A little light reflection (or refraction)

Were we the only family who said our goodbyes a little more sentimentally on Wednesday morning I wonder? My daughters were convinced that the world was going to end and no amount of placating and hugging them would stop them from worrying. We are a family of worriers and the prospect of a big bang and impending doom adding to our worries was not a good mix. I thought I'd explained to Little Sister that there was a greater chance of say, being hit by a car than the earth disappearing from our feet but apparently that didn;'t work. I thought she'd grasped it, but when on Tuesday night Mr Ragged Roses came downstairs after putting her to bed, he told me that now she was worried about the world exploding or crossing the road on Wednesday (in her mind it was a question of "either/ or"). Oh dear I never was very good at explaining science.



So on Wednesday morning I sat at the sewing machine listening to all news from Radio 4 and in particular to my favourite, Women's Hour which had an item about women scientists and the apparent lack of them. I must say that science wasn't my favourite subject at school. I loved biology until it was time for dissection - I remember writing knowledgeably about the reproductive cycle of a rabbit and the nutritional value of a plate of egg and chips (I remember making my favourite meal sound incredibly balanced), but I just couldn't get to grips with Chemistry or Physics.



I loved the experiments, loved drawing up diagrams but for the most part couldn't (or more likely, refused) to understand what was going on. In Chemistry lessons what I did like was the colour of some of the chemicals, pouring the liquids into test tubes, heating them up and watching the results. One thing I always remembered was the delight of watching the sun shining in through the windows and catching the colour of the liquid in the tubes, it was beautiful seeing the reflection around the table. What is it called, refraction I think - I'm probably wrong, I bet Val would know.



Anyway whilst all these musings were going on I also noticed that the sun was shining in the garden but hadn't yet reached the kitchen. I found it though, hiding in Big Sister's bedroom keeping one of the cats company. I sat on the bed feeling the sun on me for the first time in weeks, enjoying it's heat and light. I took these photos to capture the moment and remind me that what has truly been lacking over this summer is the absence of colour save grey. It has truly coloured everything. A few minutes of sunshine reminded me of what might have been ...



Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my school post, It was great to hear your memories too, doesn't the thought of school dredge up so much inside us? Well one thing I do remember learning at school is the importance of being polite and good manners and I'm afraid my teachers wouldn't be that proud of me - you see I have been given a whole bunch of awards over the summer months and haven't, until now, mentioned them. I am sorry to all you lovely ladies who gave them to me, they are very much appreciated and instead of detention I shall promise to dust them regularly and give them a good polish now and again (or when the sun shines!).

A huge 'thank you" to Carol for this award:



and Happy birthday to you for next week!

Merci to Sal, April and
Tracy for this lovely one:



Danke to Amanda



and finally Grazie to Summerfete for this lovely prize.



I really am overwhelmed with all this kindness, I never did this well at prize day at school.
I hope you don't mind if I don't choose some bloggers to pass it on to , that would be just too hard a choice to have to make. So please consider yourself all top of the class. Have a great weekend
x