Nostalgia

A charming married man in his early 40s, a father of three, has a two-year affair with his young secretary. So, what’s new? It happens every day. Indeed, it is an old, old story. What is new is that it was my father. I was in my early teens at the time…

Jewellery, in all its forms tells the story of our life. Whether we choose a necklace or a bracelet, they all tell people more about who we are, and they remind us of places and people, events and special things…

Some years ago, at the age of 61, I quit my job, rented out my flat and flew to Australia to research my family history. It was not an easy business. In the days before Airbnb and other similar organisations made letting so much more flexible…

In the pandemic, with days on end of isolation and worry, writing was found to be cathartic. Some of you may have used the time wisely and now you are able to look back and see that it was a very constructive time.

We are all worrying about prices and the cost of energy, aren’t we? We wonder how we will cope this winter. I feel for young families in 2022. But it has made me think what life was like. I grew up in the 1950s when…

I am sure you recall hearing kids groaning ‘oh, not that story again.’ It might have been in a private setting or embarrassingly public, but the sagging shoulders and bored faces are the same. You might even have been one of those…

It was a damp Seattle evening in May, as I settled into my seat at Benaroya Hall to hear the Seattle Symphony. I was attending an event with a friend, and it was our “pre Mother’s Day treat” to ourselves…

Do you remember playing as a child? Without work or obligations, you were free to wander around, use your imagination and indulge in things just for the sake of doing them. Play was relaxing and fun…

All through my life I have listened to the radio and there are some iconic songs that immediately take me back in time. My first memories are of Perry Como singing “Magic Moments”. I must have only been around four or five years old when I first heard it…

When my mother was the age that I am now, I had five children, ages 11 to 3. I was home schooling all of them, making food from scratch, and living my best earth-mother-type life. And, I had a neuro-muscular disease…