Finding time amidst Christmas preparations to share an overdue post introducing the newest member of our little family, a rescue cat we adopted at the end of October.
I wasn’t really ready to adopt a new cat, and Mara was such a special cat that I knew I’d struggle not to compare another cat to her, but the kids were asking when we’d get another cat and once I’d started seeing ads for cats needing to be rehomed, it was impossible to look away. Cats are such creatures of routine and familiarity that I really feel sorry for those that experience the shock, upheaval and distress of having to be rehomed.
We contacted a couple of local rehoming centres, and I arranged to meet two cats in foster care on a Saturday morning while my husband took the girls to dance class, both cats were lovely and I hated having to choose between them (though the other one has also been adopted now). On a Monday morning, after dropping the kids off at school and nursery, my husband and I went to pick up Pixie, a three year old black and white girl cat from her foster home.
We never knew much about Mara’s past, but we were able to get Pixie’s date of birth and full medical history, and a bit about why she had to be rehomed. Sadly, she was living with her brother and the two of them weren’t getting on, I have no idea how you choose in that situation.
Pixie spent the first week mostly hiding under the couch, but she’s gradually been getting more curious, vocal and confident. She’s been very gentle with the kids, though she does tend to hide when they get too loud or boisterous, I’m not sure she had much contact with kids before coming to us, but she’s very playful. My husband put a box on top of one our bookcases, and she likes to take herself up there when she wants to watch our antics from a safe distance, but she’s a lapcat that will happily settle down with us while we’re watching TV or reading.
I still miss Mara, but Pixie is a lovely addition to our family. X
Currently recovering from an infection that has floored me and my youngest for the past week or so, and thought I’d share my November reading wrapup.
Good Inside by Dr Becky Kennedy
Good Inside is one of the best parenting books I’ve read, packed full of wisdom and evidence-based research, which reminds parents that we should be more invested in building a positive relationship with our children than policing their behaviour. I didn’t agree with everything in the book but this was accessible, relatable and informative, with specific chapters on the most common parenting problems and a lot of information about child development, self regulation for parents and building a secure attachment with your child.
Keeper of the Night by Kylie Lee Baker
A dark YA fantasy inspired by Japanese folklore about a half English reaper and half Japanese shinigami who fits into neither world trying to accept her unique identity and purpose in life. Although this is an epic quest, the focus is very much about what she’s willing to do and sacrifice in order to fit in. This was dark and gory but really unique, and I’m looking forward to picking up the final part of the duology to find out how the story concludes.
The Girl Who Raced the World by Nat Harrison
I’m not usually a fan of retellings, but this was such a lovely trip down memory lane for me as I adored the cartoon of Around the World in 80 Days as a child. The Girl Who Raced the World follows young orphan Maggie Appleton as she finds herself on a wild adventure with Phileas Fogg and his valet Passepartout as they race around the world to win a bet pursued by Detective Fix who happens to be investigating a bank robbery that occurred the same day Fogg set out on his journey. This was so heartwarming, touching on themes of grief, family and friendship, but really capturing the mystery of the bank robbery and the and urgency of their voyage. I enjoyed this so much that it had me digging out an old copy of the original by Jules Verne to read.
The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman
The Thursday Murder Club has become something of a comfort series that I dip into when life feels hectic. The characters are what make this cosy mystery series so unique, and I love returning to the aging amateur sleuths at Coopers Chase retirement village and their younger police and criminal friends. The mystery they take it upon themselves to investigate is a great little workout for the old grey matter with money laundering and a murder to solve, but a few clever red herrings.
Juniper’s Christmas by Eoin Colfer
This festive middlegrade adventure is set ten years after Santa Claus mysteriously stops delivering presents to children around the world, and two years after little Juniper Lane’s father passed away. Elves from the North Pole are desperately seeking Santa before his magic runs out forever, a criminal mastermind decides to steal Santa’s magical artifacts in order to turn Christmas into a profiteering racket, a mysterious benefactor is helping the homeless people that live in a London park and Juniper is desperately seeking her mother who goes missing just before Christmas. I’m not sure what I was expecting from this but it touches on so many themes of grief and loss, greed and generosity, love and hope, and was a lovely, moving story to ease into the festive season.
