This one is for MTJAM (and the title is for my brother and sister). Emily wrote about Accidental Parenting and how she has inadvertently let her children develop a habit of nude baked beans. I’m not sure what to make of her comment that my accidental parenting is more deliberate (certainly Max would say that […]
Making something grow
Thanks to my many lovely friends, the garden is still looking beautiful; daffs are hanging on, tulips blooming, one magnolia is still making new blooms and the other is about to burst open. Not bad for an iPhone. It’s worth a thank you. I didn’t want to garden last year, but being sent trees and […]
Collections
In the book I’m reading, The Hare with the Amber Eyes, there is a description of the collection of Netsuke it is all about falling into the hands of a family where the little ornaments are played with by children each night. They are taken from their mirror backed, glass vitrine (cupboard) and handed about, […]
The Gallery: Tomorrow
Yesterday, a year ago, I was watching and photographing Freddie. I had no idea it was his last day alive. Today, a year ago, I had just watched him die. Now, it is more than a year since I was pregnant or had a baby to care for and love. Tomorrow, I need to get […]
Happy Face and Button Pictures
Oh i could twist and turn in the mud of a good old wallow tonight. But I’ll spare you the agony; I think it would probably be gratuitous and maybe I’ll need to do it more another night. So instead, let me tell you how I spent the day with the two girls who were […]
Real Home Ed
The real home ed, of course, continues to happen between times and probably the best times of all are the car ed moments. They always have been. Fran has been reading the Diary of Anne Frank; I think I read this at 14 but she is at a great age to read it, as she […]
Moondial Day
These are a few of my favourite things. We had a family day out to Belton House, home of the Moondial. We’ve got a lot of fond memories of being there, it’s one of our haunts (and was even one of mine, as I had a school trip there once when I was about 9), […]
Mother's Day
I’m a very lucky mother to have children and a husband who understand how hard today felt, the first ever Mother’s Day without Freddie. I had one present early, on Thursday. Today I was woken with cards and breakfast and tea this morning which was beautifully perfect. Josie made me a really wonderful card, the […]
Learning Through Play – any other way?
Play seems to mean a multitude of different things. It means something a child does that keeps them out of their parents hair, something children do together, sometimes it means a game inside, or a game outside; to me, as a child, playing usually meant being alone, deeply engrossed in a game from my imagination […]
Out and About
In conversation with friends the other day, I realised I have become a bit of a recluse in some way, possibly a little bit pathetically so. It isn’t that we don’t go out, we do – we see plenty of people and the girls do everything they should and want to – but I’ve stopped […]
