Three of my favourite things will be coming together on Wednesday, 25 February 2015.
First of all the treasure trove which is the Oxfam Bookshop on Kings Heath High Street, Birmingham will be celebrating its refurbishment. Still cosy, still welcoming, it will be enjoying a brand new look. Continue reading “Motherhood, creativity and Katrice in Oxfam, Kings Heath” →
The good news for those who’ve struggled to strike a work-life balance is that you’re let off. Work-life balance is so turn-of-the-millennium (darling). Work-life integration is the must-have of the teeny decade. Continue reading “Work-life integration – the new work-life balance (darling)” →
I never imagined my son’s passion for football would transform my understanding of Birmingham – but that is exactly what has happened. Continue reading “The secret fields of Birmingham” →
So far, I have spent almost seven years trying to come to terms with my experience of giving birth. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would, and then I read this, by psychologist Daniel Stern (pictured), who assured me that I wouldn’t. Continue reading “For Mother’s Day: the untold story” →
There was no homework yesterday. It was snowing. Lots of children never made it to school and those that did had to be taken home at 1pm.
So when I picked up my six-year-old from his primary school, there was no red folder to be brought home, no instructions to parents, no book in which he had to do his writing, his art or his sums. Continue reading “Why I hate homework” →
This video brings together so many things I don’t know how to categorise it….
It’s the all-time uplifting Bring ‘Em All In by Mike Scott, performed by the brilliant Flaming Nora and the full-on festival spirit of Greenbelt 2012 in a ceremony devised by my sister Tess Ward.
Thanks Duncan MaClarens for making it.
Now where does it belong? Poetry? Prayer? Community? Philosophy? Digital?
I’m going to put it in motherhood because I was standing in white next to my sister. Her daughter was beside her and her husband was behind us and my son was in front of us and my God-families were around us and because there was a sense of family that was bigger than all of that.
Bring ‘Em All In….
“Have you had a good summer?” That’s something people tend to ask around this time of year and for the past 20 years I have scowled in response.
“They don’t ask ‘Have you had a good autumn?’ Or ‘Have you had a good spring?'” I would mutter as I sat at my desk working all through July and August. “What is this ‘summer’ thing?” Continue reading “Now that’s what I call a summer” →
Here are seven reasons why I have been just lovin’ this soggy summer.
1) The knowledge that the reservoirs have been re-stocked and the ground is rich and moist makes me feel safe and replete. Continue reading “Why I am loving the summer rain” →
People say you forget the pain of childbirth. “You don’t remember it,” they say, as though that’s a good thing, as though that’s consoling. About 24 hours after I had gone into labour I made a pact with myself to never forgot the horror of giving birth. Continue reading “Why I remember childbirth” →
I recently watched Who Does She Think She Is? – an award-winning film by Pamela T Boll about motherhood and creativity.
I found the film a little disappointing because so much of it was about the politics and practicalities around women as artists. These are important issues for sure, but they aren’t the questions that I’m asking at the moment. Continue reading “How has being a mother affected my creativity?” →