Phyl's Blog

           Over the years, I have grown my fair share of sunflowers in the garden. I usually plant around 30 and end up with about a do...

Charlotte was talking about uni this morning on the school run. Maybe I should start calling it the educational establishment run now she...

Charlotte's sitting watching Friends on Netflix. She's back at the beginning when Ross and Rachel first get together. Amaia, who...

It's a bit of stressful time at the moment. First there's Marcel - my number one and usually very capable child. At 21, he...

We spotted the issue when Amaia was about two... no matter how much coaxing and cajoling, the girl who happily downs the spiciest Mexican or...

Anna can be impulsive and determined at times. Only Sunday, she suddenly came out with the notion that she ought to cut off all her hai...

I thought I'd sneak out a wee post about this while she's in Spain, on the beach at a wifi-free zone, because she'd probabl...

Today is the day I have been semi-dreading since Amaia started nursery in 2013! At nursery she was home by lunch time and for the past ...

So another year begins. s2, p4, and p7 - the magical year, or rather the one that is meant to be magical anyway. Most of p7 focuses on ...

My French family lived 4km from the French-German border. They all lived in France and spoke French at home, but they all worked in greater ...

Twenty-five years ago today, I got the keys to my first west end flat. Top, left, 9 Havelock street. I remember it vividly... Friday 13...

We took off a week at the beginning of the holidays when Thomas's sister was here, and another last week as we had some odds and ends to...

One of these babies weighed in at just shy of ten pounds, starting out life in 3-6 month clothes and looking somewhat like a sumo wrestle...

I mentioned my little hang-up back in December... But it would appear that I woke up alive yesterday and even made it all the way through t...

Charlotte has been in Madrid since June living with a Spanish family with two little girls who need a daytime adult to supervise them while ...

I think I need to educate my half-foreign offspring a bit more on Scottishness... Today we went to see Dundonald Castle. As we arri...

At the ripe old age of fifty, I wonder if I have finally got slightly too old for tent camping. I don't think the person who invented do...

Tiny nations full of ideas and brimming with self esteem. Currently, living in basket case that is Brexit Britain, I despair as our futu...

Me: Did you know Donald Trump was coming to Scotland today? Léon: Really? Oh goody! Me: Goody? Léon: Yeah, that must mean we...

I've always loved Thomas's positivity, especially after years of living with someone who could see the cloud in every silver lining....