Angel Jem's City Cottage

I have three children; two boys and a girl. It took me until last (cold) winter to get any of the lads to drink any warm drink and even then it was hot tomato soup in a mug because, "Hey, Mum, it's a food, not a drink." But my daughter is a mini-me. If I do something it must be good. If I swear, it must be allowed, if I wear my jimjams to put out the bins then, hey, wearing jimjams all day must be good. Actually I let them away with that at least once every holiday, although it's really more a winter activity (or lack of) than a summer one, when the sun shines and getting outside is the best course of action. But I digress. My mini-me does what I do. And this year that has included drinking tea. Chai, Earl Grey or Assam, she doesn't mind (although Earl Grey is her favourite) She loves tea shops and mugs of the hot nectar and just acting like her heroine. (at the moment, as a Hama making Mama that's me; but I know one day it will be someone else)...

My friend has been and gone. She visited for 5 days and then moved on. And what a good time we had! This is my friend Karin. I've known her since we were 13. She stayed at our house as part of a cultural exchange visit between two bands. Our St Helens band used to go to Germany and the Handharmonika Spielring used to visit St Helens. This is a picture of St Helens. This is a picture of Holzminden. Go figure who had the best side of the deal. But we wrote to each other and kept meeting up through visits and trips. Karin worked in Middlesborough for 15 months and we kept meeting up in Durham. Sometimes we didn't keep in touch.... at all. I'm sorry for the missed time. Sometimes all we did was a Christmas card or a short email. But when we get together we know we're friends. And we talk.... a lot..... drink tea and coffee..... go places ("No museums. The only culture I need is a cafe culture.") And when the stay is over it hasn't been too l...