Puddle watching..

Our walk home from a friend's this morning provided ample opportunities for puddle watching. I liked the patterns in a kerbside one… there were some great concentric circles forming round the drops. I couldn't catch the moment though as cars were speeding by causing ripples… another time. I finally took a photo of the fresh fish sign blackboards that I always see and take for granted. Reminds me I must do more chalking.

We all got nicely damp and then home to the warm..

The view from my room beckons us out..

A lovely sunny morning and the view from my window shows the sky a bright blue and the sea a twinkling aqua. A crunch on the beach is calling… they're planning a roller blade (them not me ;-( ) down to the open air ice rink for a look in (prob be too packed/pricey to join)… then of to a friend's Pop-up Playspace in an empty carpet showroom. Inflatable hockey, igloos, snowball fights, Narnia room, dressing up and screen printing workshops.. how fantastic is that! Hope I get a go at creating an artwork!

I LOVE half term and today my desire to be in pyjamas for most of the morning has won out. Pecan cereal, latte, orange and mango juice.. some emails… some phone calls… a game of guess who… no cares about the dishes today we care about our wishes… those being time with each other, creating, singing, dancing, playing, throwing, catching, running, laughing…

Best get on with it then ….. x

(the view from my room also shows the embroidered organza layer from my wedding dress that is now acting as a pretty net curtain.)

A little bit of joy and a whole lotta love is around everyday..

My weekend was all it was cracked up to be which was marvellous! We had a lovely day at the Disco with lots of happy little dancers in their best sparkly clothes.

The alarm clock made my 4yr old shriek with laughter again and again which alone seemed to justify the £4 spent! We all got to bed late on Sunday and so I set it for 8am, fairly civilised, we'd all be more or less awake by then anyway… We sort of were, yet the lady saying 'I love you I love you I love you..' made Holly pull the duvet over her head shouting 'I know' (as if it was me going on) and Tom appeared from his room looking bleary saying 'who's doing all that loving?'… which made me shriek with laughter.

I'm delighted with my hearty treasures and smiling with gratitude every time I see them. I had to photograph each one so I could share them with YOU too. Whoever you are. Just shows you that for a total spend of £12 you can have all this joy around you every day, the champagne and chocolates would have long been and gone.

Tom's been a little bundle of fun today as always. Some classic lines include describing an episode of Spongebob by saying the character had a special thing to count the beats of the music called an electric gnome!! He asked me tonight if I was going to have April syrup on my pancakes tomorrow, and then offered me a head massage which involved him rubbing his head against mine! Not as relaxing as I expected, but very very funny. Night night all. xxx

In Celebration of Love and Friendship

Another late spot of night owl me time. VERY excited today as my favorite celebration, possibly of the year is so close I can taste it. I LOVE anything celebrating love so Valentine's is quite heavenly for me. I usually manage to steer clear of the red roses, chocolates, Hallmark cards thing. For as long as I can remember I've made cards and often presents too. I have to confess to buying myself the odd treat too! One year a sparkly purse, today some ramekins (£1.25 each from Burts Homewares in Hove)! Can't wait to try some raspberry creme brulee in those, my hubbie makes the best I've ever tasted, I swear the restaurant efforts pale in comparision. I hadn't realised it was served cold as his was always fresh and warm so anything else just doesn't seem right. I also got the BEST EVER alarm clock. I HATE alarm clocks, but this.. well I'll add a picture and just say it speaks... it says 'I Love You'.. what better way to wake up! - even if it is an American woman-machine voice. I got my son a love hearts and kisses rubik cube in the £1 shop, and my daughter heart rubber and hairbands.. for Sarah a heart candle (£1), for Nadia a woven phone case (75p), and Lilla a necklace (50p). Amazing bargains and gifts to be treasured. I'm showering one and all with little tokens of affection and it feels great.

Tomorrow I am hosting the Brighton Valentine's Special event of the National Phenomenon Baby Loves Disco. SO excited about that too. We've nearly sold out the 250 capacity venue of the Komedia in Gardner Street. Great team to work with, big up Nadia, Lilla, Sarah, Mark, Lisa, Claire, Gemma and all. Looking forward to moving and grooving to some top 80s disco faves. Gonna be so so fab. To quote Corrine Bailey Rae, 'go put your records on, sing me your favorite song, just go ahead let your hair down!' Big kisses everyone XXXXXXXXXXXX

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head and keep helping me grow..

Another connection to this subject is the fact one of my earliest memories is of a bright yellow music box attached to my cot with a pull cord that played Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head.

This image rather neatly segued me from that raindrop theme onto one of my other favorite topical topics, Valentine's or Día del Amor y la Amistad (Day of Love and Friendship) as they say in Mexico.

I am in love with love and almost anything hearty so lots on this subject maybe following this week!

More in praise of raindrops ..

Tom and I loved the mosaic like rainbow patterns created by oil on the pavement.

Any Umbrellas?

