a gift for Buffy...or the kindness of people you haven't yet met

A few weeks ago after I posted a picture of the vampire slayer with her infamous red luggage tag hanging around her neck, Rachael of the beautiful blog A Room for Everyone emailed and said she could stand it no longer and was buying Buffy a new tag. I said "Really? You really want to do that? She's a horrible cat you know!" or words to that effect.
But sure enough, this wonderful, generous, kind hearted blogging friend did just that! And it's Buffy bling...and I love it to bits! And just quietly I think the slayer does too :)

Here she is modelling her gorgeous new tag (and of course I had to go and get her a new collar befitting of the glamour, as the other one was decidedly tatty)

And Rachael also included a lovely, gorgeously wrapped and very thoughtful gift for me...

...a beautiful handmade notebook which will be put to very good use. Oh yes it certainly will.
So thank you Rachael...your kindness and generosity has overwhelmed me.
And thank-you...all of you...for the most wonderful 10 months of blogging friendship. I continue to be amazed by your genuine interest in others, your care and concern when things go pear shaped, your willingness to support and nurture ideas or dreams. The things you write, make, bake and create are a constant source of inspiration...I want to be just like all of you when I grow up :)
I'm going to walk away from the computer for a little while now while I'm in Newcastle with my parents, but I'll see you sometime in the New Year. So I'll let Ben's wonderful graphic say...

Love to you and yours from me and mine. And if you're travelling...stay safe xx

soul food friday ~ from a daughter to her mum

It was my birthday a few weeks ago. I'm big on birthdays. Much more so than other celebrations. The first born posted these to me...

does anyone else have trouble making the bed since they started blogging?

Gifts from Jess have a special meaning for me for a number of reasons. They signify how well she knows me. How much she 'gets' me. How generous and thoughtful she is in the gift giving stakes. I like to think she gets that from me! 

I bet Sibella knits dishcloths!

But it's much more than that...it's about a relationship between a mother and a daughter that is everything I had hoped it would be. It hasn't been all smooth sailing...what relationship is? But it's wonderful now. Close. 

A very different relationship to the one I have with my own mother I'm sad to say, even though I know the love is there.

There has been a lot written about mothers and daughters and I have heard it described as life's most profound bond. I am inclined to agree. If not that, then I think it is certainly the most complex of relationships. Because what daughter (and I of course speak as one) doesn't want her mother's love, support, admiration and respect? In a way that is different from wanting that from others.

Which is not to belittle or relegate the mother-son relationship...because I have one of those as well...it's just a different one, but that's for another post.

I read somewhere the other day a description of the mother-daughter relationship that likens it to being on a rollercoaster - the big, scary kind that you're able to see from the next town over and whose passengers can be heard shrieking from miles away! 

I kind of like that: a little bit scary, exciting, fun, exhilarating...and the screaming comes from joy not anger...

I came across the speech I gave at the first born's 21st the other day, in which I offer sage advice...of course! And where I state publicly how beautiful, brave, smart and funny she is...because I never said that enough when she was growing up. The fact that I didn't have that said to me was no excuse. But the reality is, the most precious gifts that Jess has given me are these: she's taught me a great deal about being a mother, a woman, a parent, and a daughter. I think it's meant to be the other way around, but she is one wise young woman and I pay attention. Beautiful inside and out.

So thank you for these wonderful 'totally me'...and yes, extremely blogworthy gifts my darling girl! 

now that Jeeves is in the house I hope he irons the teatowels and makes the bed!

And thank you especially for the gift of your love, and your friendship. And for sending me texts that say you miss me! I'm very lucky to have you (and your brother of course...but this is about daughters!)
all images from we heart it; except pictures of the gifts which I took, and the last which I nicked from Jess's facebook profile (see, she even lets me be a FB friend...I must have done something right!)