Happy New Year

and Happy New Decade!
It’s only just recently occurred to me that we are entering a new decade. I can hardly believe that it is 10 years since I stood on London Bridge on Millennium Eve watching fireworks with several million other people and tramping home with a few hundred thousand.
Time is a funny concept – [...]

Glædelig Jul

to all my readers!
The title should give you a clue as to where I am this festive season*.
Wishing you peace and joy, now and for the New Year.
*At least, where I hope to be! At the time of writing, I am still in the ARC which has caught up with the rest of the country. [...]

Echoes and reflections

Today I received an email from someone I have never met. But it made me ponder.
It was quite short and ran along the lines of “I’m writing to you because you have been in contact with my sister, M, in the past. I have the sad duty to inform you that M lost her battle [...]

Der Rumtopf ist alle

On Friday evening, I finished the last of the  Rumtopf (which is not strictly speaking a Rumtopf because I make it with brandy). I made a mental note to look out for cherries on my next trip to the greengrocers to start the next one off.
In a case of perfect timing, I found cherries for [...]

The AGM season

It’s never really struck me before but it seems that late April is the season for AGMs.
I attended the church AGM and as in past years was reminded of just how much work goes into running a church of the size of ours. There are people involved in every aspect from dusting the pews to [...]

Spring

The weather has been delightfully glorious of late here in my corner of the world.
The cherry blossom is absolutely delightful – and put me in mind of this poem.  I always associate Autumn with a certain amount of melancholy but this poem also evokes it for me – particularly as I first read it when [...]

Reflections on Mothering Sunday

Just a few random thoughts on Mothering Sunday – which this year is bathed in glorious sunshine. I have been in my little back courtyard marvelling at the signs of new life springing up.  Some plants have indeed succumbed to the frost and are unlikely to recover but others have managed to hide far enough [...]

On the seventh day of Christmas…

…my true love sent to me….a tax return reminder to file by 31 Januar-eeeee (I know, I know, it doesn’t scan…)
I am now like all seven swans a-swimming – in a sea of paperwork.
Happy New Year to all my gentle readers!

Alle Jahre wieder

kommt das Christuskind…
The presents are wrapped, the cards written, the round robin letter sent, the carols have been sung (only had to wing it in “We three Kings” for which we hadn’t been supplied with the words – so sang it more or less correctly from memory…), soirée has been hosted, advertising document - about…. hair loss(!) – has [...]

Things I love about Advent

This post has a twin. They should be read as a pair. (Not together, obviously….unless you are possessed of a pair of eyes that can see in two separate places and a brain that can take in two separate sets of information).
Things I love about Advent:
1. The star on the church tower
2. Mulled wine/Glühwein
3. Receiving [...]