I wrote this haiku in August 2008 while enjoying an excellent meal at Blossom on Columbus Avenue, between 82nd and 83rd, near the Natural History Museum.
Hungry to be nourished:
Salt, sweet, tang.
Replete, too soon a memory.
26 December 2008
31 October 2008
Winter
When bony fingers of a north wind probe
and nip,
and channerin frosts gnaw
and drape all in an icy shroud,
the watery sun,
exposed when muslin clouds disrobe,
wanly illumines
leaf and grass,
brick and tile,
disclosing pallid liveries of winter.
and nip,
and channerin frosts gnaw
and drape all in an icy shroud,
the watery sun,
exposed when muslin clouds disrobe,
wanly illumines
leaf and grass,
brick and tile,
disclosing pallid liveries of winter.
24 July 2008
Me and my dream
Last weekend, Jemima volunteered to give a presentation at the One Voice family network day. One Voice supports families with children using Alternative and Augmentative Communication, particularly high tech communication aids, and the annual summer weekend is one of the highlights of Jemima's year. Role model presentations raise the aspirations of children and parents by showing them what AAC users can do, and now Jemima and her friends, the first generation of One Voice children, are themselves ready to act as role models. The teenagers' workshops the previous day had focused on transition, and Jemima chose to talk about herself and one of her current ambitions:
Hello! My name is Jemima. I am seventeen. My favourite TV show is Dr. Who and my favourite movies are the Harry Potter films, Narnia and Prince Caspian, High School Musical and the Japanese animated films made by Studio Ghibli. I also like some of my parents' old films like Four Weddings and a Funderal and Sleepless in Seattle.
I'm profoundly deaf. I understand sign language. I like talking with my voice but I can speak more clearly with my Dynavox. I use scanning with a voice switch. That is slow and hard work.
I will stay at my school for one of two more years. Then I think I'll go to Northern Counties College. I want to study ICT and I hope to do some courses in a local college. I want to learn about film making. I was first interested in film making when my dad videoed holidays and family events. My first experience of how a real film is made was at the One Voice weekend in Blackpool in 2002. I loved the video. Then I made two Video Nation films for the BBC with my dad. I thought that was fun and interesting. We planned what we wanted to film and recorded me talking with my Dynavox. The first film was about me and my life. It was in a series called Voices. Then they asked me to do another one about Christmas. Last year I really enjoyed doing the One Voice DVD project. I liked working with Silverfish and seeing how they organised the filming and edited the film. I showed the DVD to my class when we made a film about our school for our Duke of Edinburgh Award. I interviewed someone who went to my school when she was a girl and has worked there for a long time.
Last month I learned about animation at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. It was a workshop for teenagers to celebrate the tenth birthday of the Angel of the North. I see the Angel every day when I go to school. They showed us how to do animation with paint, sand, plasticene and cutting paper. I chose paper and talked about my idea with my Dynavox. Everyone's work was edited into one film for the Angel's birthday party. I am waiting to get my copy. I really want to do more animation.
I saved up my birthday money and last Monday I got a little video camera. Now I am going to learn to shoot and edit films. That is my dream for the future.
Hello! My name is Jemima. I am seventeen. My favourite TV show is Dr. Who and my favourite movies are the Harry Potter films, Narnia and Prince Caspian, High School Musical and the Japanese animated films made by Studio Ghibli. I also like some of my parents' old films like Four Weddings and a Funderal and Sleepless in Seattle.
I'm profoundly deaf. I understand sign language. I like talking with my voice but I can speak more clearly with my Dynavox. I use scanning with a voice switch. That is slow and hard work.
I will stay at my school for one of two more years. Then I think I'll go to Northern Counties College. I want to study ICT and I hope to do some courses in a local college. I want to learn about film making. I was first interested in film making when my dad videoed holidays and family events. My first experience of how a real film is made was at the One Voice weekend in Blackpool in 2002. I loved the video. Then I made two Video Nation films for the BBC with my dad. I thought that was fun and interesting. We planned what we wanted to film and recorded me talking with my Dynavox. The first film was about me and my life. It was in a series called Voices. Then they asked me to do another one about Christmas. Last year I really enjoyed doing the One Voice DVD project. I liked working with Silverfish and seeing how they organised the filming and edited the film. I showed the DVD to my class when we made a film about our school for our Duke of Edinburgh Award. I interviewed someone who went to my school when she was a girl and has worked there for a long time.
