A weekly photograph capturing one of the magic moments of the last seven days. ... read more
Happy 2012!
Big Ben has done its bonging, the fireworks have gone bang and the champagne has been drunk. 2012 is here and there's no going back. Whilst I don't go in for new year's resolutions in a big way, one thing I want to do this year is try to sort this blog out once and for all and take things up a level. I failed spectacularly in my Crafty Advent plans so I'm slightly hesitant to reveal too many plans for fear of failing again. I've some ideas for regular features and aim to ensure that blogging never becomes a chore. This might work, or it might not, but I'm going to ... read more
That bit in-between
We're just drawing to the end of that slightly strange period between Christmas and New Year that people often don't quite know what to do with. Here we've been simply enjoying time as a family of three. After nearly a week of get-togethers with extended family we're making the most of the simple things for a while. Amongst playing with the lovely toys hat Father Christmas brought for LMC (more on those later!) there's been plenty of Christmas TV to catch up on, trips to some local (free) attractions and also making the most of the adorable Jemima Puddleduck ... read more
Full of festive cheer
Tonight I'm planning a night on the sofa. It may not be the most exciting way to spend a Saturday night, but I'm in the middle of a "six Christmas parties in five days" marathon and I'm shattered! The final one is tomorrow and as much as I've enjoyed them all it has been a bit full on. The picture above shows where I was on Thursday night though - the Houses of Parliament in central London. On behalf of the Watercress Wildlife Association (where Mr C and I are volunteers) I attended a reception that was hosted by our local MP, Anne Main, to thank ... read more
Postcard wonderings
When this postcard fell out of a book that I picked up in a charity shop a few months ago I didn't really think much of it. Then I turned it over and my mind started wondering. I'm now full of questions. Who are (were?) Ruth and Bill? Whose birthday photos is Bill talking about and what waterfall is it that he mentions? Who are the "new couple" and what advert has Ruth recently placed? The card was postmarked 1998 but somehow the message on it seems to almost be from an older time. The address on it isn't that far away and is in fact only round the corner from where a ... read more
Why?
For a variety of reasons I've been asking why I actually blog recently. A few "real-world" people asked when they heard about my blog and I found myself giving some very woolly answers. I can't promise that this will be any clearer but I'll try, I do know why I started this blog though. At the time I was still working and had recently got married. I was doing some crafty things having mainly been inspired to do so by some of the various crafty blogs that I read. What I really liked about those blogs was the fact that they kept a record of the things that people were ... read more
We survived!
This time last week I had no ideas quite how I'd be feeling today. The last four days have been full of adventure and firsts for the whole C family. We've just returned from a short trip overseas. Our first trip abroad with Little Miss C. Her first trip in an aeroplane and the first time all three of us have shared a hotel room. I'm delighted to say that we've not only survived the trip but I'd go as far as to say that we've enjoyed it and LMC most certainly has. I can't say that I've come back feeling relaxed or quite like I used to do after a holiday, but then ... read more
Reason for not blogging #721
Several times in the last week I've sat down to write a new blog post only to find that my broadband has gone down again! Our connection has been all over the place recently: up for ten minutes, down for five, repeat until the user gives up. Fingers crossed it stays up long enough for me to write this post. Just checking emails has been hard enough this week... ... read more
Why books?
Someone referred to me the other day as someone who blogs about books and I suppose that had me puzzled. I do blog about books, but hadn't really realised just how much I blog about them until I looked back at my blog myself. You see the thing is that books are a big part of my life and always have been. As a child I used to look forward to bedtime as that was when I could curl up with a book and enter a whole new world. When I started this blog I was commuting into London daily and had loads of time on the train to read and was getting through books at quite a rate. Since Little Miss C ... read more
Gran and her biscuits.
When I started blogging here over three years ago I had no idea if people would actually read my blog or not. I certainly had no idea what would be popular with readers and I'm still amazed when I see what people searched for to come across my blog. There is one post seems to attract more hits than all the others though - Gran's Ginger Biscuits. Now I know that they are completely delicious, but I didn't realise how many people were in search of ginger biscuit recipes! I've had some lovely comments and messages from people saying how much they like them, so if you ... read more