There’s nothing I hate more than parenting vogues… Last year, the American news channel NBC ran a story on us under the headline ‘Minimalist Mom’. It was a lovely piece but I nearly died. I mean, honestly. Show me the parent who has the time to come up with a coherent, sterile ‘parenting philosophy’ rather than … Read more
(The bell tent we borrowed last summer. Which came with no poles. Which we realised after driving four hours to the camp site. Which forced Tom to forage in the forest like a fair-weather-Bear-Grylls for branches to prop the thing up…) So, I’ve been thinking about my last post (and thanks for being so kind … Read more
A happier day. A brilliant day. There was sunshine for almost two hours. And so Johnny and I harvested our first ever hoard from the vegetable patch we planted together three months ago. It wasn’t exactly huge (four radishes and an armful of kale) but whatever. We felt like Tarzan and Cheeta, pushing through the … Read more
It’s been a strange summer so far. For the past month or so I have mostly… been thinking that perhaps we should have given John a more radical name. It started at Latitude, where our mostly naked baby ran around in the dust between the trees alternately shouting: “Let’s see the whittling man!” and, slightly … Read more
What are you all doing about advent calendars? We’ve cheated, a little. When I was little (not as little as J, but still) someone bought me an amazing book: Jostein Gaarder’s The Christmas Mystery. Each chapter is a day of advent, so you get to read a chapter a day throughout December. It’s meant for older … Read more
It started with err… this. Yeah, I know. Not quite as romantic as ‘it started with a kiss’ but we work with what we’ve got. And for the moment, this is what we’ve got. I sometimes feel a bit guilty that we’re bringing J and F up here. We go out for walks and he … Read more
We had a brilliant Saturday. Johnny and I got up before Tom and walked down our local high street together in the weak sunshine – even Friday night’s discarded pizza boxes had a jaunty look in the early morning light – and I thought: this would make quite a sweet picture for the blog. We bought … Read more
So this is very exciting. A blog post I’ve been anticipating more eagerly than my daily ration of fizzy cola bottles (what? I’m pregnant you know…) In the first of a series, Clemmie Hoper – miracle midwife, mother and modern-day super woman – lays out what you really need to get you through pregnancy. In the coming weeks she’s also going to examine the … Read more
Sorry, couldn’t resist. But If Free our Kids did weddings, the one we went to last weekend would be the benchmark, the lodestar, the most FOKing wonderful wedding I can imagine (ours aside, of course). I have this new ‘vacuum theory’. The more I test it out, the more (touch wood) it proves true. It’s … Read more
(I used to live on a houseboat. It might sound idyllic but it was actually more than a little surreal. The boys from the estate opposite used to throw stones at the boat, so the man I lived with took to keeping slingshots by the windows.) ——– A few people have asked whether I’ll be … Read more