Winter in Pollok Country Park

After more than a decade living in Glasgow, Pollok Country Park to me is still a gem in the city. Before I had a child, I had my allotment there, went running in the large expanse of this urban park with a real country feel to it, or visited the Burrell collection, one of the finest museums of Scotland and possibly the UK. Now, with child, the park still has a magic spell, and never more so than in winter.

Today was a dreich and foggy day, the leafleass trees reaching into the cold and humid winter air. It was one of these Scottish Days where it doesn't truly get light, the dusky feel to the park made it look a little bit mysterious and even exciting. Pollok Country Park is the largest of Glasgow's many parks and, as the name suggest, has a real country feel to it. It's set in the southern edge of the city, about 3 miles from the centre, with the river Cart winding its slow path through it. It is part of the former Pollok estate and thankfully, the family bequeathed the park to the people of Glasgow, and as a consequence, like many museums and attractions in Glasgow, is free of charge.

It is rich in things to do, striking the balance between being a popular destination for a family day and still offering spots for quiet contemplation. In the summer, it hosts Pollok Family Day, a massive event with crafts fair, country living activities and more, in the winter, Pollok House hosts a Victorian style Christmas decoration and the lovely Mrs Claus, as well as horse pulled coach tours.

On ordinary days, Pollok Park invites the visitor to take a stroll along the beautiful banks of the river Cart, woodland walks that take you away from the bustling city. On the way, you will be able to take a very close look at the fluffy Highland cattle, the calves resembling more a lifesize Steiff soft toy than a real animal. There are many picknick places, and the surroundings of Pollok House offer something for the whole family: be it a look at the heavy horses (if you're lucky, you can watch their hooves being cut, all horse care is done in public so that anyone who is there can find out a bit more about the heavy horses), a run through the hedge maze (just the right height for toddlers to get them excited but not frightened), explore the walled gardens, vegetable patches or secret tunnes. There is a waterfall and a countryside rangers centre. At the edges of the park, you'll find two allotment areas and even two golf courses, which gives an idea of the size of the park. There is so much to discover, how about this secret tunnel, shown to me by a toddler (who clearly had better eyes for secret tunnels than me):
One of the attractions of Pollok Country Park is Pollok House, which is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, and thus charges for a visit. However, the cafe is free and allows visitors to explore a Victorian style kitchen and garden, with plenty of original features, a cozy coffeeshop with a beautiful terrace surrounded by a typical English garden. The cafe itself is beautifully maintained, with high quality food and a very pleasant atmosphere. Next to the cafe are two shops which offer typically Scottish and heritage style fare.

The Burrell collection (entry to which is free) must be one of the most extraordinary collections in the UK, if not Europe. William Burrell was an idiosyncratic art collector and gifted the collection to the city of Glasgow, on the condition that a purpose built building would host it away outside of the then rather polluted city. The museum building itself incorporates some of the art, such as arches, stones and stained glass windows, it's spacious and offers views into the woodlands of the park. A stunning building which is family friendly and invites for a short or a long visit. It is serviced by a modern cafe (a nice contrast to the Victorian atmosphere of the cafe at Pollok House) and a gift shop.

Most recently, there has been a big controversy about a proposed Go Ape development in Pollok Country Park. As the park belongs to the people of Glasgow, and Go Ape would have charged a significant amount for use of a large area of the park, there was a furious campaign against the plans. The campaigners managed to ensure that the whole of Pollok Park would remain freely accessible to the people of Glasgow. Since October 2009, Glasgow's first forest kindergarten has opened it's "doors" to pre school children, which in my opinion is an excellent idea. The park truly offers a sense of wilderness and open space, rural history at the doorstep to Scotland's biggest city and is truly a green lung for the city.

Oh, and did I mention the play park next to the Burrell collection? With so much to offer, it is easily missed, however, it is a lovely play park that offers a range of activities for different ages, also set against the backdrop of the beautiful woodlands.

So what does a toddler think of the park? She loves to run through the maze, balance on little walls, visit the heavy horses, see the waterfall, run on the lawn, climb stairs and explore tunnels, she loves being scared of the two stone lions, play chase and throw twigs into the water. She loves the mud, the puddles, the branches, the berries on the hedges, the swing park, the cafe. Her verdict when we had to call it a day: "I want to go home not, please mummy?"

Pollok Country Park is easily accessible by public transport, with direct bus and train connections to Glasgow city centre.

Zimsterne - cinnemon stars

Vanillekipferl aren't the only type of very yummy Christmas biscuit that are popular in Germany. If you read the comments, you'll see that Metropolitan Mum has been busy making Zimtsterne (cinnemon stars) (PS: and beat me to posting a recipe as I found out after I'd written this post). I can only agree that Zimtsterne are rather nice, and yesterday it was time to bake them, toddler help and all.

