Coast-to-Coast Project August 2021 | the challenge of the journey

If you'd have asked me the day before we left, I'd have said no. Our camper's gearbox had definitely broken. And as chief engine fixer, know-er of every inch of our holiday-on-wheels, he was putting off the inevitable. To order almost non-existent compatible parts from far-flung areas of the world. To crawl under the van in all weathers, to get covered in three inches of engine oil to…

Seasons of Motherhood | August 2021

I remember you owning many bejewelled clip-on earrings as a tiny one. You collected them each time we visited the charity shops and car boot sales. Flamingos with pink diamonds, lady bugs with red rubies and countless heirlooms once belonging to others, which became your treasures. You loved them, wore them and lost them. Fast-forward several years and we planned a date to finally…

Coast-to-Coast Project July 2021 | a theatrical shoreline

A stretch of coast so close to home I've lost count how many times we've walked this stretch of the Welsh Jurassic coastline and each time brings its own adventure. I'd mentally gone through the list of jobs and deadlines I'd been ignoring the past few weeks. So when we woke that Sunday morning, I lay in bed planning which ones to strike off first. Then he said "let's go to St Donats, it's…

Artifact Motherhood | A first school day three-years later

Well that was a funny old time wasn't it? You broke up from school for the Christmas break and didn't go back for four months. The third lock-down and the toughest to date. Not to dwell on the negatives, this fine post-Easter holiday morning, you put on your uniform once again. A little older, wiser and with a bit more sass than before. Edging towards mid-teens but aware in the angst to know…

Coast-to-Coast Project June 2021 | an ode to Barry

Barry Island Pleasure Beach Home to the closest seafront fairground to us, cheesy 'Cwl Cymru' and coastal playground of my youth. Over the decades, through travel and adventures far and wide, it's a place I come back to time and time again. A place I rediscover new corners and delight in the timeless Welsh seaside charm I thought I knew all sides to, but still keep finding new treasures.…

Coast-to-Coast Project May 2021 | from the west to the east

Hastings Pier has always been my grounding point. Over the 20 years we've been visiting our family in the east, the Pier is a place I've gravitated to. And this trip to Hastings to visit family, who we hadn't since since last summer, saw me back there once more. Quietly observing what has changed and what has stood still during this time away. It is the halfway point of everywhere…

Artifact Motherhood | a story of a pointe shoe fitting

As she sat waiting to try on her first ballet pointe shoes I remembered this... "To Jeanie's mum, please don't forget Frankie (the toy elephant) for next week's class, with love from Miss Angela." the note passed to me by my red-eyed, tear-stained three-year-old daughter, written by her ballet teacher after a rather fraught ballet lesson. You see, we had arrived in such a rush to realise we'd…

Coast-to-Coast Project April 2021 | back where we belong

A gathering to the sea... The weather report said temperatures were dropping but the Welsh Government said we could go. It was my sister's birthday and we had not seen each other or each of our families for too long. West Wales was where we last met to camp in the late summer of 2020. This same campsite and the same coastal loop which filled me with every part of the same joy that it did…

Expressions of Art | communicating in challenging times

As life begins to uncurl itself both seasonally and hopefully post-pandemically I want to begin with remembering a poignant part of the past year. Not in any restrictive or negative way, but in the most creative and expressive way. We’ve dipped our big toes for three months into this new year, after being locked down throughout winter, and I can’t help but think about what I’ve brought…

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