And so we reach the fourth full moon of the year. This one seems to have come round so fast I can't even fathom that it's been four weeks. I've seen it getting... Read More...
Another lovely cycle to the Olympic Park today, to actually sit outside at a restaurant and eat some food outside with friends. The cycle is so easy these days... Read More...
Up at dawn again. Happy to report that this is now a thing. For those who are still trying to get into the habit of working from home, I can highly recommend g... Read More...
Another early start, getting those words on the page. Love watching the nature from my garden studio and the way that the sun moves round the space as it rises... Read More...
Been so long since I got up early and did a morning run. Not exactly feeling unmotivated, just somehow haven't been. Perhaps I needed a rest. This morning I ma... Read More...
First back back at school for the kids and so far so good. They came back in relatively good spirits enthusing about Anglo Saxons and Greek myths. I had a bit ... Read More...
And so to big gardening day three of 2021. The one where it's not just a freak warm day flash in the pan but the beginning of gardening season for real. There ... Read More...
The kitchen cupboards are finally ready for action and so after cycling the boys to parkour at the Olympic Park and back it was finally time to start unpacking... Read More...
So it turns out that in my case the vaccine (AstraZeneca) made me feel a bit high/stoned, then about twelve hours later I felt a bit low/irritated – although t... Read More...
Yesterday I got on a train for the first time since November. Forest Gate to Liverpool Street, 12 minutes of pretty empty, masked up carriage riding followed b... Read More...
A day of two birthdays of two of my favourite people so looking forward to celebrating with one later in a park and the other at the weekend. I have my Covid v... Read More...
Somehow managed to fit an eight hour day into half a day with the kids.
Feeling satisfied that I've reset my internal clock to get up at 5am when I'm
awake any... Read More...
Another annual gardening first – the cutting of the lawn.
Managed to get up at 5.30am to try and do some work and got a couple of hours in before Tom began ... Read More...
Finally planted the dahlias, which have unadvisedly been sitting in the box they arrived in for a few weeks now as they got stored under a pile of chaos in the... Read More...
A day out of Forest Gate! First to the wilds of Richmond to meet my lovely friend Lucy, where the boys could run free in a different space with their friend Se... Read More...
Lunch in a garden is a always a treat. But lunch in a garden at a friend's house that you haven't seen for months is even more so, especially when you're still... Read More...
Grey days go away. I guess they're good for getting lots of work done but as I'm still feeling run down and we have next to no heating I'm feeling increasingly... Read More...
Cycling the boys to tennis and back with a trip to the bank in Leytonstone took me across both West Ham Park and Wanstead Flats. Another cold, mainly grey day ... Read More...
Feeling happy after a couple of lovely evenings with family and friends but also run down. As work also mounts up I think I might have to take it easy for the ... Read More...
The second big freeze of 2021 is here, although more of a frost at dawn and sprinkle of snow in spring affair than a complete white out. Still, it's not exactl... Read More...
Slept so soundly after yesterday's shenanigans that I clean forgot to aid the Easter Bunny with the Easter Sunday egg trail. As soon as I realised this huge er... Read More...
We're going on an egg hunt! Just packing the basket full of Easter treats – well those that I can muster without a kitchen - to share at a little garden gather... Read More...
An unplanned day of occurred as Tom finished a job and took the boys off to the park. And thus I sat in my garden studio for a blissful six hours and flat-plan... Read More...
And so from Easter bonnets to Easter eggs. The lack thereof so far and the need to dye some and make an Easter tree.
I did a whole feature on dyeing eggs a... Read More...
Writing this in retrospect as time seems to be slipping away like quicksand as it always does at the end of term. The usual school stuff to attend to but with ... Read More...
There's nothing like a gathering to make you clear up your plot. Not only is it lovely to share your space with friends it also means that the space is a lovel... Read More...
Such a wonderful sunshine day of clearing and arranging the garden and welcoming friends into the space again for the first time since October.
Having worke... Read More...
And so we come to the third full moon of the year – the Worm Moon. Named by Native Americans for the worm casts that began to appear after the ground had first... Read More...
