Poor Pretty Girl is gone now, and I find myself not only orphaned but petless too. It’s been hard to start again. She’s left a large void behind her, literally as well as figuratively as we dispose of her toys and bedding, and vacuum up sh*tloads of dog hair. The house has been making all […]
On Not Perpetuating Sexist Language
I recently read an interesting piece by Alison Flood, who reports Oxford University Press (OUP) are replacing the sexist language in example sentences in the Oxford English Dictionaries (OED). If you don’t know, the OED is the source used by Google and Apple. So when you look up words on those platforms, chances are, that’s […]
Wealthy is as Wealthy Does
There’s a proverb of sorts, Beauty is as Beauty does And according to Walt Disney (video has sound) at any rate, it means being kind and doing something nice for someone who feels down. Every single day. Because beauty is about what’s on your inside, not the outside. And you can Google to your heart’s […]
How to Design a Peaceful Garden
I’ve mentioned one of my major goals this year is to create a peaceful garden that’s lush and abundant, provides habitats, weather protection and a mystical threshold. And the goal for Q1 2020, is to plan and start landscaping it. So, I’ve been reading some books about Edna Walling gardens, mainly because I’ve seen what’s […]
Public Bathroom Benefits
A while back, someone told me that most people are too lazy to travel more than one or two cubicles in a public bathroom. And the longer the run, the cleaner the end is by comparison to the beginning. I don’t know about men, but women don’t often find bathrooms with more than three cubicles. […]
Thank You Mrs Sparkle
A curious thing happened today. DB and I went to our local village fair, and among the things we do every year, we went into the Church to look at the Art and Craft Exhibition. One of the pieces was an arrangement of hand-made bears, with a sign saying something along the lines of: These […]
Remembering and Forgetting
Not long ago, Katy got in touch. And I was remembering that she taught me one of the most important lessons that I have ever learned. At the time we were the best of friends but lost touch around about 20 years ago after I moved to London for a while. We both had the […]
Stress Free Medieval Dinner Party
Turns out to have been a really long time since I wrote a Dinner Party, and for a while there I was really stuck on what to do, but then I watched The King and now I’m doing a Medieval Dinner Party. Though I suppose more technically it should be called a Banquet. Food We […]
Alice ‘mid the Starships
“Normal” people get caught in social media quagmires, but I run down a different kind of internet rabbit hole. When I first saw this image I was intrigued because it’s a Victorian glass lantern slide titled ” Oh there, ‘mid the starships, Alice, I know a”. And I was really curious about the starships. The […]
The Joyful Memories from Gifts of Love
I took advantage of the recent gloriously summery weather to catch up on some washing, starting with the towels because they take the longest to dry. As I hung them on the line, carefully stretching and straightening them out so they dry square (and are easier to fold neatly), I realised I hadn’t bought any […]
Understanding Choice and What To Do With It
A while back, almost at the start of this blog, I talked about a place for setting goals for choice. And when it came down to it, understanding choice – consciously making choices, not having them thrust on me. Mind you, that also came with the intention of getting good at cryptic crosswords and I […]
Your Hierarchy of Needs
In 1954, Abraham Maslow posited that all people are driven to fulfil a basic set of human needs. Essentially, you start from your most basic needs (at the bottom of the hierarchy) and work up. Only when you have satisfied your biological needs can you think about your safety. And not until you feel safe […]