Respect A Time And A Place

I'm here relaxing in Washington, D.C. I have shut down and relaxed , I've seen the sites, and eaten way too much of course I have walked it off. One of the factors  I take away from Washington, D.C. Is the human factor , and living life. Everywhere is alive and people are interacting and news flash there's no instagramming of meals , they're talking . I think we can miss living at times  we miss the simple things in life the breeze , the sun the birds.

Sometimes in our pursuit of capturing the world around us we go too far I think , do we really need to push ourselves upon a family's grief at a funeral . I witnessed today at Arlington cemetery this very scene , there was a marching band which I add I took a picture of but that's it. At no point did I take a picture of the casket which came several minutes later on a horse drawn carriage with the American flag draped over it. I took my hat off and bowed my head in respect , some people rushed to take a picture which I thought was disrespectful.

When your capturing the world there's a time and a place , there really is.

Looking At Clouds

The lovely Hilary from Thinking of you and me blog  is my guest poster today ! over to Hilary !



Hi, my turn to guest post while Ninjakillercat is on her holidays. So, how to cause carnage while she is away? I thought I would do a School Holiday post (well, she is a TA), and it is the School Holidays.

I loved the School Holidays, all of them. When my boys were pre-schoolers, it meant that I got them back again for the whole day, I wasn’t limited to being home for collection time, on nice days we would lay on our backs and look at the clouds.

When the boys were at School it was different, they met friends, had friends round, as they got older they had opportunities to go away with Cubs, then Scouts. They would go off on bike rides or just chill on a beach (we lived in the New Forest by then). They had days where they didn’t want to do stuff, just watch TV and I was happy with that, it gave me an opportunity to catch up with other stuff. I taught them to cook, we gardened, we visited relatives, had relatives to visit us. They loved their Nanny Pat (OH’s mum) coming to stay for a week or so. When they became young adults, well, it all seemed to go pear-shaped and nothing suited, so I left them to their own devices and got gradually crosser and crosser – which did nobody any good.

I know that for many parents (working and non-working) the holidays are a massive headache requiring organisational skills that any CEO would be delighted to have on his side. I also know that many parents rely on Grandparents to help out (No, I have siblings with grandchildren, friends with grandchildren – but I am not old enough – do you hear me boys??) I also know that teachers and TAs need to recharge their batteries.

Yet, reading my Twitter/ Facebook timeline, every time there is a School Holiday something takes people by surprise! It is perfectly obvious to me that it will rain at some point during the School Holiday no matter how long or short it is. It is perfectly obvious to me that soft play centres, theme parks, swimming pools will be hell on earth at these times as well. Why go there?

So here are a couple of rainy day ideas for you:

Buy (or rent from the library) a couple of DVDs that the children haven’t seen (why not go retro and get a film you loved? The Goonies is a firm favourite in our house even now, for older ones how about The Blues Brothers?), have a cinema afternoon and let them make the popcorn (older ones) younger ones could make tickets. Sit with your children and relax, the dust will still be there tomorrow. The washing can sit in the machine a bit longer.

Take the children outside. Most places have a park, canal, wood, nearby. Put the wellies and raincoats on and go out. Jump in puddles, walk through the mud.  If you can relax and have fun in the rain the children will too, (tip: if the boots are really muddy? Find a puddle to wash them in, great fun swooshing boots). Remember riding a bike in the rain? I do, I loved making tracks.  I remember taking a group of 6-8 year olds on a walk just after it had rained (they had been putting up tents in a hall while it was raining) and I was amazed at the number of children who had NEVER jumped in a puddle!!! Even today I jump in puddles (I make a much bigger splash now). Of course, you can always race raindrops down a windowpane if you can’t get out.

Most children love to bake. Be prepared for it to take three times as long as you would take, help but don’t take over, and get them to help clean up the mess afterwards. Older children (say 8 upwards can learn how to cook a meal – ask what their favourite is and teach them how to cook it)

Have a games day (ssshh, I can hear the groans!), get them all out, make sure they are all in one piece then decide to play Snakes and Ladders with the Monopoly tokens – or Buckaroo with the Mousetrap bits. Why not get a  ‘new to you game’? Go to a charity shop and see what they have in stock or swap with a friend?

