Chez Spud

Oh me love this! I saw one of these on Emma Bradshaw’s blog and totally and immediately hearted it. A wee catalogue card with your own list of joy/evil complete with handwritten scribblings. It’s a thing of beauty, right up there with the Grudge Book. Make one for yourself here.
Also, announces by stealth, the Spuds [...]

BS…BS…BS…BS??? Blue Skies….Big Smiles….British Springtime…Balmy Suffolk (or should that be Barmy Suffolk?)…Beach Strolls…no Bull Shit…

Spring has sprung, it’s official. Brilliant blue skies, sunshine, warm breezes, hanging out on the beach without wanting to cry after 5 minutes = the first signs of Spring and I’m giddy with it. I don’t think I’m alone…

When I was a child my favoured gift would have been….toys
When I was a teenager my favoured gift would have been….clothes/shoes/make up etc
When I was in my 20s my favoured gift would have been…jewellry/perfume/handbags
When I was in my early 30s my favoured gift would have been…a boyfriend/husband/anyone to stop the voices in my head
Now I’m [...]

Thanks to The Domestic Sensualists via Julochka via Julochka’s grandmother for the gift of Banana Bread. And a special big thanks to Julochka’s daughter, Sabin, for her inspired addition of vast chunks of chocolate to the recipe. Such insight at the tender age of 9! Banana and chocolate go together like, er, banana and chocolate. [...]

I don’t remember Valentine’s Day playing any kind of role in my childhood, beyond a secret yearning for one of those vast and (I now realise) hideous padded cards, complete with saccharine verse inside. Valentine’s Day was for lovesick and sickening teenagers and dutiful married people.
I can remember the giddy expectant joy of it all [...]

…but hold your nose because my breath doesn’t smell too sweet….
This is Prudence, a Middle White pig. A rare and endangered species in the UK. Can’t think why…although, to be fair, both the Emperor of Japan and Anthony Worral Thompson keep herds of Middle Whites as they believe they produce the best tasting pork. An [...]

I almost called this post ‘On women’ but thought it would attract the wrong kind of attention. The kind that you get on Flickr if you post a photo of your feet, the uglier the better apparently.
I’ve been thinking about women a lot recently, but not in that way. About how delightful, empowering, reassuring, encouraging [...]

My latest crush, EU President Herman Van Rompuy, continues to dazzle me with his general wonderfulness. Already he’s on my ‘freebie’ list (laminated) due to his passion for blogging and haiku writing. He’s a man in touch with his sensitive side and, for this alone, we can overlook the fact that he looks a leeeetle [...]

Awww, look! There’s the wife looking super fine, super cool, superdooper on her birthday yesterday. She’s actually 105 now but, by the miracles of modern science and good skincare, she doesn’t look a day over 35 does she? There are vicious rumours of a little post processing ‘help’ but that’s between me, Lightroom and the [...]

I am really going off Parker. I’ve moaned before about his killing tendencies but he’s really stepped up his campaign of terror in recent days. We found a trail of bird feathers and poo (nice) around the house when we got back from our Christmas trip a few days ago. No amount of hunting revealed [...]