We are into the Christian season of Advent, which literally means 'The Coming' and is traditionally a time of preperation and waiting for the coming of Christ.  In recent times, preperation has too often become a time of frantic activity, buying expensive gifts and mountains of food and worrying about pleasing everybody and getting everything right. ...Read more

We have tried to live both generously and thriftily all our adult lives. But in today's society it can be hard to resist the pressure of consumerism and the drive for 'more, more more', especially as we approach the festive season. We trust that family and friends value our time, care and concern more than expensive gifts and cards and have often given handmade gifts and 'virtual' presents from charities. Still it is good to find encouragment and ideas from others following a similar path. ...Read more

We had a lovely idle weekend…pootled around on Saturday, wandered down the boat club during the evening and found Julian having a 40th birthday party with a great band from Colchester - thanks for the dancing! Lazy morning Sunday just enjoying the sheer pleasure of being together with nothing in particular to do…collected son and grandson and had a happy adventure picnicing in Thetford forest and exploring Grimes Graves, Norfolk’s amazing iron age flint mines. ...Read more

I was vPunky postcardery excited to receive this beautiful card from Victoria, all the way from Australia, as part of the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap!  Don’t you love the little mouse with his long tail? See more of Victoria’s beautiful  work here.

steam train

Ivan is just back from lots of hard, sweaty work in the engine room of Chantey, the vintage yacht we are doing up in Mexico (more pics coming soon on the Chantey page.) I'm so excited because he has made good progress this trip and maybe towards the end of next trip we'll be able to get her into the water. It's not sailing round the world yet but it's another tide nearer! ...Read more

Today has been a wonderful feast of creativity! It started with a great session playing accordian with my friends Janey (guitar) and Ann (Sax) at our church family service; we were amused by James (guitar) excuse for not joining us - too busy catching calves! Well, he and Lita are the village farmers and apparently the calves were too small and got thru the gaps in the fence or something…..I love living in the country! ...Read more

Last week I started on an amazing e-course for creative businesses called ‘Flying Lessons’ - see our Art & Craft  page for more info.  ...Read more

I read an article in franciscan (the newsletter of the Anglican Society of Saint Francis) that reminded of his calling to ‘rebuild my oikus - my house.’ St Francis understood this to mean the church community; but the author of the article, Pamela Wood, suggests that in our time it is a call to rebuild the home that is our planet. ...Read more

Today I learnt more about the Transition Movement. This is a global movement of people concerned about climate change and ‘peak oil’ (when it all runs out!) and wanting to do something about it at a local level.

They are getting together in local communities to find sustainable, inclusive ways to reduce our carbon footprint. There are now lots of transition towns in the UK - find out more and if your is one at http://transitiontowns.org.
...Read more