Nov 03, 2024
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Up until mid- November I am terribly blase about Christmas, and then just like that I am a woman in a fluster. Madonna of the Carrier Bag. She who must not return home from even the most irrelevant of trips unless she is clutching something that will be wrapped ready to shove under the tree, or squirrelled away in her festive pantry: a secret basket full of delights that even he in life-saving need of a cinnamon Spekulatius would never uncover...
And oh how I sympathise.
For it takes no time at all for me to lose control of routines that usually run like clockwork and when that happens I recognise how very easy it would be to sit back and let it all go to hell. To watch Jeremy K...
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Now then, did I ever tell you about the night I had a torrid time? Finley was at his drum lesson and to pass the time while I waited for him, I took myself to Tesco and rather randomly bought a slow cooker. Feeling rather pleased with myself I pushed my trolley into the dark car-park, bent over to tie my shoe-lace and rather promptly got knocked over by said trolley as a car reversed into it and sent me sprawling into a puddle.
Surviving this...
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Realisation rarely happens in a flash. No, more often it is a creeping thing. A sense of discomfort we choose to ignore. A weight we barely notice we are carrying, until we come to understand that we can take it off: that very little in this life is non-negotiable. Least of all the modern day burden that is social media.
It has been so oft talked about in the media recently that it is I suppose rather dull for those in possession of balanced ...
** This is a very old post I am re-issuing because so many of my housekeepers are having trouble finding it…**
It is late and HouseKeepers,  I am exhausted. Some mornings I open my eyes and I just can’t wait till bedtime so I can crawl back into bed. Then other days I am so wrapped up in what I am doing that I put going to bed off until I am nearly dropping with tiredness. Tonight is one of those nights. Upstairs my cosy bedroom is waiting for m...
Today. Bright and sunny and a child sick in bed. Bacon for breakfast, sat on a bed of spinach. The music of the washing machine reaching a crescendo as I pop the last forkful in to my mouth. A strong cup of coffee to get the fire of domestic industry burning. And a long glass of water cloudy with aloe vera for heaven knows what.
In the diffuser, a single note of Ylang Ylang to soothe my Monday morning frazzle and in the fridge sorry looking vege...
You are not failing. You are not hopeless. You are not broken. You are not rubbish.
If you are anything like me then thoughts like these revolve around your head every day. They scratch at your eyes in the middle of the night so you have to open them and stare all over again at the lies you are perpetuating because these are the things you feel.  But feelings aren’t real. Feelings are not facts. All too often feelings are nonsense.
I k
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A New Year is filled with too much possibility isn’t it? A person could get overwhelmed and find herself wanting to chuck out everything from her make-up bag to her entire way of life. A person you see can get carried away when it would serve her better to allow the New Year to settle in first. To reveal itself later, when Winter Hygge has truly done its job. For wouldn’t it be better to hibernate now and re-invent ourselves later?Â
I am s
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So a few days ago I wrote about the lull and now I want to talk about the frenzy.
Heaven knows why but Christmas arriving at the weekend thrills me. Christmas on a Sunday seems just right to me. Much better than Christmas on a Tuesday! So this year I do believe we are blessed with festive order and if we play it right we can truly enjoy the week before the holiday arrives, without feeling the kind of demented we only ever experience whe
... My ridiculous child managed to get himself run over on Friday.
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No really RUN OVER. By a CAR. Flung on to the bonnet so hard he cracked the window screen with his scull. Then because he is Finley and rates kindness very highly he stood up and apologised to the driver and asked HIM if he was alright.
Having only encouraged him to walk to school alone the week before, my heart had been in my mouth each day as I crossed him over the
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It feels like you wait forever and then all of a sudden the moment both arrives and passes and all that you were dreaming of is now your new reality.
Oh yes, dear, lovely Housekeepers, we have moved in and though there is still one room full of boxes, the rest of the house is more than liveable and best of all, I have broadband and can enjoy your company all over again…
Here is what relief on this scale feels like: the gentle deflation of
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Well now the week I have been waiting for is finally upon us: we move on Friday and though I am up to my eyes in boxes and muddling through the packing up process all by myself because Ste is working such long hours, I am giddy with excitement and simply cannot wait to begin the process of making our new house a Brocante Home.
There are of course mixed emotions… some of me feels as though I am abandoning my Mum here in the bungalow. Tha
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 Oh but is so very good to be back! Here I am again… back in my spiritual home. My laptop on my knee and a cup of minty green tea at my side. It is unseasonably sunny today. Though my heart yearns for the russet gold of Autumn, an Indian Summer seems to be upon us and I am trying so very hard not to wish it away.
I have in fact being wishing away so many of my days lately. Wishing my house was sold (it is!). Wishing the pain in my chest wo
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Today contracts will be exchanged and the house will no longer be mine. I will eat Meze in a new Turkish restaurant with friends and spend many hours before hand in search of something to wear. I am fat with discontent. Grey under the Summer tan. And I have developed a hole behind my right ear. A hole!Â
I have never understood stress before now. I simply didn’t know how physical it is. How your heart booms and your head aches. How shaky yo
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 Well heckity pie, just when it seemed life was finally settling in to something lovely, I find myself almost homeless.
No really. Homeless. Not quite on the streets. But one week away from completion on my little house and a few weeks away from eviction here in the bungalow because the landlord has finally confirmed that he wants to move a relative in. And oh how very, very stressful it is to suddenly not have the certainty of home anymor
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The sky above this little bungalow of ours is being splintered by flashes of bright light. Our sniffly dog glued to my side in horror and Ste – who loves “weather” – transfixed by the performance nature is putting on for him.
I do not like thunder. I think it is proof that the Gods that be do not like what is happening to the world they so generously bestowed upon us. I do not like how claustrophobic, grey and moody the house becomes befor
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This is the first in a series of posts from the unique and beautiful Corey Amaro from Tongue In Cheek. I give her a word (ritual) and she provides us with the closest thing to poetry any of us ever come close to in our blogs. I truly hope you love her work as much as I do, because it is an honour to have her here writing at BrocanteHome.Â
Church bells and the aroma of freshly baked
baguettes.
The
cafe au lait bowls set out the night bef...
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