The good thing about Zimtsterne are that they allow you to use up your spare egg whites from making Vanillekipferl. So they kind of go hand in hand. Zimtsterne weren't made in my home when I was wee, and I still have a lot of respect for them. They involve egg snow (I know, in English that's beaten egg white. But honestly, how much cuter is egg snow? It just needs to be introduced to English). Egg snow scares me, because whatever I make with it, it won't work. And I've tried. I know the theory, just somehow it never works in practice.

Still, not to be discouraged, I went ahead and made them, substituting icing sugar with caster sugar (which may not be such a good idea - the biscuits turned out a bit on the crunchy side). The only shape for cutting out that resembled a star was too big really, not that it matters, but Zimtsterne are smallish and mine look huge. Cubling insisted on other shapes, particularly the flower (not in the Christmas spirit yet?), so we've got Zimtblumen as well. This recipe is even easier than Vanillekipferl (apart from the egg snow bit, but that may just be me).

Here it goes:
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
250 gr icing sugar
300 gr ground almonds
a teaspoon of cinnemon (I used 2, you can never have enough cinnemon)
a bit of grated lemon and a dash or rum (both optional).

Method:
beat the egg white until it becomes very stiff. Add the icing sugar as it becomes stiff, one spoon at a time (Cubling did that).
Add the ground almonds and cinnemon mix slowly and mix carefully.
The dough should be sticky but not runny. If it's runny, add more almonds.
Place the dough on a large piece of food roll, place another piece on top and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 5mm thickness. Remove the top plastic sheet and cut out star shapes, transfer to baking paper line baking tray.
Bake at 150 degrees C for 10-20 minutes (depending on your oven and size of biscuits - with a fan assisted oven and large biscuits it took 13 minutes - the biscuits should be firm from the outside but may still be a tiny bit soft underneath).
If you like, decorate with icing sugar, eithe dry or liquid. Store in an airtight container. Keep for Christmas or give as presents.

This is the half way point of Christmas biscuit baking. Upcoming are Spritzgebaeck and simple, shaped biscuits. Cubling really enjoyed making Zimtsterne, she very delicately cut the shapes and transferred them to the baking tray. Then she finished them off by adding some icing sugar to make them look snowy. I was impressed to say the least. She was better at it with her tiny fingers than me. Above all I'm amazed that she enjoys the baking and is able now to see the whole process through without getting bored.She's growing up, fast.

Rant in the midst of the Christmas spirit

Sometimes, just sometimes, I do need a reliable and affordable postal service. As someone who has friends in various countries, and who occasionally (and admittedly rarer than could be) would like to connect in simple but nice ways with her family and friends beyond the Channel and Irish Sea, I need to use some form of postal service.

So, I put a parcel of little titbits together for a friend of mine. Nothing of great value, just a parcel of goodies that a family of four would enjoy opening up. When I heard the postage cost I thought I'd misheard. Honestly, I had to ask twice to make sure that my ears were in fact working and the poor man in the shop post office hadn't made a mistake. The bill came to 32 quid. I kid you not, that's considerably more than the actual value of the items in the box. I had to decide not to use the service offered, which was embarrassing. Kindly, the guy fiddled about and found that if I repackaged into two parcels of 3 lbs each, I'd only pay half of that. How can that be? I mean, surely, it must be easier to handle one rather than two parcels? I decided to go with the competition, DHL to be precise, who picked up the parcel from my door, and deliver it tracked within 3-5 days for half the cost of Royal Mail. Plus I didn't need to repackage.

At the same time I'm waiting for a parcel from German that was posted well over 2 weeks ago. By airmail. It must be the slowest aeroplane ever. Some people may be able to cycle the distance in that time. What if it was meant for an occasion and arrived too late?

Next, I send a letter with 10 copies of A Hat in Time (have you got your copy yet?) from Glasgow to Edinburgh, for sale at a crafts market. Posted on Wednesday first class (very expensive and yes, ouch, because I still haven't quite recovered the outlay of the print run, and remember, this month I'm broke, so it was a financial risk to start with because I have to sell 3 books just to just recover the postage and production cost). Today, Friday, it hasn't yet arrived. This means I'll lose 50% of potential sale time. We're talking Glasgow to Edinburgh here, I could have driven the books there for the cost of postage.

I've had various incidents of larger items getting lost, within the UK and between EU countries. There was a toddler coat that I bought on ebay which arrived 6 weeks after it was sent, by that time the seller had completed (!) a claim with Royal Mail. I got my coat for free that way, but really, I'd rather pay and get my coat in time.

