Blog About

Three is a number with such resonance that with even a quick glance in my retrospectoscope, I find life can easily be ordered by thirds.
As a young woman, it was children, work/study and tramping (that’s hiking for those of you who suddenly think I have a secret hobo past).
In middle age, it has become art, food and pets. Yes, children are still there as an overarching raison d’être – but at 22 and 25 years must have some space; and work continues to rudely intrude on life. A wonderfully unusual illness – custom made for a doctor! – has sadly taken care of the tramping for now.
But Art, who had patiently been occupying the edges and crevices of Life, is now sat majestically centre stage, poking yours truly with increasing vigour.

Cooking, to be earnest, is how I look after people. Food is life, and when it is ethically sourced, environmentally sound, locally produced, home grown, lovingly and carefully prepared, life is pretty good – and I am an exhausted but happy slightly self-righteous food snob.
The darling pets – one husband, 2-4 dogs (long story), 6 chickens, one cat, an unknown number of garden pond frogs, and a beehive; this latest still in extended gestation – ok, ok child substitutes; return to start. Seriously, there is a bit more to it. Humanity has a dreadful case of self-aggrandisement, and thoughtfully sharing your life with a few other species is a very pleasurable reminder that we are not as special and unique as we like to think. Well, the rest of you might be, but if I could be as good a person as my dogs, I should be well pleased, and consider myself ‘there’.
SO, these blogs: well, time will tell, but the current intention is to focus on the present triumvirate of my life….

“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”
-- Groucho Marx
"Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do."
-- Isaac Asimov
"Many things - such as loving, going to sleep, or behaving unaffectedly--are done worst when we try hardest to do them."
-- C.S. Lewis
"My ex-girlfriend had a really weird fetish, where she used to dress up like herself and act like a f*@#ng bitch all the time."
-- Bo Burnham
"It's not until you're an adult you appreciate how awesome a dog is. Your dreams start dying, somebody cheats on ya, bankers f*#k up your 401k, ya know? Then you come home and that dog's looking at you and he's like, 'Dude, you're awesome!' It's like, 'No dude, YOU are f*@#ng awesome!"
-- Bill Burr
"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
-- Stephen Jay Gould
"My absolute favorite piece of information is the fact that young sloths are so inept that they frequently grab their own arms and legs instead of tree limbs, and fall out of trees."
-- Douglas Adams
“If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company”
-- Jean-Paul Sartre
"The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public."
-- George Jessel
Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitter steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree you still believe it to be a beautiful place.
-- Kurt Vonnegut
"Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy."
-- Isaac Newton
"Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience."
-- Howard Zinn
"Childhood is like being drunk: everyone remembers what you did, except you."
Unknown
“It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English, up to fifty words used in correct context, no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.”
-- Carl Sagan
"Science is like sex: Sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it."
-- Richard Feynman
"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."
-- Kurt Vonnegut