Last month I learned about animation at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle. It was a workshop for teenagers to celebrate the tenth birthday of the Angel of the North. I see the Angel every day when I go to school. They showed us how to do animation with paint, sand, plasticene and cutting paper. I chose paper and talked about my idea with my Dynavox. Everyone's work was edited into one film for the Angel's birthday party. I am waiting to get my copy. I really want to do more animation.
I saved up my birthday money and last Monday I got a little video camera. Now I am going to learn to shoot and edit films. That is my dream for the future.
21 June 2008
The Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I’ve read Little House in the Big Woods and now I’m reading Little House on the Prairie. It’s the story of when Laura was a little girl in America about 140 years ago. Laura lives with her Ma and Pa, her big sister Mary and her little sister Carrie and the good dog Jack.
They live in a little house in the Big Woods in Wisconsin. The house is made of wood, it has beds, chairs, table and stove for cooking and a wood fire. It has an attic where they keep food like pumpkins for the winter. They have a cow to give them milk, and Ma makes butter and cheese. They have horses to go to different places to see their grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins, and once Laura goes to town, to the store where they buy sugar, coffee and material to make clothes.
Pa goes hunting for food in the Big Woods, he shoots deer and sometimes bear and once their uncle Henry kills a pig. They grow vegetables and corn and Pa finds honey and the whole family help to collect maple syrup. They keep food for the winter because it’s really snowy.
Laura and Mary don’t have lots of toys, they have rag dolls and imagine a play house under the tree. At Christmas they get mittens and a candy stick and Laura has her rag doll. They think that’s really special.
In Little House on the Prairie the family decide to move west. They go in a covered wagon for many weeks and choose a new place to live. At first it’s like camping, but Laura’s father builds a house and digs a well. That’s really hard work and they have to find food on the prairie.
I think the books are really interesting because they are about a family who lived one hundred and forty years ago, so I learn about how people lived when they had to do everything by themselves, with no electricity and no television and telephones and computers. They make their clothes and toys, and grow and catch their food, they only go to a shop once or twice a year. It’s really different from our life.
They live in a little house in the Big Woods in Wisconsin. The house is made of wood, it has beds, chairs, table and stove for cooking and a wood fire. It has an attic where they keep food like pumpkins for the winter. They have a cow to give them milk, and Ma makes butter and cheese. They have horses to go to different places to see their grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins, and once Laura goes to town, to the store where they buy sugar, coffee and material to make clothes.
Pa goes hunting for food in the Big Woods, he shoots deer and sometimes bear and once their uncle Henry kills a pig. They grow vegetables and corn and Pa finds honey and the whole family help to collect maple syrup. They keep food for the winter because it’s really snowy.
Laura and Mary don’t have lots of toys, they have rag dolls and imagine a play house under the tree. At Christmas they get mittens and a candy stick and Laura has her rag doll. They think that’s really special.
In Little House on the Prairie the family decide to move west. They go in a covered wagon for many weeks and choose a new place to live. At first it’s like camping, but Laura’s father builds a house and digs a well. That’s really hard work and they have to find food on the prairie.
I think the books are really interesting because they are about a family who lived one hundred and forty years ago, so I learn about how people lived when they had to do everything by themselves, with no electricity and no television and telephones and computers. They make their clothes and toys, and grow and catch their food, they only go to a shop once or twice a year. It’s really different from our life.
06 May 2008
Seed potatoes planted - all in one day!
The potatoes I planted in spring 2007 were a success: 21 seed potatoes yielded about 20 kg, about a month's worth of cooking. However, the flavour of the potatoes was remarkable only in being without distinction. Further, some potatoes were attacked by insects and/or by slugs. Others suffered from scab and/or blight.
