It’s November and everyone, it seems, is getting busy. Writing novels for NaNoWriMo. Daily blogging with NaBloPoMo. Growing moustaches for Movember. As the calendar rolled around to the first of the month, I also felt the need to be doing something challenging and important this November, but the fact was Read more…
My poor blog has been sadly neglected over the last couple of years. I can’t quite believe it’s almost two years ago that we headed off for our Copenhagen adventure. A summer of discovery and sea swimming. Coffees and Danish pastries. Since then life has been marked in six month Read more…
It’s September and the lifeguards have gone. Taking with them the bright yellow buoys that I have been swimming out to all summer. With no yellow buoys to stop me I could just keep going all the way to Sweden. It doesn’t look so far. Land is easy to see Read more…
One of the things I love most about housesitting is discovering the treasures hidden in other people’s bookshelves. It’s probably slightly voyeuristic as I know you can learn a lot about someone from the books they read, but even so I have always been fascinated by bookshelves and what’s in Read more…
When someone offers you a housesit in the centre of Copenhagen for the entire summer, it is very difficult to refuse. Hence the reason I am writing this on a warm sunny afternoon in the Danish capital. Housesitting is not something I had ever thought about or considered up until Read more…
Hello there. It’s been a while. I’ve been away doing other stuff but mostly I’ve been switching off and trying to let everything go. I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of emptying my mind of noise and distraction, clearing away all the input and clutter and allowing myself Read more…
It is now officially spring here in the northern hemisphere and in my little corner of France the blossom is bountiful. I feel like I have emerged from a long, deep hibernation, like some kind of large, lumbering animal. All winter I’ve had the luxury of sleeping in and waking Read more…
A cold, misty morning in December. I’m sitting by the window with a steaming mug of tea watching the swirls of mist sparkle as shafts of sunlight cut through the trees. The cat is asleep on the chair beside me and I can hear the muffled barking of hunting dogs Read more…
The woodburner is glowing orange, the smell of woodsmoke permeating the air. The cat is on the sofa and the kittens are curled around each other on the chair in front of me. I can hear the gentle patter of rain outside the door as the clouds come down lower Read more…
“August was….. the month I turned 46. It was hot, busy, hectic, full of distractions, but also magical and full of new adventure. I loved checking in each day with the group and seeing what my prompt was for that day. It’s been a great month of focus through the Read more…
It’s midday and it’s hot. There isn’t a cloud in the sky and as I push open the door to the workshop, the dark, dusty coolness is a relief. There always seems to be work to do at the hottest time of day, although these days the heat lasts well Read more…
What’s not to love about garlic? It smells good, it tastes good, it’s good for your health and it keeps vampires from the door. And so what if it lingers? Make sure whoever you are smooching is a fan of garlic too and your problem has miraculously disappeared. In the Read more…
Why does a new home never really feel like your own until you’ve cleaned the windows? I finally got round to it a couple of days ago and it made me feel so much better, not least because I can now actually see this lovely view! The last couple of Read more…
Do you ever get that weird double feeling where you want to prolong something good to the point where it’s almost painful, but then you also want to move on to the next thing? Nostalgia before it’s over. Anticipation of something yet to come. I feel like that this week. Read more…
In three weeks time we will be packing up and leaving. Moving on again. Adding yet another address to the list of many that have been racked up over the years. I’ll miss it here. It’s been one of our nicer house sits and of course it’s been great to Read more…
This week I’ve been out cycling on my new bike. Well, new for me. It’s actually a 1973 vintage Peugeot touring bike complete with racks and dynamo lights no less. Not quite as old as me but almost. It was a bargain from an older gentleman who now has a Read more…
Like most European countries, France has its fair share of dull days in February. Add to that the fact that we are literally in the middle of nowhere and the work I do from home is patchy at best, and you start to get the picture. However, being the self-sufficient Read more…
Despite having visited once before in my early twenties, my love affair with France really only started in the summer of 2004. My friend’s car was filled to the brim with our camping gear and summer clothes and on a miserable July morning we set off from northern England and Read more…
What are your favourite shades of winter? It’s been pretty grey around here recently but even so, it’s amazing how much colour you can find if you really look. Even though we haven’t had a really cold spell or seen any snow yet (unlike a lot of the Northern hemisphere) Read more…
Hello! Welcome to my first blog post of 2016 which I am writing in my pyjamas. Yay – I’m having a pyjama day. Blue striped PJs and a wool cashmere poncho. I am joined by my sleepy feline friend Pookie who is sporting a brown and beige fur onesie. It Read more…