An Author's Notebook

Dubrovnik, jewel of the Adriatic, once a prosperous trading hub, now a tourist's dream. Our half-term visit in October to this beautiful...

Sometimes you don't realise you need a break until you're sat on a beach in the sunshine, thinking thank goodness . This was me las...

I'm in a retrospective mood. December is a month for sorting through our photos and thinking about the year that has passed. It's n...

I'm feeling happy today. Naturally, I'm unable to be happy without taking time to analyse  why . This is the ideal state we all aspi...

Hubby and I nipped out for a walk first thing yesterday morning. The mist hung over the green hills of Turville while the sunlight was so pi...

The first time I ever sampled sourdough, I was at a business lunch with a contact in New York during the late 1990s. Mid-conversation, sitti...

The depressing thing about getting old er is that you'll never be young again. Yes, an obvious point (but bear with me). I look in the ...

We got our letter from Boris yesterday. Poor man - I'm sure he didn't imagine he'd end up in hospital himself when he was sittin...

So it's Day One of social isolation. I feel like I can hear the Big Brother voiceover ringing in my ears, giving a running commentary o...

What strange times we live in. I walked into a petrol station yesterday to fill up my car and got terribly excited when I noticed multiple p...

It turned out to be quite an eventful holiday. At the beginning of half term, as I finished zipping up the suitcases  and disposing of the d...

This one is about friendship. The long-lasting kind. I've just got back from a reunion weekend with my university besties and I'm st...

As I watched my son lope off to catch his school bus this morning, I shed a tear. It was a discreet tear alone in the car - a quiet acknowle...

Gratuitous picture of dogs... I was walking the dog this fine morning when we encountered a cockapoo bounding towards us. It was the epi...

When the sun comes out at this time of year, I want to lie outside and soak up rays like a solar battery. This year, I got an early charge w...

Christmas is an elaborate production. The sheer brilliance of it is that everyone collaborates in one way or another - whether that's bu...

Something struck me the other day. I could be halfway through my life (assuming there are no unforeseen accidents). Not so long ago, I celeb...

Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz Credit: William Lam When I was a career gal, I worked in New York for about 18 months during th...

Fan -tastic for staying cool on the sit! Hot, hot, hot... This is summer,    someone told me the other day, so let's stop calling it...

There is something about navigating through water in a small vessel that has come to symbolise our struggle as human beings. The concept of ...