Snapshot of a House Counting Down

"We'll fit loads in over the next few weeks," I'd said to the kids two weekends ago, not wanting to say what I really meant, which was, "There are only twelve more days left of summer holidays, let's make the most of it." Because I didn't want them on the countdown that I was already ...

The best of… no, wait, all the books I read this year

Last week I wrote about the books my kids loved this year - 28 recommendations from my kids to yours - so this week I thought I'd post about the books I loved in 2018. There are lots of "best books" newspaper articles and blog posts at the moment, and at first I thought about trying ...

Instructions from a ten-year-old

When I was about thirteen, I remember reading Flowers in the Attic and realising pretty quickly that it was a good thing my parents didn't know what it was about. I'd been stopped from reading Judy Blume's Forever a few years ago, and had learned to be more careful about revealing my reading choices. It's ...

Snapshot of a woman on the cusp

I was going to call this Snapshot of a woman on the edge but that was just too melodramatic for what really comes down to wishing away the long, final days of school before the summer starts. So it's a snapshot from the cusp instead - from one tired mother to all the tired mothers, ...

The Photo Not Taken

Marina di Venezia Andrea Mara Office Mum

Two summers ago, we spent a glorious fortnight in Marina di Venezia, a campsite near Venice that's situated right on the beach. About five days into our holiday, I was lying awake in bed, cranky after a bad night's sleep, and irrationally irritated that everyone else was still snoring (including the four-year old source of my ...