It was so hard, but we had to say goodbye to my grandmother last week.  She was quite unwell in the second half of her life but she faced it directly with humour and courage and never complained. She had a special talent for finding something worthwhile and fun in every situation, even when she…

Happy Matariki - Māori New Year to you! It's the shortest day here today, and the sun has been shining on regardless. We celebrated our winter solstice baby's birthday – Arlo turned 14 the other day (not such a baby anymore), and apart from that, I don't have much to report from these parts. I made…

Hello and Happy Wednesday to you. Thank you for entering the book giveaway from my last post, for a copy of Helen Lehndorf's new book Write to the Centre. I drew a winner randomly and that was number 10… Sally! Congratulations Sally, I will email you shortly. I found it really interesting to read the…

Hello! I hope you're having a nice weekend. Mine has been filled with cosy activities so far – a family movie night, coffee with friends, Fabricabrac and a day spent drinking tea and chatting by the fire with Constança. Couldn't ask for a nicer weekend, really! I also have a giveaway, thanks to Helen Lehndorf,…

The title of this post pretty much sums it up. I was feeling a bit glum about our windswept winter garden, but there are actually things growing in there – mostly native plants like hebes that self-seed through cracks in the concrete steps and don't seem to mind the stormy weather a bit. In the…

Hello and happy long weekend, if you're reading from NZ. Hope this finds you well and keeping warm in early winter (or summer…) The last few days have been fairly quiet ones here, and the sky has been grey as grey. I've finished a bit of embroidery – a garden-inspired project bag for a customer…

Write to the Centre is a 'low-fi guide to journaling in a high-tech world,' written by my friend Helen Lehndorf and published by HauNui Press late last year. Its pages are filled with colourful images from Helen's own journals, hand-written poetry and lists, drawings, and collage pieces, as well as thoughtful prose about the role that journals can…