My first portrait
I've never had a portrait done before but last night I visited a friend to do some sewing and while we sewed, her utter gem of a son S (who I've mentioned before) drew me: Keep reading →
Editing
This whole editing lark is making me read so much more carefully. Who knew that sometimes four or five emails are exchanged between editor, author and designer over one word? (That said, it's generally me being finicky, not any one else.) Keep reading →
Positive and negative thinking
I've been reading a couple of books lately which reflect critically on the problems associated with what Barbara Ehrenreich is calling 'the relentless promotion of positive thinking'. In her new book Smile or Die, she reflects poignantly on the dark side of this approach for individuals dealing with issues like Keep reading →
Judas
This morning at Sunday school I did my best to respond to the children's recent request for a session on the disciples. So I read up on them a bit, put a list of the names up and invited the group to ask about them. After the predictable sorts of discussions (why fishermen? why a tax collector? why name a man after a rock? why 'Sons of Thunder'? etc etc) we eventually got to Judas Iscariot. Keep reading →
Paddy Pallins
I come from a long line of fairly intrepid people. My family includes explorers, mountaineers, pioneering missionaries, winter olympics competitors, high achievers in the military, hunters, fisherfolk, kayakers and sailors. And yet somehow I've ended up being about the least intrepid person I know. Keep reading →
Cheerful Thursday
I know that the convention in the blogging world, if you're going to have a regular feature on your blog, is to make the theme begin with the same letter as the day, e.g. Trippy Tuesdays, Thankful Thursdays, Freebie Fridays. But since a) I do not plan on any regular features for my blog and b) I can't think of a synonym for cheerful that begins with 'Th' ... Cheerful Thursday it is. Keep reading →
Radical thanksgiving
Probably everyone but me has read this before, but an English Minister, Matthew Henry (1662-1714), is said to have offered this prayer after having his wallet stolen: Keep reading →
Book covers and waiting
You could reasonably assume, looking at my homepage content and the tags for this site, that I would blog mainly about what it's like to write for children. There are a couple of reasons I've hardly mentioned it so far. Keep reading →
Candles and flat packs
Since the weekend, two contrasting scenarios have been dancing around in my head. Scenario one: A few months ago I bought a candle, one of those nice French ones in a jar that looks like a big glass of milk. Keep reading →