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
An absolutely fascinating insight into the working culture of Facebook revealing at first American-centric naivity to global politics and legislation, and then a callous indifference to real world violence and shrewd profit driven focus to the insecurities that Facebook could cause. It was particularly interesting to see the friction between tech and business management during the early years, an insight into the workaholic culture and outrageous expectations from managers with Sarah still sending emails while giving birth, and seriously considering being arrested by a foreign government. It’s not surprising that Zuckerberg tried so hard to prevent this book reaching the public because it paints an unflattering view of both him and Sheryl Sanberg. Yet it also offers insight into how Facebook could’ve been an incredible force for connection and community if Zuckerberg and his colleagues hadn’t prioritised profit and power.
Time seems to slipping away from me as we approach the end of the year. We are so lucky to have such distinct seasons here in Scotland, early November was unusually mild but the last couple of weeks brought a cold snap full of frosts and subzero temperatures, and we’re all looking forward to the merriment and cheer of Christmas.
Our oldest daughter started school in August, and she has settled in so well, making a little group of friends, building on her number and counting skills, writing and learning to read. I couldn’t be more proud of her as she works her way through the phonics books we borrowed from the library. She’s moved up two classes in gymnastics since May and we’re thinking about looking for a competitive club because she shows such aptitude and skill, and she enjoys it so much.
Our youngest is enjoying extra one to one time with me, something she hasn’t really had since she was a baby, and she’s coped better than I expected with going to nursery without her sister. We celebrated her third birthday with a little party at the start of November, and she’s moved up to pre-school at nursery. This season of parenting is bringing a lot of new challenges but I’m leaning into it as much as I can.
I’ve also made a big change, resigning from my role in council social services to move into the charity sector. Giving up a profession and taking a paycut feels like a step backwards, but I’m hoping it will be less stressful and a better balance for our family. Our daughters will only be little for such a short time and I don’t want to miss it. My husband’s been self employed full time since February and his business has been more successful than we expected so it feels like a good time for me to try something new.
I’ve also returned to my old yoga studio after a five year gap, it’s a lovely restorative and relaxing class that’s just what my mind and body need at the moment.
Yesterday was the first anniversary of our cat Mara’s, death. I’ve been struggling with a lot of grief through autumn, as I loved snuggling up with Mara in the evenings as she snoozed on my lap while I read, or when she would sleep between my ankles, or crawl under the duvet to snooze pressed into my side on the coldest nights. The girls had been asking if/when we’d get another cat, so we started making enquiries to see if it would be possible to adopt a house cat with small children. At the end of October, I visited a little black and white cat being fostered on a Saturday morning and we adopted her on the Monday morning. I’ll write more about our little Pixie soon, but she’s settling in well.
Life still feels fairly hectic at the moment, and our calendar is already filling up with Christmas events but I’m trying to find quiet moments amidst the hustle and bustle, and to embrace all the changes. Have a lovely week. X
Halloween, Bonfire night and our youngest’s third birthday means I’m only just finding time to share my October reading wrapup.
Genocide Bad by Sim Kern
I’ve followed Sim Kern, a Jewish anti-zionist writer on Instagram for a while and waited for the audiobook release because I find them such a compelling speaker. This book examines various arguments that Zionist Hasbara uses to justify the apartheid, colonisation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. This was absolutely fascinating as Sim describes their own experiences of anti-semitism, explores the history of anti-semitism and anti-Jewish hatred in Europe. They also humourously explain why ancient religious texts shouldn’t be used to settle land disputes. More than anything, Genocide Bad reminds the reader not to get drawn into arguments about deference politics, what aboutism or anything else that attempts to distract from the fact that genocide against any group of people is never justified.