Monday 5 May 2008 was a bank holiday in the UK, and the weather was unusually fine. An early start saw a rectangle of turf, 2 m x 3m cut and lifted. In the afternoon I rotavated the new bed with a borrowed rotavator that bucked and kicked, but did the job remarkably well. At tea-time the bed was raked and composted. I planted the potatoes as darkness fell. To date, this year, 64 seed potatoes have been planted: 32 Charlottes, 16 Juliettes and 16 Sunrise.
The bad news is that there are half as many potatoes again yet to be planted. Moreover, there is a bag of onion sets to go in. Looks like another job for Mister Rotavator.
Monday 5 May 2008 was a bank holiday in the UK, and the weather was unusually fine. An early start saw a rectangle of turf, 2 m x 3m cut and lifted. In the afternoon I rotavated the new bed with a borrowed rotavator that bucked and kicked, but did the job remarkably well. At tea-time the bed was raked and composted. I planted the potatoes as darkness fell. To date, this year, 64 seed potatoes have been planted: 32 Charlottes, 16 Juliettes and 16 Sunrise.
The bad news is that there are half as many potatoes again yet to be planted. Moreover, there is a bag of onion sets to go in. Looks like another job for Mister Rotavator.
27 April 2008
Having sprung
As I walked out in the drizzle at 06:00 this morning, I felt far from hopeful that my ramble would be long before being compelled to squelch back home. There were two horses in the field where there are usually three, and only two of the highland cattle remained in their straw-strewn barn. I wondered about the great slaughterhouse in the sky where long-furred, long-horned, teddy-bear coloured cows are painlessly transformed into steaks for people with above-average amounts of wealth. However, I discovered the rest of the herd in a field further on down the lane. Jessica, one of two sanctuary donkeys, poked her head out of a stable door, but the drizzle discouraged her from venturing further. A field sardined with ewes and their adolescent lambs bleated plaintively - whether about the rain, about their lot in life, or about the impending demise of the lambs, who knows? The free-range hens sounded disgruntled about being still locked up in their barn. The turkeys expressed indignation that no-one had come to let them out. I heard the goats moving about restlessly in their stall. Two dogs came to greet me.
The walk was punctuated with scurrying bunnies. Some of them looked awfully young. Last weekend there was a dog-sized hare that I watched run for over a mile. A grey squirrel fussed about in the leaves, probably looking for last year's beech mast. A red deer trotted purposely across a field and over into the wood. When I peered down the bank, the deer sprinted off amongst the trees, barking with alarm and annoyance. Another red deer, with horns for antlers, startled as I rounded a hedgerow, leapt high in the air over a fence and across a field of fluorescent-yellow oilseed rape.
Somebody twanged a ruler on the desk - I think it was a great spotted woodpecker. Later I watched another as it peered fixedly and obsessively for grubs dislodged by its hammering. Chiffchaffs, impossible to see and impossible to mistake, called from the tree tops. Blue tits, great tits, coal tits and long-tailed tits flittered. Chaffinches and greenfinches fluttered. House martins darted, and sand martins mobbed. Robins chirruped, and wrens piped their flutey trills. Skylarks busked above empty fields. A yellow-hammer was after some bread without cheese. Thrushes sang their hearts out, and blackbirds called out the news, sometimes about the bully magpies that coughed and choked their way around the woods. There were jackdaws and rooks, and suspicious-looking crows watching what was going on. Last week a kingfisher darted along Hett Burn. A sparrow hawk arrowed along a hedgerow. A mallard duck quacked noisily as it lofted out of a wood frequented by foxes. A pair of greylag geese, honking softly, flew formation circles over the old farm buildings. Wood pigeons and collared doves cooed from oak branches. A family of white doves circled the white dovecot, looking for all the world like an Athena poster. A heron flew lazily from one side of the sky to the other. And all the time in the hedgerows, the chatter and busyness of small brown birds of indeterminate kind.
There were banks of celandine and yellow primroses, and a scattering of cowslips. Beneath the hedgerows were purple violets. The woodland floor had been touched by the flame of the first bluebells.
It seemed that I was the only person alive in the springtime world.
