It’s actually often hard to recognise it when it’s right in front of you.  I have always thought of my dad when the word comes up, because he did so many things when I was growing up that were incredibly brave.  Then, at the start of this week I watched a Panorama progamme about a…

Yesterday the kids were singing that Sunday School song, and I remembered it as one of my favourites.  As I listened to the words – creatures thanking God for the thing that made them who they were I realised I had not done that in a long time. The start of the new year has…

All week I have been telling the family that I have a dream of seeing a robin in our new garden.  If I saw a robin, I said, it would make everything better.  Of course, an empty bird-feeder and two warring cats did not help.  I spent two days giving off about the cats, shooing…

There has never been a year I have looked forward to Christmas as much.  Warmth, light and cheer are all I want.  The past couple of months have brought a lot of stress and strain; the prevailing weather has been storms of pain and darkness.  Worst thing of all was that I lost a wonderful…

So, after much trial and tumult, we finally moved in.  That event was stressful enough, but it didn’t end there.  Last Friday three builders came, put up scaffolding and started on the roof in the lounge.  Wee girl and I arrived home to find the only room we could access was the kitchen, through the…

The vendors of our new house announced suddenly that they were taking the summer house with them.  Now, that lovely egg shell blue shed had been one of the first things that won my heart over to the house, and the kids were very excited about it too.  The photos on the schedule placed it…

is given by the King.’  These words have been going round my head for the past 12 hours and, once again, I feel thoroughly shamed.  I spend most of my weeks counting down the days to what turns out to be yet another unsatisfactory weekend, and then saying ‘I wish it was Friday’ for the…

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about a cup of tea, but it’s been long enough.  I’m reading The Ballroom Cafe at the minute, and there are so many delightful descriptions of buns, coffee and tea in it.  I love being taken into a world that makes you hungry, and longing for a hot…

Having pushed my book onto agent after agent all summer, I have relegated that work to the world of self-publishing, and have moved on.  Or back.  I’ve pulled out Glimpses of Sky, and am re-familiarising myself with the characters again. Funny, a year ago I would never have gone back – that story was done,…

Have you ever played that game where little wooden worms pop up, and you have to bash them back down with a hammer?  I was just remembering it as I mentally swatted away hordes of worries that flew in as soon as I stopped rushing around and sat down.  They appear uninvited, and often unexpectedly,…