Francesca

I'm hooked, it's on its way. 

 

And I'd love to drag out the old Minolta - but it has been so long and I have become accustomed to the immediacy of the digital point and shoot.  Not that long surely - hell I took that camera to Vietnam in 2000, seemed quite normal to have film. So I am researching digital SLR's and will be purchasing shortly.  Tomorrow I return to school and I am happy to do so - not so long ago I was not. I have had a quantum shift these holidays - yes sudden and significant!  I am re-framing my thoughts on teaching.

Lament

I have been thinking that perhaps I need to change my blog's title to the Teachers Lament, for I mourn the loss of my former life. It is a horror time of year for teachers - reporting, as are Mondays!!  I was going to write an incredibly witty diatribe about teaching but think I will refrain. I will say that it is one of the hardest, most stressful and time consuming jobs I have ever had, for many many reasons.  The rewards are becoming fewer and fewer and the demands greater and greater each year. I find myself constantly questioning my will to continue.
So a few things have been sustaining me over this time - walking, turning left onto the tree lined road that leads to the farm at the end of the day, watching the paddocks turn from green to brown and following the blogs of people doing what they love.  Jude Hill of Sprit Cloth is one of those, sustaining and indeed inspiring - thankyou. I have even started a small cloth of my own, I had forgotten the joy of hand stitching and how soothing it is to an anxious mind.