Hello? Is this thing on?

Blimey, that was a bit of a long hiatus, wasn’t it? I know it’s not really good practice to start a blog post by pointing out that it is a long time since you last wrote, but in this case, I feel I need to. It has, after all, been months. In the spirit of trying to be a better blogger, though, this post is just going to be a short note announcing my reappearance. I have some plans for upcoming posts, but, in the meantime, I should give some brief explanation of what I’ve been doing while I’ve been away from the keyboard. 

Over the last few months, I have mostly been…

• Chasing an increasingly mobile Ronan around the house, stopping him from climbing the stairs, hiding inside the dishwasher, and attempting to eat the contents of the flowerbeds. 
• Being taught basic Welsh by Eoin: apparently the approved way of saying that the weather is good is “Dim bwrw glaw”, though I remain unconvinced of this.
• Going back to work after a fairly lengthy period of maternity leave. Thankfully, I work with a very lovely group of people who don’t seem to mind I tend to turn up in scruffy mum-clothes, because scruffy mum is really about the only look I can pull off at the moment. 
• Learning all sorts of interesting things to do with GitHub, InDesign, Markdown, and Python, and generally attempting to become more technologically-minded. I’ve even been doing some soldering: if you now have a mental picture of a technologically-challenged ex-librarian armed with a dangerously hot piece of metal, you are probably very afraid. Don’t be: I haven’t destroyed anything, yet. 
• Spending far too much time messing around on Instagram and Pinterest. It is for work, I promise. 
• At long last, putting all my books on bookshelves. This may sound like a small achievement. For me, it’s quite substantial!

I have a few posts on different topics in mind, some of which are likely to be easier to write than others. Hopefully, though, I will manage a shorter gap between posts this time.

In the meantime, and in the spirit of my new-found Instagram addiction, I would like to leave you with a picture, though I have resisted the urge to go crazy with the filters. This is one of my favourite things in one of my favourite places in Cambridge: the table in Jim Ede’s bedroom in Kettle’s Yard. It is one of the most beautiful, serene spaces I have ever seen, and I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. 

  

Gardens and printing and spiders: oh, my!

My lovely friend Eileen has just set up a new blog, in which she’s writing about gardening and printmaking, with a healthy dose of family life thrown in. There may also be the odd arachnophobia-based story, too, marauding spiders being an occupational hazard to the keen gardener.

Eileen made the fantastic yarn print, above, for me, and the Doctor Who-inspired one below for Eoin, the house’s resident Dalek fan: as you can see, she’s much more artistic than I am! If you like growing things, making things, and reading posts written by a generally top-notch lady, do head over to her blog and check out what she’s up to. Just don’t forget to mind the spiders!

Guilt

I failed yesterday. I don’t have anything to blame apart from myself (and possibly the industrial quantities of cheese I ate while we had friends visiting, and which did not sit well in a pregnant stomach).

Can we maybe just pretend I wrote this on Sunday?

I won’t tell if you won’t.

 

I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

To the person who found my blog by googling “full-size Dalek plans”: I can only apologise for the welter of biscuits, quilts and toddlers which you found instead. You must have been terribly disappointed.

I, on the other hand, am slightly in awe of you. Here, just for you, is a celebratory Dalek wearing some tinsel. Enjoy!

Hiatus

Apologies for the recent radio silence: Eoin and I are dealing with a veritable Hydra of illness at the moment. As soon as we chop the metaphorical head off one bug, another springs up to take its place. I hesitate to describe a cold as flu, as I know this is a pretty heinous exaggeration, but whatever leapt up and bit me this evening feels like it’s flu’s close personal friend. It even has the fun aches and chills: thanks for that, bug! You’re a pal. Eoin isn’t saying too much about it all, but he’s snuffling and sniffing ominously.

I’m sure this will all calm down soon, but for the moment, all I can do is apologise, and promise that we shall be returning you to your regularly-scheduled ramblings as soon as possible.

Didactic? Not really.

I have realised that most of my recipes revolve around the concept that “it’s all up to you, really: do what you want”. I have a feeling I’d be a terrible chef.