A lovely sunny afternoon out.

A lovely afternoon with friends in Lake Meadows, as Go Bonkers arrived  - our children played on the inflatables all afternoon while we chatted away.

I also took time to get the kids to try a few #missionexplore  missions, which we shall write up later. I also took the time to develop my watercolour skills, still very much a beginner  - should really get some lessons at some point, but I enjoy the process of looking at nature and drawing what I see. The drawing below is a watercolour using watercolour pencils.

Eyes....

Went for my annual eye check up at the hospital today to monitor my chance of getting glaucoma. It all started back in 2006 when I had a regular eye test at the high street and they detected high pressure inside the eye. A referral was made to the  hospital just in case.


The just in case turned out to by PDS  - Pigment Dispersion Syndrome  - The flakes of the coloured part of the eye, are detaching from the back of the iris and float freely in the liquid in the eye.


It seemed that the flakes had made their way to the drainage channel in the eye causing the pressure in the eye damaging the optic nerve. This can lead to Pigmentary Glaucoma. Read here for more details


I had no damage at that point, and was soon undergoing lazer treatment, to make 4 holes in each eye, to reduce the pressure. Since then I have yearly check-ups to detect changes. I have a lovely photo of my eyes, taken back in 2008 - showing the optic nerve.

Thankfully my eyes have not got any worse at the moment, and everything is stable - I just need to wear glasses for being short sighted. 

A new beginning brings new ideas.

Well, after some time writing a school blog for my students, I have decided to write a more personal one, based on my thoughts  about the whole around me.

So, what has been happening in my world recently?

I went the the GA conference #gaconf11 and was inspired by the various workshops, lectures and conversations I had while I was there.

I finally got round to buying the mission explore series of books, and since then, my 7 year old has not put them down, and wants to take it into her class to show her teacher. We are planning on doing a few of the missions this week.

I finally got around to finishing the meander video that was inspired by David Rogers dream teacher video. I really enjoyed putting the video together, and think that with a little more practice and a tripod, they will get a little more polished. Hopefully it will help students revise.