Thinking about sowing the next lot of seeds but it's just a bit cold and windy again. The sun is out though... well intermittently.
I'm now looking at the ... Read More...
A lovely, Universe-aligning sort of day where I got loads of work done on my book – finally getting my teeth into something – and had a great chat with a fello... Read More...
Following on from yesterday's journeys, today has been all about making progress. Having written the presentation for the book I'm now working on, near three y... Read More...
Today has been a day of positive journeys. A long early morning run, unplanned but rewarded with the most delicate shimmering sunrise of pale gold. The start o... Read More...
Today marks a year since the pandemic became a very real factor in all our lives. The day that we were first locked down – an unprecedented happening that no o... Read More...
Lovely walk this morning with a friend who I haven't managed to catch up with for a while. On our turn around the flats (makes us sound like a pair of grannies... Read More...
Tom is still building our kitchen and we're all feeling the strain. He under the weight of the work. Me being with the kids all the time. Even when they're at ... Read More...
And so the date we've all been waiting for has arrived. The Spring Equinox.
For those of us who hanker after such symbolisms, the spring or vernal equinox –... Read More...
About six years ago – in 2015 I think – we gave our garden chairs away to the fledgling Forest Gate Community Garden. The purpose of this donation was two-fold... Read More...
Garden inspiration comes in many guises. Much of mine comes from neighbouring gardens and green spaces, which comes with a range of added benefits. It doesn't ... Read More...
I haven't mentioned this on my journal before due to its sensitive nature but something, or rather someone who has been constantly on my mind over the past few... Read More...
This is one of those note to self posts where I talk aloud about the plants I want to incorporate in the front garden. Today, I've got euphorbias on my mind.
... Read More...
I love Monday mornings. The start of a new week. A time for getting back to work. A time for new ideas and resetting habits. For the first time in months, this... Read More...
Today is Mother's Day in the UK, almost a year since we were first locked down due to the pandemic. A lot has happened. A lot has changed. But mothering goes ... Read More...
At the beginning of this journal I spoke of feeling more overwhelmed at the weekend than in the week. On reflection, the weeks are when you hold it together an... Read More...
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the first 'Gardening Day' of the year, where the weather is unseasonably warm and you find yourself pottering around in the bord... Read More...
As predicted, the early hours blew a gale, so much so that I only got about 3 hours sleep. First it was up to the boys who were woken up by the wind in the tre... Read More...
Day three of the week that they went back to school again has been the day I've been craving for so long. The day I got things done without interruption. The d... Read More...
Ah what a beautiful day! So sunny again and some much needed relative warmth after the ongoing freeze of the past week. I definitely took too much on yesterday... Read More...
And so the day has come, the kids finally go back to school! We have all been a bit anxious about it but now the day has finally come I just really can't wait ... Read More...
Sometime last week – possibly 9 days ago if you want to find it – I wrote about why I'm writing this journal (Journalling, 25 Feb 2021). Today, I woke up think... Read More...
When your husband tells you that the electricians are coming at 9am but doesn't tell you that they will probably be here for about eight hours and that we won'... Read More...
School are having an inset day to prepare for next week so we officially have the day off, which means homeschooling is over – for now (I'm not counting my chi... Read More...
Today is my husband's birthday and as lockdown birthdays go so far, we've managed to pull it out of the bag so I hoped that we could do the same for him.
H... Read More...
This morning we skived homeschool for a couple of hours, which is actually a rarity. Somehow we've managed to tow the line pretty much every day, either becaus... Read More...
Sometimes words stay with you. Anticyclone is one of those words, a phenomenon that must have been explained to me on a bright blue sky kind of day, but one th... Read More...
When you open your bedroom curtains and there's a sparrowhawk in the garden it feels like it's going to be a pretty special day. Seeing such a bird of prey in ... Read More...
Pushed for time today as there's lots going on so it's a quick mental note of the seeds that I need to sow indoors now. Yes, I said they were mostly going to b... Read More...
We are lucky to have a few blossom trees in our garden and the vicinity and today the moment I've been waiting for began. The beginning of the annual bloom, wh... Read More...
