Whenever I get together with my girlfriends one conversation that always comes up is menopause and hot flushes.  It used to be children and before that boyfriends then weddings ... oh how things change!  So with the warmer months coming up I thought I would pass on the best solution I found to help with the pesky problem of sleepless nights due to night sweats and/or hot flushes.  And one simple change you can make that really does work, I know because I have done it, and I have not looked back, is to invest in a wool duvet.  Let me explain ....

The Covid-19 lockdown is continuing and even if we are seeing some small changes I think it is unlikely any of us are going very far from our gardens this summer!  So the focus is very much on enjoying our homes, getting on with DIY projects we have been meaning to do for ages, making the most of the warm weather in our gardens and being creative with our social lives.

Because my blog is also about recording my own story, an online diary for my family, long after I am gone, I enjoy sharing parts of my personal history too.  Like the Me at 20 post, or my thoughts on the lockdown and how I am coping.  Back in 2017 I told you a little bit about 'my cottage in the woods'.

With this blog post, I am telling you a bit more about the history of our little cottage and sharing the details of a beautiful keepsake map I have just been gifted from Mapiful.

How are you all?  How are you coping with the ongoing lockdown situation, do you feel anxious about it all?  I am surprisingly okay, I am getting bored and I am keen to start going out now, I'd love to sit in a pub garden or go for a walk along the South Bank in London. I am also missing time to myself and a quiet house.  Too many bodies passing through at the moment, and a lack of routine!  But I need to remember to be kind to myself and remind myself I am doing a good job and it is okay to take some time out for me.

Remember back in February, before we knew what was about to hit us, there was a lot of talk about how important it is to Be Kind following the sad death of Caroline Flack?  Well, Mental Health Awareness Week (18 to 24 May 2020) is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation and their chosen focus this year is Kindness.

Hello and how are you all?  The early heatwave was amazing wasn't it, we have had some rain now but I am still managing garden time.  And I haven't regretted (yet) putting my winter clothes away.  How are you coping?  What is it - 5 or 6 weeks of lockdown?  My days do feel very 'samey' I get up every morning to the usual routine of tidying up, thinking about what to cook for dinner, writing my to do list and making the most of some quiet time before the family rise.  

With every day that goes by I am missing my beauty treatments more and more, I really would love to get my roots done properly, my hair trimmed, my legs waxed and my nails, oh my nails ... I cannot keep regular polish on, I miss my gel so much!  I also feel I would benefit from a facial!  I am keeping very busy, I am relieved my mental health is back to some sort of normal after a very difficult time at Christmas. I appreciate these are very minor problems and I assure you I do have bigger worries (that I can't share) - so love and hugs to everyone, but for now on my blog, I keep it light hearted.

My husband has been spending a lot of time in the garden, he had to pull a tree down that suffered during the storms so he has been busy clearing up and making the area tidy again, he has done a lot of weeding and clearing of some overgrown areas.  He has power washed the patio and driveway and he has been painting the exterior woodwork.  

That tree by the way was the one we used to hang the children's swing on, first of all their plastic baby seat, then later on a wooden seat.  It was also the home of our much loved tree house.  My husband built it from an old shed when our son was about 3 or 4, the tree house, a small play house, a home-made see saw and the swing were the sum of our children's outdoor toys - no yellow and red plastic in our woodland garden, so they were both very sad to see the demise of the tree house and are nagging for a replacement for the grandchildren (still a long way off).