I celebrated the anniversary of my third month in lockdown by buying myself a second-hand egg chair on Saturday. Well, I didn’t really buy it for myself. The youngest has been begging for a hammock chair for the back deck. I figured my old bones wouldn't cope with sitting in one of them, should I... Continue Reading →

The gods were smiling on me last night. They sent a car to light my way home. I love having a vehicle ahead of me on the Wakehurst Parkway for three reasons: Hopefully the ghosts who haunt it will visit the first car in the convoyThe car in front might know how to use their... Continue Reading →

It’s hard to believe it's been almost 12 years since the eldest started kindergarten. And now school is drawing to an end. We arrived late to kindy - we'd been living in New York while my ex attended Columbia University as a mature aged student. The eldest missed a few months of alphabet and numeral... Continue Reading →

There was a moment yesterday when I was juggling too much: slicing potatoes with a mandolin, creating a PDF of a job ad for a client, organising a job interview, shooting Nerf balls for the moodle and writing a story about modern slavery. I thought to myself Fark! I AM a modern slave! That's a... Continue Reading →

I filmed my second Tik Tok video yesterday. I was so nervous that I was slightly breathless. I need to calm down, which I hope comes with practice. DD commented that he'd never seen me breathless from talking before. He should see me when I walk up steep hills with my female friends. I am... Continue Reading →

Can you believe it was the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on Saturday? Even my local fire station - pictured above - paid tribute. Reading all the recollections swept me back in time. I was living in Singapore 20 years ago, editing CLEO magazine. On the morning of September 11, I was blithely... Continue Reading →

OK, I did it. I didn't do it very well and I couldn't do it again, because I only had one canned cocktail to open with a flourish. DD and I guzzled the other three - they come in 4-packs - on Sunday. We couldn’t help ourselves, they were so delicious. Rookie error. I also... Continue Reading →

I have two ancient books that I’ve been sticky taping recipes into over the decades. I started the first one when I was a teenager. They’re so old that the sticky tape has stopped being sticky in most cases - the books are falling apart and filled with little loose clippings. Those recipes - plus... Continue Reading →

I bought myself a "live beauty light" when I was at Woolies yesterday. Well, Woolies doesn't sell them, but they were in the window of the shop next door and I went “oooooooooh!” Live beauty lights are ring lights with a holder for your mobile phone in the middle of them. I got one to... Continue Reading →