Goodness ME...

...gardening is bloody hard work.  Just popped down the garden (and please do remember - it is DOWN the garden, and therefore a fair old way back UP afterwards...) to dig over a bed, plop on compost and cover the whole lot over as I've had enough of the growing season already.  I know, I know, I am a nature philistine.  I managed about a third of a bed before I had sweat dripping down my forehead and the crack of my arse. You have to know these things to be able to share in my discomfort.  I bore the hideousness of uncovering the compost heap aka insects-of-the-world home in order to scatter a pathetic amount of rotted down goodness on top, and then covered with plastic.  Bye bye til next April (May if I can get away with it.  I am truly not a natural in the garden.)

Now to the indoor life, to which I find I am best suited.  I have finished - THIS!

I never thought I would get to the end of this before I reached the end of crocheting as a hobby.  But, I dug in, et voila.  I started this in France last September.  Oliver chose the colours, which I hated and complained bitterly about as each row passed, but I realised as it went on that actually, they looked pretty sharp.  Here it is on my bed, just for show, as Oliver's bed is just too untidy and full of stuff to get a half decent pic. 

He likes it.  Result. 

And, joy of joys - the school is no longer out for summer.  Everywhere is now free of irritated parents ignoring their badly behaved offspring.  I love, love. love this time of year.  It also heralds the start of Autumn - Autumnal loveliness such as smoky bonfire air, dimpsy evenings and the wonderful cooling of temperatures which draw me to the outdoors more than the sunshine ever could.  And there is Halloween, bonfire night and the promise of Christmas to come.  WaaaHAAAAAYYY!!!!!

Oliver has (with a little prompting/suggestion) drawn up a new schedule for the coming few months:

Note the gaps.  They are self-awarded time off for good behaviour slots, methinks.

And I am more than ready to welcome back a little routine into our lives.  Over the summer 'school' work stopped and we ticked along with the MQ, and the Summer Reading Challenge.  This challenge, initiated by Oliver, needed constant prodding towards this goal:

Six whole books read over the school hols.  This is some achievement for him, given his irrational dislike of reading.  The regularity of this task however, has clearly improved his reading skills and he reads pretty fluently, with intonation and a clear understanding of punctuation and passages spoken by the characters.  Blimey, that looks like a piece from a school report.  Anyhoo, 'we' have introduced 'book review' into the schedule on a fortnightly basis, the idea being that he will read on a daily basis and write a review at the end of it.  This is a really big suck it and see. 

Oliver's keenness on golf continues, and this morning the golf coach suggested he enter a competition next week as long as he has an adult with him who can play golf.  I feel completely justified in putting Mark forward for this despite his apparent horror at the idea - he used to play golf, and this is one of those things which is a Dad job, becuase Dad plays golf, and Mum don't.  Can't wait to see how it goes.

Lead on McDuff.