Hello, Monday
It’s a dreary Monday morning. It hasn’t rained for one day out of the last, I don’t know, fifteen? I’ve lost count. A blustery haar is rolling across the city and I am loath to separate myself from my pjs. Haar: an excellent word. Imagine outside looks deeply foggy. Imagine that fog is actually lowlevel … Continue reading
How Can I Keep from Singing?
I have music in my soul. Despite this, I go long, intense bouts without so much as a note. I’ll not play anything, or even sing in the shower, for months. Then some unexpected day I’ll be filled with uncontrollable urges, spreading song into every inch of my daily routine. It’s a wonderful reconciliation, and … Continue reading
Scottish Ballet: A Streetcar Named Desire
Given the choice, dance isn’t top of my theatre-going agenda. I find traditional ballet is usually stuffy, keeping me at arm’s length, while the often abstract nature of modern dance asks me to take large leaps, and I’m not always willing or able to oblige on a tired Tuesday evening. But the burgeoning movement of … Continue reading
New Season Salad
Spring in Britain requires a little bit of flexibility. Some days it’s 70 degrees and sunny. Some days it’s freezing hailstorms. Lots of days it’s both, usually in quick succession. I like all this variety. Keeps things busy and my world feels alive. Plus, I take it as a personal challenge. Can I possibly dress … Continue reading
Originally posted on Morning, and Other Stories.:
Sometimes I think I am a whacking great coward. I haven’t done the scary things – sent poems to be published, read them aloud, re-established a reading group, for ages. In fact the last thing I made I was proud of was a string of bunting made of…
Platters of wholesome goodness
It is a bright, stormy day and my head is full of heavy things. And while I want to believe being all grown-up, facing these things head on, and standing up for what I believe in will always turn out for the best, I need a mini-hiatus. The kind made of toasted crumpets and fuzzy … Continue reading
Oxford
We spent the last four days (and Ollie‘s first 1069 miles) driving to and then around Oxfordshire. It was very beautiful, which I expected. And quite posh and snobby, which I also expected. But after a couple of days I also found lots of other, quirkier things that make me think I might really like … Continue reading
Meet Ollie
Our family is growing. (No. NO. Calm down. There is no bun in this oven. Promise. Unless you mean cinnamon buns. Then you’d be right.) We just have this habit, ever since we started dating many moons ago, of naming things. The first gift I ever gave Bean was a fern. He named it Cornelius. … Continue reading
Country Life Magazine
This weekly glossy is an Institution. Or rather, I imagine it is for those who live the life depicted in its pages. I once saw leather-bound editions dating to the 1920s in a house where they rent out the East Wing, and their wedding present was His and Hers ponds just beyond the garden maze … Continue reading
Que Sera Sara? 