Last week was a busy one at work as it was Year 12 Orientation – all the Year 11 students come in to school after their exams and have a week’s worth of lessons in preparation for next year. In addition to the ten periods of my own classes I had to take, I ended up having to fill in for another teacher who was absent.

It was the end of the day Friday, Periods 5 and 6, and it was a class I did not want to take. I soldiered on though, getting to know the students and setting them to work on the important concepts they needed to grasp for next year.  We made it through the double lesson. I was in a classroom in which I have spent a great deal of time, particularly with Year 12 Literature classes (my favourite subject). At the end of the day we put the chairs up, I closed the windows and the students left. I took one last look around the room and remembered all the classes and all the students I had taught in that room (F2, for those in the know). There are a number of secret smiley face stamps pressed around the room that I did with the kids a few years ago, and they were still there. I took a moment, conscious that this was the last class I would teach at this school after almost ten years. I closed the door.

Today I got into work and there was an email from one of the students in that class:

Don’t worry – there’s nothing wrong with your eyesight: it’s snowing! Thanks to Jan I now know how to “enable snow” on a WordPress blog.

How appropriate then that today we have instructions on how to make this “charming” Snow House:

This one’s kind of growing on me – it’s naive without wanting to be something else. I particularly like the robin perched on the fence.

The pathos continues with this sad Christmas Log from Newnes Home Management. The windswept creature to the right is a hapless owl made of fir cones, though why he is wearing a witch’s hat is beyond me. Newnes Home Management reminds readers to ensure “the holly is not in the path of the flame”: heaven forbid you should set fire to this “amusing novelty” before time.

Newnes Home Management: remind people how poor you are by gluing together things you have gathered from the laneway and displaying them on your dining room table.

This gay bottle top is “an ideal present for Father”.

We don’t have tree or anything Christmassy this year – we gave our tree away and the decorations are all packed up. This weekend however I plan to create my annual CD of Christmas songs (Scott’s Christmas Collection) and write cards.

We didn’t have a tree last year either, as we were overseas. We are determined that Christmas 2010 will be an extravaganza of mammoth proportions – I predict a large tree in a bay window, perhaps some snow outside (but definitely cold!), a yule log (whatever that is), and plenty of Newnes Home Management Christmas creations. Hopefully Orlando will still be with us, warming himself by the fire, or perhaps “future pets” Oliver and Ruby the British Blue cats and/or Chester the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (tricolour) will be with us.

It’s time to prepare for Christmas, and nothing says Christmas more than a Mock Christmas cake.

Why bother with all the fuss and mess of baking a real cake when you easily prepare this one from a tin can, cotton wool and cake decorations. Newnes Home Management shows you how.

We have just had the most wonderful sunset. These Photo Booth shots don’t do it justice, but you get the general idea. This is the view from our back yard. The air was still and cool, birds were chirping their evening songs in the trees. First there was a golden orange glow, then pink, red and finally an exquisite purple light.

Perhaps this is something I will miss?

My Random People are cropped from pictures I took of landmarks/buildings/interesting places. The person’s inclusion in the original photograph is always unintentional, and I often don’t even notice they’re there until I’m flipping through the images on the computer. I always wonder about them – who they are, why they were there. I also wonder how many strangers’ photographs I’m in myself.

My latest iTunes purchase. Lady Gaga has the most amazing shoes!

Also be careful that you don’t dislodge your teeth.