Having children is a good way of expanding your knowledge – sometimes into areas you never thought you were interested in. I guess most parents have suffered Dinosauritis in one degree or other, and even if giant reptiles are not my cup of tea, it is difficult not to be swept along when an enthusiastic […]
Welcome to Sweden, staunch home of the Lutheran church as is displayed by the relatively large number of religious red letter days in our calendar. Not that Swedes are particularly religious – not these days. Neither are we pagan, but some rituals are hard to kill, and no matter Anselm (our apostle) no matter the
In a little town in southern Sweden stands a magnificent baroque church, the Church of Holy Trinity, inaugurated in the early seventeenth century. At the time, the present somnolent town of Kristianstad was a bustling metropolis (in relative terms) a centre of administration in the Danish kingdom. Yup; Danish. When the church was built, most
“When I was just a little girl…” I desperately wanted to be a boy. Most of my friends were boys, my favourite pursuits were football and rugnby, and I just hated it when I had to do needlework at school. Or deportment classes. I don’t know if any of you, dear readers, have been subjected
I find it somewhat amusing to see just how many authors of historical fiction are quite the savvy movers and shakers in the techie world of today. Take dear Francine Howarth, who on her rather fabulous blog Romancing the Blog (and boy am I jealous of that snappy title) has taken the initiative to set
Come see, come see, a virtual book fair for thee! Read More »
We have recently cleared a plot of land of trees. The plot is about 1500 square metres, of a size with a potato patch large enough to feed a family of six over the winter – just. In total, we have taken down 150 odd trees. Okay, we haven’t taken them down. A man with
Given the title, this post is mainly going to be about food. (I think. My posts tend to live a life of their own at times… ) I am a food person. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a whole lot of other things person as well (mainly books & tea ) but food is definitely
To paraphrase Descartes: “I eat, therefore I am” Read More »
There is a contradiction in the title of this post – well, it was there already back when Simon and Garfunkel wrote the original song. After all, silence assumes that there are no sounds – it sort of goes with the concept. Silence may be mute but it can be tangible, like “a heavy silence
There are words that lie like melting toffee in my mouth – words like twilight, ubiquitous and cornucopia (I’d like one of those, but unfortunately they seem to be very rare) (Abundantia and her magic horn – by Rubens) There are words that empower me, words like knowledge, leadership and ambition. (Or maybe all this
A woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do – a reflection on the word “MUST” Read More »
These last few hours have been defined by p-a-i-n. If I bend over to zip up my boots, my thighs and bum screech in protest. When I slide my arms into the sleeves of my winter jacket, my shoulder blades groan. If I stretch my arms over my head to lift down clean towels, my