No longer with us, my father loved a Christmas hat. With embellishments. I used to find it really irritating. Now I miss it. He was the most intensely social being. When I was tiny I can remember people frequently coming round to our flat in Talgarth Road to play bridge or hearts or just for […]Read Post ›
21st May 2022 A few weeks ago I received this invitation to attend a book launch and exhibition of ceramics, both by the artist Elizabeth Stanhope, as she is known in English speaking circles. I have written about her before, when I was writing a profile of her for the Polish Ball, to which she […]Read Post ›
I received this book last Friday. Every spare moment this weekend was spent reading it – I finally finished it this morning. A fascinating insight into the mind and mores of a man whose life and experiences could not be more different from my own. Time, place, customs and the law all played their part […]Read Post ›
I fortuitously found this article on my desktop today. I somehow could not move it or delete it – I was trying to declutter, and so in the end I thought I would post it here, where it should be safe, at least. In my mother’s own words, a short article she was asked to […]Read Post ›
This was the title of the book that my father gave me to read which explained how he and his family, amongst many thousands of others, were “liberated” from their homes in February to April 1940, for being “enemies of the people”. The weeks before had seen the breadwinners being taken off and imprisoned and […]Read Post ›
by and for MD Finally Meeting Mum by Mike Daligan is a tome that lifts the spirits and shows you how it is possible to come to terms with whatever life throws at you. This delightful book is very hard to categorise. It starts off with a poem – a beautiful paean to mothers everywhere […]Read Post ›
for CE What an amazing book! A very moving book. Complicated in structure at first – I had to start it over again a few times before I finally got the hang of it – that’s what happens when you have a book in every room and pick them up at random. Anyway last week […]Read Post ›
Lili Stern-Pohlmann MBE 29 March 1930 – 15 September 2021 This is the last photo that Lili sent to me the Christmas before she died. Lili was a Holocaust survivor whose history is well documented. it is well worth clicking on this link: https://www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk/RefugeeVoices/Lili-Pohlmann She died suddenly last September and there is now a great […]Read Post ›
Packing away my grandmother’s spectacles I came across this piece of embroidery. My father had obviously packed away her things when she died and gave them to me many years later. But I never really looked closely until now. I remember this cushion and I always knew she had embroidered it. There were some others […]Read Post ›
Today is the winter solstice. Only 8 point something hours of sunlight – but actually that would be a lot more than on other days if we actually had some sunlight. Luckily I’m not a farmer and don’t have to work outside. The weather usually actually makes no difference to me whatsoever. Except rain. I […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 