Walking The Dog

How do you answer the question, "What would you like for Christmas?" Do you carry a mental list around in your head? Or do you have a special little piece of paper tucked into a pocket in anticipation of bumping into a generously inclined relative? Worse still, do you email your list to friends and family? Or do you still write to Father Christmas? Littlest writes several lists, starting in August, and deposits them in books, pencil cases and boxes in her bedroom, lest she forgets something important. These are either lost forever, or are later amalgamated into a letter that sits on the hearth day after regularly-checked-day until the 'elves' remember to post it to the big man in red. These elves clearly work in the same disorganised department as the tooth fairy. Littlest then adds things to her list. And changes her mind. Of course, Father Christmas knows that she has changed her mind 'because he's magic.' She has been known to change her mind on Chr...

The pup is growing - first autumn, first leaves, first bonfire-building activity: Eat the leaves; lick the blue ones. 'If I eat the bonfire, there won't be so much to burn.' Busy pup = sleepy pup. Bed of ... laundry? ... or someone else's bed? First walk today - "Why can't I run ahead like him? Why, Mum? It's not fair!" "How much further?" Why did we get a friend for FLF in a pale shade of 'shows-all-the-dirt' colour?

Good morning? Better morning? The usual growling angry morning? Yup! It’s that “I’m bigger than you” mentality that drives me mad every morning; although when I say  'mad' I do not mean the red fog of fury that some drivers suffer from which constitutes road rage, but a deeply rooted frustration; the sort of feeling that niggles throughout the rest of the day, like a thorn in your shoe that you know is there, but are either too busy to remove or repeatedly forget about until the next time it pricks you. Unsettling. Grrr! Why? - because you know that tomorrow will be the same. And the next day. Let me elaborate – my morning school run is approximately 15 miles of which there are about seven miles of rural single track roads – might sound horrendous to some urban mum’s out there, but barring tractors, beet lorries and horses, I can do it in just over 25 minutes. How many hours would it take to cover the same distance in London? And we see pheasant, foxes ...

If this isn’t the best view in the world... then I challenge you to prove otherwise - Perhaps I'm biased, but in case you don't yet agree here's more ...  I say 'one of' because when middle daughter gets back from her grandparents with her phone, I can download a picture of THE best view in the world. And yes, I am 100% biased. 100% a Scot at heart. 100% passionately in love with the west coast of Scotland. Aren't we all just a little bit nostalgic about the place we grew up? And doesn't nostalgia sometimes blur into a deep passion? Here's more ...  Add wellies; sea-shell-gathering ... ... and crab hunting; squealing oystercatchers in conversation with squealing Littlest; “sinking sand!!”...  ... and sea “anenomenomees.” Flashbacks to my own childhood – running down silver sand-dunes; carrying BBQ and picnic and drinks; swimming towels; cricket bats and balls; long-treasured ...