There are numerous incidents of a red card being left in our letter box and when I drag myself to the depot (which is only open mornings and about 4 miles away), the item was not to be found. Never to appear again. Without any knowledge of who sent it, so I can't even get the sender to claim for a lost item. And I don't even know if it was valuable, a nice gesture or anything else that I'd like to send the sender for.

So I'm seriously considering if I should entrust any Christmas cards to the rubbish service that has become out of Royal Mail. I'm all for supporting them so they can actually stay in business, but there are limits. It really infuriates me that they make it unaffordable to send a little something to people you hardly see, thus undermining the cracked leg that their business stands on. The personal touch of a letter, a parcel, sent from human to human. I'll certainly think twice now about using them at all. That surely can't be in their business interest.

photo credit: theedinburghblog via flickr.com

Oh, what's that smell, could it be?

Yes, it it. The unmistakeable smell of Plaetzchen (biscuits). If there is one thing that reminds me of Christmas time in my childhood, it's this smell. There are some peculiarities in German culture, and this one is a very good example. There is a wealth of amazingly tasty biscuits that every self respecting family will bake in the run-up to Christmas (aka advent), and activity shared with the whole family. It fills every sense, the tactile kneading, the smell, the taste of dough and finished biscuits, the sound of Christmas carols, the sight of stars, moons and every Christmassy shape you can imagine. And somehow, in spite of this being so goody good, we only do it at Christmas. Which is a shame really. Because, arguably, these biscuits are one of the highlights of German cuisine. In my opinion anyway.

When I was a child, this was as good as the only baking we would do during the whole year. Well, there was occasional cake baking, but my mother hated the mess, she hated toddler/child me in the kitchen creating even more mess, and my dad never liked cakes (odd, I know). At the best of times, I was tolerated in the kitchen. Of course those negative kitchen vibes could not come between me and the love of baking Weihnachtsplaetzchen (Christmas cookies), and I would demand it anyway, contributing to a stressed out mood of my mother. Maybe she got stressed because we'd make about 3 or 4 receipes at once, which to be fair is highly stressful and also a tad boring. Biscuit baking is, after all, not a factory line production.

Christmas biscuits were given as presents, everyone seemed to have their personal best and so they were exchanged. Bakeries would sell their own home made biscuits and there were lengthy discussions about which were good and which weren't. It had to taste homemade, and if it didn't, the verdict was crushing.

After a baby induced break from making Christmas biscuits (my spirited daughter, for the past 2 years, did not allow me any opportunity to find the time and relaxed spirit needed to embark on Plaetzchen making and the year before that I was pregnancy-tired), I can proudly declare that 2 3/4 year after baby, I'm back at it.

Tonight I made one of my three all time favourites. They're called Vanille Kipferl, something like vanilla halfmoons in English. Fancy the recipie? Here you go:

Ingredients:
50gr ground almonds
50gr gound hazelnuts
280gr flour (I use self raising)
70gr sugar (I use brown caster sugar)
200gr butter (unsalted if you can get your hand on it, if not, nevermind - I use butter at room temperature, 30 seconds in the microwave does the trick)
2 egg yolks
20 gr vanilla sugar (the one item not to be found in the UK! Don't despair, vanilla sugar is just that, sugar and vanilla. I add a double measure of vanilla essence plus increasing the amount of caster sugar by 20gr)
icing sugar

Method:
Mix everything together (apart from the icing sugar).
Knead into a dough. Wrap dough into aluminium foil and put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Pre-heat the oven to 190 degree C.
Take small portions of the dough and quickly form into a roll the thickness of a big pencil (for this, knead through the portion briefly, then roll on the work surface with a tiny bit of flour).
Cut the roll into 5 cm long pieces and shape into half moons/circles.
Put on a baking tray (either buttered or use baking paper) and bake in the middle of the oven at 190 degree C until golden (7-10 minutes depending on size of your biscuits and whether you have a fan assisted oven or not).
Take out, let cool for a few minutes but not too long (they should still be warm), then roll the biscuits in icing sugar (or vanilla sugar if you can get hold of some).
The biscuits store well in airtight containers.

Watch for toddlers and husbands who may sneakily eat them before Christmas, which of course is absolutely not tolerated. Only breakage may be eaten before Christmas.

Wordless Wednesday: Portrait of Mama and Dada

About two years or so ago, Hot Cross Mum tagged me with this excellent idea: Get your cooperative toddler to depict you in her own artistic way. Oh how excited I was at this fabulous meme (bloggish for chain letter).