Happy School Holidays….. I loved them, why not share what worked for your family? You never know you could save another family from holiday meltdown!

Monument Sunday

How My Worse Moment Became My Best

A guest post by the wonderful Moderate Mum

My son was a good baby. I know you’re not supposed to say that because all children are a gift and labels stick and yadda yadda yadda but seriously the kid was easy. He had his moments of course and he was never a fan of sleeping but during the day he was super chilled – he ate what he was offered and was happy to hang in a bouncy chair for an episode of Bake Off. He was a pretty low maintenance little dude. My friends told me, ‘It’s your parenting! It’s because you’re such a relaxed mum that he doesn’t give you much trouble.’ And fool that I am I started to believe them. So when one morning Roscoe woke up as a toddler, complete with an intense need to destroy; an alarming ability to ignore boundaries and an unwavering commitment to refusal, it hit me like a Red Bull laced espresso.

To add insult to injury Roscoe also gave up naps, I didn’t even get time to formulate my strategy. I spent twelve hours a day saying, ‘No, Roscoe’ I gave serious consideration to recording the phrase and having is playing on repeat, I could turn it off for the five minutes a day it wasn’t necessary. I couldn’t believe what my darling, placid baby had become. Gone were the long lunch dates, magazine reading in the park and in their place – endless negotiations, battles and meltdowns (on both sides).

For some reason his new hatred of nappy changing hit me hardest. Perhaps because there was no way to avoid it; perhaps because it was so obviously helping him; probably because no one likes being covered in poop. It was one of those changes that my worst moment came. He has the strength of ten inebriated man. Limbs were flying everywhere and his power move, the head butt, was being employed on a frequent basis. As I tried to restrain him, I could feel the tension rise through my body. A sharp pain pulsed on my right temple. My breathing had become ragged and shallow, ‘No, Roscoe, no,’ I said, ‘No Roscoe, no,’ I pleaded and finally, well and truly at the ends of my wit, ‘Roscoe, stop it or I will…’

I’ll never know what I was going to say next and that’s what scared me most. I did not know what I was capable of, I hadn’t lost control of my son, I had lost control of the parent I wanted to be. What was I threatening - I will smack? I will shout? I will abandon you? I suddenly realised I was expecting a one year old to be responsible for an atmosphere that it was my job to create, I had an opportunity to flip a switch and I was gonna take it…

‘Roscoe stop it or I will…tickle!’ I launched into the greatest tickle fest man has known and well, who can resist a tickle fest?  The tension was released, we both were calm and connected and had forgotten what we were angry about. I had turned my worst moment into one of our best.

Now I love when I feel that telltale tension in my shoulders or when my breathing starts to get shallow because they are helpful reminders that I need to stop, connect and find the joy. I don’t even have to think about it because my automatic response is a tickle fest and tickle therapy has proven to be a very restorative process. No matter what when my partner comes back after a long day and asks me how things have been, I can honestly say – we laughed all day.

Rollie How My Style Is Influenced By Archie The Furry Superstar From Gourmet

Sponsored by Gourmet



Shuffles papers.

Rollie loves the finer things in life.

"Time for a cat news report , ever wondered how I got to be as glamorous as I am now  ? well my style  and demeanour had to be influenced from some where and I can think of none better than Archie from Gourmet."

"The lifestyle of the famous isn’t as easy as it seem, take it from Gourmet’s adorable feline foodie, Archie. The furry superstar takes us behind the scene on his first ever You tube video to show us the ropes to acting. Check out his amusing tips!"

Read an exclusive interview and more articles on Guardian’s micro site here


"Although I declined to appear with Tom Cruise in the latest Mission Impossible film , the offers for other films are flooding in, I missed out on a whisker to the cat in the Harry Potter saga. I love chasing butterflies, French cinema, opera and the works of Shakespeare, my hobbies including styling leather chairs which no doubt will one day win the Turner prize. I do believe in doing things slowly why rush into anything , I bided my time to leave fluff on the stair carpet, my pet ( the human) calls this an annoyance . I call this accenting and very much on trend , I am at this very moment writing an ebook what good blogger/author doesn't hawk their wares this way , also I am in development of an social media app.

I must go now , it seems I must pack for a trip to the cat spa , I think the pet will try and brush me , I think not . Now what should I pack do you think ?"