Winter officially arrived over the weekend. I know this because one: much frost. Two: our kiwi vines gave up overnight. Literally. Saturday afternoon, a few leaves had drifted off. By Sunday morning, the few leaves that hadn't dropped fell off at the slightest touch. And three: the first lights have gone up. Not just in… Continue reading Winter of discontent

Been thinking about staying in touch – the various options for doing so, and the varying ways in which I actually do, with different people. Obviously we can disregard actual letters, no matter how great I was at letter writing back in the day. I had penpals, I had real-world friendships that deepened dramatically and… Continue reading Don’t call me up (but feel free to text)

"The most excited I'll ever be about the least exciting candidate possible" (as seen on Twitter) is, well, accurate. It does feel a bit ridiculous that the entire world experienced SUCH BIG FEELINGS last week, when most of us have no personal ties to the US, but then again: fuck yeah. And omg so glad… Continue reading Breathing out

Have taken both of my sewing machines (regular + overlocker) in for a service, and am now quite anxious about getting them back before second lockdown. I can't imagine we won't have another lockdown, the way things are going. Anyway it's quite funny that I should be anxious about that, given that I've had these… Continue reading Craft anxiety is at least a different flavour

In the moaning about our decorating debacle, I forgot to mention that we were also delayed in that by the sudden, tragic and noisily unpleasant demise of our fridge. Tragic, but not entirely unexpected and leading, in the natural way of things, to the acquisition of a New Fridge. Would you believe this is the… Continue reading So that’s nice, and that, and that: 5 GOOD things 26.10

Back to school day is always such a relief. Even when the holidays are good, it's pretty great to be alone again and get organized and get on with things. This time, the holidays were... mixed. Kind of horrible in the middle there. I mean the kids had a great time! Two holiday programmes that… Continue reading Early autumn is fresh energy, late autumn is just cold

Good news: Venus turns out to be a cuddle kitty in winter. At least, she's still shy of laps, but she keeps coming to snuggle next to us on the couch, or indeed in bed, which is very welcome. She's also using the litterbox again rather than the Great Outdoor Toilet, so, win some lose… Continue reading Win some, lose some, but I could really use a win some time

I had a few things to report from last week – but I've forgotten them all. Nothing happened last week. Nothing except for the incredibly satisfying telling of a story from 23 years ago. Now, I've told this story many times before, but never to the other people involved, and turns out, that makes all… Continue reading 23 years is a long time to wait for the punchline

I am writing to you freshly back from a weekend sewing retreat – four days in an Alpine chalet with delicious food, lovely women and absolutely no pressure to do anything, not even sew. Which you'll understand is a very good thing considering my absolute terror of sewing. So why did I go? Well, mostly… Continue reading Peak indulgence

I had to keep M home with me all of last week. All. Week. For what was really just a light cold, but you know how it is with kids, if they have a cough it lingers, and plague rules are clear. So. Some days were fine, some days were a total pain. I have… Continue reading No pressure but still a tiny bit of pressure