The walk was punctuated with scurrying bunnies. Some of them looked awfully young. Last weekend there was a dog-sized hare that I watched run for over a mile. A grey squirrel fussed about in the leaves, probably looking for last year's beech mast. A red deer trotted purposely across a field and over into the wood. When I peered down the bank, the deer sprinted off amongst the trees, barking with alarm and annoyance. Another red deer, with horns for antlers, startled as I rounded a hedgerow, leapt high in the air over a fence and across a field of fluorescent-yellow oilseed rape.
Somebody twanged a ruler on the desk - I think it was a great spotted woodpecker. Later I watched another as it peered fixedly and obsessively for grubs dislodged by its hammering. Chiffchaffs, impossible to see and impossible to mistake, called from the tree tops. Blue tits, great tits, coal tits and long-tailed tits flittered. Chaffinches and greenfinches fluttered. House martins darted, and sand martins mobbed. Robins chirruped, and wrens piped their flutey trills. Skylarks busked above empty fields. A yellow-hammer was after some bread without cheese. Thrushes sang their hearts out, and blackbirds called out the news, sometimes about the bully magpies that coughed and choked their way around the woods. There were jackdaws and rooks, and suspicious-looking crows watching what was going on. Last week a kingfisher darted along Hett Burn. A sparrow hawk arrowed along a hedgerow. A mallard duck quacked noisily as it lofted out of a wood frequented by foxes. A pair of greylag geese, honking softly, flew formation circles over the old farm buildings. Wood pigeons and collared doves cooed from oak branches. A family of white doves circled the white dovecot, looking for all the world like an Athena poster. A heron flew lazily from one side of the sky to the other. And all the time in the hedgerows, the chatter and busyness of small brown birds of indeterminate kind.
There were banks of celandine and yellow primroses, and a scattering of cowslips. Beneath the hedgerows were purple violets. The woodland floor had been touched by the flame of the first bluebells.
It seemed that I was the only person alive in the springtime world.
25 April 2008
Welcome to the new Avensis
I bought my dark blue Toyota Avensis on 25 April 2008. The car is three years old, and odometer reads 25,453 miles.
I feel safe in an Avensis, and since the road traffic accident in November 2000, safety has become a matter of which I am aware and about which I am concerned. There are more airbags in my new car than ... and not only are there anti-lock brakes but also traction control (whatever that is - the dealer told me that I must switch off the traction control when driving through deep snow - when I am next in Canada I think I shall hire a car rather than take my own).
I test drove a Toyota Yaris some months ago, but realised that I ended up feeling remarkably travel sick. The same was true of the Vauxhall Corsa that I drove for a little while when my Toyota Carina was written off in the accident. I assume that, with a longer wheelbase, a larger car lurches around rather less than a small car. I also considered buying a Toyota Corolla on the basis of its smaller engine (1.6 litres, as opposed to the 1.8 litres of the Avensis) and assumed smaller carbon footprint. However, the CO2 emission figures were not significantly different, and neither were the forecourt prices. I should like to have bought a Toyota Prius, which has a hybrid pertrol/electric engine, with much lower CO2 emissions. However, the forecourt prices were much higher than what I was willing to pay. I am hoping that by the time I come to change this Avensis, hydrogen fuel cell cars, with zero CO2 emissions, might be being sold. Alternatively, the Tyne & Wear Metro might have been extended along the mothballed Leamside line to my village, in which case I would no longer require a car in order to get to work.
I have been driving since my seventeenth birthday, and passed my driving test some three months later. I have owned many cars, as well as a moped and a motorbike, although I have only ever had one vehicle at a time. I equate wheels with freedom. The times when I have been without a vehicle have been difficult
... to be continued ...
I feel safe in an Avensis, and since the road traffic accident in November 2000, safety has become a matter of which I am aware and about which I am concerned. There are more airbags in my new car than ... and not only are there anti-lock brakes but also traction control (whatever that is - the dealer told me that I must switch off the traction control when driving through deep snow - when I am next in Canada I think I shall hire a car rather than take my own).