As Long as the Lemon Tree Grows by Zoulfa Katouh
This story follows a Syrian 19 year old pharmacy student Salama, who finds herself treating wounded civilians and soldiers at a hospital in the War-torn city of Homs during the Syrian revolution. As Long As The Lemon Tree Grows doesn’t shy away from describing the cruelty and brutality of Assad’s regime, the death, destruction and trauma caused by the civil war. The story also describes the difficulty deciding whether to stay in their beloved land or attempt the perilous journey to Europe in search of safety all refugees make. Among the rubble and heartache, Salama finds love, and the gentle, chaste romance in this story offers such sweet contrast to the darkness of the setting. Another book that will definitely be in my end of year favourites that I highly recommend.
La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
I first read His Dark Materials over twenty years ago and remember being captivated by the story and worlds Pullman created, my husband and I started watching the BBC adaption last Christmas and finally finished in October, just in time to start reading this. La Belle Sauvage is a prequel to Northern Lights explaining how Lyra came to be raised at Jordan College in Oxford. It’s a thrilling adventure about a boy called Malcolm and the daring voyage he makes in his canoe during a great flood to prevent baby Lyra from falling into the hands of the Magisterium or the mysterious man with the hyena daemon pursuing them. I loved being back in this setting and can’t wait to read the next part of The Book of Dust trilogy.
A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison
A middlegrade story about three sisters who live under a curse that prevents the from leaving their island, and the three enchanted items they inherit that give them magical abilities. The sisters race against the clock as they attempt to break the curse and correct an old injustice. This was a fun adventure with themes of family, justice and helping others.
A Warlock In Whitby by Robin Jarvis
I read The Whitby Witches (reviewed here) a few years ago, and finally found secondhand copies of the other two parts of the trilogy. The Whitby Witches had some genuinely creepy moments, although this one was less atmospheric it did cover some disturbing topics such as bullying and forced marriage. I enjoyed this as it was full of tension and action and I’m looking forward to finding out how the trilogy concludes in The Whitby Child.
We recently returned from our annual trip to the Enchanted Forest in Pitlochry, which has been our tradition for over a decade.
The theme changes every year, and this year was called Luminara, which tried to capture the interconnection, balance and harmony between nature and technology. We have been to a lot of light shows around Scotland over the years but the Enchanted Forest is easily the most ambitious and technologically impressive. There were a few parts that were stunning, but overall this wasn’t our favourite theme as it felt less cohesive and a bit more spread out than previous years.
We stayed at a lodge just a few miles outside of Pitlochry and it was ideal, cosy with slightly more space than a caravan. We took a trip into Pitlochry again the next day to visit the Christmas Emporium to let our daughters choose ornaments for their Christmas tree and a lollypop from the sweetshop, before we ate a simple but tasty lunch at Hettie’s Tea Shop.
It’s always interesting to chat to the locals while we’re in the area, who have a bit of an ambivalent relationship with the Enchanted Forest as it brings a huge amount of tourism and money to the local economy, but locals always complain about a month of parking restrictions and none of the locals we spoke to had been to the show themselves.
We stopped at Active Kids Adventure play with the kids on the way home, our girls had a hoot climbing up and sliding down the indoor tree house, then we went outside for trampolines, go karts and crazy golf. I think this might become part of our annual tradition too while the kids are young.
This was our last trip for the year, we’ve been so lucky to have had some lovely holidays from our visit to Northumbria in Spring, our Summer holiday in St Andrews, our glamping trip in September and finally The Enchanted Forest. Every time I’ve loved seeing the kids’ excitement about staying in a caravan or lodge, exploring somewhere new or returning to a favourite place together.
We woke yesterday to a thin layer of Frost on the car windscreen, the first of the season. We’re in the middle of autumn here in Scotland, always a season of contrasts: beginnings and endings, the last of the sun’s warmth and the first frosts, the glorious colour and texture of the leaves, and of course death and decay as leaves, flowers and insects all die back before winter.
