Sample bookshelf from my parents’ attic: Just one of the many collections of books that tells you probably more than you need to know...

This seems lovely, doesn’t it? Until you realise that is not the ocean Garnet is wallowing in but actually self-pity. See the ripples of...

For about a year we have had, shoved into the cupboard in the playroom where no-one ever goes because it houses the vacuum cleaner, a...

This morning was officially the second day I was to leave the house and come here to work on the blog and other self-directed (aka...

My daughter has a remarkable grasp of phonetic spelling. This week has indeed been totally phykd. Gastro. Again. You’re going to start...

May Blossom’s Self-Portrait With Gastro It’s winter here, and with each new and sparkling dawn comes a new illness. I’m quite serious:...

So sweet, you’d never know they have tiny ear canals brimming with filth and germs. Nor that the one on the right is about to throw up in...

Thing 1: Since one or other or another of his or my recent colds or ear infections or other random maladies that have blurred into one...

In the event of finding yourself over thirty-eight weeks pregnant and suffering from a virus that makes you burn with fever and shake...

But, weirdly enough, it was one of the loveliest nights I can remember. Partly because nights in general, in my opinion, are for sleeping...

Actually, this year the game of Move The Tables From The Verandah To The Garden And Back Again Thrice As The Weather Changes was knocked...

Lunch out with a tiny nun always helps. I haven’t been feeling very good lately. It’s nothing that the birth of NB won’t fix (or possibly...

We have just spent seven days on a dude ranch in southern Colorado with my extended family on my mother’s side. We do this every couple...

Oh for the days when the in-seat phone was all the entertainment she needed. In about four hours we are heading to the airport to fly for...

Um, no. I haven’t got a good reason. I was just off, you know, living my life and trying to keep warm. Oh, and GROWING A HUMAN, too,...

Here’s a blurry picture of the creature to be known henceforth as NB. Those are the initials of its in utero name, but could equally...

1. When she walks down steps, May Blossom has taken to sometimes refusing the proffered hand of her father or me and instead holds her...

Swimming in an ocean rock pool. I am a bit slow, clearly, but I have finally discovered a place that has all the nice seawater of the...

Silver. Silver. Silver. White. Black. Silver. Black. Black. Silver. RED! Dark Blue. Silver. Silver. The cars are so montone these days...

In the down column: 1. My 102-year-old grandmother suffered a small stroke. 2. The fate of our missing family cat, Tigercat, was...