WTSIM Boeuf Bourgignon

Winter is really here now, a chill in the air and cold fronts bustling over in a hurry to get somewhere, showering us with torrents of rain as they pass. The scarlet vine leaves are dropping fast now, our only real autumn colour carpeting the ground with its finery.Today was the perfect day to cook a slow stew in the oven, the aroma of its winey juices pervading the house, and the warmth of the

Sleepover

Last night the children had a sleepover at their aunt’s house. This is all of 50m away, just down the hill, but is a major step forward on the road to independence, when up till a year ago the girls had never spent a night away from us.Over the last year they have evolved their own traditions for the sleepover. In the morning the girls go in to town with their aunt and choose a movie to watch

Orange

England in autumn applies orange lavishly with broad brush strokes. Dripping and splattering all shades of sunset, it spreads throughout the landscape: beech trees a golden or coppery shade, through to fiery oranges and rusts in London parks, interspersed with reds and golds. The bright colors make up for dull skies and flat light and just occasionally are picked up by bursts of sunlight that

Treasure in the Rain

Eleven is a transition age – the automatic magic inherent in birthdays, that has the girls excited even when it’s someone else’s birthday, has worn off for our son. His birthday fell on a Monday this year, with a long day of school and for the first time ever we decided to hold his party on a different day, so that he could have a sleepover party with just a few of his friends on the weekend. A

Cheap Shoe Shuffle

Children’s shoes have been the trial of mothers for generations, I’m sure. They grow out of them in no time, but good quality ones cost as much as adult shoes. Buy cheap ones and it is a gamble whether they will last until they are grown out of.Faced with a barefoot Middle Daughter, who had grown out of all her shoes over the summer, with only three pairs of flip flops left to her name, the

In Our Back Garden

Unicorns frolic in a flowery bowerHorses prance and toss their manesLeopards pace and the lion lies down with the lambA hippo wallows in a watering holeA girl waits patiently to go fishingCows graze peacefully in the evening sunshine.A few mishaps mar the idyll...Indian Jones tried one stunt too manyAnd the Italian Job did too good a job money laundering and jackknifed their lorry.But overall tis

Things you can do

If you're getting new office furniture, donate the old stuff to people reintegrating back into homes. Getting on one's feet isn't easy. Most people don't have filing cabinets, folders, and the rest of the stuff that really most people need in keeping track and dealing with this, that, and the other stuff in their lives.

The other option is letting people use doors on their backs set on cinder blocks, not being able to find papers put somewhere when needed, and being back on the streets once more....

....all for the want of a table, the house was lost!

The 'Anonymous' Comment you may find

People are people. Some nicer than others. Some not. Recently I've been getting a large handful of posters commenting 'anonymously', most replying out of ignorance and not knowing anything about the blog or the writer behind it...but the majority pretty much just simply ignorant.

For them I offer this list of top term life insurance companies. May they find their needs better filled elsewhere.

For the rest of the readership, last week ushered in another mass scare involving Swine Flu. Texas one of the first reported States closing schools, followed by numerous others throughout the country. Florida itself had two confirmed cases as reported by media on Friday.

Our Vice President went as far to say something along the way of avoiding closed confined spaces such as airplanes and subways. On the other hand I saw nothing in regards to closed air spaces such as jails, shelters, or other congregate living areas targetted for the poor.

I've also seen no sign of masks worn or dolled out. Maybe it's early, or maybe they're using those nifty noseplugs you can't see that I saw in Batman Returns...you had to look close to find them...they were in his nose...obviously.

WTSIM Avocado and Prawn Cocktail

Jeanne has asked us to cast our minds back to the Seventies for this month’s WTSIM – the theme is retro classics, things that we would now blush to present at a dinner party but which were the epitome of cool way back then.My childhood memories of food are mostly of traditional home-cooked fare, ageless dishes like shepherds pie and Sunday roasts, and then the unchanging school-food themes of