If you're in the UK and like nature then you should definitely make sure that you watch the new series of Springwatch on BBC 2.I'm completely addicted at the moment, and am also loving the encyclopaedic knowledge of new presenter Chris Packham. The random nature related facts that he keeps throwing into every conversation reminds me so much of Stephen Fry on QI!As someone quite new to bird watching I loved the small segment that Simon King did on tonight's programme on identifying different woodland birds by their song. Fantastic! ... read more
Button bounty
From reading this blog, my mother in law, S, has realised my button addition. Therefore, when I saw her over the weekend she very kindly handed over a tin of buttons! Yippee! Thank you S!There's a fantastic mix of styles, sizes and colours in there and I've had a great time so far sorting through them all and arranging them into little piles. Only for them to then all go back into the tin. I'm hopeful for a nice set of glass jars soon so that I can have them separated out into different coloured jars arranged nicely on a shelf. I just have to hope that I can find such a shelf in ... read more
Bank holiday exercise
I'm sure Bank Holiday Mondays are supposed to be for lazing about. Ours turned out to be quite an active day. We met up with our friends S and A and headed out for a good long walk in the sunshine. Mr C and I often go walking with these particular friends and know that they're up for a bit of a challenge. Hence we decided to repeat a walk from our Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire walks book which took us from central St Albans to Harpenden and back.Now the book reckons this walk is 10.5 miles and should take about 5 hours. It's not a particularly challenging walk, but a nice ... read more
A Year of Being Mrs C
A whole year of writing this blog has now passed and I'm amazed. In a way it feels like yesterday since I sat here and started writing my first post about the things in life that make me smile. After a couple of years of reading about other people's lives I wanted to start capturing the key moments of my life that made me happy.A year on I think I've been managing that reasonably well, but still wish that I had so much more time to do even more with my life. It's just a shame that work has to get in the way!When I look back through my archives it's great ... read more
An English Murder – Cyril Hare
I have to admit that it was the cover of this book that first drew me to it in a charity shop several years ago. I'm a complete sucker for original design Penguin books and I still always first do a visual sweep of charity shop shelves to see if there are any orange or green spines that I should look at first.The title of this one also appealed. Ever since I started reading Enid Blyton as a child, I've always loved mystery, and later detective, stories.Originally published in 1951, An English Murder is, as the title suggests, the story of an English murder. One ... read more
I despair!
I've seen something this evening that just makes me despair at some of the people who live around me!Mr C and I live in a block of flats which means that we have a communal bin store in which we have four of the big refuse bins and some recycling bins. This area is only supposed to be used for "normal" rubbish and if anyone has anything larger to dispose of they're supposed to deal with it themselves and take it to the local tip.Many of the people here just seem to ignore "rules" like his and we've had everything left in there from baths, to ovens ... read more
What I am, and what I’m not
It's strange, but at time I get this impression that I want to be some sort of power hungry business woman type. Going to work in my suit and high heels, chairing meetings, giving presentations and trying to run my project to deliver everything that is supposed to deliver. At the time I seem to think that I'm enjoying myself. Then it all gets a bit on top of me, and I realise that actually I'm not enjoying it at all.It's all too easy though feel caught up in it all and to forget what I really enjoy. I don't really want to be Mrs Corporate, but it's sometime hard working ... read more
A walk by the Ver
Despite the forecast for heavy showers, Mr C and I set off after lunch for a walk along the River Ver, from where we live in Sopwell, along to How Wood. We used to do the section of this walk down to Park Street quite often, but yesterday realised that it had actually been quite a while since our boots had taken us in that direction. Normally, we're fortunate enough to see one of the kingfishers darting along the river, but alas not today.In fact, one of the few bits of "wildlife" along that section was this cow that has obviously decided that the river was the right place ... read more
Housewife, or househusband’s, choice
I spent Saturday night staying with my Mum which meant that Sunday morning I was able to indulge myself, by staying in my dressing gown and reading the Sunday paper with a cup of tea. I luxury that is impossible at home for the simple reason that we don't get the paper delivered.One story stood out and had me puzzling for a while though. The Sunday Telegraph article entitled Don't call me a "housewife" - I'm a Chief Household Officer had me slightly enraged in parts.It talks about how women who run homes are having to apply skills that they use in ... read more
Missing needles
After a long day in the office I was quite pleased to be getting my sewing machine out this evening, even if it was initially to mend a T-shirt of Mr C's. Once that task was complete I moved on to the fun stuff and my attempt to turn an old pair of jeans (again Mr C's) into a bag that I've got an idea from. All was fine with the cutting out and some initial sewing on a single thickness of the demin. Then it all started to go a bit wrong. I wanted to over sew a seam of the original jeans, meaning that it was about a triple thickness section. It was too thick for ... read more