Affirmation

I know it can be a real pain in the posterior to listen to someone else’s music choice. Time. Always time.

Today I took time, had time, enjoyed time, rediscovered time , passed time, had a lovely time.

Doing?

Hanging out in the garden with my kids. Twenty-two year old and I connecting. Doing shoulder stands on the grass with my eight year old. I was better at it. Just sayin’.  Thirteen year old ‘posing like a haddie’, being a thirteen year old with charm and exuberance. The rest of my crew were elsewhere.

We nibbled, sipped, giggled, talked about everything under the sun.

Mostly, it’s down to sunshine. It’s here! 24° ‘s worth. All bloody day. Right up until it started to cool but was still pleasant enough to sit out and enjoy. And when over? Well, the mood was already established. Move into the kitchen. Big kitchen. Sip, chat, music. Dance. Yoga moves. Hands down, I can do more than my kids. Any idea how life-affirming that can be to a 54 year old? Exactly!

I had to chase them from the kitchen to bed. I asked, ‘What song would you say captures this evening?’

Mary-Kate’s answer surprised me. All the moreso because I’ve been meaning to post this song for a few weeks.

It takes me back to a holiday when my eldest (one of the absent) introduced me to this duo. Maybe about ten/twelve years ago. Thereabouts. 

The duo didn’t hang about long. Difference of artistic direction, apparently.

I could yak on about the ins and outs of this evening but I won’t. Instead you might want to replace the details with details of your own. Those times when somehow – without apparent effort – everything about family just comes together.

The dou are Savage Garden.

The song ‘Affirmation’.

The words – probably the nearest thing I have to saying what I -and maybe many of us – feel about so many things.

And it’s pretty good for dancing to. Bendy yoga moves optional. But most enjoyable.

Today love and life and family is affirmed.

May you find affirmation in the words. And in your family. In your life.

If you have the time it’s worth a listen. The song is catchy. The lyrics – on screen – would be well worth adhering to as a credo.

 

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Bright Pretender

Spring’s pretending thru’ my kitchen window,

Shining on my pots and all my pans,

A cunning bigger bugger’s spying on her,

Keeping winter just too close at hand.

Music’s playing on my kitchen juke-box,

I’m dancing while I cook and while I sing

‘Cause Spring’s pretending at my window

Promising the longer days it brings.

Roast is sizzling comfort in the oven,

Knowing well that any minute soon

The great dissenter shunts my little hoper,

Fills with clouds that darken brightest room.

But I’ll still dance and cook and sing on,

Believing in the tiny peep I’ve viewed,

I’ll serve up hope along with tatties

And slices of pretender I’ve imbued.

Spring is singing and she’s dancing,

We’re jiving here at light that’s on its way,

Pretence or not, I love my little glimmer,

She’s in my kitchen, brightening up my day.

 

Heck the Dalls with Houghs of Bolly…la, fa, la, ta, thingy, ta, tum, de dum

Boots ‘n’ gloves and hats ‘n’ woolly jumpers,

Sleet then hail then rain and driving wind,

Jingle Bells and glitter in ev’ry orifice,

Ho, ho, ho, it’s festive time again.

Party hats and dancing with the youngsters,

Staff night out and red-neck yet to come,

No presents wrapped, (well, frankly, not one bought yet!)

Christmas spirit’s waning but not quite done.

It’s school, you see, with weeks of building up to,

Practices for choir, dance rehearsals, shepherds, angels, cute Nativity,

Really messes with anticipation,

No twelve days here, more like plus one, plus one, plus one, infinity.

I’ve decorated while still teaching reading, maths and phonics

And flagging’s how I feel at yearly end,

One more Slade or Roy Wood with his Wizards

Will have me cursing, going round the bend.

The 19th’s circled in my brain, my calendar, (it’s mental),

The advent of the holidays and then,

Forget you’ve frolicked, partied with the school kids

And start the round of jovial again…..

…..A deep breath in and join the lately chorus,

We stragglers who are never organised,

Can’t function till the bells are truly jingling

Then watch us go, you won’t believe your eyes.

Frantic is my choice of festive funtime

Once school is closed and gates are fastened tight,

I’ll dash around like Dancer led by Rudolph

And cook and clean and prep with all my might.

Well, no I won’t, I lied there just to rhyme it,

I’m far too chilled to let the Christmas baggage get too much,

I’m dancing with my glitter on my eyebrows

And twirling kids like elves on speed and such.

It’s funny how relaxed frenetic makes me,

I’m shattered in a special sort of non-specific, soporific style,

Ready for the ending and the starting

And grinning like a loon at all their smiles.

Kids and Christmas, that’s where all the fun’s at,

Except for pantomimes which, this year, thanks to fuck

I’ve ‘missed’ by virtue of being in a different school house

Or maybe just by wishing and good luck. 

So fa, la, la, la, thingy and the chorus

Yuletide songs and laughter and the like.

Did I mention staff night out is pending for the 19th?

(Might get plastered), lots of dancing and no kids for just one night.

Yay!

 

 

 

Hypocritical?

Eighteen year old boyo returned home tonight proudly presenting a new set of speakers for his I-Pod. Including a bass speaker. Wonderful. We’ve all long criticised the quality of some of the docking stations that have seen their way through this house. Never enough bass and the sound quality can be quite tinny. I hate that. Really discourages loud music playing.

I like my music loud. If I’m doing housework (if) I want to be able to hear my music from room to room. When Freddie Mercury is encouraging me to think that ‘I want to break free’ then I want to hear him. If I’m singing my heart out to ‘Who wants to live forever?’ I like the volume turned up.

It’s not that I don’t like quiet music. I do. But I really enjoy it loud and then I can feel it too, thrumming through my body and making me dance. Might be a generational thing and the types of bands listened to in the past. And present, if I’m honest.

A lot of what my kids like I like too. But not all of it. And vice versa. Which might be why sometimes they come home when I’m busy ‘doing housework’ – dancing counts as long as there’s a hoover attached to one hand – well, it does! and tell me that my music is waaay too loud.

So, I’m feeling a bit hypocritical tonight ‘cos I enjoyed David’s demonstration of his new speakers earlier. But now, I want to go and stick them where the sun don’t shine. His room is right above mine. And I can hear and feel every vibration. He has half an hour more then I’m gonna pull rank!