Weekend...

[byslantedlight]

...weird weekend. It started well - will hopefully end well - but I went to bed at about 1am this morning and found myself awake around 2.30am and couldn't get back to sleep after that! I eventually gave up and got up and watched it get light, but now I'm sleepy and don't dare go to bed cos I won't sleep tonight. Ack!

I did go off for a wee wander yesterday though, to Stourhead, which was feeling very pagan in the winter light. There were giants of trees...
...and pools and groves...

...and grottos where lurked silent gods...(That's Flora, a minor goddess of fertility and spring. Which reminds me of Michelle in The Almighty Johnsons, who was always peeved at being described as a minor goddess... *g*)

There were robins zipping about too, and snowdrops... It's almost getting to be spring... *g*

In other news I've been very good this morning and have pulled apart my old teaching practice folder (1989!) for recycling. It was interesting to look through, and if I'd carried on in that direction it would be worth keeping, and I was always interested in my mum's old nursing notes and things, but I don't supposed I'll go back to anything in education where I need those lesson plans etc. now, and I'm clearly not going to have kids who might want to look at them and go Ew, why'd d'you keep that? so... I should choose shelf-space over keeping-old-work... But I hate throwing away things like that - so many times it has turned out that I've wanted something I've chucked away, to compare with something more modern or whatever... *but is brave and determined*

Okay - I'm off to carry on staying awake. I hope you're having good weekends!

Comments

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Again, so many lovely pictures! And a grotto with lurking gods! Who would ever thought there was something like that still to see.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's a very lovely place - and that was in the grey of winter! The grottos were fab - actually I think there are a few places that have them. They're not real (well, I assume they never were) but all to do with being grand and showing off to people who come to visit (by the original estate-owners, not now *g*). Good fun though!

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

It's such a pain when your sleep cycle gets completely skewed wrt the hours of day and night - good luck getting them back on track *g*

I hate chucking stuff like that out, and of course I now have a bunch of useless clutter plus huge regrets for some of the things I didn't keep - it'll always be wrong, no matter what you pick!

Beautiful photos again, what lovely places you find ...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm still awake, which bodes well. Only... well, nine or ten hours or so to go! The only thing is that I want to do something useful like get out to the supermarket, but then I remember that it's a really really bad idea to drive when you're sleep deprived, even if you do feel relatively awake. I shall have to take a turn or two around the hack track - or maybe even venture further afield, if I can find a way to walk!

I was ever so brave and took out two more folders worth of stuff - my archaeology of the first millennium notes, and the notes from the anthropology course I took when I was doing archaeology. Actually looking back at it, oddly enough I think I did better at the anthropology than the archaeology even back then - if only I'd realised at the time! Not that I don't enjoy archaeology too, but I'm less keen on the dry scientific measurement of it. *g* Anyway - I think you're right, whatever we choose will feel wrong, because actually there's right on both the side of keeping and of throwing away, just as there is for most things. I shall remind myself that I clearly got rid of all the notes from the other classes I took, and haven't missed them yet!

Stourhead is lovely - if you're ever out this way you should drop by! *g*

[gvenanne.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful place to walk! Looks like a fairy-tale, especially this path among bent trees, and giants of tress and snowdrops... So hard to imagine there are flowers at this time, I feel my mind becoming flexible at the thought *g*
Hope you'll manage to keep awake till night. Years ago I could fall asleep in the middle of the day and fall asleep again in the night but now I can't and it isn't a pleasant feeling to want sleep and not to do it. All day sleepy and unfocused. Hope you will get a proper sleep tonight!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It really is very pretty - and it felt very pagan yesterday, somehow! Oh, and there were little yellow primroses showing as well as the snowdrops - it is nice to see flowers thinking about it. *g*

I'm still awake so far - I reckon if I can make it to 10pm, then I'm allowed to go to bed. Maybe I'll even be up nice and early tomorrow! *g* Oddly enough I haven't felt too bad today...

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

I love the photos - I haven't been to Stourhead in years, and I'd forgotten how magical it is.

I hope you can keep yourself awake till bedtime!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm still awake! If I can make it to 10pm then I'm allowed to go to bed! *g*

Stourhead is pretty, even in the bare winter. I've been once before, in summer I think it was, and it was so different! Mind you, I was chatting with someone all the way around, and things always look different then!

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Hi,
how are you doing with the wakefullness, now that it's late in the afternoon? *g*
I'm sorry that you had trouble sleeping last night, though! It's really aggravating, when it happens, especially, if you have to work the next day, and can't be all foggy.

Your pictures are lovely and enticing! If/when Mr. Siskiou and I manage another trip to the UK, can we ask you for suggestions where to go and what to see? You always seem to find the best places! *g*

And good for you, weeding out old papers, though it always hard to do.
Mr. Siskiou still has boxes of stuff, that hasn't been looked at, and I have some old homework books from my middle school days. Though they come in handy, to show students what it was like having English as a second language. *g*
If we ever want to sell this house, we will have to really deal with the accumulated clutter!

Wishing you a restful sleep tonight!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeay, I've made it to 10pm - I can go to bed now! *g* Actually I haven't even felt that tired today, which seems odd... but I would like a nice sleep tonight, so cross fingers!

I've still got some old books and things from high school, and even primary school. One of the high school essays I kept was basically a fanfic based on Pros too - I found it again a little whilst ago! I might post it one day, just for fun (well, I'll read it properly first... *g*) It's fun to look back on what we did all those years ago, isn't it!

You know, I reckon their accumulated clutter is one thing that keeps most people in the same house for a very long time... *g* Hope you're having fun in yours meanwhile, though!

[etain-antrim.livejournal.com]

With any luck, you're now all snug in bed and fast asleep. In your case, my strategy would be the same, stay up until bedtime. It's how I deal with jet lag, too, but it can be brutal in the short term.

Lovely photos! How ever did you get so close to the robin? Mr. Antrim counted the birds at our feeder yesterday for the St. Valentine's Day count, and saw one American robin, but so many of them stay year-round that they don't herald spring or anything but a mess under where they roost.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

And now I'm all awake and staring out at a rainy day, so I'm even more glad I got out on Saturday! Oddly enough I didn't feel nearly as sleepy yesterday as I thought I would - but I did sleep well last night. Yeay! *g*

I had my telescopic lens with me, so I didn't have to get too close to the robin - but he was six feet or so away, I guess. *g* There was a trio with a dog walking the path behind me, and I was desperately trying to get a shot in before they caught me up! *g* Robins are winter birds over here too - in fact to me they mean Christmas and snow (I blame the Christmas cards of course) even though I see them all year around too. The American robin is very different to the English robin (oh, I just looked them up to double-check, they're not even in the same family - the American robin is a thrush and the English robin is a flycatcher (though they used to think it was a thrush!) They look very different when you see them side by side, too! *g* Like English magpies (which I've just started seeing around here alot - I wonder if they were away somewhere for the winter, or if I'm just more aware of them now because of the KJ Charles books?!) and Australian magpies...

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

Oh those trees! Old, old as the land itself (well not quite but it's how they look, as though they've been there forever). And the snowdrops are so pretty.

I'm glad you got a good sleep last night, after your earlier wakefulness. I wonder what that was all about? You must have been feeling rather zombiefied by the time you made it to bed last night.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I was oddly not feeling too bad all that day - and then yesterday I felt oddly dopey! Shush - it was odd... *g*

I passed more snowdrops on the verges as I drove around today - so nice to see!