Earlier this summer, my husband and I made an evening visit to the harbour at Dunbeath on our way back to Caithness after a day of appointments. In the preceding days, I had been reading Neil M. Gunn’s Highland River and wanted to reacquaint myself with the information boards on Gunn – who was born…
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When I look back on my memories of Christmas as a child, they are vague and happy. The opening of the living room door in the half-light and small cries of ‘Santa’s been!’ Trying to stay awake in the hopes of glimpsing red fabric or a boot topped with snowy white dusting. Paper party hats,…
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I’ve really missed writing on my blog over the summer holidays, and it seems like forever since I’ve posted here. These precious few weeks without the routines of school (and after school clubs) always go in so quickly, and unless I either get up very early – or go to bed very late – my…
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Over the last few days, I’ve found myself returning time and again to the same question: how on earth did we get to the point where our eldest son is just about to leave primary school? The second half of the academic year has literally flown by, and it seems only a blink since I wrote about our year of small goodbyes as…
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Recently, I decided to take a month-long break from social media. This was partly prompted by books and articles exploring the benefits of ‘digital detoxing’ (like Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism) and partly due to reservations that had been rumbling around inside me about my use of social media platforms for a while. Although I wouldn’t call myself an…
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Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity, being task-focused, and how much information I’m consuming. News reports, social media, podcasts and even my beloved books (if I’m trying to read too many), can all contribute to a sense of mental overload, I think. Where there’s mental overload, one consequence for me is a sharp downturn in…
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I can’t believe we’re already half way through the month of February. Once January bites the bullet, the weeks always seem to quickly disappear. I’m not sure if it’s a sign of getting older, but these days I find weeks and months slipping by me like a river. One of the ways I try to keep focus…
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A few years ago, I did absolutely nothing for myself. Nada. In scenes that will be familiar to parents of young children everywhere, I felt I just didn’t have the time. Socialising was an add-on to a list that was already fit to bursting and reading more than a few pages of a book that wasn’t The Gruffalo…
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Last week, I happened to read something online about the death of broadcaster Rachael Bland, who died at the age of 40 after a two-year battle with breast cancer. But I’ll be truthful – I hadn’t actually heard of the Radio Five Live presenter until I read about her death. Why her particular story stuck out to me…
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All good things must come to an end as the saying goes… And so it is that our seven weeks of school holidays have finally disappeared. Who knew that fifty days could pass so quickly? (I can multiply, by the way – we just got a cheeky extra day 😉 ). 2018 has definitely been…
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