My Poor Hands.

The sky really was this black this morning when I took Romas up to get the college bus this morning. Luckily it didn't rain until the afternoon when I was at work.

"Oh no, it's 'er with the camera again!"

I spent the morning up a ladder tying back and pruning the honeysuckle, wisteria and rose that grow on the front of the house. (Photos tomorrow when I've finished clearing up.) As I was tying up with string I couldn't wear gloves and once again the rose got it's own back on me and my hands are stinging from all the little scratches that will be worse tomorrow. Thorns always leave bits in the scratches. I've even had to resort to superglue for one big rip in my thumb because the plasters kept falling off. Great stuff superglue, ideal for splits in the fingers or heels. Once I've cleared the last of the prunings I can get Romas to pressure wash the slabs and that will be another area reasonably tidy. I have to do a major prune once a year because even though the plants are only growing in 18" of soil they grow over the upstairs windows and under the gutters. Also I don't want the cats having a route up to the house martins' nests under the eaves. Teaching in the afternoon, the children were quite high because they had done the first performance of their Christmas play in the morning. Luckily they only had to design a simple Christmas motif to do on a paint program when they use the computer suite in the junior school tomorrow. We have lap tops , as well as various odd pcs and interactive whiteboards, for the classrooms but they are so old we are in the process of getting new ones. The teachers have also had their lap tops renewed and I will take mine home this week. Last year because I was covering for sick leave I never had a lap top but used my pc at home and the new classroom pc linked to the interactive white board. The white boards are a great resource, the only thing I don't like is the standard of writing when you write on them so I kept a big standard wipe-off whiteboard for writing activities with the class.

One of the streams that run along our garden boundary.