When I was a little girl, there was a TV series on in the afternoons called Farmhouse Kitchen. It ran from 1970 to 1990, and was on at 2.30 in the afternoon, so watching it probably meant I was off sick from school. I think, as long as we weren’t vomiting and really nauseous, it was a way to keep us quiet. I used to … Continue reading Book Friday: Home Cooked by Kate Humble (Recipes from the Farm)
Well, there goes Christmas until next December. And here comes my darkest time of year. When I was supply teaching and mothering at home, January and February were my months of low, slow living. The bright lights were down, the children back at school. There wasn’t enough light in the day to do anything much and I basically squared my shoulders and set off to … Continue reading Wintering
It’s a hard fact of life that sometimes time is the slipperiest of creatures and whole lengths of it escape through your fingers, meaning that what you thought was a week free from interruptions and full of space to write is actually a week of minor irritations, major preparations and a lot more little bits of work than you needed. I will catch up with … Continue reading Cosying Up for Christmas
Have you now or have you ever had a real Christmas tree? When I was young, we never had a real tree. Our Christmas tree, for most of my formative years, was a plastic tinsel-boughed thin and twiggy tree. The strips of plastic drifted slowly off year after year until it really rather resembled Charlie Brown’s tree, but without the advantage of being recyclable. For … Continue reading Oh, Christmas Tree: Christmas Hygge through Christmas Hiraeth
Almost my first act on December 1st is to put my Christmas wreath on the front door. I have a special hook permanently in the door and, indeed, for the past ten years have had a wreath which alters according to the season on the door. I like having a wreath there. I like the symbolism. When I was a child, I don’t remember ever … Continue reading The Wreath on the Door: Christmas Hygge through Christmas Hiraeth Day 1
I have been married 29 years. We celebrated our 29th anniversary on 22nd October this year. I find it amazing that we’ve been married for anything like that long. More amazing, perhaps, is that we spend so long together. Bar a few hours when I teach or visit friends and relatives, we work, live and sleep within 10 m of each other. It’s okay: I’ve … Continue reading Book Friday: One by Jamie Oliver (Simple One Pan Wonders)
When people say that computers don’t have a sense of humour, tell them perhaps they don’t. But they do troll people. Today is a grim, grey, cold day. Windy outside, which adds a chill to my life, and I am huddling over a single candle flame and wondering where in the house is my collection of fingerless gloves. My Cratchit Days are upon me. And … Continue reading 29 Days to Advent…. and I’m getting ready to Celebrate!
Yes, it has taken me two weeks to write the review. Being honest, it took me until last weekend to stop running long enough to read it. I’m happy being busy… but at the moment I feel too busy and with stuff that doesn’t feed my soul. Never mind. I took the weekend to stop and breathe and read, and this week has been slower, … Continue reading Book Friday: My Hygge Home by Meik Wiking
How to Hygge the British Way 