Ok, to be fair, it's been "only" almost a month since. I asked Cubling every single day if she'd draw mummy. No luck. "Neee!" she exclaimed in her shaking-head-severely intonation, as if it was at worst an extremely daft or at least a rather peculiar request.

Fast forward to the weekend, and she's doing her infamous circles again. Oh she loves circles. So I ask her if she can do a face. How about one eye. And another eye. A nose maybe? And wouldn't a mouth look good? What about your favourite eyebrowes? Ears, my darling? (that's the lines beside the eyes) And maybe a bit of hair? Great, looking super!!! "Face!" she adds, and with a bold stroke of genius, she adds another circle (clearly, the original circles weren't actually a face).

Who's this, I ask her, (well, I did say "wer ist das?") to which she replied promptly "Auntie R!" My hopes to finally get this meme done are shattered once again.

The following day, I notice another face. No idea when she drew that one, and neither of the other adults present saw her do it, or indeed encouraged her to do it. My little girl is a genius. As granny and grampa arrive, I ask her to tell them who this is. "This mummy, this daddy!", she says, while pointing.

I'm delighted, she's changed her mind and finally, I have my much desired first portrait of mummy (she'd done daddy before, lucky him). Phew. Who thought it could be such an undertaking to get a two year old to comply with a simple request? Please also note that this is drawn with her favourite colour, the one she'll always pick for any kind of painting and drawing, yes, my readers, it's black. Only 2 years and already a Goth. I made the white paper green in Picasa because I felt like a bit of colour, not because mummy is green with envy or sickness.

And I pass this on to Kitschy Coo, Kids Craft and Chaos, Very Bored Housewife and Notes from Lapland in the hope that their kids are a bit more cooperative.

The erosion of childhood

Last week saw me attend two training days on keeping children safe online and educating them to keep themselves safe. The training is provided by CEOP and I can only recommend it. I consider myself reasonable knowledgeable in all things child protection, but the training was an eye opener still. What shocked me most was the realisation of how very young girls are becoming increasingly sexualised, the reasons for this, the risks and the impact on these young girls. Not long ago, Noble Savage blogged about the effects of the sexualisation of girls on boys, and I also revisited my thoughts on Tom Cruise's and Kati Holme's 3 year old daughter Suri wearing a designer wardrobe and, can you believe it, high heel shoes.

Children copy what they see. This Australian short advert which really brings this message home:


So what do children see? Most women they respect and are into are extremely sexualised. They are Christina Aguileras, Hanna Montanas, Katie Prices and many more. The list is endless. Girls/women in magazine, barely alive so famished to fit the size zero aspiration. Metropolitan Mum blogs about it every Monday very poignantly. Now, I've tried to remember what kind of women might have been my role model. Who did I admire when I was, say, 12? Strangely, the women I remember I didn't admire. There was Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Samantha Fox, Bananarama. All sexualised, but I couldn't care less for them. Annie Lennox was someone I admired, but maybe that is in retrospect because it was only later that I developed a deeply rooted respect for her talent. I honestly cannot remember a single woman who might have been a role model for me. My role models were male, for better or worse. So I'm at a loss. I can't relate to the admiration of half naked, unreal looking, orgasmically dancing women that have become the role models of this decade's girls.

The training presented me with many interesting facts. One of the statistics quoted was that 55% of secondary school children felt that their childhood was over. The link to the sexualisation of very young girls isn't proven, but it seems difficult to argue that there is no link. If it's desireable for girls of any age, and I mean from toddler age onwards, to look like a grown women, if they are put into adult clothes that make them look more sexy than cute (high heels anyone?), if they aspire to look like those succesful, rich, have it all women that are barely clad at public events (see that image of Katie Price posing with primary aged kids?) then it's little wonder that by the time they reach 11, children feel their childhood is over.

Instead, our girls are aiming to look like sexy women, boys create Miss Bimbo characters, read glossy mags and pro anorexia sites that tell them they should look like a famished person, that the way to fame, money and happiness is by being thin and sexy. Ask any teenager nowadays what they want to become and it'll be either a singer/actress or a footballer/musician depending on gender. This is the common ground of our children's aspirations. Aspirations which are bound to be crushed, and do not enable their individual talents to flourish. I just cringe at the thought of living in a world of Miss Bimbos.

The problems is exasperated by the fact that adults collude with the sexualisation of young children. Beauty pageants are just one example where adults encourage young children to the extreme to pose as little adults. Children are targeted by the fashion industry and so are their parents. It starts early and gets them hooked good and proper.