Tonight, February's full moon – the Snow Moon – will begin the last 12 hours of its 27.322 day orbit around the Earth to reach peak illumination at 8.17am tomo... Read More...
As we approach the end of the eighth week since lockdown three, a week in which we learned what the next phase of our national Covid coping strategy might be, ... Read More...
Oh to lie on grass again. I didn't know how much I have missed laying down or even just sitting on a good piece of turf and feeling the ground underneath the ... Read More...
It's absolute chaos in our house right now. Most of it self-made through house renovations so no room for complaint as 'all good things' as it were. Still, cha... Read More...
Today the government announce a way out of lockdown with announcement about schools and more social interaction said to be top priorities. I've managed to main... Read More...
Every year there's a day when you get out in the garden for the first time with secateurs, a rake and a trowel in hand and have an early clear. The sun shines ... Read More...
Getting out of the house has been imperative this half term week, with and without the children. The sky is brightening, the birds are singing, I'm with the ki... Read More...
The house renovation continues in the sense that anything that can get done while we're locked down is one less thing to do when we're not – sort of the opposi... Read More...
Reflecting on the past seven weeks, I've managed to stay relatively calm this lockdown. On Monday I did a wake up yoga session at which I set out an intention ... Read More...
I was going to write about my nature collecting article today as I just posted about it on Instagram and loved writing it and seeing it being published so much... Read More...
Crocuses... croci? Whatever the plural of these lovely early spring beauties, ours have suddenly started to spring up in places I can't remember putting them: ... Read More...
Ways to keep your children occupied and get them outside during lockdown half term... I know, boys, let's all clean the plant pots ready for sowing the seeds. ... Read More...
Last year I developed a new obsession: soil. Possibly something to do with being covered in it for most of the year either through redoing our garden or taking... Read More...
The last day of the big freeze with temperatures staying below º0C but sunny at least. Apparently part of the River Thames froze over somewhere around Teddingt... Read More...
Too cold and tired to go out today, half term was officially declared early and the boys went to decompress for a few hours. They look so exhausted, I wish I c... Read More...
It snowed again but melted fast on the sunny side. No energy to hit The Flats agains so we broke the school day with a stroll to the sweet shop sans walking bo... Read More...
Yesterday's snow melt continued today, revealing pebbled paths, borders and even a few new flowers as clumps of frosted flakes receded into icy damp. It was be... Read More...
As the snow began to melt so work began to firm up, until by the end of the day I had a potential book to write, a couple more book reviews on the offing and s... Read More...
I didn't dream of higher ground as per my last post but I did weirdly and randomly dream of sea buckthorn, a hardy shrub one species of which is also known as ... Read More...
Started the day getting my power yoga back on with my fabulous teacher Anna who I realised I have now been practising with, on and off, for about 6 or 7 years.... Read More...
A third day of sunshine brightened the beginning of the weekend, drenching the puddling lakes of Wanstead Flats and everyone in their midst in rejuvenating lig... Read More...
Last night it rained like it was going out of fashion, which it most certainly is not. In terms of repetitive ubiquity, the daily neutral, rain right now is mo... Read More...
It's 3.30pm and drizzling, which is exactly where we were around this time yesterday. Had to get the boys out for a run around though so we took our binocs and... Read More...
A fox stole a bottle of milk from our doorstep this morning. Or at least a fox has taken credit for such cunning and blatant thievery; there are no peck marks ... Read More...
Both boys have wobbly teeth, bless them, and are acting like bears with thorns in their feet. I think the pain is amplified in the current climate as there's n... Read More...
Hello February and what better day for making a seed sowing plan than Imbolc – a Gaelic traditional festival marking the beginning of spring – that takes place... Read More...
It's dusk when I write this, my last words of January: sunset technically at 4.52pm, the end of civil twilight at 5.38pm. I can just about see the trees silhou... Read More...
Today was the day that it rained and rained and rained and didn't stop. A heavy, insistent deluge through the night followed by an unrelenting morning downpour... Read More...
Yesterday I happened upon a quote that said: Bad weather is always worse viewed through a window. I thought this a little absurd at first glance but then consi... Read More...
Today is the first Full Moon of the year, of January and indeed the decade (according to one school of thought anyway). It is also the Wolf Moon.
