A sparkling start to November

How can it be November already? It was strange having the 5th pass without the sound of fireworks popping, whizzing and crackling as soon as it got dark, however, I spent last week talking to lots of different classes about why we celebrate bonfire night. They enjoyed hearing about the demise of the villains and many did firework pictures with paint and glitter galore. I loved my Q and A sessions with the children - some great questions...Is King James still alive? Who was the good guy - the King or Guy Fawkes? Was Guy Fawkes a terrorist? How long did it take them to die?...not all of them easy to answer!

I also had a bizarre moment with my class when I realised what separation of church and state really means - no idea that, when watching an animated Christmas song video in French, the baby donkey is meant to symbolise Jesus. No child of school age in the UK would have any problem with that. It's going to be a strange December without the nativity play.

On Friday night, I went on the first Friday art walk in Portland. All the little galleries stay open late and you can wander round and admire some of the wonderful craftsmanship on display (some amazingly beautiful jewellery made using naturally expired butterfly's wings) and the not so wonderful, yet still horrendously expensive. You also get to chuckle at people discussing the colour pallet issues of arranging photographs taken with mobile phones...Pretentious? Moi?

This weekend also saw me complete the Great Osprey 10km run at Wolfe's neck state park in Freeport. What a beautiful location and a stunning day but brrrr...it was cold! I marvelled at the crazy people running in shorts and vests. It was a small event and we set off along quiet roads (with traffic still passing), went up and down some rather steep hills and finally came around by the ocean. It really was a stunning run and I was pleased to come in in 48 minutes and in a respectable 67th place (out of 294). Great to see my support team as I crossed the finish line!


The support team!

Yesterday I had another cultural experience. I went to see Sarah and Stuart perform with the Choral Arts Society, acompanied by the Kotzchmar organ, at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland. I sat next to a man in the second half who was on the 'Friends of the Kotzchmar organ' board so now for the trivia...The organ is one of only two surviving public organs in the United States (the other being in San Diego and is situated outdoors). It was a lovely concert and Stuart did a great job with his solo. So good, in fact, that I earwigged the people behind asking whether he was a professional singer.