I test drove a Toyota Yaris some months ago, but realised that I ended up feeling remarkably travel sick. The same was true of the Vauxhall Corsa that I drove for a little while when my Toyota Carina was written off in the accident. I assume that, with a longer wheelbase, a larger car lurches around rather less than a small car. I also considered buying a Toyota Corolla on the basis of its smaller engine (1.6 litres, as opposed to the 1.8 litres of the Avensis) and assumed smaller carbon footprint. However, the CO2 emission figures were not significantly different, and neither were the forecourt prices. I should like to have bought a Toyota Prius, which has a hybrid pertrol/electric engine, with much lower CO2 emissions. However, the forecourt prices were much higher than what I was willing to pay. I am hoping that by the time I come to change this Avensis, hydrogen fuel cell cars, with zero CO2 emissions, might be being sold. Alternatively, the Tyne & Wear Metro might have been extended along the mothballed Leamside line to my village, in which case I would no longer require a car in order to get to work.
I have been driving since my seventeenth birthday, and passed my driving test some three months later. I have owned many cars, as well as a moped and a motorbike, although I have only ever had one vehicle at a time. I equate wheels with freedom. The times when I have been without a vehicle have been difficult
... to be continued ...
Farewell to the old Avensis
I bought my chianti red Toyota Avensis on 18 December 2000. My previous car, a grey Toyota Carina, written off in a road traffic accident on 12 November 2000, died saving us from serious injury. The Carina was about ten years old, and for all the thousands of pounds that I had paid to them, the insurance company gave me little compensation. However, I felt determined to buy a car that would help me to feel less completely destroyed by the accident.
I am not especially car-proud, and see little point in buying a car from brand
new given that 50% of the depreciation takes place in the first three years: why pay twice as much for a car that will last almost as long? At nearly three years old, it was the youngest, and smartest, car I had ever owned. Were I a demanding driver it is unlikely that I would choose to drive either a Carina or its successor, an Avensis.
Prior to the accident I had been doing a lot of driving. The car crash threw many aspects of my life up in the air. I decided to change how I earned my living (then a portfolio of business, lecturing, training and counselling) which has resulted in most of my driving now being limited to local commuting. Given that mine is a second car, were there a rail service between where I live and where I work, I could probably manage without a car. An Avensis seems to me to be over-specified for my requirements. However, the intensity of the motion sickness I experience, including when driving, makes travelling in a smaller car a nauseatingly disabling experience.
Prior to the Avensis, when I had been driving much longer distances, I had typically shopped at Sainsburys. In fact, I had word processed a multi-page tabular shopping list with my usual purchases set out in store-aisle order. However, restricting my driving to local commuting, meant that I could shop more promiscuously, adding visits to the Co-op, Asda, Tescos, Morrisons, Waitrose and Julian Graves. Not only could I sniff out bargains, but I could also shop on the way home from work. The Avensis became my shopping trolley.
The Avensis also became my mobile office. I found that if I kept a lot of teaching materials (stationery, lecture notes, assignments, recording equipment) in the car, I would always have access to whatever I needed. Whilst I overstate my case, it was also a reality that it would take me half an hour to empty the car prior to its annual maintenance service.
Unlike in the Carina, I made very few long trips in the Avensis. The most notable was the day I climbed Scafell and Scafell Pike. The trip was very nearly a major disaster, of which the car was the safest aspect. I recall that at one point during the outward journey, the brakes were smoking badly as I descended one of the Lake District passes. I parked the car very tightly in the only place I could find, and noted its location on my map. Booted up, adequately equipped, car locked, I set off. Scafell I managed okay, but Scafell Pike I found difficult. Having telephoned home from the summit of Scafell Pike (as one does), I set off on the return journey and almost immediately the outer sole of one of my expensive but old mountain boots peeled off. I was close to the top of England's highest mountain, surrounded by scree slopes, and one of my feet was virtually unprotected. Not prepared for this event, I sat down for a while to work out my options. I seriously considered calling for rescue (I have always wanted to ride in a helicopter). To this day I do not know whether my choice was wise or foolish: I chose to walk away from my car, to the nearest habitation about six miles away. The route, though rough, looked to be a good deal safer than trying to walk directly to my car. When I arrived at the pub it was already dusk. I was able to telephone for a taxi to take me back to the Avensis, fifteen miles away, the location of which I had carefully noted on the map. Disorientated by the sour turn of events, I was anxious and relieved to see the car. Whilst I later found that the front bumper skirt had been scraped, the car was otherwise un-interfered with. As a drove back to Durham, I felt as though I had had a lucky escape.
