Phyl's Blog

I mentioned recently that Anna still had a few steps to go on the evolutionary path before being accepted as a normal member of society... ...

I experienced it once before years ago when a workmate, Daphne, gave me some cherry tomato seeds. I grew the tomatoes on the windowledge of ...

One thing that surprised me a lot on my holiday in Italy was the fact that smoking rates there among all age groups don't seem to have c...

I am not averse to using photo-editing when a lamppost, pylon or car happens to be in the way of a pretty shot. It is often preferable to ...

One problem with having a bilingual child arises when the second language the child speaks happens to be the most common foreign language ta...

Now here's an interesting one... Anyone who has ever been pregnant knows the literature you get loves to bombard you with lists of food...

Sometimes people make up new rules and no one stops to ask why? No one has the courage to say to the rule-maker: this is utterly stupid , or...

After nearly 18 months of spot problems with Léon we went on holiday to Tuscany. The weather was great, sunny and generally not under 30C ...

When we went to Perugia last week I was quite excited. I had only been once (in 1992) since my time there studying at the Università per Str...

Thomas and I have owned two different espresso/cappuccino machines over the years. Brita and Peter have now just bought a beautiful model ov...

My parents bought us this lovely comfortable bed recently as a wedding present. Back in February when we got married, we had told people to ...

Sweet little Pudge has been abroad a dozen times already but only once south of Paris (if you exclude NYC) and that was when he was less tha...

The other day I went back to Florence after a delay of 17 years. I still remembered my way around as if nothing had changed. Indeed nothing...

The other day I drove Thomas and the two big kids to Florence, leaving the little two home to play with Thomas's parents. I know Florenc...

  A walk in Largs Originally uploaded by PhylB It's interesting how you can bring up two kids in what feels like the same manner and th...

On our second night in Italy we noticed Marcel, Charlotte and I had been mosquitoed whereas Thomas, Pudge and Bits were spotless (literally)...

Zanzara was one of the first words I learnt in Italian when I started studying it in '85. My tutor liked the word's onomatopaeic qu...

Wedding Favors - Homemade Honey Originally uploaded by LollyKnit I love honey, especially on my morning croissants but jars and spoons, even...

I'm used to hiring cars all over Europe but it occurred to me when we touched down in Pisa that although I have driven in Italy before i...

  Thomas's new car Originally uploaded by PhylB Thomas has never owned a car before and has often astounded me with his lack of basic k...