14th Dec day 60 panic morning and turkeys

Today didn't get off to the best of starts. Simon decided over the weekend it would be a lovely treat for his class to watch The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe with popcorn they had made. The only problem was he forgot to buy the dvd and didn't remember til late last night. He then realised he could download it so we both went to bed fairly content there wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately the download failed so he started it again as soon as he got up and that failed as well. I was then tasked to go to Countdown and see if I could buy it, then take it into school when I went to do the craft late morning.The last resort was for me to go to the dvd rental shop but I wasn't confident either place would have it as the film is quite a few years old now.

I went straight to the enquiry desk to ask if they had it in stock and amazingly they did - 1 copy! I then asked where would I find it and therein lay the problem, with a wave of her hand the assistant said somewhere on the bargain shelving. I was daunted as there must have been several thousand dvds and I had just 45 minutes before I needed to set off for school. 

The top shelves were easy, the middle ones more difficult but for the bottom shelves I had to get right down on the floor and pull out the dvds a handful at a time. After 40 mins the assistant took pity on me and came to help and then with only 1 more row to check she suddenly said aloud "it is the Narnia series we are looking for isn't it?" I was really feeling all uptight by now thinking we weren't going to find it. But a customer overheard her and said "which one are you looking for, I have just seen The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe in the giant bargain big by the front door!". I could have hugged her when she came with me to point out where it was. I had prayed and that was literally an eleventh hour rescue, so I thanked God.

The whole episode took me back decades to when I would frequently have those sorts of last minute panics because Simon had forgotten something important and the clock was ticking.

I then drove calmly to school getting there just in time to start making turkeys with the whole class present today, here they are having their morning tea, or more accurately their fruit break.

It was gorgeous chatting to them about what they eat for Christmas, mainly barbecues of course. They all had to think of a name for their turkey which started with T so I could write it on a card to be next to their birds. There was a lot of family likeness between these feathered creatures and I didn't want fights at the end of the day when someone took the wrong one. My favourite names were Twerkey the Turkey and Timtam the Turkey (Timtams are an NZ biscuit that is something of an institution).

Unfortunately the cones Simon and Nicholas had collected the weekend before last were really much too big, but they certainly look like they have been fattened for Christmas don't they - as opposed to the cute ones I showed you previously.

I did some jobs when I got back to 904 until it was time for mine and Simon's teatime garden cuppa. We went for a walk of the training circuit around the house. On the way we came across this lady painting the telephone box by the beautiful rose gardens, it certainly looks a lot more attractive now.

Here is the actual bridge in the garden for you to compare.

The 3 of us had collected cones when we were marshalling weeks ago, Nicholas and I had painted these to make a Christmas decoration.

I love pine cones, I find them aesthetically pleasing, but it's because I studied them in art, drew them in charcoal, then did a picture in oil pastels for my GCE (that's what they were back in the day). When the results came out art was the only subject in which I gained a grade 1, so pine cones always give me pleasure.

Spent the evening reading and viewing, my time here is sooooooo relaxing.