Another very tough week has come my way – the part when I couldn’t finish the nursery’s 4 year old-friendly sponsor walk wins the prize for one of the worst, most humiliating moments of my life so far.  So, you can understand how the words ‘His eyes are always upon us’ were not particularly helpful. …

A poor life this is if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. W. H. Davies A few weeks ago, I was hunting for stones and shells on the beach with my wee girl.  Knowing these would have to be brought home, and probably displayed, I was encouraging her to really…

When we went to see the first field Ryan wanted to buy, I hated it.  It was at the edge of a housing estate, there was a scattering of plastic bottles at the gate, and most of it was just lumpy, reedy bogland.  There was a stretch of the river Lagan at the bottom, and…

So I was in the queue waiting to pay for my petrol, when the lady behind (well, kind of in my space beside) changed from talking to herself to talking to me.  Sadly, she was clearly under the influence of something, and although it took me back to my Govan days working with recovering addicts,…

It’s definitely in the blood – my grandfather grew up beside it, my mum wouldn’t go away anywhere without it, and my siblings are the same.  When I’m at my lowest or grumpiest point, my husband often takes us all to the coast.  There, I let the view wash over me, smashing down my anger,…

He was always in stitches at something, you know the face creased up, tears coming, body bent, hands gripping stomach, no noise coming out kind of laughter.  I’d only joked that I was thinking of sending the kids up the chimney to clean it, not exactly side-splittingly funny, but there he was, laughing his leg…

I’ve hummed and hawed over writing this down for a few days now, until something I read set me free. What led up to this was a weekend of walking the streets of London.  My legs have been weak and unsteady for four years now, but I was convinced that I could soldier on.  It…

Maybe it’s because it’s January.  You’ve got all the hype and brightness of Christmas, and then, you’re dragged mercilessly into the gloomy drudge of getting up in the dark, being busy with whatever duties you have day in, day out, and then coming home in the dark, passing an evening feeling wrecked and talking about…

I’ve been thinking about the word ‘twee’ today, and how frequently it is associated with all things Christian.  It started when I was looking over my longer story (I won’t give it the grand name of novel yet), checking for anything too frothy or florally, wanting to make sure it was real enough.  It’s a…

I listened to two songs today, one after the other, both about heaven.  In the first, heaven was a thunderous place, full of exultantly singing angels.  In the second, it was the face of a little girl, the singer’s daughter who was killed when she was very small, and an expressed anticipation of seeing her…