According to the American photographer, Edwin Way Teale, ‘The world’s favorite season is the spring’ and ‘all things seem possible in May’ – and certainly for me, I have achieved many things over the last month. I had a heavy workload of marking to do, alongside teaching and some external examining work to get through – everything has been completed, a good feeling. I also seem to have participated in more than my fair share of lengthy meetings over the last month! The book writing is continuing at a pace now, with the first full draft of the whole manuscript nearing completion – another good feeling 
This month I also enjoyed a very productive short visit to County Mayo in Ireland where I am part of a team undertaking an evaluative research study; this was an initial introductory visit, meeting key people and getting a feel for the context of the work to come. Finally, as the month closed, I had a short break from work, and spent a long weekend visiting Glasgow, the Trossachs, Loch Lomond and surrounding areas – such beautiful scenery. So to finish off this entry, here is a stunning picture of Loch Lomond in the sunshine … bliss!
If you have read my blog from last month, you will know that I was looking forward to delivery of a new car this month – and yes, I am now driving around it in – a shiny, red new toy – a pleasure to drive! Another busy month has flown by; I have been teaching and working with students at all levels, from undergraduate through to doctoral students, this month, which makes for many interesting sessions. I have also been supporting a number of colleagues and doctoral students in developing their confidence with qualitative data analysis software (NVivo8) – I am really only learning this myself, so working with others in this way offers learning for us all. Good news about the conference papers I mentioned in my last blog, as all of those submitted (3) have been accepted! So now have plenty of work to do, developing these for presentation and hopefully, later, publication. My book writing has also continued at some pace, this month. Overall a really good month, made even more enjoyable by some excellent family weekends – spring has definately sprung!
It is now mid-February and I have unintentionally missed the monthly blog for January. I am gradually becoming aware too that colleagues tend to use blogs and tweets for different purposes, but commonly for making statements, publishing ideas and setting off debate. Yet my blogs are more ‘notes to self’, a brief update on key areas of work, a sort of on-going diary; so I am now wondering if I am doing this ‘right’…mmm something to ponder on, comments welcome!
To continue in the same vein for now though, January and February so far have been busy teaching and marking periods. I have also found time to submit some proposals for conference papers both as a sole author, and jointly with some very valued colleagues in South Africa and in Australia. I am hoping that these abstracts meet with some success as I feel so honoured to have the opportunity to work with people from Universities across the world (keeping fingers firmly crossed on these!). I also submitted two bids for small ‘pockets’ of research funding over this period, one locally, one to a national organisation. The first has been unsuccessful, but offered good learning for its redevelopment for future submissions….the second is still under review (hopefully the already crossed fingers will work for this too)
During January I made reasonable progress on the book I am writing; I have tight plan/schedule to keep to and so far, all is going well. I enjoy writing when I have some concentrated time and can loose myself in the substance and content – a whole day can go by in, what feels like the blink of an eye!
I wouldn’t be a true Brit without mentioning the weather, particularly given the extreme conditions we have experienced at this start of the year. It has been very cold (and I really don’t like the cold), with some periods of substantial snow fall. The snow is attractive and leaves a stunning landscape, but we are not prepared for it and it brings chaos for all travellers, even those trying to get about on foot. I very much dislike driving in these conditions, so am looking forward to spring – we have snowdrops in the garden, so hopefully the new season will soon be here. In my last blog, I reported on the troubles caused by mechanical problems with my car, so can now update this by reporting that I have decided to buy a new vehicle. The new car arrives in March – perhaps along with the spring….there is much to look forward to
