I have a weekend away booked for next week, to Leamington Spa. It’s a beautiful town in the Midlands that made it as a spa town in the early 19th Century when spa towns were *the* place to be. It’s a romantic little break, just Mr Hygge Jem and me, and we will spend our time wandering through the streets of Leamington, Stratford and Warwick, … Continue reading Five Words for August.
It’s the morning after the night before. Italy won the Euro2020 competition (I’m happy for Italy, of course I am. After failing to qualify for the last World Cup, coming back to win the next tournament shows a determination to succeed and a willingness to work for it) but England did so well to make it to the final. We had a young team, and … Continue reading This Isn’t The Summer I was Looking For.
2016 and the height of Great British Bake Off. My daughter’s favourite contestant was Candice Brown, a young, smiling Siren of a baker who always had immaculate lipstick on. Candice Brown made the headlines for winning that year and then, like many a famous woman in the public eye, faced headlines about every part of her life. Privacy? No way. Her engagement, marriage and subsequent … Continue reading Book Friday: Happy Cooking by Candice Brown (Easy uplifting meals and comforting treats)
My kids are all back at home, all in the house and we have 62 days (all of July and August) until potentially we’re split up again. I remember when they were young looking at the six weeks of summer holidays with a strange blend of excitement and anxiety. Would the weather be good or bad? Did I have enough cash to stretch to everything … Continue reading There’s 62 Days of Summer Vacation and University Comes Along Just to End Them…
Sometimes holidays just seem like the hardest task we set ourselves. Prepping for going away, washing, packing, listmaking, arranging for pet care, parent care, tidying ready to go away, travelling (worse yet if it’s abroad and all the extra worries of foreign travel are piled on top). Sometimes it’s just so much easier to stay home. When the children were small, we used to visit … Continue reading Nefyn. Not This Year, Except in My Dreams.
Disclaimer here: I can knit, but I am not, from choice, a knitter. If you give me a free choice of yarncrafts, I will go for crochet every time. Knitting comes under the too fiddly to be bothered with label. That said, like many people, I admire good handknitting, and appreciate the skills used. Also… this book is so not just about handknitting. You’ll see. … Continue reading Book Friday: Seasonal Slow Knitting (Thoughtful Projects for a Handmade Year) by Hannah Thiessen
Four more weeks. Four more weeks. Four more weeks. And international travel seems a distant dream on the horizon (why oh why does Microsoft tempt me with screensavers of Crete and Corfu, Capri coast and California when the closest I am going to get to any of them is a Capri Orange or a quick rewatch of Mamma Mia? And the people who would usually … Continue reading There’s Just No Getting Away From It This Year…. so I might as well read a book.
I spend all day most week days at my desk, typing, filing, phoning and basically staring at a concrete jungle outside. Cars pass, the crossing beeps occasionally and sometimes a fight starts at the pub on the corner. It’s very urban and, apart from the plants on my desk, has no natural elements in it. Yesterday I had a rare (very rare) day off office … Continue reading There’s Hygge in Them Thar Birds!!!
