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| The Bristolian pronunciation made me laugh |
Greetings lovely people from the good ship 2021. I hope this finds you well and ready to tackle the New Year with all the fantastic clean, cold January energy. I do love summer, but I always feel far more productive when it's a bit chilly somehow.
Board games are still in full swing here, being thrown across the room almost daily. Monopoly is an absolute horror, and yet I still find myself saying, 'Oh go on then, just a quick game,' when someone suggests it ten minutes before bed. Honestly, who invents these things?
The littlest boy and I made a trip to the mini zoo nearby. I was very taken with a tree in a pot. A blue cedar? I'm not sure. I do love a nice shaped evergreen in the depths of winter. We spent a long time walking through a wilderness zone without spotting anything much. I was happy that the animals had enough space to disappear, although a glimpse might have been nice.
Homeschool has been rolled out across Above The River Towers. The littlest boy gets to sit opposite me while he has his lessons. It gives him the opportunity to ask for snacks every twenty minutes. I felt the drama teacher may have slightly lost control of it all this afternoon. There was a lot of sniggering and apparently some people were blowing into their microphones and messing about. Oh, and she was appearing on the screen upside down. I really felt for her and was all mummish and stern.
The school seem to be making a pretty fantastic job of it all this time, after the first lockdown when no discernible learning seemed to take place at all. Not in this house anyway.
I managed to write 100,000 words across November and December in the end, and now I have shrieked to a halt. More discipline needed I feel. I should write that on a Post-It and stick it to the wall.
How are things in your corner of the globe? Good I hope, all things considered. I'm sending you wishes of a very happy and successful New Year. And recommending that you do not even consider Monopoly during lockdown, if you have one. CJ xx
Repeat after me “there is no such thing as a quick game of Monopoly!” Unfortunately the Yorkshire Wildlife Park has had to close again, courtesy of lockdown. I just hope they can make enough to keep the animals going.
ReplyDeleteMonopoly is my worst nightmare.
ReplyDeleteHonestly!
I much prefer Scrabble!
Beautiful photos of the zoo.
Crazy day here in the US. I think I will take a break from the nightly news.
Have a cozy evening!
What a nice zoo.. such pretty animals! Gads.. I've been in Monopoly games that lasted 4 hours! I play Words With Friends online and love it. I admire the moms who have to become like teachers at home.. I don't know if I could do it. As for what's going on here.. it's all over the news.. our idiotic "president" had a rally, ginned up his followers and sent them to the capitol where they broke in and took over.. 4 people are dead as a result. sigh.
ReplyDeleteTeresa :-(
I dislike Monopoly with a passion and no, there is no such thing as a 'quick game'! :O) I hear that schools are being compelled to provide more online learning this time round. My neighbour's grandchildren apparently received very little last time they were closed. The zoo looks fun and well done on all the writing. I have started spring cleaning early this year as a way of combating frustration with the pandemic. My kitchen doesn't know what's hit it! Happy 2021. xx
ReplyDeleteMonopoly all the way in this house too. We played the a Jersey version this Christmas but I was a little put out that the money was so thick. I’m used to the original one with paper thin notes. I’m always the old boot....say nothing!
ReplyDeleteThe zoo visit sounds fun even without the animals lol, great to just get out and do something different. Great news on the 100,000 words. Have you a title for your book yet? Good luck with home schooling. We think our children are back on Monday , but it could change. Stuff does I find. B x
Monopoly.... I learned that important to halt it as soon as its apparent that there is a winner, that way there was less set.Good that you got an outing before the latest restrictions. Good luck with the home schooling.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for 2021 CJ. I’m trying to ignore the awful news here and across ‘the pond’ Looking forward to Spring....
ReplyDeleteI really hate Monopoly....it's the only game that B is good at though, so we feel compelled to give him respite from being soundly trounced in every other game we play. I find the eleventy-billion versions of it to be exceedingly stupid also. :)
ReplyDelete100,000 words?!?!? Absolutely marvelous!! You deserve a rest.
Good luck with the online learning....i was talking to my mum yesterday and my two little nieces (they're 4) are apparently doing online school as well...which seems utterly ridiculous to me. My brother reported they were doing drawing and colouring. I fail to see why being on the computer is required for that...allegedly, this is only for a week and then they go back to kindergarten. That feels quite optimistic. xo
Lovely cheetah pictures. It's been years since I last played Monopoly, and I recollect that it was always a bit fraught. I do wonder if home schooling, and indeed working, will become commonplace in the future. Well done on the writing, that's an impressive number of words.
ReplyDeleteAll's good here thanks. Take care. xx
Such a hard time for Zoos ...big food bills and little revenue :0(
ReplyDeleteI'm not keen on Monopoly either. Hubby bought me backgammon for Christmas which was sweet as we used to enjoy it years ago. I keep looking at the rules but they are not jogging my memory. Maybe we just made up our own game back then?! :0)
Well done on the schoolwork supervision. I remember reading the school reading books to my boys (it was supposed to be the other way round) as it was such torture trying to get them to do it!
Jacquie x
House rules for monopoly here start with - I'll only play if I've set a timer. Then, at the end of 1 hour (30 minutes, please, 30 minutes!) we work out who has most money & assets and declare them the winner. Also, the winner has to put the game away...
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young, I'd play with my siblings till someone shouted "I'm not playing anymore!" and threw the board across the room. And as I'm the Eldest, mum always made me tidy it up.
Younger Son has 3 days a week at college which are all now on the computer. So my role is to make sure he's actually doing college work and not sneaking out of class to play computer games... Luckily, we've got good enough internet. My sister has had to get a chromebook from school for her children so they can access the lessons.
We always play with a time limit on Monopoly. I don't think I've ever played the game to the proper end. Right now Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride are the games of choice here.
ReplyDeleteThings are ok for me, well, as ok as they can be with 3 children off school and not that fussed about doing any work SIGH but I'm getting out for lots of walks which keeps me sane.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend,
Jillxx
I miss visiting the zoo in Edinburgh. I read recently that the pandas might have to return to China, which is a shame because they are fun to watch when the bother moving around. 100,000 words!! That is 10 dissertations in my world of postgraduate teaching. I am in awe. As for homeschooling, I am not sure what we are doing, I think this entire year has been a write off for my two youngest, academically at least. Maybe we'll just play games and hope for the next academic year to happen. Not Monopoly, I only play the online scratch card version of this (my guilty secret), once a month. You only get 5 rolls with the dice, which makes it short and sweet. Also, no board and paper money to throw across the room. Have a lovely weekend xx
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year CJ!
ReplyDeleteMonopoly, now there's a blast from the past! I was never any good at it and lost interest before finishing a game.
Love the photos :)
We hope you are enjoying the first couple of weeks of your new year. We just love seeing this wonderful photos and this makes us want to visit our zoo when the weather gets a little warmer. Thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteWorld of Animals Rittenhouse