In this life

Because of the kind anxiety displayed by various warm-climate commenters about my soapy green mangoes (which our son ate) I bought a pinker ...

I hope everyone in the bloggy world is having a wonderful festive season. Ours is going well. Look what I got for Christmas: a little 19th c...

Our boy has arrived safely back from his distant town; my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece get here tomorrow; and I have done much o...

Well, here’s the Life Christmas tree. Mr Life nobly did his stuff (aided by Daughter 2) with a saw and electricity and water – not the best ...

Mr Life bought new lights for the outdoor little tree. They're a bit small, but we like to think of the effect as subtle. They could fl...

Overheard while shopping this morning: 1. Mother and small boy in bookshop Mother: Would you like to ask Santa to get you some of these nice...

One of our college janitors always appears to me to be what we Scots would call “dour”. This is pronounced to rhyme with “poor” - unless you...

This is a cushion cover that I bought… no, alas, I didn’t make it… at a Christmas fair last weekend. Pretty, isn’t it? The chair belonged to...

I’ve just come back from choir, where we’re singing Vivaldi’s “Gloria” – beautiful! – and Lauridson’s “Lux Aeterna” – ho, hum, lots of disso...

This is a picture from last year but I thought it deserved a second airing. Sirius is such a goodnatured and tolerant cat. You can see the ...

... I just took a teeny peek, or as we'd say in Scotland a wee keek, at Tanya's blog ( http://tanyatheartbutcher.blogspot.com/ ) an...

I don't have time to blog. But here are some pictures of the Botanic Gardens, one of our favourite places, where Daughter 2, Mr Life an...

As well as teaching English language and literature as part of a general programme, we have to teach what’s known as Communication – practic...

This is my pale pink Christmas cactus. This, on the other hand, is millionaire's shortbread. I don't know how to count in cups or g...

This morning There’s been a funny flashing light in the car for a few weeks. I couldn’t quite make out what it was: it looked like a man hol...

I read today that the writer Fay Weldon was asked what brought happiness and she said, “Someone to love, something to do.” I thought that t...

On Saturday it was my turn to host the book group. (Patrick Gale’s “Notes for an Exhibition” – I really liked it, though not everyone did.) ...

Tennyson put it all rather better in In Memoriam A.H.H. - I sometimes think it half a sin To put in words the grief I feel: For words, like ...