Toaster conflict

Today I saw an advert for a see-through toaster and it was a perfect example of my

everyday conflict about consumerism. I thought -

a) What a genius idea

b) Wouldn't it be great to get one

c) How much? Nope. That's way too much

d) Oh, no! Rich people everywhere will be buying them and throwing out perfectly good toasters and this is not what the environment needs. This is the opposite of what the planet needs. What about our children and grandchildren?

...But, a see-through toaster. Genius. You wouldn't have to strain your neck looking down the slots. You wouldn't have to pop the toast up and down, up and down....a little bit more, a little bit more....okay, slightly too much. Fine, I'll butter it anyway. Hmm, I do love toast.

-C x

Don't leave the soup on, baby...

Well, we are home from a self-catering week on the island of Mull, where we stayed in this big house. It sleeps ten but we got a last-minute cancellation at a reasonable price.

It might have cost considerably more: we returned from the beach to find the soup burnt dry on the gas, but - phew, phew, Barney McGrew - it was only the soup and not the tasteful barn conversion that burnt to a cinder. Burning down your holiday home is generally not recommended as the best start to a holiday.

We liked the house and the beach, and we even managed to take our wellies off. See photographic evidence below.

-C

Shamed out of Lurker-dom

Aww, thanks to blog reader, Hazel, for saying she misses my blog posts. It has spurred my fingers onwards to the 'new post' button.

Well, this is absolutely my favourite time of year. If the seasons are a ballet, this is the highest arc, the ballerina's most spectacular and graceful jump. The trees, the trees! They are falling over themselves in triumphant greenery.

Our darling babies are doing well -and what a love affair we have. I can't stop kissing their chubby necks and sniffing their heads. Tess used to sleep 7 hour stretches and now seems to wake every 2 or 3 hours in the night. But she'll get there. I just have to use patience and logic and everything we learned with Hugh.

I'm researching options for a holiday in Scotland and will report back later.

There seems to be about four thousand snails in our garden. I tried to cull some, but I felt so guilty when their eyes popped up on wee antenna to look around. I filled a bucket with them and they were crawling out, climbing on each other's backs like desperadoes. I had to stop. They're still eating my plants, so who knows what I can do...

-C