The book to kick off my year of books was certainly not a disappointment. A visceral and passionate but relatable love story, short and intense, the words of The Bridges of Madison County reflect its subject matter and compelled me to finish it in just two days.
Continue reading “#theyearinbooks – The Bridges of Madison County.”
Kedleston Hall is our absolute favourite National Trust property. Being only 30 minutes away we have probably been there in each season, but never in the snow. This last trip we missed the white magic. By. One. Day – ‘devastated’ is an enormous understatement.
In some ways, the youngest members of our families are the wisest and most mature. We miss so much of who they are, how they communicate and what they are capable of, by assuming otherwise. Continue reading “The Perceptive Child.”
Happy Epiphany! So the 12 Days of Christmas are over and with them my semi-suicidal mission to complete a blog post a day. I am alive however and, despite being slightly worse for wear, apparently I can’t get enough… Introducing #theyearinbooks, an initiative from Laura at Circle of Pine Trees, in which the participant commits to reading (at least) one book a month for the duration of the year – I shall certainly be doing the least in this instance! Continue reading “#theyearinbooks – Reading List 2016.”
Why does it seem that ‘organic’ is a notion considered only imperative for babies? The majority of weaning food available on shelves is organic, far more organic clothing and bedding is produced for the under-ones, even skincare largely follows this same trend. Pharmaceutical solutions to every cough and hiccough are shoved down everybody’s throats and you have to really search for organic infant formula, so there are exceptions, but on the whole, ‘stuff’ for bigger people just seems to be laced with toxic chemicals as standard, implying that we can ‘handle it’ once we are weaned… this seems a bit ridiculous to me. Continue reading “Introduction to Organic Living.”
A Golden Curiosity.
Amba the river mole was the stubbornest of the stubborn river moles. She would get ideas into her head that no amount of reasoning, pleading nor bribing by her closest friends Butters, Porry and Pip could get out again. Not surprisingly, this led them into a great many undesirable situations that they all (mostly Pip) would rather forget.
As most days begin in sunny England with a question of the stability of the weather, Amba was once again staring seriously into her cupboard. Continue reading “A Golden Curiosity: Part One.”
Guest Post: On Becoming a Father.
Jaide asked me to contribute to her blog, which I of course agreed to. I hadn’t realised that would include contributing my own words, thinking that ideas and suggestions would suffice. ‘Fatherhood’ was the brief, and these thoughts are directed at the dads in the earlier stages of their parenting vocation.
On social media, there is a serious lack of positive attention given to the role of fathers. They are often portrayed as bumbling or irresponsible fools, either the ‘funny’ parent who doesn’t take things seriously or as the disciplining ‘big-gun’ for when Mum’s other tactics have failed. Continue reading “Fatherhood: Mentors and Inspiration.”
Some days I feel as though it is simply misplaced – like a lost sock – lamentable, potentially permanent and large part of myself but not really the end of the world. On others it feels completely sucked into the black hole of nappies, toys and tracksuit pants, never to be seen again. And sometimes it feels completely defined and inspired by the mini people clutching at my legs, pulling at my hair and clinging to my heart. ‘Myself’ has become a variable concept.
Continue reading “Multiple-Personality Disorder of “Mummy”.”
We are one month off our two year anniversary of moving from Australia to the UK and I still am not accustomed to the sheer wealth of places, brimming with history and beauty, that are practically on our doorstep. We could go somewhere different every weekend for the entire year and still not exhaust Derbyshire!
We spent New Years Eve exploring Bolsover Castle, trying not to lose our fingers to the biting cold, or our enthusiasm on the blistering wind, and we succeeded on both counts (thank goodness!). Continue reading “Places: Bolsover Castle.”
A Life With Littles 