There are still a few hardy geraniums (Rozanne just doesn’t stop), roses, nasturtiums and calendula all stubbornly blooming in our garden, though Storm Amy battered the sunflowers. There are also pots of cabbage, kale, chard and pak choi seedlings in the greenhouse that may or may not come to anything. I’m planting Meteor peas in the raised beds which are apparently hardy enough to overwinter. There are still daffodil bulbs to plant, as well as finding space in the long border for anenomes and michaelmas daisies, but I’m starting to feel the pressure now as winter is on its way.
We had lots of Red Admirals visiting the garden and feasting on our plums all through September, but this month we’ve found lots of Caterpillars in the garden much to the children’s fascination.
While most people are looking up at the trees, there’s lots to see at ground level too. Our little street is hidden beneath a carpet of beech tree leaves at the moment, and I’ve spotted a few Aminita Muscaria (or fly agaric toadstools) at the base of the trees. It seems like the world is full of reds, ambers, golds at the moment, all the fiery shades for the “ember” months.
As we move through the autumn months, life still feels hectic with no signs of slowing down and there are some big changes ahead, but I’m trying to ground myself in nature, enjoying pottering around our little garden and taking time to notice all the little wonders of nature at this time of year. Have a lovely week. X
To celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (and 17 years together! 😱), we decided to take a family trip glamping on a farm just outside Edinburgh.
We used it as an excuse to visit two of our favourite attractions that were nearby, our youngest wanted to go to the zoo so we had a day at Five Sisters Zoo, where we were lucky to see the adorable otters gambolling around, eurasian lynx, lions, say hello to the new black bear and clouded leopard, and learned about the snow leopard and conservation efforts to save this beautiful creature which is struggling with the impact of climate change in the wild.
Our oldest daughter had asked to go back to the World of Illusions in Edinburgh which is full of interactive exhibitions that the kids loved exploring and playing with from kaleidoscopic mirrors to plasma balls, and of course the mirror maze and the vortex bridge.
The pod we stayed in was small but very cosy with an en-suite. The girls were happy to play on the swings, chute and toy cars scattered around the farm, and enjoyed toasted marshmallows in the firepit, while my hubby and I loved soaking in the private hot tub once the girls were asleep.
View from the pod and toasting marshmallows
We finished our weekend away with a trip to Dalkeith Country Park, which is one of our favourite places to take the kids. The kids spent the morning jumping and flopping on the bouncy pillows, climbing the forts and riding the flying foxes.
Though it was a busy few days, we all really appreciated some time together after so many changes to our family routines lately. Have a lovely week. X
As we stepped into Autumn, I found myself seeking out a real mix of genres from magical realism and middlegrade fantasy to contemporary fiction and romance, and I enjoyed them all.
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah
A meandering story that follows Afaf, the middle child of a Palestinian family living in America from her childhood, through adolescence and adulthood. The Beauty of Your Face explores alienation, isolation, assimilation, identity, religion and community. The time line jumps back and forth from Afaf’s formative experiences such as the disappearance of her older sister, adoption of Islam and years of family dysfunction right up to the moment she comes face to face with a racially motivated school shooter.
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
I often find myself reaching for chick lit or contemporary romance when my own life is in flux and I’m in need of something comforting to read. The Bookshop on the Corner follows Nina, a librarian who finds herself redundant when her library is closed and takes the opportunity moves North to Scotland to open a travelling bookshop. Much like the Christmas Bookshop stories also by Jenny Colgan, I enjoyed the little community that Nina becomes part of as much as the slow burn romance.
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
A thrilling fantasy adventure following Mal, a girl born on an archipelago full of mythical and fantastic creatures, and Christopher, a boy from our world who finds out that his family are guardians of the crossing to the archipelago. All is not well on the archipelago, as the creatures are dying and the land is being poisoned, and the two children decide to investigate with the help of a smuggler and a scholar they meet along the way. I loved all the different creatures in this story, especially some of the more dark and dangerous beasts. Impossible Creatures was a great adventure that had plenty of humour, lots of thrills and a little bit of sorrow too, looking forward to seeing where the second book in the series takes the story.
Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
I love stories about witches and picked this one up expecting something similar to Practical Magic but it turned out to be more of a twist-filled mystery with a slow burn romance set on a small island. Spells for Forgetting is heavy on mood and atmosphere, and it took a while to get going, but I still enjoyed this story about the inhabitants of a small island community rife with secrets and unsolved mysteries.
If you’ve read any of these, I’d love to know your thoughts. X
Despite being the most urban-dwelling of our families, we are still a very outdoorsy family and the garden has always felt like an extension of our home. The kids love their slide, swings and the little mud kitchen we set up under the pergola on the patio, but our little garden offers so many other opportunities for play, learning and discovery too.
As a child, I remember the delight of picking fresh strawberries from my mum’s garden every June, and I started my own strawberry patch to share that simple joy with my own daughters. I find peas will grow almost anywhere so I plant them everywhere, and the girls love picking them fresh from the pod as a snack. We grow cherry tomatoes in the green house, which our girls also love picking as soon as they turn red. We’ll never be self-sufficient but growing some of our own fruit and vegetables is a great way of teaching our children about food production.
I’ve tried to make our garden as child and wildlife friendly as possible, and we’re always delighted to see bees bumbling and butterflies fluttering around the garden, as well as worms wriggling, caterpillars crawling and so many other insects just going about their daily business. At time when there is increasing alarm about the decline of insects, I like to feel we are doing our bit to help the insect population, offering them food, water and shelter, and my kids already understand that we need pollinators if we want to keep eating so many of their favourite foods like strawberries, raspberries and apples. My kids often help filling up the little trays of water we leave out for insects and birds in hot weather, as well as the bird feeders, combining their scooping and pouring skills with another lesson in taking care of nature. We’ve had lots of butterflies in the garden this year from small whites nibbling my kale and red admirals feasting on our plums.
Over the years, we’ve had a few hedgehogs visiting the garden much to everyone’s delight. Last year we helped fatten up a little hoglet that found his way in over the summer before he moved on elsewhere for the winter. We haven’t seen any hedgehogs this year, but I hope they’ll find their way in again.
I know that one small garden can’t save the world, but when so many young people are struggling with climate anxiety, our garden reminds us that it’s not as hopeless as the headlines make out, that nature is abundant and generous, and that humans can live in harmony with nature. Our garden is a little sanctuary in the city where we can escape from the hustle and bustle to play, learn and grow in every sense, a place where we can enjoy the sweetness of strawberries, chase butterflies, count bees and marvel at how tiny seeds grow into tall sunflowers.
A short and belated reading wrapup. August was a really hectic month with a couple of birthday parties, a wedding and my oldest daughter starting primary school, plus a whole lot of work chaos, which really didn’t leave much time or headspace for reading. I DNF’d two books but thoroughly enjoyed the two books I did manage to read/listen to.
Storm Child by Ele Fountain
I picked up Storm Child from the library because it was on the longlist for the Wainwright’s Children’s Fiction prize, and I was genuinely disappointed it didn’t make the shortlist. The story follows Maya, a talented teenage surfer, whose family are struggling financially, when disaster strikes her parents make a life changing decision to start over halfway across the world. This is such a lovely, engaging coming of age story about adapting to change, friendship, learning that sometimes adults don’t have all the answers, and the impact of tourism on people, places and nature.
Small Talk by Richard Pink and Rox Pink
I’ve followed Roxanne and Richard Pink’s humorous and relatable instagram account for a while but both their books have blindsided me with their insight into the shame and sense of failure that living with ADHD causes. Small Talk explores some of the most common negative self beliefs that ADHDers may hold from “I’m lazy/stupid/useless” to addiction and suicidal ideation. I found this book incredibly compassionate, relatable and helpful as both someone living with ADHD and as the partner of another ADHDer.
Lovely and Grateful 
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