Proud

I'm really proud of how my class just played in the local primary school football tournament. They won't be going through to the next round, but for two weeks they've been convinced they couldn't win any matches.  All of the schools they played against are much larger, therefore, have many more players to choose from. Basically 2/3 of my class had to play (5 plus a sub).

They just won two and had one tie. They had a tie with the team that is going through.

Seems a couple of things motivated them. Got them thinking about what those big schools might just be assuming about a team from a school with only 9 eligible from which to choose. They'd be assuming we'd be no competition at all. This sort of got their backs up. And then there was the promise of some treats tomorrow at school in recognition of their good performance. I've just come in from the store.

Here they are before playing. Their coach is one of the fathers from school.

WELL DONE!!!!!

They Liked It, They Really Liked It!!!

One of my brothers, his wife and daughter actually came up to visit this weekend. We had an amazing four days of sun and rain only at night! Come sight-seeing with us...

Castle Grounds with Stornoway Harbor in the background. We went for a walk and stopped for a snack.

We went to Tolsta beach and went for a walk and stopped for a snack. 

We did go to Ness also which was a really fun time for all of us. I might have forgotten my camera. But I can tell you we did not go for a walk and stop for a snack. We went for a drive and stopped for dinner. Yum! Some of us have to eat often...and then there's the little one to think of, right?!

For Life

"This number is just for you and will always stay the same throughout your life."

My national insurance number...I think it is like a US Social Security number. The statement above was the first line of the letter that came with my official card.

It all sounds very permanent. Too bad my visa didn't come with the same durability.

Sunshine, Seedlings and Stolling

Spent another good weekend with my friends up north on their croft and out at the peats (just taking a stroll this time, no lifting!!!). My friend has a really interesting blog about life up there and if you visit it and look over the past few days you'll see just what I did this weekend, too. (Ehem...look for the slave labor, that's me.) My camera battery fizzled out on me, so a referral is all I can manage.

Go on over to Home School on the Croft for a look! homeschoolonthecroft.blogspot.com

Harris

Harris and Lewis are practically separate islands, but there are joined by a narrow section of land. The two are quite different as you'll see in these photos.

Here we are headed south toward Harris and you can see the landscape changing from generally flat (Lewis) to mountainous.

This mountain (below) is the highest point on Lewis/Harris. I can tell you what it is called, but no idea of spelling so look away if you are from Lewis.

Ok, the rest of you (keep your voice down) its called the Cleesha...yikes, no where near right, but let's go back to the others and just keep it to ourselves.

Being an island...lots of beaches and today they were beautiful beyond words, so let me stop talking.

Color isn't showing. Imagine green/blue of tropical islands. That's it.

And a bit more of the scenery as we went along.

Harris is where Harris Tweed originated and today must be made here to bear the label. And they are making high fashion these days. Look it up sometime, if you're interested!

Beaufort Wind Force Scale

Raise your hand if you've heard of it. Very good.

I hadn't. I think it might have been a subconscious strategy for coping with the strong winds we had yesterday. Looking at my local webpage for weather I noticed that as the wind increased different names for it would appear by the speed. I've heard of a zephyr. I used to think I knew the difference between a breeze and real wind. Ha! That's all changed.

Further investigation introduced me to Captain Beaufort. Sea captain around 1806 who devised a scale based on sea conditions so that all sea captains could be consistent when they recorded the weather each day. Wind can also be categorized by physical effects on vegetation and structures.

A "1" on the scale is called Light Air (4-7mph). Smoke will indicate the direction of the wind and wind vanes are still. If it is a 3 - Gentle Breeze - light flags will be extended. 6 - Strong breeze - whistling heard in overhead wires, umbrella use becomes difficult, empty garbage cans tip over. 8 - Fresh Gale - progress on foot seriously impeded. All the way up to 12 - Hurricane - widespread damage to vegetation, windows breaking. I like the practicality of the descriptions.

I thought that was interesting...should I inflict this on my students??? Have them come up with their own scale for wind or sunny days or something....???

Today (at the moment) seems to be a 2 - Light breeze - 4-7mph - wind felt on exposed skin....but I'll keep you posted. Just kidding.