On making mincemeat of it – part 1

Every year, I make a load of mincemeat, for myself, my family, and anyone else who wants some. Every year, I make it up as I go along, and no one’s complained yet. This is part 1 of the recipe – insofar as it can be called a recipe – for 2015. *** A word […]

On flowery selfies

DB said I was extremely mean for only taking pictures of ‘my’ plants, and not his – especially when his are flowering and mine are dying down for winter. Anyway. I present, in all its glory, DB’s flowering plant!

On blisters (and carrots)

I’m used to getting blisters at work. The sort caused by touching glass before its had a chance to cool down properly. I’m not used to getting blisters from washing carrots… Edit (3rd Nov): Squeaky clean 🙂

On yelling

Early evening. Dark, except for a few streetlights. A couple with a dog. Walking. Behind them, at the far end of a side street 2 figures can just about be made out in the shadows. Yelling. Shouting. Mean words, angry voices. Screams. “Help!” Shrieks. “Help! Let go of me! Help! He’s going to kill me! […]

On April mornings and riding into the blue

The view of the sky through the train station windows was of a grey, storm-laden morning. Looking out of the open end of the station was a completely different matter – blue sky and fluffy white clouds… Luckily, the train was going to take me out of the station and into the blue* 🙂 Makes […]

On Eliminating [almost] Everything

Allergies watch out! Prepare for elimination! I am declaring war on my allergies. The problem is, I don’t even know what I’m allergic to any more. It used to be easy. I used to have hayfever and my throat swelled up when I ate cucumber or melon. Admittedly that’s a bit annoying when you live […]

On Advent decorations – part 4

<- part 3 You can’t just be traditional, you have to do some outlandish things sometimes. My Christmas box had been ignored. This is the result: The dark bit in the middle is the skylight, and the light isn’t the moon it’s a handblown*, handpainted*, hand-put-together* glowing bauble. My curtain stars are hanging away from […]

On birthday food

This is the cake from the inside: This is the tray of potatoes, carrots, onions and, most importantly, parsnips ready for roasting: They were SO very good, the steak was a little bit unnecessary – but who turns down a steak when they’re offered one??! It was a very good steak too. Here are the […]

On letting balloons free

I set this balloon free 🙂 I was one of 8000 balloon free-set-ers 😉 The Berlin Wall is history – for the second time in 25 years 🙂 More tomorrow when I’m not so asleep

On glass spirals

I have somehow earned the reputation for being good at making glass spirals. It started when I was practising for the Meister exam. The man who would become my current boss, but who was back then my ‘coursework’ supervisor told the president of the German glassblowing society that I had a fascinating technique but produced […]