tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173878235672116482008-10-14T08:50:18.072+01:00alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comBlogger495125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-47490773141692592362008-10-14T00:01:00.003+01:002008-10-14T00:06:26.226+01:00

MrsM hears shouting in the sitting room and anxiously goes to check what is happening. It is not an emergency... it is only MrM and MasterM watching University Challenge. MasterM We could make a great team MrsM You mean - you could do sport and your father** could do everything else? MasterM NO! I have just been doing Shakespearean Tragedies. MrsM is impressed MrM and MasterM get back to the

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-16890641890043144402008-10-13T00:01:00.001+01:002008-10-13T00:01:00.728+01:00

Imagine that it is October and you walk out into a perfect autumn afternoon. The air is still so that the leaves barely flutter and the light, warm and golden, is low behind the great trees creating long, angled shadows. The last flowers of summer glow in sheltered places and you see the places that you love as though for the first time. Yesterday was such a day.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-74851540229039296672008-10-11T08:44:00.003+01:002008-10-11T09:03:30.589+01:00

Fifi wrote a comment on my last post which touched me. It is always so nice to come here, such gorgeous pictures and lovely tales. I always feel, though, a bit wistful, and wish my family life was as happy as yours. I hope that she will not mind if I share my response to her. Dear Fifi, Thank you for your kind words - I feel that I should explain that I decided before I even started my blog

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-78049665768320198442008-10-10T00:01:00.002+01:002008-10-10T00:01:00.203+01:00

MasterM is working in one on the busiest pubs in London. Last night we went to have a drink and enjoy the atmosphere. The average age of the customer is 26 and so we looked rather anomalous but we had a good evening and were very grateful to MasterM for fast-tracking our food order. Apparently the chef was having a tantrum in the kitchen and it was a bit touch and go. A group of his school

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-36537329595989093452008-10-09T00:01:00.003+01:002008-10-09T00:01:01.000+01:00

I spend my days with a group of people who are courteous, appreciative, very funny and hard working. Many of them are at the start of their careers but have already made significant contributions to research in their specialist field. I admire them for their energy and their commitment to worthwhile causes all over the world. And if they have brilliant minds I don't think it matters that they

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-11634292529339153942008-10-08T00:01:00.000+01:002008-10-08T00:01:00.181+01:00

I read a book once and recognised immediately that it would make the most wonderful film. I knew that there was only one director who could write a sensitive screenplay which did the book justice while avoiding sentimentality; who would fuse the landscape and the people and soak the film in light and music. That man was Anthony Minghella. So I hatched a plan to write to him and tell him about

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-91759839662590550822008-10-07T00:01:00.003+01:002008-10-07T00:01:00.890+01:00

There are times when I realise how much I love my family and I wonder if my heart will burst.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-56034331664208476472008-10-06T00:01:00.001+01:002008-10-06T00:01:00.440+01:00

buy fresh fruit collect currency watch MissM play hockey new boots ironing go to fair It was a good weekend

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-90290827999100285462008-10-05T07:46:00.008+01:002008-10-05T08:20:26.951+01:00

MissM tells us that some of her friends have NEVER seen Swiss Family Robinson!! This causes consternation around the dining room table. "I tried to tell them about the treehouse and coconut bombs and the tiger traps but they just laughed. And when I mentioned the ostrich race where the monkey rides on the ostrich nobody believed me." We all nod gravely - such ignorance is shocking. "And then

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-42074456568017448642008-10-03T00:01:00.002+01:002008-10-03T00:01:01.068+01:00

MasterM is considering growing a beard. I am not sure how I feel about this. Designer Stubble I can cope with... but a Beard? A Beard!! Let me tell you straight I am WAY TOO YOUNG to be the mother of a man with a beard.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-22094684318460762262008-10-02T00:01:00.004+01:002008-10-02T07:53:39.856+01:00

I have become addicted to Three Beautiful Things - thank you, bb - Such a simple idea and written in the sort of unaffected prose that I find irresistible. This morning I stood at my back door and, seeing seven bright green parakeets fly past, thought 'That is my first Beautiful Thing today' . realising simultaneously that TBT had changed the way I absorbed images of my world. Here are three

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-1542995002967865962008-10-01T00:01:00.001+01:002008-10-01T00:01:00.206+01:00

In my head my garden has drifts of Japanese Anemones. They catch the autumn sunshine and glow against the brickwork. In reality they don't exist. Every time I plant them they shrivel and die. It seems so unfair when I see other gardens where they are practically a weed. I want to have my own 'Honorine Joubert' I really, really want some. Life can be so cruel. Perhaps I will plant some more

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-7679304045187927932008-09-30T00:01:00.001+01:002008-09-30T00:01:00.477+01:00

