about me

I started my first little blog back in 2008. You can find it here. I had grand plans for my tiny little garden, and wanted somewhere to put photos and keep track of what I’d done.

I thought I’d look at it, and maybe my mother too.

Time went by, and I posted photos of the garden, and of little adventures I went on, and things I’d made. And lots of tea and cake. Slowly, other people started reading too.

Having my little blog motivated me to do other things while I was finishing my phd. I started sewing more, and baking more, and heading off on more little adventures. I said ‘yes’ to more cheery things.

Then, in August 2011, we went and stayed with the lovely Fay, and I found myself longing, yet again, to live in Orkney, with the sea, and the space, and to have chickens, and a big garden, and be out in the countryside…

We talked about our lives, and I found myself, at first desperately, and then enthusiastically, listing all the things I love about where I live. I love it that I can walk for ten minutes and be in fields with views over the hills. I love it that I can walk to a mainline train station in 40 minutes. I don’t have to use my car. We can buy local food easily, and can dream up pretty much any hare brained scheme and be sure that someone nearby will be interested in it to. Lots of our friends live within about four miles – the perfect distance for an impromptu breakfast in a cafe, Sunday lunch, or soup and knitting on a cold autumn night.

I felt rather more cheerful about living here after thinking about all that. It felt like the right time for a bit of a change of virtual scenery, and a change of name.

So here we are, with the picnic basket packed, all ready for a new blogging adventure. There will be tea, of course. And adventures in finding more local food, my half baked attempts to grow things in our tiny city garden, cheerily botched sewing projects, dancing, and a fair bit of daydreaming in cafes. A healthy mix of simple living, frugal living, ordinary-and-extraordinary living – a cheerful living adventure.