Tomorrow is my thirty-fourth birthday. Some blokes say it with flowers. Some blokes say it with chocolates. This year Bearhands said it with a bobcat. This is not the first out- of-the-ordinary gift I've received from him over the years. For Valentine's Day a few years back, he bought me the fridge I'd been lusting after for months. My folks and my in-laws are coming to the farm for dinner ...
time-worn tucker
Maltese sandwiches and fairy tales
In Malta, great importance is placed on fecundity. The Maltese consider children so important that their fairy tales don't end with "and they lived happily ever after". Instead the Maltese say "u għammru u tgħammru, u spiċċat". It means "and they lived together, and they had children together, and the tale is finished".* I love it. By Maltese standards, I'm Cinde-freakin-rella - rescued from ...
a letter to my babies about organ donation
My husband and I have discussed my wishes about organ donation, but my girls are too little to understand just yet. I've recently experienced bereavement myself. I know that it's difficult to breathe much less make clear decisions, so I've written my girls a letter. If one day in the future they're faced with the choice to donate my organs, they'll know my wishes and hopefully the burden of the ...
girls gone mild
This weekend I paid someone to butter my bottom and pull my hair. You could be forgiven for thinking that I'd fallen through the looking glass into a Fifty Shades novel, but instead I had a weekend away with some girlfriends. (The only grey we encountered were the skies on Sunday.) What happens on tour, stays on tour - so I can't tell you just what went on, but I will say that we shared ...
repeaters, grapevines and quinoa stuffing for roast chicken
This morning my trainer (yes, I hear how entitled that sounds) suggested I take some more group fitness classes. You know the kind where shiny women with perky boobies move in neon clad unison to perky music. I was lifting something heavy while she talked, then I looked up and caught my reflection in the full length gym mirrors and noted that my pointy birds weren't pointing in the same ...
the fruits of my labour | homemade tomato paste
The tomatoes that I lovingly raised to seedlings, then planted in the garden and nurtured through the driest period that we’ve experienced on the farm, have started to fruit. As luck would have it, the arrival of rain has coincided with the tomato flourish, causing the fruit to swell and split on the vines. They’re spoiling and it breaks my heart. So today I decided to try my hand at making ...