I have a lot of antique jewellery left over from when my mother tried her hand at being an antique dealer, and ran a little stall in the vintage market Antiquarius in the Kings Road in Chelsea. That was a very exciting and beautiful place and I loved going there to help. There was also […]Read Post ›
We came to Poland a week ago in order to sort out my mother in law’s funeral – she died nine days ago quite suddenly but peacefully in her sleep – originally we were just coming to visit her, but sadly she beat us to it. But this post isn’t going to be about her, […]Read Post ›
I have had this scarf for sixty years. It is one of my oldest and most treasured possessions. But it was not until today that I thought to investigate the writing on it. Thank goodness for the Internet. I discovered that in 1962 there were international skiing championships in Poland. This is what Wikipedia has […]Read Post ›
I had a lovely day today. We went to my youngest daughter’s for a delicious lunch, made by her fiancé – husband to be in two weeks, eek, and accompanied by his mother and uncle and my son. The only person I was sad was not there, was my eldest daughter, but she’s just moved […]Read Post ›
We planted this Camellia over thirty years ago. We chose it because it was supposed to be winter flowering. Our garden in London is tiny and north facing and we thought it would cheer us up. Well, it definitely had a mind of its own. The first few years produced a few desultory blooms and […]Read Post ›
Maja is my one of my oldest and best friends. I have known her since September 1965 when she started going to my school. I knew her father before then, as he worked with my mum, and her brother, Tom, and I knew of her- but had never met her until she started at my […]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 ›
No. Not the band but the area of London. Walthamstow. The Far Eastern end of the Victoria Line. Not difficult to get to from where I live. Ealing. The most western end of the Central Line. But a long way nevertheless. I went in order to make the typical Polish Londoner’s pilgrimage to the William […]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 ›
For the Mhinisteir’s wife Today is the sixth of December. For me the real beginning of the Christmas season. This was the day when good children were given a little present and naughty children a birch rod. One year my mother gave me a rod. It was very small and gilded. Very pretty. But a […]Read Post ›
Life Through Basia's Eyes 