Apple for the teacher is a quaint old cliche, isn’t it? But what about Jo Malone candles, fancy bottles of fizz, electronic gadgets, jewellery and posh chocs?Our kids broke up from their Scottish schools some three weeks ago, but their compatriots in the rest of the UK are just finishing up now. And everywhere I […]
Not wordless Wednesday… but speechless
How a chocolate pudding changed my life…
Taking the train along the learning curve
Things I’ve learned from an adventure by rail.You will always hear things you didn’t expect to. “Shania, push Beyonce over here now. And you, Chardonnay, sit still.” Imagine my frustration that, as Boy Three was snoring gently on my chest, I couldn’t have a look at this splendidly named family further down the carriage.Bakugan will […]
Toast: a little shelter on a stormy day
Some births are blissful, some scary, some medical, some quick. Every woman has a tale to tell and she’ll probably want to tell you if you give her an excuse. There’s blood spattered agony, skin splitting screams and contractions that would empty a toothpaste tube in one go. So many different versions of the very […]
Yoga – bending over backwards to help my boy
So, yoga for kids.. a bit Birkenstock and Boden? Only for children who eat olives and read Swallows and Amazons – not really for nugget eating, DSi tapping, I’ll-wait-for-the-movie youngsters? Then there I am on a mat in a front room curled into a ball while my 10-year-old son drapes himself over my back. We […]
My name is mummy… please use it
Mum, love, mummy, guapa (though not recently), Nell, madam, honey, Mrs Panther, wife, lady, Ms Arnison, boss, Ellie, mama, Ellen Mary, hen, Auntie Ellen, babe and, sometimes, simply Ellen. These are just a few of the things I’ve answered to over the years. And having a name as apparently complicated as Ellen, I’ve also been […]
Sinister or sweet?
Nearly wordless Wednesday.I was going to ponder on at length about guns, violence and children, instead I decided just to show you these and ask what you think.Boy Three picked up one of the weapons from his brother’s extensive arsenal. He could just as easily picked up a bow and arrow set, a water pistol […]