All Done

I've Finished! 2 modules completed over one semester amidst all the chaos that has been my life for the last couple of months. I'm so relieved that I can now get on with just sorting out the family and not having to worry about fitting in study. I've even got to the stage where quite honestly I can do no more and it will just have to do- probably not my normal attitude but then at the moment my life isn't exactly normal. So Hip Hurrah it's done and I've just got to utter a prayer that the assessment isn't too awful and I pass. Then I have completed level 2 and am into level 3 and 18months away from completely finishing!!!
Anyhow I have some time out over the next couple of days as I'm off to lunch with my oldest friend today who I have known since I was 11 who no doubt will be administering a bit of TLC and an AQUA-8 meeting tomorrow to sort out our next year's programme.Then on Tuesday I've got to dig the house out from under 2 months mess- I might be sometime.....

Happy 18th Birthday Kirsty

All Grown Up

I don't really remember too much about the 25th November 1991, I spent most of the time quite out of it in a hospital bed.That's because what I thought was a kidney infection about 6 months earlier actually turned out to be a baby girl. After 14 years of trying, 2 lost babies and being told it was very unlikely I would ever carry a baby to term I had actually produced this child. I had spent about 5 months in and out of hospital to get to that point but she was stubborn and hung on in there until she was delivered by Cesarean section about a month early.
So today she is 18 years old . She hasn't had the easiest road to adulthood not least suffering a serious back injury when she was about 2 and pneumonia in her first year at school. But as usual she's hung on in there and pushed through.
She has become a beautiful,gentle, kind and hardworking young woman. Oh She can still try the patience of a saint at times and argue for England but if she is wrong she'll always admit it (and I still get a cuddle sometimes.).She has a huge army of really good friends to make up for her lack of family and a fierce ambition to be a nurse in her heart. We are so very proud of her.
So Happy 18th Birthday Kirsty- may this just be the start of a wonderful life.

Wool and Wonders

Just a quick post today as I am about to whizz off to the V&A museum for a tutorial with my personal specialism tutor. Assessment is getting rather close now but fortunately I have only one thing left to do on my Fine Art Module and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will get the go ahead to round up the other module as in my mind it has reached its conclusion.
No hospital visiting tonight as its Kirsty's tutor consultation evening at college although M-I-L unfortunately continues to deteriorate & my Father- in-law has been told to expect the worst.
To escape all this doom and gloom I did have a couple of little (semi-educational) weeks over the weekend. Friday was a trip up to the V&A to see the Maharajah exhibition with some ERTF girls. Really yummy (I do like a bit of bling) and far too much to see at one visit so if I have time I might creep in again today as I get to go in free as a member. We then had a lovely chatty lunch (I love their lunches) , a few moans, more than a few laughs and it was so nice to get out.
We were aiming to go out again on Saturday to begin some preliminary research for my dissertation (gulp) but the dreadful weather kept us Hornchurch and Romford bound, swapping the hospital visiting etc so we could go out on Sunday instead.
Sunday the weather was glorious, everything bathed in a golden autumn light.We visited Lavenham in Suffolk and all I'm going to say about my proposed dissertation at this stage is - Baa!
So I now feel refreshed and more upbeat.Mind you I have got that tutorial coming up........

Lest we forget

Things feel a little low here at the moment. Mother-In-law continues to deteriorate and I feel sorry for my husband and his Dad as its such a strain watching her fall.
Today I have just watched the service to remember the fallen of the 1st world war at Westminster Abbey. It made me remember my own family.
My Dad served in the RAF in WWII - he survived but his best friend Reggie, a rear gunner, didn't. I still have the last letter he sent to my Dad. (Martin's Dad was in the Navy, Tank Landing craft- we invaded it he was there- North Africa,Sicily,Italy and of course D-Day on Juno beach) He never talked about it much until recently- I think it was too painful. .My Aunt served with SHAFE and my granddad's close cousin died in the invasion of Sicily.
But it was those of my family who served in WWI that I feel the have some desperately poignant stories.
My Grandad was gassed and buried alive on the Somme. It was whilst convalescing and shell-shocked that he met he met my Nan who was a VAD. During WWII he worked on the railways and was once again buried in a bombing raid during the London Blitz.His shell shock returned and he was a mute for a long time after this (my Mum was an ace lipreader) He was a wonderfully gentle man who I loved very much and he never let on to me what he'd been through.
But probably the saddest story came to me by accident after my Mum passed away (6years ago this week). I was looking through a box of old postcards, photos etc... and found a lot of postcards written to my Nan from her cousins. They were full of arranging to meet up, cahtty news and things they did together- they were obviously all very close and very young. The next thing I found was a picture of Bradwell War memorial - All their names are on it.
I feel I should honour them today. I loved my family and I am very proud of them. They are all gone now- I miss them.

This week has been a jumble of degree work, domestic disasters and health issues but I did manage to escape yesterday for a field trip with some of the AQUA-8 girls. The topic we have chosen to work towards for our first exhibition is Water, Water (seemed appropriate considering our name) so we decided to visit the Rainham Marshes RSPB reserve (an SSSI) to gather some inspiration.Unfortunately we got rather more water than we wanted as it poured down but I did manage to get some quite good photos and am looking forward to developing some of these ideas.
When I got back and looked at the photos I realised that many looked as if we were way out in the wild- in fact the eurostar thunders past on one side along with all the trains into London, the Thames is just over the other side and you see the tops of ships passing by above the embankment and on the remaining sides it is surrounded by housing, containers and rubbish tips so the RSPB site is a little gem amidst it all.
The degree is trundling along. I'm more into the practical side now thank goodness but will have to return to some contextual work next week if I am going to be ready in time for getting the work assessed.
My mother-in- law's health continues to deteriorate rapidly (Dementia and physical) and I am quite concerned about my Father -in-law with all the stress but now the NHS wheels are slowly grinding into motion so I am hoping the appointment with the consultant tomorrow will help.
Poor little Teddy picked up a nasty bug last week and looked very sorry for himself (as did my carpet) and even sorrier after a trip to the vet meant 2 injections and a 'light,bland diet for a week'. Fortunately he now seems on the mend.
On the domestic front -last weeks joys include the Internet breaking down (now thankfully fixed) , the lights blowing up in our dark kitchen (still unfixed so meals are a bit hit and miss by the light of a low lamp) and the Fridge & Freezer aren just hanging on by a thread but because the seal isn't that good now the cat(s) have learnt how to open it with their paws which is annoying and not exactly hygienic. Oh well you have to laugh really - its either that or sit gibbering in the corner, and this weekend I escape again to the ERTF conference on textile conservation- perhaps they could conserve me a bit while I'm there!