...never a dull day ticking away..

The second Christmas Jim & I were together (back in the mid nineties!) he made me a clock. It was beautiful & moved home with me regularly (I was a student). On it was written lyrics from a Pink Floyd song 'Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day'. We were living apart, and I think the words were meant to comfort me......

It was repaired regularly as it was made of perspex & was often damaged in transit. However one day it was deemed beyond repair.

I have specific ideas on what I want in this house and my kitchen is in dire need of a clock! I searched for ages, only finding a Danish clock which satisfied my criteria. Except, as is the case with many things I covet, it was widely expensive and so the search continued.

This Christmas, my search was over as Jim made me another clock.  It is made from driftwood we've collected as a family & a heart shaped pebble I found on a beach. It is beautiful. 

And as I sit here (when i wrote this post a little while back), by the log burner writing, the delicate tick tock-ing is no longer ticking away moments that make up a dull day, but is now inscribed "never a dull day ticking away".... and with 2 kids, 2 houses, in 2 countries and far too much to do....no words were  ever more truly spoken!

Happiness.......

This one's a bit off topic, and I apologise for it, but it sort of ties in.

For those of you who don't know us very well, Ned, our son, is dairy and soya intolerant. He was diagnosed when he was 10 months old, and at first it was a steep learning curve for us, but then a load of internet research, a dash of common sense, a pinch of my mum's wisdom and a Swedish company called Oatly, it got easier.

Oatly make oat milk, which Ned could have (this isn't the time or place to go into it all; I'll save that for a special occasion!), and it meant that I could substitute this, along with a sunflower oil based spread, into baking and cooking (my other, other life). 

I discovered through the the Oatly website that they don't just make oat milk. Oh no, they make vanilla sauce (sort of custard), cream for coffee, chocolate oat milk, yogurt, and ice cream.  But hardly any of that is sold in Devon, if in the UK at all.

So imagine our complete and utter joy at finding one of the local supermarkets here sells chocolate milk, and the vanilla sauce.  One happy little boy.

Then imagine that you find the ice cream, bear in mind that Ned normally has sorbet or an ice lolly, and imagine that you find a Norwegian version of chocolate monster crackling topping that is also dairy free (although I shudder to think what it does contain!)

This is what you get.......

One extremely happy little boy.

Now if they only made cheese........