I never knew my mum's mum. Sadly, she died on the 30th April 1958 at the age of just 49, when my mum was a young girl. And even though I wasn't there, I feel (and will perhaps always feel) a keen sense of pain at my mum's loss. It's a subject I've touched on…
As winter calls for snuggling up with a good book, I thought I'd share a few of my personal favourites. With common themes of nature, gardening and seasons, I love these books for their storytelling, illustrations, language and photography. 1.The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett I'm sure many of you will already know this…
As the end of year approaches, I've been thinking about the past twelve months, trying to assess how it all went. Looking back, it was a rather lovely year. We and our families enjoyed good health, we paid off our mortgage, Boris reached the grand old age of 3 and I hit the final year…
Is it just me or does time seem to speed up as we hurtle towards the end of the year ? The last six weeks or so seem to have gone by so quickly and Christmas is almost upon us. I'll be honest - I used to love Christmas but in recent years less so,…
With the rain falling incessantly since the early morning hours, I've retreated indoors this weekend, catching up on chores while the weather does its thing outside. I do like these sort of slower days, taking things easy, pottering about, sheltering from the elements. I've been ticking off a few things too on my autumn 'to…
I'm an autumn girl at heart. I love autumn and all that this season brings. I've been looking forward to it more than normal this year. Perhaps it was the intense heat of June and July, perhaps it was the relentless rain in August, but already in September, I feel more at ease, happier in…
It feels of late like we are in those in between days. Summer is ending and autumn is yet to get underway. We've seen a late flurry of sunshine here and it's given some flowers a final flourish. Others, though, have already gone over, their seed heads turning mellow and golden. Children are already starting…
