I have always been “into gardening”. When I was fourteen I was employed to tend a neighbour’s beds, after I put a hand-written sign on our gate post touting my (very cheap) services. The neighbour seemed surprised that me – a lanky, awkward slip of a girl – got stuck Read more
I will always remember my mum taking me to buy school shoes. It was a very tricky recurring event in my life and I think the mental acrobatics that it caused in my brain at a young age has a lot to answer for. It may have been partly responsible Read more
… about thirty years ago, I received my very first Valentine’s Day card. I was a gawky, lanky, overly serious and extremely studious teenager, and the notion that someone might “fancy” me from afar was utterly incomprehensible. Yet there it was. A Valentine’s card, a real one, written in an Read more
Right now, as I gaze out of my window at the mess that is our front patio, I can totally understand why the Romans left Britain. Imagine the scene; it is January, Blue Monday no less, some time around 408 AD, and Gaius looks at Julius and says, … “What Read more
I vowed not to write about my kids but… The conundrum of Boy Seymour is a curious one. He is everything a teenaged chap should be and more: a doughnut devouring, untidy, loud, contrary, lanky, lovable, clumsy, antagonizing and often adorable young man. He fits the stereotype, but throws in Read more
I thought of a book last week, as I sat in a waiting room with Mini Seymour. The book in question is Class, by Jilly Cooper, a satirical observation of the strange hierarchies that existed in society in Cooper’s heyday. What prompted this ponderation? Well, a lot of things. Firstly, Read more
This is not the end, it is not the beginning of the end…nor the end of the beginning, even! (Update – actually, it’s just the same old blog, but even more random!) Written on July 14, 2025 It is just another chapter – a new phase, in life. And with Read more
Written on July 29, 2025 The Cactus House may or may not have had dogs living here before. The odds are that it has. The original inhabitant – Mr Cactus himself, might have had a mutt or two – although his botanical travels probably made him less likely to want Read more
(Written on September 8, 2025) This Funny Little Bungalow, aka The Cactus House has been without a greenhouse for too long. I tell a lie – there are greenhouses here. Many of them. But they’re in pieces under the soil. Demolished many years ago when Mr “Cactus” Innes gave up Read more
Four Little Seymours. Every time I type that it feels less and less relevant. The biggest one is coming up for twenty one, and the smallest one is headed for teenagerdom. As much as I don’t want to admit it, they are no longer little. It is taking some adjustment, Read more