A second BBC News magazine atricle has also caught my attention today, but this is one that I'm not totally sure what my views are... Lucy Kellaway's article is entitled Making good use of the things that you find, and starts by talking about taking some her late mother's possessions down to the tip to dispose of them. When she talks about getting rid of things though she refers to it as "an enjoyable leisure activity - a bit like a sport" and then says "the other beauty of getting rid of stuff is that it leaves one free to go out and buy some more". Now I'm afraid that this started to get me ... read more
The joy of pottering
This BBC News magazine article caught my attention this afternoon. There is nothing I like more than pottering. At present I don't have a garden or outdoor space to potter about in, but even just spending a day pottering inside our flat can be a delight. I work in central London and find all the rushing about there quite stressful at times and dream of being able to potter through the days. I think this article is right in that "pottering" has been given bad press. A day of pottering at home can completely de-stress me and prepare me mentally for the work week ahead. Yet, when work ... read more
Socks…
Just over a year ago, with some help from work friend L, I learnt how to knit. It's been quite a long process which has tested my patience many times. After a year I was starting to get a bit bored with scarfs and woolly hats (or which I now have a drawer full in time for next winter) so was looking for a new project. After reading yarnstorm over the last year I think I have caught Jane's contagious passion for socks and hence a pair seemed the most obvious thing to start on. I managed to find a "Regia Sock Knit Kit" in my local John Lewis and thought that with the enclosed "simple ... read more
Gran’s flapjack
As I've said before, my baking adventures aren't all that successful. My sister H is totally different and is fantastic at baking. She came to stay with Mr C and me over the bank holiday weekend so I decided to use the opportunity to get in a quick lesson. Over the years I have tried various flapjack recipes, but have never managed to get anything close to that made by my Gran. I've always ended up with something either very crumbly, or so hard that you nearly break your teeth on it! So, H and I decided to start my lesson by phoning my Mum for a copy of Gran's recipe: 4oz brown sugar 4oz ... read more
Tears of the Giraffe
When the first No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books were released here in the UK there was quite a hum surrounding their release. At the time I had one of those Borders' books of the first chapters of numerous summer releases and the first chapter of No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency was included. At the time I wasn't really taken by it and have since avoided any other books from the Alexander McCall Smith series, until now... Tears of the Giraffe was in a pile of charity shop books that my Mother-in-law S recently passed on to me and earlier this week it ended up at the top of my to-read pile. I ... read more
Freecycle madness
Mr C and I have done a fair amount of de-cluttering recently and as a result we've been creating a large pile of things that we want to dispose of. In the past I may have just taken then to the tip, or the local charity shop, but today I'm making the most of the St Albans Freecycle group. This is a fantastic way of passing on things that we no longer have use for to people who are able to use them. So far this morning I've been flooded with e-mails from people interested in taking things off our hands, now I just have to hope that they will all head out on a rainy bank holiday afternoon to ... read more
Working in the rain…
Mr C and I don’t have our Road own garden at the moment, so we therefore make a large amount of use of our local nature reserve, the Watercress Wildlife Association. This morning was one of the monthly working party days down at the site so Mr is C and I put on our waterproofs and headed on down there. One of our tasks for the day was to clear some of the things that have been shooting up over the last few weeks and encroaching on the paths. In particular Mr C and I were chopping back various nettles and brambles that were along the edge be of the newly created butterfly ... read more
Rocky Road
While I really enjoy baking I’m not always that successful, despite all the lessons that my dear Gran keeps giving me. There is one recipe though that I know I can do without messing anything up (well at least not so far) and Mr C and I certainly enjoy eating the results. Rocky Road is a Nigella Lawson recipe. I have to admit to not being sure which of her books it is from as my sister kindly wrote it out for me, but I’m guessing it’s probably in Nigella Express. The recipe is fairly simple in terms of ingredients (good dark chocolate, golden syrup, butter, ... read more
Books to lose myself in…
I’ve recently been reading a lot of Jodi Picoult’s books. I first picked one up in a charity shop and enjoyed the easy reading style and cheap nfl jerseys the obvious amount of research that has gone into the settings of each. The Tenth Circle is much like many other of Picoult’s books but the most obvious first difference and is the inclusion of pages of comic drawings. In this book Trauma sixteen year old Trixie alleges that she has been raped by her boyfriend Jason. smile? The book then covers how all members of the family (including Trixie’s comic ... read more
What makes me smile?
So, what actually does make me smile? Many things. The sun on a summer morning; being cosy at home as 2016 the weather rages outside. Spending a productive evening knitting or sewing and having something to show for my efforts. My husband; my friends. Nice wine; home baking. A novel Officer that I can lose myself in for a For few hours. Through this blog I hope to be able to share these things that make me smile with you, and I hope that they’ll also make you smile. ... read more