During my period as the car's keeper, I drove about 100,000 miles, and when we parted on 25 April 2008 the odometer read 127,177 miles. I wonder what will become of the Avensis. I am reminded of Black Beauty.
I am not especially car-proud, and see little point in buying a car from brand
new given that 50% of the depreciation takes place in the first three years: why pay twice as much for a car that will last almost as long? At nearly three years old, it was the youngest, and smartest, car I had ever owned. Were I a demanding driver it is unlikely that I would choose to drive either a Carina or its successor, an Avensis.
Prior to the accident I had been doing a lot of driving. The car crash threw many aspects of my life up in the air. I decided to change how I earned my living (then a portfolio of business, lecturing, training and counselling) which has resulted in most of my driving now being limited to local commuting. Given that mine is a second car, were there a rail service between where I live and where I work, I could probably manage without a car. An Avensis seems to me to be over-specified for my requirements. However, the intensity of the motion sickness I experience, including when driving, makes travelling in a smaller car a nauseatingly disabling experience.
Prior to the Avensis, when I had been driving much longer distances, I had typically shopped at Sainsburys. In fact, I had word processed a multi-page tabular shopping list with my usual purchases set out in store-aisle order. However, restricting my driving to local commuting, meant that I could shop more promiscuously, adding visits to the Co-op, Asda, Tescos, Morrisons, Waitrose and Julian Graves. Not only could I sniff out bargains, but I could also shop on the way home from work. The Avensis became my shopping trolley.
The Avensis also became my mobile office. I found that if I kept a lot of teaching materials (stationery, lecture notes, assignments, recording equipment) in the car, I would always have access to whatever I needed. Whilst I overstate my case, it was also a reality that it would take me half an hour to empty the car prior to its annual maintenance service.
Unlike in the Carina, I made very few long trips in the Avensis. The most notable was the day I climbed Scafell and Scafell Pike. The trip was very nearly a major disaster, of which the car was the safest aspect. I recall that at one point during the outward journey, the brakes were smoking badly as I descended one of the Lake District passes. I parked the car very tightly in the only place I could find, and noted its location on my map. Booted up, adequately equipped, car locked, I set off. Scafell I managed okay, but Scafell Pike I found difficult. Having telephoned home from the summit of Scafell Pike (as one does), I set off on the return journey and almost immediately the outer sole of one of my expensive but old mountain boots peeled off. I was close to the top of England's highest mountain, surrounded by scree slopes, and one of my feet was virtually unprotected. Not prepared for this event, I sat down for a while to work out my options. I seriously considered calling for rescue (I have always wanted to ride in a helicopter). To this day I do not know whether my choice was wise or foolish: I chose to walk away from my car, to the nearest habitation about six miles away. The route, though rough, looked to be a good deal safer than trying to walk directly to my car. When I arrived at the pub it was already dusk. I was able to telephone for a taxi to take me back to the Avensis, fifteen miles away, the location of which I had carefully noted on the map. Disorientated by the sour turn of events, I was anxious and relieved to see the car. Whilst I later found that the front bumper skirt had been scraped, the car was otherwise un-interfered with. As a drove back to Durham, I felt as though I had had a lucky escape.
During my period as the car's keeper, I drove about 100,000 miles, and when we parted on 25 April 2008 the odometer read 127,177 miles. I wonder what will become of the Avensis. I am reminded of Black Beauty.
16 March 2008
Jemima's Annual Review
Jemima's stautory Annual Review will take place at her school during the coming week. This is an opportunity both to look back over the past year, and to look forward to the coming twelve months.
Most obviously, Jemima has developed some, albeit only a little, confidence about being away both from home and from parents. This began with the residential visit to the Calvert Trust, Kielder in 2007, for which she felt motivated to accept two nights away, and was further boosted by two school “sleepovers” during the summer term. Based on these experiences, Jemima suggested that she would like to try a week in residence at summer school. Whilst she enjoyed the experience, she also reported feeling homesick. She was a little uneasy about a full five days in residence at school during the autumn term, but did eventually decide to stay for the final night. She seems happy about the next planned week, in April 2008. However, she has rejected the idea of participating in the respite weekends, saying that she wants to be at home at the weekend.
