fun! 

Love, Grandma. 

Grandma’s Bio: Retired headteacher of a small multi age village primary school. Millennium Award recipient, designated a ‘Global Teacher’ Former Head Teacher of the only state Primary in the south of England that was authorised to teach the International Baccalaureate (Primary Years) Missing the kids. 

Apocalypse Now?

A verse in the bible that caught my eye, oh, so long ago, is this one:" As in the days of Noah people will be going about their business, then, Wham! It's all over! No-one will see it coming ..." (You may not recognise this as word for word, from Matt 24, , but believe me, I've caught the gist.) 

There is a myth in the bible about a righteous man, Noah, who built an enormous boat and saved himself and his family from a worldwide flood. It goes like this:Everyone else went about harming themselves and killing others, so God called, "Time!" and sent a flood to wipe everybody out except the good guys, and two, or five, of every animal, who went into self-isolation in that very, very, big boat. The naughty people,meanwhile,  had been going to the market and hiring wedding venues, just as they always did, entirely oblivious to their impending doom. Noah had seen it coming, and bought gopher wood.

 

I little care about offending bible literalists who shy away in disbelief at my use of the word, "myth" . A story can be a myth, and still carry an essential truth. Myths usually do... Bhuddists call it Karma, when bad things happen as a consequence of terrible behaviour. "You plant a peach tree, you get peaches ..." That's how it is. The idea of a vengeful deity who can create flawed people in the first place, then drown them for their flaws, doesn't do it for me.

 

Moving on ..

So, this isn't the end of the world then. The pandemic isn't an unforeseen event, the virus won't discriminate between the goodies and the baddies, but nevertheless, this DOES feel a bit apocalyptic, I think because the world as we knew it on 1January 2020, will not be the world that it is unfolding.

 

Imagine what it could become. There's the world of the low-life who mugged the nurse for her ID, and stole the grocery-shop from the boot of the car of the man in a wheelchair, there's always that option. Those would be the people who will eventually drown in the flood of their own inhumanity. Then there are my people, your people, who are responding to this worldwide emergency with an outpouring of goodness and compassion.

 

Let's work on that one. The ark that we have built is our ordinary everyday good-heartedness that will not see a neighbour go hungry, or a homeless man die on the streets. Threats too big for us to imagine, change the world, but first, they change us.

 

Stay well.

 

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Progress!

The Indoor Bucket List is making some progress, though not in the garden:too wet. Making the sourdough starter has met with a couple of setbacks: the floor and water option dried into an unappetising lump, the second go was a ‘nonstarter’ because I bought the wrong sort of yoghurt, which  then ended up as yesterday’s dessert. Today’s attempt will be Betty Crocker’s recipe which requires regular yeast. Wish me luck. 

I’ve picked the banner, and will begin sorting out fabric once I’ve got the starter on the rise. 

I’ve finished the Labour Party Newsletter and it’s ready for approval by the Exec Committee, so I’m ahead of the game. Eleven weeks five days to go. 

I’m writing this whilst watching Silent Witness.series 16 Episode 2,