- The aged parent arrived yesterday. Thanks for all your lovely comments, and I’m sorry I’m so rubbish at replying at the moment; I read every one avidly, but a combination of house-cleaning as if my life depended on it (come to think of it, with grime levels like that, life probably does depend on it!), going to work again, freelance work, website design and general parentingy bits and bats have meant I am spending a goodly portion of each day flapping about headless-chicken-style, and am thus not spending much time online because I know oh-so-well from my PhD days how much time can disappear when one thinks ‘I’ll just have quick look at so-and-so’.

- I have a new love: felted letters, the creation thereof. I am making the witchling a complete set; thus far, we have a heart (not strictly a letter, but, well, the spirit moved moved me, OK?), a capital ‘J’, a capital ‘N’, and a ‘U’.

- Second only to my love of felted letters is the strength of my affection for Ælfric, a corduroy owl I made over the weekend. He is a sprauncy flowery cord, for the most part, with a felted face and wings which crunkle courtesy of having the window from an envelope secreted about his person. He is, of course, destined for the witchling’s little paws, but I confess that handing him over will not be without a struggle, for he is a mighty owl indeed. I may post pictures, in fact, when I am sure that the lure exerted by Etsy, always strong, is not at siren strength, which, given the preponderance of felted goodness currently on display over there, always represents something of a challenge to my buy-nothing-unpaid-maternity-trimester resolution.

- I am weighing up whether or not to pay for a listing on a website which is supposedly the best place for freelancers to advertise; it’s £70 a year, which, while it may not sound substantial, is a lot of money to us at the moment, bearing in mind our financial context – very little income presently, and some big bills going out (water connection, various car things [Quercus has finally bought a replacement for the CX - still-much-missed-but-was-the-right-decision-did-I-mention-the-welding-it-needed; he collects it on Friday, all being well, from the frozen North], and now our arseing fridge, always something of a beast, has decided that coolness is overrated, and, actually, it would quite like a new thermostat, thank you very much), and I’m not going to get paid again until nearly May. That said, Dr. Anna, a very lovely friend from my MA and PhD days, has a listing with said chaps, and frequently bumps work my way as she is snowed under with Proper Academic Work, and thus has little time to, you know, draw breath, let alone take on freelance stuff. So… worth it? Not worth it? Tricky one.

I leave you with news that I recently succeeded in making chocolate cookies so pleasant that I almost wish I hadn’t worked them out; naturally, I shall condemning you all to being as fat as I shall surely be, should I ever make more be sharing the recipe with the world as soon as time permits.