In terms of her learning, Jemima appears to be making some, albeit tentative, progress with arithmetic, which she has always found difficult, mainly in the motivating context of money. She was, with encouragement, able to add up the cheques and cash she received for her recent birthday.
Jemima remains motivated to use her Dynavox communication aid in situations where it is clearly the most effective way to communicate. This includes the regular trip from school to a cafe where she can buy a mug of hot chocolate.
She enjoyed greatly participating in the process of making a DVD with the One Voice teenagers’ group in July 2007, and worked very hard in advance to prepare her ideas and contributions on her Dynavox.
Jemima was pleased to be asked at Guides if she would go and talk to a local Brownie pack who were working towards their Disability Awareness badge. She saw it as akin to being a role model, something to which she aspires as a result of her very positive contact with the young adult role models at One Voice events. She spent some time preparing the talk in advance; she also used the Dynavox more spontaneously to respond to the Brownies’ questions.
Jemima enjoys the social aspects of school; she clearly has very positive relationships with and interacts confidently with both staff and her peers. She tells us about things they say or do and is concerned when they are ill. This year she has been interested in work on Buddhism, recycling and art, and has enjoyed the associated visits; she still says her favourite lesson is swimming. She says work-related learning and life-skills are boring, perhaps because she has grown up with a reasonable level of awareness of many of the skills involved; this does not stop her from enjoying cooking. Her desire for involvement and engagement results in her enjoyment of, and participation in, the special events and fundraising activities which are organised in school.
Jemima continues to be highly compliant in her behaviour, and shows few signs of being a ‘difficult teenager’. We have encouraged her to express herself a little more assertively, including responding with respect to her wishes and preferences. The occasions when she is less willing to be compliant is when she perceives her routine to have been overturned. It seems that she uses routine as a way of feeling as though everything is under control.
Jemima is enthusiastic to keep in touch by e-mail both with friends from One Voice and with some of her relatives. She likes using the computer for a variety of purposes, including finding things out online, visiting websites relating to programmes she watches on television, and looking for information about places she may visit. In addition to this family weblog, Sound Signs, for which she writes occasional postings, Jemima is excited to have her own simple website, although its development is at an early stage. It is obvious that Jemima understands electronic communications, and we consider this to be an area to be taken seriously in terms of future educational study.
Jemima enjoys crafts and creativity, which frequently includes designing and making greetings cards. She has a strong sense of style. She willingly participates in shopping trips to buy supplies. She ‘takes’ photographs, and more recently has expressed a focused enthusiasm for making videos using a camcorder. Jemima enjoys the arts, and is able to recognise and enjoy the work of several nineteenth and twentieth century artists, including Monet, Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock.
Jemima enjoys shopping trips for clothes. She enjoys going to the cinema when the screening is subtitled; visits to the theatre, particularly when the performance is sign-supported, ballet (Rambert Dance Company) and productions on ice (High School Musical). Inevitably she spends a lot of time watching television and DVDs.
Most obviously, Jemima has developed some, albeit only a little, confidence about being away both from home and from parents. This began with the residential visit to the Calvert Trust, Kielder in 2007, for which she felt motivated to accept two nights away, and was further boosted by two school “sleepovers” during the summer term. Based on these experiences, Jemima suggested that she would like to try a week in residence at summer school. Whilst she enjoyed the experience, she also reported feeling homesick. She was a little uneasy about a full five days in residence at school during the autumn term, but did eventually decide to stay for the final night. She seems happy about the next planned week, in April 2008. However, she has rejected the idea of participating in the respite weekends, saying that she wants to be at home at the weekend.
In terms of her learning, Jemima appears to be making some, albeit tentative, progress with arithmetic, which she has always found difficult, mainly in the motivating context of money. She was, with encouragement, able to add up the cheques and cash she received for her recent birthday.
Jemima remains motivated to use her Dynavox communication aid in situations where it is clearly the most effective way to communicate. This includes the regular trip from school to a cafe where she can buy a mug of hot chocolate.