My Dad used to sing this to me as a child... LOVE IT.. these great jazz legends have so much humour and pizazz they can't fail to make you smile! :-) - check those dimples and eye crinkles.

Why Magpie?

So, in blogland you're required to have a nickname it seems….

Magpie is a name I created for an imaginary design company I was required to draw a logo for when studying design in Dublin in the 90s - perhaps I'll try and dig it out and resurrect it. Things I like about the name Magpie - it has my name in it (Mags) and the homeliness of pie!

Facts about Magpies I like and relate to: they and the rest of their family are fond of bright objects. When Magpies pass each other in open country, they command attention by rapidly moving their wings and chattering.The magpie is one of a small number of species, and the only non-mammal, capable of recognizing itself in a mirror! Magpies are territorial and stay in their territory all year. The pairs are monogamous, and remain together for the duration of their lives. The mating takes place in spring. In the courtship display, the males rapidly raise and depress their head feathers, uplift, open and close their tails like fans, and call in soft tones quite distinct from their usual chatter. Short buoyant flights and chases are part of the courtship. In folklore it was sometimes associated with trouble, maybe because of its tendency to 'steal' shiny objects, and its harsh, chittering call.

Magpie was also the name of the 70s children's tv programme shown which was the 'hipper', version of the Blue Peter. Like me, the show's creator is said to have named the programme Magpie as a reference to the magpie's habit of collecting small items, because of 'mag' being evocative of 'magazine', and 'pie' being evocative of a collection of ingredients.

A collection of ingredients, that's me. x

Hmm... what is a blog? .. Why Singing in the Rain?..

How scarey, my first attempt at a blog... Am I supposed to be brief or am I able to start with a ramble?..

What exactly is a blog? How do I think it might work for me? .... be an outlet for the disparate chatterings I usually bore my friends with by email? I've never been quite sure the purpose of a blog, I'm still not, but hey… ok, so it's an online diary of sorts?.. but where the diary is a place to write in secret a blog is a place to write in public right? I've always loved to write out thoughts and experiences but never managed to keep a regular chronological diary. I've always relied on letters and cards to friends and family to 'tell my story' and for the last 15 years or so prolific daily newsy emails!

I've never really managed to keep a diary, not exactly grasping the point of writing to myself. I once started one in the late 80s, part way into my first job at a National Magazine. I think because so many exciting things were happening I felt I should capture them before I forgot - going to press launches, meeting exciting people…. It was an plain A4 office diary, day to a page, and I remember deciding it would be fun to write what I wore each day at the top! I think maybe what I ate too (usually the same few combinations of sandwich fillings), but that was a far as the Bridget Jones aspect went. It didn't get beyond about March as none of those in the past had done. The only one I managed to discipline myself to follow was the momentous year 2000 which as well as being the millennium landmark in itself was the year of my pregnancy with my first child. The diary more or less wrote itself as it was a love letter to her in a sense. It was a record of the experiences and feelings I had with her in my womb. We knew from the start she was a girl and we knew she would be Holly so to write to her was easy and joyous.

With this I think I need to write with an assumption someone may read it, but with a sense of being quite fine with the fact they may not.

xxx

Why Singing in the Rain?

As well as being the title of one of the best Hollywood musicals it sums up for me the attitude I aspire to, of appreciating the elements of life. I am often irked to hear people moaning about the weather, and the rain seems to get a particularly raw deal. Ok so it's wet, get over it! Get a hood, get a hat, get a mac a jolly brolly… as Billy Connolly said, 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes'. I've grown up in England but am 2nd generation Irish. Consequently I had many childhood summers 'enjoying' drizzle. I can remember sitting in a car at Spanish Point beach in County Clare being too blustered to venture out, or certainly having to quickly retreat to some shelter. I recall going back to the cold holiday home bereft of toys, but I guess it was a family bonding experience, learning together to find ways out of boredom. I've had fantastic days in the rain just as I've had miserable days in the sun.

There's no doubt a bright sunny day with a clear blue sky uplifts, warms and spreads rays of joy to all, but that's not to dismiss the laughter and camaraderie of everyone huddled together in doorways with dripping coats and hair, the splashing in puddles with the kids wearing their funky wellies and best of all the beautiful magical rainbows that if we're lucky can result. Silver linings and pots of gold is the imagery that comes to mind. It's a cliche but Ireland can be so breathtakingly Emerald and here in 'England's green and pleasant land' to quote William Blake we are so quick to dismiss our seasons in favour of year round sunny destinations. On my first trip to the South of France aged 9yrs I was genuinely shocked and dismayed to find there was no grass on our campsite just shrivelled up brown 'hay' and cracked mud.

We are so blessed to live in a country without drought, so I offer you the words of South Africa's wonderful Ladysmith Blackmambazo "rain rain rain rain, beautiful rain, rain rain rain rain, beautiful rain, oh come - you're welcome, oh come - you're welcome, oh come to me, beautiful rain'.