A long weekend gave us time to be together as a family – even if, at times, my mind wasn’t all ‘together’ with it! In my mind there are always people floating around – physically distant from me, but close in my thoughts, that I wish to be together with – for a moment in […]
family
Keeping on running
This past fortnight I’ve been running and kept on running. I don’t know where this sudden urge to run has come from, but it feels great (and I’m just hoping the clocks going back, on the first Sunday of April, along with autumnal weather to come, doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm!). In the past fifteen days […]
Things I’m Loving this first week of 2013
In our little corner of the world – Wellington, New Zealand, the New Year started with a roar of strong winds on the 2nd of January, which quickly abated to give us the most glorious sunshine weekend to start the year with. I can’t remember the last time I saw Wellington’s beaches so busy. I […]
Super Grandparents are in the House!
How many grandparents would step off a plane, after travelling from the UK to Wellington, New Zealand, non-stop (two looooong international flights and one domestic) and handle a full day with three energetic granddaughters – with NO nano nap?! My grandchildren have SUPER Grandparents (but – they just don’t know it… yet!). One day, in […]
The Christmas tree(S) are up & peace has been restored.
I blame the shops for having decorations up from beginning of November. By the end of November my children are dragging the decorations from beneath the stairs in readiness for the 1st December. The first day of our Kiwi summer now coincides with ‘tree up’ day in our house. With the 1st December falling on […]
Old – The Gallery
I’m here in England after five years away – there is so much ‘old’ and I’m loving it! Old are the photographs in my parents house… Of generations before. Love this old photograph of my Grandma and her sisters (she was one of seven!). Old is the land and the marks of history left upon […]
Wedding Congratulations from Afar
This weekend my gorgeous cousin, Jane (who visited us here in New Zealand at the end of last year), married the love of her life, Craig. We would have LOVED to have been there to celebrate, but with all the changes in our own lives this year it has been impossible to plan anything. We […]
The man of the house is back
I’m sure it’s the same in other homes where there’s only one male – the behaviour of the females in the house changes when he’s home. In our house the energy levels are ramped up. There’s a lot more physical play, loud voices, movement (chaos) and laughter. There’s a little elbow pushing and jostling for […]
The day my bank card got deposited down the skirting board…
I only have one bank card and live off it. Plastic is my friend. I rarely carry cash. So when my two year old, on Saturday afternoon, came up to me and said, ‘Sorry! Card gone!’ my first reaction was to check my purse – that I was vaguely aware of her playing with as […]
This Friday my Heart is in San Francisco
2007 I was last there. It was the last time I travelled long-haul from NZ to the UK, via San Francisco. I was a mother to two young children – now three. The memories are still very clear and we had a blast (even if we had poor helmet wearing style!). Hubbie is there now […]
Beervana survivor is a real family man!
I didn’t see him in action at Beervana – just the aftermath. He started sampling around midday – and got home around midnight. To my texts he did not reply. My oldest daughter and her friend saw him stumble in (they were having a raucous sleep over). I hadn’t heard him get home – but […]
The stirring of the past in the autumn leaves of the Botanical Garden
I love gardens and the Botanical Garden in Wellington is very dear to my heart. I’ve walked through the gardens frequently in the fourteen years or so I’ve lived here. I lived across the road from them for a year and was fortunate to work in an office in the heart of the gardens for […]
Photo A Day MAY | My Kitchen!
My kitchen is a place of experiments, play dough, chalk scribbles, arts and crafts. It’s a place of baking and breakfasting, preparing and cleaning. It’s seen days of babes being washed in the sink – and water splashed in a flood over the floor. Games of ‘sink and float’ in baking bowls – and flour […]
Have you had your pancakes?!
Sophie asked me for pancakes for breakfast, again. She’s been asking for days. I keep making promises. I keep breaking them. Oops! But today, I pulled out my wooden spoon and whipped up some batter and fulfilled an overdue promise. It wasn’t till mid-morning I discovered it was actually Shrove Tuesday today! I found a […]