She enjoyed greatly participating in the process of making a DVD with the One Voice teenagers’ group in July 2007, and worked very hard in advance to prepare her ideas and contributions on her Dynavox.
Jemima was pleased to be asked at Guides if she would go and talk to a local Brownie pack who were working towards their Disability Awareness badge. She saw it as akin to being a role model, something to which she aspires as a result of her very positive contact with the young adult role models at One Voice events. She spent some time preparing the talk in advance; she also used the Dynavox more spontaneously to respond to the Brownies’ questions.
Jemima enjoys the social aspects of school; she clearly has very positive relationships with and interacts confidently with both staff and her peers. She tells us about things they say or do and is concerned when they are ill. This year she has been interested in work on Buddhism, recycling and art, and has enjoyed the associated visits; she still says her favourite lesson is swimming. She says work-related learning and life-skills are boring, perhaps because she has grown up with a reasonable level of awareness of many of the skills involved; this does not stop her from enjoying cooking. Her desire for involvement and engagement results in her enjoyment of, and participation in, the special events and fundraising activities which are organised in school.
Jemima continues to be highly compliant in her behaviour, and shows few signs of being a ‘difficult teenager’. We have encouraged her to express herself a little more assertively, including responding with respect to her wishes and preferences. The occasions when she is less willing to be compliant is when she perceives her routine to have been overturned. It seems that she uses routine as a way of feeling as though everything is under control.
Jemima is enthusiastic to keep in touch by e-mail both with friends from One Voice and with some of her relatives. She likes using the computer for a variety of purposes, including finding things out online, visiting websites relating to programmes she watches on television, and looking for information about places she may visit. In addition to this family weblog, Sound Signs, for which she writes occasional postings, Jemima is excited to have her own simple website, although its development is at an early stage. It is obvious that Jemima understands electronic communications, and we consider this to be an area to be taken seriously in terms of future educational study.
Jemima enjoys crafts and creativity, which frequently includes designing and making greetings cards. She has a strong sense of style. She willingly participates in shopping trips to buy supplies. She ‘takes’ photographs, and more recently has expressed a focused enthusiasm for making videos using a camcorder. Jemima enjoys the arts, and is able to recognise and enjoy the work of several nineteenth and twentieth century artists, including Monet, Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock.
Jemima enjoys shopping trips for clothes. She enjoys going to the cinema when the screening is subtitled; visits to the theatre, particularly when the performance is sign-supported, ballet (Rambert Dance Company) and productions on ice (High School Musical). Inevitably she spends a lot of time watching television and DVDs.
01 January 2008
Farewell to the old recliner
Over our garage there is a flat roof that is at the end of its natural life. We want to replace the flat roof with a pitched roof. In common with many British people, we also use our garage for storage. Not everything that has been stored is worth retaining, and some of what is in the garage is there because of a failure to decide on how to dispose appropriately of each item. Having now entered the preparation period for the prospective and highly intrusive building work, further opportunity for delay in making disposal decisions has finally evaporated. Parting with what is not required should be easy, although finding new owners may take time and effort. Parting with what could have been useful, but never has been, requires a readjustment of priorities: for the duration of the building work, space will be at a premium. Parting with what has been of some, albeit limited, use, is more demanding, particularly when there is history involved. This is the story of the reclining chair. Although little used now, it has been of much service in the past: a place to nurse a colicky child through the night, a place of refuge from nocturnal noise, a postural respite from the griping pain and nauseous choking that are symptoms of an hiatus hernia. We acquired the chair from Tim Bond in 1991, long before he and his wife Jan moved from Durham to Bristol. The chair saw two of our houses. Despite its age and long-service, it still works well, and even recently has provided much-needed seating when we have had guests. Who knows whether it could have had a new lease of life in our future? However, it is bulky and cumbersome, features that have become more costly to us. So I advertised it on Durham Freecycle. A family who had recently relocated to Durham from Houston, Texas, were in need of some furniture and expressed an interest in the chair. With the help of a Korean friend, they collected the chair yesterday, 31 December 2007. It has gone to a good home, and will undoubtedly be made better use of by them than by us. Farewell old recliner.
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