A long, long time ago (twenty six years ago, to be precise) MrM lived at the top of this staircase. Behind this door. The facilities were basic but he worked hard and played hard and enjoyed life. It was a long way up the stairs when MrsM went to visit (of course, in those far off days, she was the lovely MissP) One day MrM decided to play a trick on her... he climbed out of the window with

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-24806897196134680852008-09-29T00:01:00.007+01:002008-09-29T00:01:00.235+01:00

on this morning of autumn a white mist. not the fine gauze of summer that, lifting, reveals the bright day; but a felted opaqueness, layer upon layer of soft, fibrous air fold, cling, drape, enclose loose threads drifting. in this muffled world a heron wings by. slow, scissored strokes.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-85162057883079506272008-09-28T00:01:00.000+01:002008-09-28T00:01:00.701+01:00

MrM has now recovered from stepping over the threshold into Blogland and would like to offer the following advice to other Blog Husbands 1. Bloggers CAN be normal people. 2. Try not to think about the fact that this person whom you have never met knows ALL about you. 3. Do NOT prejudge the Husbands of Bloggers, it is not their fault they have married a Blogger. They share your suffering. 4.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-32580891132293051682008-09-26T18:53:00.005+01:002008-09-26T19:33:09.799+01:00

How long have I known Tracey... is it only a year or is it forever? How well do I know Tracey... I know about her husband and her children and her home and her beautiful quilting. That is quite a lot! She tells me about her sisters and her parents too. She has had a pretty difficult year and she has shared some of that just as you would expect with a good friend. And in turn she knows about my

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-54791680740417671262008-09-26T00:01:00.002+01:002008-09-26T00:01:01.029+01:00

I love the bold statement of Gladioli; petals as vibrant as wax crayons unfurling slowly from day to day. cobalt carmine glacier white canary chartreuse (NOT lime, I am SO over lime)

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-46784976449654548752008-09-25T00:01:00.001+01:002008-09-25T00:01:00.738+01:00

MissM describes it to me: It was such a lovely day. We all went to the great lawn and everyone was laughing and chatting. They arranged us in height order and I wasn't the smallest in the year - Yay! We were in our uniforms, of course, and the teachers were wearing their robes and it was so colourful and picturesque. Then we climbed onto the scaffolding stand with the Cathedral in the

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-59626372473730592662008-09-24T00:05:00.000+01:002008-09-24T00:05:01.691+01:00

My lemon curd is lovingly made from lemons, sugar, eggs and butter using a secret family recipe. I know, I know, you are shocked. I have let you down... You are turning away from the screen... "Shop bought!" you gasp. Well, I'm sorry, but I was desperate for a cream tea and I couldn't face the washing up.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-7077172142754054942008-09-23T00:01:00.001+01:002008-09-23T00:01:00.742+01:00

So - what is a mother to do? She has to empty out the pockets of the pair of jeans that travelled around Europe before they are safe for the washing machine. Is she to close her eyes? Must she respect her son's privacy? Errr...I'm thinking that he should have emptied his own pockets. Let's hope there are no Croatian linguists in my blog readership who can identify embarrassing purchases. I

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-5281476000385186202008-09-21T14:04:00.004+01:002008-09-21T14:43:25.924+01:00

There was once a woman who made a mistake. Luckily, she realised before it was too late so she left a message for her friends and went home. When she arrived she looked around and knew that she had done the right thing. There was work to be done and changes that must be made but they could wait for another day. She flung open the windows to let in the sunshine and blow away the cobwebs.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-45175020184903038572008-09-21T09:00:00.001+01:002008-09-21T15:06:49.254+01:00

I had a long drive on Saturday evening and I got to thinking about something that MissM had said that afternoon. I asked her what she thought of my new blog and she said ' I don't understand what the difference is - you still write every day' I replied that when I started I had thought that I might not be able to write every day and that even though I was writing regularly now I still might not

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-60589480452268514092008-09-20T21:45:00.001+01:002008-09-21T15:14:10.994+01:00

Small fragments of summer glimpsed in passing.

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-9225970453079775492008-09-19T19:36:00.001+01:002008-09-21T15:08:13.978+01:00

MrM has printed off schedules, emails and interesting background from Wikipedia. MasterM is concentrating on the flights for his uber-cheap skiing holiday which have doubled in price before his eyes. MrM has put aforementioned paperwork into plastic wallets, colour coded for each day. MasterM is prepared to put them in his overnight bag but on no account will he be seen writing notes. No

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-517387823567211648.post-83905418437250524662008-09-18T22:14:00.000+01:002008-09-21T14:55:49.687+01:00

I know that all blogs have lurkers but it didn't occur to me that I might have some. Doh! I can be a bit dim like that. When I decided to stop writing The Magpie Files It is only a break - I think... I suddenly had some wonderful and unexpected comments and emails from my Lovely Lurkers. Panyan, Viv and Laura and Anonymouse (as MrM insists on calling you) Thank you so much for delurking. Your

alice chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16969805206040091585chezmagpie@gmail.com