Category: Kids

  • A nice rainy day and a visit to Violet Cakes

    Outtake – final Violet Cakes photos at Lovely Food Ah, I love waking up at 6.30am on a Sunday and coming downstairs with Astrid. Even better this morning it was raining, which meant we didn’t have to go out walking – we could all stay inside and I could secretly get some work done editing photos. Lots…

  • A swell party

    The last time we had a birthday party for the girls was Edith’s first birthday and Astrid’s third. We skipped last year. I’m so tired. I’ve been working weekends and evenings for the last three weeks. Yesterday I baked tarts, cake and cupcakes and today we hosted the party and I’ve been creating an intricate…

  • The adventures of the boy cats

    Top: Rufus; Bottom: Oscar (and we need to clean the windows eek) Rufus and Oscar have settled into London life. Again. They’ve both carved out their neighbourhood territories and places they go to sleep in the sun. There’s a great big enormous cat that lives somewhere near. It’s the size of a very small cow.…

  • Happy fifth birthday, Astrid

    Astrid turned 5 this week. Five. Five years ago in New Zealand on a Summer’s evening and there she was. End of 2006. That was the time I began writing this blog. It was a time to begin documenting our lives with the children. We’ve made family albums. I’ve not done the last two. The…

  • First ballet recital

    The other Sunday we went to the girls’ first ballet recital. I can’t remember why there wasn’t one last year, although last year I went to see their final ballet performance and I went to end of year festival for Astrid. This year I did neither. I’ve taken so much time off lately while we…

  • The Dragon of Gordes

    Wow mummy look at the castle! Who lives in there? Well. Who do you think lives in the castle Astrid? A Queen? And a King. Anybody else? Well. Perhaps a Princess, and a Prince. Yes! A Prince and a Princess. Who else lives in the castle mummy? Do you think they have a doggie? Yes,…

  • The Luberon

    Here we are in the most beautiful part of the South of France, the Luberon. It’s Sunday and we went to Isle sur la Sorgue market, in search of antiques. This trip my sense of direction has entirely failed me. It took three hours to drive here from the airport – probably a one hour…

  • Little mookins pookins

    Ah little mimi. Mimi cried and cried and cried that mummy was away. So much so that the others called an ambulance. It was hard watching that on Skype from the Hamburg office. In the end she went in the car with Daddy and off to sleep she went. She was just missing mummy. Poor…

  • Christchurch

    My Dad comes from Christchurch. From Sumner. Redcliffs. Here’s a photo of us in Christchurch in 1980. I’m not sure which church it is. My brother’s wife was in Christchurch when the earthquake happened. She was at the airport with Chloe and Maddie – and, fortunately, her dad was there too. Megs has said she…

  • It was Christmas. And other stuff

    Rob Ryan bunting from Bodi and Fou First Christmas. Three days later Astrid turned four. Last week was Edith’s second birthday. It’s been a stark contrast to last year’s Christmas holiday when we were in New Zealand enjoying the bright blue Summer skies, a beach at our doorstep, days spent making sandcastles under a rosy…

  • I used to make things

    Recently I’ve looked back on my blog and seen that indeed, I did used to make things. Making things usually coincided with not working full time. I also used to write a few other blogs (which I’ve started doing again). And I still managed to buy loads of fabric and yarn even with no money.…

  • Little Mister Cat

    Little Mister Cat went out yesterday morning and didn’t come home all day long. I thought, oh well he always comes home so I’ll just wait and let him come home and he’ll be in sometime in the middle of the night. But then I looked online about what to do if your cat is…