THANKFULNESS

I recently saw a joke on Facebook that went along these lines, that cute toddler offering you a biscuit is not an adorable child. It's stomach flu. Despite the absence of biscuit-bearing toddlers - cute, adorable, or any other flavour - I managed to get a gastric virus recently. I was one very sick puppy, …

Of Chimney Sweeps and Other Urchins

Derrick Knight's recent post on child labour and chimney sweeps prompted me to re-read my copy of Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies. I must have been around eleven when I last read this book. We didn't have television, and I didn't have a sibling near my age, so I was a voracious reader. Books were precious to me. …

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

My resolution to catch up with the travel blogging was set aside for a brief visit by two of the grandchildren. It should be a no-brainer how to keep them occupied at this time of the year - beach, then beach, followed by more beach. Except that the weather did not co-operate. So we fell …