It was sti... Read More...
Today we learned that the Covid-19 death toll in the UK had risen above the 100,000 milestone.
Apparently "We truly did everything we could," said Boris Jo... Read More...
Last night I dreamt that I was shucking snails. Not a particularly pleasant experience but perhaps prompted by my youngest son learning about exoskeletons and ... Read More...
Apparently we're half-way through week four of lockdown three. I've kind of lost count in actual calendar terms as the schooling becomes second nature but some... Read More...
Today, the moment that our southerly weather forecast had been promising for weeks happened: it snowed. Sorting through mountains of old paperwork in the name ... Read More...
Lockdown Saturdays feel weirdly harder than schooldays. The pressure is off but there's nothing to fill the gap. This is when the boys miss their friends the m... Read More...
A dawn walk with my friend Jess brought a hoped for sherbet sky to punctuate days of steely grey: a striated wash of ultraviolet, lavender and lemon brightenin... Read More...
Walking at dusk on a grey, overcast or rainy winter day may not bring the reward of a technicolour sunset. But it can deliver in other equally magical ways. A ... Read More...
Looking up to take a picture of the sky with which to accompany today's post, my lens angled to capture an optimistic patch of blue, a few branches of our wond... Read More...
Beauty comes from within apparently. Today I'd say that my skin and hair whole-heartedly agree. The stress, the cold and a distinct lack of hydration have take... Read More...
It's nearly 5 o'clock again. How is it always 5 o'clock! I now seem to be homeschooling in the week and trying to catch up with work on the weekends while Tom ... Read More...
Today my misophonia is really playing up, which is not helpful when you're all trapped in the house together. For anyone who doesn't know what misophonia is, i... Read More...
Was greeted earlier this morning by a picture of a black swan, spotted by a nature-loving local up in Eagle Pond near Snaresbrook. I've never seen one before a... Read More...
Workout. Work. School. Work. Walk (if I manage to get out). Work. Sleep (if I'm lucky). Repeat.
Quite obviously, I'm in need of a much more inspiring list t... Read More...
Christmas, New Year and big important birthdays done, it's time to hunker down in the solace of the plant world again. The clutch of paperwhites in the kitchen... Read More...
Today my lovely eldest son Sylvester turned double figures. A moment to look back over the past 10 years (as opposed to Covid time) and take stock. A whole de... Read More...
Zero Sleep. School. Work. Kids saw their teachers on Zoom. Very touching somehow. They deserve a medal right now.
Cycled against the wind to the Olympic Par... Read More...
Sometimes a plant really resonates with me emotionally. Today, it was gorse.
Running along the side of what I call Lunar Lake (owing to it's crater-like per... Read More...
I'm so used to getting up at 6.30am with the boys, these lockdown induced sleep-ins (until 8am today) leave me feeling discombobulated, unmotivated and a bit f... Read More...
Apparently it's Friday. Totally knackered. Having speed-schooled, arranged three zoom calls for the kids with their teachers and friends and succumbed to the e... Read More...
It's nearly tea time. I did managed to get to the Post Office (optimistically/desperately renewing my passport with the maximum number of pages to stamp) and g... Read More...
Oranges, I find, have a surprising way of showing up just when you need them most. Weeks may go by and I haven't ventured near one and then, wham, the need for... Read More...
Lockdown three; day one. It's raining.
So far I have conducted 14 homeschooling lessons covering among other things, the rise of the Roman Empire, continen... Read More...
Thank you Hugo Rittson Thomas and your forthcoming visual feast of a book Wildflowers for the Queen (Wildflower Press, 2021), a captivating homage to Plantlife... Read More...
Chose to stay in bed with Carol Klein (reruns of Life in a Cottage Garden) and her dulcet northern tones (her Lancashire making me miss my Yorkshire) followed ... Read More...
It's all very well being your own boss but if you're also a parent and there's homeschooling on the agenda again it's also clear that there needs to be a publi... Read More...
New Year's Day has always appealed to me much more than it's resolution-ary, pseudo-prescient counterpart, the Eve (weirdly I feel exactly the opposite about C... Read More...
