What is your ideal….?

This thought dropped into my head this morning as I walked back from the library and pondered on today’s possible slice. So my letter of course would be ‘i’ and I could muse on some things that would be my ideal… would it work? Some thoughts might and some would not, best to stay off people and stick to objects, animals or places…..

So here goes…..

My ideal dog would be a dalmatian. I have always wanted one because they look so cheerful and full of life and so….spotty. I have never seen one misbehaving or being a nuisance and I’ve always wanted a biggish dog. They are also less common and I’d like to have a dog that most people don’t have.

how could you not resist that face?

Let’s go!

My ideal cat is living in India, she is quite plain and ordinary, just a tabby and I had to leave her behind when I came back here in June. She is just the sweetest, most cuddly cat who acts as a hot water bottle in winter and a lap warmer whenever I’m sitting down and she’s around. The rest of the time she’s out and about doing all sorts of stuff without registration or chipping or any other stuff (the joys of having a cat in India). Of course I do fear she might eat poison put out for rats or someone might try to steal her (I’ve had a cat stolen in Nongstoin). When she’s heading home from an outdoor excursion she starts miaowing at the top of the pathway and doesn’t stop till she comes in the door. She mingles with our dog Molly and now she lies in various students’ laps if they’re sitting on the floor. My biggest regret was that I couldn’t explain to her that I had to go and didn’t know when I’d be back!!

This was just before leaving, you can see our plane tickets lying next to me!

My ideal house would be a little cottage in the Cotswolds, an area near the Lake District in England. Even though I haven’t lived there for years, my favourite houses are still English houses. They are charming and comfortable and these ones are built from honey coloured Cotswold stone hundreds of years ago. Nothing too big so it’s easy to keep clean but I need an open fireplace. The main drawback, I can’t bear the English climate, so it’s never going to work!

Isn’t it picture postcard perfect?

My ideal dessert is some kind of baked cheesecake preferably with fruit in or on it and cooked by my daughters. This I’ve been blessed with on quite a few occasions!

Sometimes looking at it is almost as good as tasting it!

My ideal gift is always, always a bunch of flowers! I’ve had quite a few of those too! Oh and my ideal workplace is a school, so I’m fine there too!

I love proteas, the big one in the middle there, they can often be dried as well.

It’s pleasant to dream a little from time to time…Do you have any ideals?

The letter ‘i’ is the second vowel I’ve used so far and it really is an easy short sound to pronounce (with lips forming a smile) that isn’t confused with any of the other vowels. There aren’t so many words starting with a short ‘i’ for our students to learn, apart from ones like ‘it’, ‘in’, ‘is’ and ‘insect’. However there are plenty of three letter words with a short ‘i’ in the middle, ‘pin’, ‘sit’, ‘lid’, just to name a few. Sometimes, the letter ‘I’ being a whole word can cause confusion, but usually kids understand that that’s a whole word referring to themselves, pretty quickly.