The Ber months are my favourite. I love this time of year, with autumn and winter bookending Christmas in a festival of good times, good friends and good memories for the future. I love living in the moment, of course… but that doesn’t mean I don’t spend a fair amount of time getting things ready for Chrstmas. The preparation for Christmas, to me, has always … Continue reading Once November hits… it’s a steady slide into Christmas!
It’s the end of September and, barring a few days when I’ve forgotten to post my Small Things, I’ve recorded the parts of my life that make me content. Mies Van Den Rohe said “God is in the Details”, applying that to his role as an architect and wanting every little thing about his houses to be perfect. I don’t seek perfection, but I too … Continue reading Making the Place I Work a Little More Cosy: September Small Things Day 30
Sometimes I think life has got so complicated that we forget it really is just the small things that make a house a home. I’d forgotten quite how much a good piece of music can make a house a home…. John Denver hasn’t been a big feature in my musical collection. I knew Annie’s Song, of course, who didn’t? And Take Me Home Country Roads … Continue reading It’s the Little Things That Make a House a Home: September Small Things Day 28
It’s a typical crazy Friday morning so far in my life. The TV has an intermittent fault, which means it clicks on and off, usually in the middle of the most interesting film or programme you’ve watched in days. Yesterday I booked it into the TV hospital an dthi smorning had to take it there. I’ll ring up at 1pm to see how it is … Continue reading Bella Grace is a Good Name for a Magazine That’s Really A Guide to a Good Life: September Small Things Day 24
I sometimes think you could track my life by the crafts I have picked up, learned, practised for a season and put down again. As a teenager, I learned knitting (only so I could make a complete set of Christmas decorations from Woman’s Weekly) and spent hours making gloves, scarfs and jumpers that I was rarely ever able to wear inside, let alone out. During … Continue reading When a Project is Completely Finished and Works Out Just As You Imagined It: September Small Things Day 23
It never ceases to amaze me how many ancient feast days and festivals are echoed in or overwritten by Christian ones. Who am I kidding? The Christian church has always had a habit of looking at local customs and adopting, adapting and advancing the new, improved Christian version (not just the Christian church: all religions new to an area tend to absorb local customs and … Continue reading Merry Mabon to my Pagan Friends and Happy Michaelmas to my Christian Buddies: September Small Things Day 22
I love snail mail, or post as we call it in the UK. I love letters best of all, long, slow-moving letters from friends that undulate lazily through the meadows of news and form oxbow lakes of unrelated gossip to enjoy at leisure. I love postcards, short and sharp with the briefest of messages on that give no more than a corner of an insight … Continue reading Post!!! Snail Post for Christmas is Here!!!; September Small Things Day 20
I had a dream this year: I wanted to find a really good nail colour for Autumn. I love red, and pink, blue, green, purple and all the multitudinous other shades available…. but I wanted one that was pure Autumn. One that when I looked at it I would go “Yes! Autumn in a Jar!”. I think I was partly inspired (okay, yes, massively inspired) … Continue reading Finding a New Nail Colour for the Autumn and Then Enjoying It All Day Long: September Small Things Day 16
How to Hygge the British Way 