Yesterday was one of those days that was just perfect for being outside. Lucky really as that's what I did pretty much all day. Down at our local nature reserve we had a day's hedge laying tuition where a group of volunteers were learning how to lay a hedge, and practicing on one of our ones on the site. Meanwhile a regular monthly working party was also taking place, along with a willow weaving workshop. Workers always need feeding though - so that was my role. Tea and cake breaks for the workers, plus a BBQ lunch for everyone involved. It was all hard work, and boy did I ache ... read more
Chewy Molasses Cookies
When going to antenatal yoga classes locally one of the things I particularly enjoyed the tea and cake after the class, and the opportunity to meet other mums to be. This theme has continued with the baby yoga classes that I now take LMC to and Laura who runs the classes is certainly excellent when it comes to baking. She's shared a few of her recipes on the Yoga Hall's webpage and I finally got round to trying one of them myself last week: chewy molasses cookies. These are incredibly easy to make, good for you, and yummy too - what more can you ask for in cookies! ... read more
First home brew success
It all started about 18 months ago when I was lucky enough to "win" some bits of home brew kit on Freecycle. What I didn't realise at the times was that I was two weeks pregnant at the time, so it's taken us a while to get round to our first proper batch of home brew. I admit that it did start as a kit, but I'm not feeling too guilty about that. I'll leave it to Mr C to provide words on his blog at some point (and I will let you know when he does) but I can provide picture evidence and I'm also pleased to report back that it tastes delicious and no sign of ... read more
Vintage toy finds
I've spent (far too much) time recently looking online at vintage Fisher Price toys. It started with the realisation that the lovely Fisher Price horse that I had as a child, that Little Miss C is now playing with is over thirty years old. I hadn't really thought about it as that before. This particular French site (Little Vintage) has some lovely stuff on (including my horse!) and combined with the 1930s Housewife Challenge that may bloggers are currently undertaking it has really made me want to make sure that LMC gets to experience many of these old fashioned toys, rather ... read more
Nella Last in the 1950s
A comment from the lovely Kay on my post about Nella Last's Post War Diaries has made me realise that the final Nella Last book, based on her 1950s diaries, is now available. I had completely forgotten about this until now - that's what having a baby does for you! - so I'm rushing off to amazon to buy a copy: Nella Last in the 1950s: Further diaries of Housewife, 49. I'll let you know what it's like as soon as I can. (A complete aside - Amazon have very annoyingly changed how they do links to pictures of books making it so much harder for me to quickly include ... read more
The 1930s Housewife
If you like all things old fashioned and domestic and enjoyed my post about the Housewife's Handy Book, then make sure you take a trip over to Being a Mummy's Blog where she's been undertaking a 1930s Housewife Challenge. Fascinating to hear how she's got on and some great videos there too. ... read more
Garden characters
Finding the camera card reader means I can finally introduce you to a couple of new characters in our garden. More photos and accompanying words to follow shortly... ... read more
I’ve noticed…
... that if I don't blog then people don't bother to visit and read my blog. Funny that. Now, can anyone tell me where the card reader is for my camera? ... read more
Being Mummy C
Nine months ago Little Miss C and I arrived home together for the first time and since then we've been on quite a roller-coaster ride together. I'm not sure that I'm "qualified" enough to call myself "mummy" yet even though on paper that's what I am. It's strange how you come home from the hospital with a new title and yet no experience at all in your new job. In nine months I've certainly learnt a lot though: As soon as my backside hits the sofa LMC will always either wake up or require attention - I'm pretty sure she implanted some sort of ... read more
An afternoon at the zoo
For Mr C's birthday this year we had a family day out at Whipsnade Zoo and enjoyed it so much that I also signed up to become a "friend" of ZSL meaning that I can visit there or London Zoo for free as often as I like in a year. Entrance for under twos is free too - so both LMC and I were sorted and hence this afternoon we had a lovely couple of hours visiting the animals. She may not look very impressed about it, but LMC was actually fascinated to see elephants up close like this whilst they were exercised around the site. It may not be obvious from this picture, but ... read more