Growing up, two places dominated my experience of childhood. Caithness, because it was where we lived, and Mallaig, because it was where we took all our holidays. The latter also had a special attraction: it was where Nana and Iain lived (Nana being my paternal Grandmother and Iain my uncle, who lived with Nana due…
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The last week has brought a myriad of feelings – anxiety, contentment, fear, comfort, positivity, helplessness, happiness. Stories that are not mine to tell mean that there has also been shock – and sadness – too. The devastation wreaked by Covid-19 seems to creep a little closer, reminding us that statistics are not statistics –…
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Lately I seem to have so much to say that I don’t even know where to start writing it. Over the last year I have absorbed such a lot of information from reading, podcasts and just living that I really want to share. Some of this is on health, some on happiness, some on self-improvement…
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Last Sunday we took a trip ‘up west’ to enjoy some unseasonably sunny February weather and sample some of the best beaches the North of Scotland has to offer. We are fortunate where we live to be able to reach something akin to a wilderness within a half hour or so of our front door. The…
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Three of my favourite things in life are books, films and love, and Valentine’s Day is a perfect excuse to curl up with a romantic book, or persuade/force/cajole my husband into watching one of my favourite soppy movies. Better still, both – with books about love that have also been turned into films just perfect…
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The end of another year is always a time for reflection isn’t it? As we prepare to say goodbye to 2017 I can’t help but look back on the highs and lows my 41st (gulp!) year on the planet has brought. I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions and their sneaky ability to…
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My son woke up recently and exclaimed ‘So much to look forward to!’ From the outside at least, there was nothing special about this particular day. He had to go to school and the weather outside was miserable. But in his mind, the promise of a new day was imbued with wonder. It held that…
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This week marked the end of the long summer holidays here in the North of Scotland, and called a halt to lazy weekday mornings, clock-watch free afternoons, and kids playing out late on balmy summer evenings (ok, the balmy bit might be pushing it – we do live in Caithness after all). Before we knew it the start of the new school…
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Last week I picked up a book called ‘Present Over Perfect’ from my local library and read it in the space of one weekend. I can’t remember the last time I did this – but something about this particular book resonated with me deeply, and brought to the surface a lot of things I have…
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A few weeks ago, while chatting about his day at school, my eight year old told me he was feeling happy because he had spent his day ‘spreading joy’. When I asked him what he meant by that, he told me he had said something nice to a Dad at the school gate, and written…
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