The oddest of nights. Ste so out of sorts, that only a trip to Marks and Spencer in search of their finest Macaroni Cheese and a chocolate pudding could cheer him up and Finley out for the evening, because he does that these days, he goes out for the evening, leaving me wondering if one…
The house is grumpy in the quiet hours of the morning. creaking and groaning in to life, and for a while apparently determined to make her reluctance to start the day known to those still sleeping. The gutter dripping outside the living room window, the boiler spluttering in the loft, the old boards of the…
Arggghhh rats! Blooming rats. A plague of them. Well at least two. Apparently disgruntled by the harvest in the field behind the house, or perhaps the building work on the barn before it. And clearly too rude to consult me and discuss their very unwelcome existence in my garden so we could arrange mutually satisfactory…
A long, hot night finally broken by rain that leaves the damp air smelling like diluted orange juice. We stumble out of bed at the same time and convene bewildered, rubbing away sleep, on the landing. Even the house feels restless. Spiders who have taken shelter from the heat scurrying up towards the skylight and…
Hello friends. How nice to be here talking to you again. I woke up this morning with the urge to write to you tingling in my fingertips and a person cannot be expected to resist a tingle now can a person, even if she has declared herself to be on her annual August holiday from…
A long, moody Sunday, remarkable only for the flow of the deeply splendid ordinary. Laundry hung on the line and a chicken roasting in the oven. Potatoes already par-boiled and roughed up in goose fat and Himalayan salt. First thing this morning, I was on my knees cleaning out the bathroom cupboard. A fierce energy…
Today. A rainbow of roses from my son’s beautiful girlfriend, a much anticipated email that has gone unanswered and a love letter that stabs needles in and out of my heart. Each line another jab at dreams I have nurtured and cherished for so long now. But enough already. There is much to do! I…
A gorgeous Sunday after a lovely weekend of pavement café drinks and chatty teenagers. And now, peace. The sun cracking the flags and the lane quiet except for the buzz of lawnmowers and bees. I have made cheese and rosemary scones and juiced oranges, laid the garden table with a checked cloth and flung up…
We have a chirpy, delighted blackbird nestling in the camellia at the back of the conservatory. Each morning now that the sun is shining again, we sit on the sofa, sipping tea and watching as Mrs Blackbird dives in and out of the tangle of branches decorating the brick wall behind us, singing at the…
Today. A long call with my doctor and then a drive with Finn, to sit staring at the geese gathered like so many gossiping Mothers at the school gates, cooing at each other and gathering their babies into groups dotted along the coast line. Changeable weather. One moment sun cracking the flags. The next the…