sunday supplement #1

a cosy mystery, anne boleyn, cherry blondies and a bit of self-discovery

happy Sunday, pals. Welcome to the first issue of my new sunday supplement!

I’m writing this in the yellow chair that’s seen much better days, but the sunlight coming through the bay window and dappling the walls with little fluttering patches settles my heart in the weirdest way. My daughter and her best friend who lives next door (how lucky is she?) are litter picking in our cul-de-sac and my son is rolling about on the rug with the dog. We’re close to bedtime but the gentle descent into summer makes everything run later.

Since making the decision to prioritise my writing here I’ve had the unfamiliar feeling of actually having ideas! And the impetus to bring them to life! I’ve been musing on the idea of a little weekly round up for a while, and then I got well and truly inspired by Alex T Smith’s Pigeon Post, which is just the perfect dose of pleasure with a cup of tea on a Sunday morning. It made me want to create my own version! A mixture of the mundane, the joyful & the little bits and bobs that make up a pretty ordinary, lovely life.

This first instalment is coming a bit late in the day, but I’m trying not to let stuff like that get in the way of doing the damn thing. Like everything else here, this is another tiny experiment, we’ll just see where it goes.

Enough rambling — onwards!

Reading: the first in the series of Nora Breen Investigates, Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd. I first came across this author when I found Himself at Country Bookshelf during my trip to Bozeman, Montana and fell in love with her acerbic Irish humour. Struggling a little with a scattered brain right now so a cosy mystery set in the fictional seaside town of Gore-on-Sea featuring an ex-Carmelite Sister searching for a fellow nun, a silent kid who likes to climb the curtains, and a motley cast of ne’er-do-wells is the perfect antidote.

Listening: I’m a history nerd but pretty basic when it comes to my fave topics of WW2 and the Tudors. The Rest is History podcast has both in abundance, plus so SO many other brilliant episodes. At the beginning of the week I listened to the series on 1970’s Britain which had a cameo from my hometown of Grantham, which apparently has the accolade of being the most boring town in the UK. Okay, I’m not selling it that well but I swear it’s one of my go-to’s for the miiiiiles of driving I do on a weekly basis for work.

I’m recommending the series on Elizabeth I which has kept me company this weekend doing all the boring bits around the house and on dog walks. My husband was thrilled with all the little anecdotes I’ve had to share (reader: I’m fibbing, I bore him), my favourite being the fact that Elizabeth Tudor owned Hatfield House which is a stone’s throw from where we live and, despite having been there multiple times, I had no idea about. You want drama, backstabbing, good fashion and some sinister goings on in the Tower of London? This is the one.

Watching: World Cup fever has hit our house, but the time difference means it’s not on 24/7. It was SO joyful to watch the highlights of the Scotland match this morning — I’m completely leaning into my Scottish heritage during the tournament. While my husband is an England fan, he’s been buying only the happiest looking World Cup kits, like this Curaçao one >

Making: I’ve got a really exciting project in the pipeline which I should hopefully be able to talk more about later this week, but in the meantime I’m working on Wednesday’s post exploring the value of reading our writing aloud and I’m about to embark on 100 days of writing and making.

1. Is it millennial-ish to have metabolised a diet of shady self-help books into a strong propensity to try to optimise every area of your life? Asking for… myself. I grew up in a house where, unfortunately, Paul McKenna peered out from the bookshelf promising to make me thin and change my life in seven days. A wild notion: no fifteen-year-old needs access to any of that guff. But the little kernel of desire at the heart of my affinity for personal development has never really disappeared. In my thirties I’m much more likely to seek out beautiful memoirs, meditations on creativity & writing that gets curious about what it really means to be human. And YET if you asked me to tell you honestly who I am and what I want, it would be a real struggle. So of course my interest was piqued with the pound project’s latest book by Toni Jones called YOU (The Beginners’s Guide). I’ll let you know whether it helps me figure anything out!

2. My daughter has been obsessed with horses for a couple of years now. Before she ever got within 100 yards of one, she would be reeling off words like dappled grey and piebald while my husband and I gave one another bewildered looks. For her ninth birthday last month, I finally found a stable and booked her a lesson to see whether the reality lived up to the dream. Sadly for my bank balance (an hour on a horse costs FORTY-EIGHT ENGLISH POUNDS) she bloody loves it. It’s amazing to see our wriggly girl in a zone of complete concentration when she has reigns in her hands. Thanks to some amazing teachers, she gets to use a standing desk, a wobble cushion and one of those bands that she can bounce her feet on because she struggles to sit and focus at school. The horses bring out a totally different side of her. As for me, that hour at the side of the arena does something to my nervous system too. I take my book and a coffee. No one talks to me. There is a goat. Need I say more?

   

3. Ever wake up on a Saturday morning and curse past you who agreed to cover teaching a four-hour antenatal class? Just me? I really had to trick myself into gearing up for it yesterday, which involved creating the invoice early so I could send it as soon as the class was finished, and stopping at the local bakery for a couple of treats. I went for a latte and a white chocolate and cherry blondie. The class, as is usually the case, flew by and I felt grateful to play even just a little part in the prep for those expectant parents. But I also know that my current reticence is trying to tell me something about the balance of my work that needs addressing.

Oh, ONE LAST THING — my five-year-old asked me the other day whether we can do Parkrun soon. My initial reaction was absolutely not, but after thinking about it for a bit I ordered some new running shoes and downloaded the Couch to 5K app because, well, why not?! TBC if I make it past run one.

Thanks so much for reading this week’s sunday supplement! I’d love to know your current reading material/favourite podcast/tv series worth putting a hold on scrolling and all of your unremarkable remarkable things.

This week I’ve got two trips to Ipswich for work and the only thing I enjoy about that is the fact someone has changed the sign as you drive in so it reads Welcome to Nipswich.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a little meandering essay, but if you’ve enjoyed hanging out here for a bit then give the old 💛 a click and subscribe & share this newsletter with anyone who also loves a bit of nattering about everything and nothing!

Speak soon,