Just to be clear - I would never suggest girls shouldn't have the right to choose their clothing or the way they choose to represent themselves. They do, the issue is that they are stereotyping themselves and losing the diversity of personality that they do have. Often, younger girls are just copying their older sisters, and inadvertently, and innocently, equate good looks with sexy looks. The two then become inextricably linked and therein lies the danger. Of course, on the one hand there is the risk that paedophiles see a pouting girl's photo as an open door and that they will groom them. The problem here is the paedophile not the girl. The other danger is that of having the pressure to look sexy imprinted on them as something that is not just desirably, but necessary. Then, there is no choice for the girl.

I take issue particularly with the sense of lost childhood, a childhood that ends early because of the desire to be an adult, to be sexy, attractive and desired. As a mother to a girl, I'm worried. I wish for her to be carefree, to not have to feel pressurised into any kind of behaviour, by her peers or the society we live in. I want her childhood to last as long as possible, I wish for her to be free and able to choose what is good for her and makes her grow as a person. I want her to be a child for as long as she can. The thing is, childhood is short and precious, and adulthood is long enough.

Something I made earlier

I've been slacking a little bit in the card making department. For the last few years, incredibly, I managed to make almost every card that left our house. Not so this year - somehow, knitting took over. It could also have something to do with my reluctance to sitting in the dining room in the evening rather than the living room (where there is no suitable surface for making cards). The decision was made to give Christmas cards a miss for this year, but to at least attempt to get back into personalised card making for other occasions.

Baby Roisin and Baby no-name-yet finally gave me the kick in the Popo that I'd been waiting for. So, the other night, while my beloved was busy writing Christmas cards, I made few new baby cards. They are simple to make and the techniques are self explanatory. I'm not a card artist, just someone who enjoys crafting here and there, and who enjoys to personalise cards that little bit. The cards I make are simple, and I expect that anyone can create something similar (or even better).

I use plain coloured card stock in various sizes which can be purchased at almost every arts and craft shop (Millers and The Art Shop in Glasgow, Hobbycraft in the Fort in Easterhouse/Glasgow, and in Cardwell Garden Centre in Gourock which has a great crafts shop). I tend to go for the cheapest option (usually it comes as 50 cards and envelopes, the quality is decent and much cheaper than the lower quantity options - I find that I use white and ivory most, with red and green card stock for Christmas cards). I also have a supply of toppers and a selection of different type of card, fabric, stamps and pens to colour in, beads and any other decoration you can get your hands on. Ikea currently does very cheap scrapbooking sets which can also be used for decorating. Children's craft scissors are great for unusual edgings. Or you can rip hand made paper to great effect. Finally, I use letter stickers to personalise the card once baby is born and the name is known.

So six cheers for last week's two babies.

Money saving tips for Christmas

Is anyone else broke? I am. Big time. I never knew how much holidays to warm places can cost and used to backpacking really. So here we are, two thirds down the Christmas present hunt, only the start of December, no credit card (out of principle, I don't do credit cards) and slightly unsure of how to manage the rest of the month. I don't blame Christmas or the holiday we booked (we need it, and haven't been on a holiday since our honeymoon so we kinda deserve it), really and truly I blame the housing market. Or the combination of the three. I wouldn't be broke if my lovely flat would only sell - and if I hadn't renovated it (which I did so it would sell) and hadn't had a home report done for it (which I did, you guessed it, so it would sell).

So, from now until the ominous sale of the flat, we have to go on money saving setting.

I'm sure I'm not the only one scratching at the bottom of their purses, and why not share some top money saving tips? So here are my top 10 and it be great if you could share yours in the comment box below.

1. Find a better deal on your insurance(s) (I saved 100 quid today just on home insurance, no bad eh?)
2. Send e-cards instead of real Christmas cards. Good for the environment too
3. Recycle old Christmas cards to make new ones or for name tags.
4. Be creative with food. Cook from scratch and get better at buying just what you need, and use what you've got before buying new food so it doesn't end in the bin (tip courtesy of Zooarchaeologist over at Being a Mummy).
5. Don't eat in cafes or restaurants. Take snacks with you and eat at home. Cruel but really, how much do cafe's charge for food and drink? I can get a pound bag of coffee for the price of just one latte.
6. Make presents instead of buying them. Seriously, people have so much stuff that most presents end up in the next charity shop anyway so why not make something that is personal - surely those presents won't get chucked out a week after Christmas. Some of my do it yourself ideas: home made photo calendar with a bit of scrapbooking, home made Christmas cookies, home sewn and knitted bits and bobs for the house, handmade Christmas decoration.
7. Declutter your home and sell old stuff on ebay, give it away on freecycle or to charity shops. It's satisfying, you can breathe again in your home and you may even make some money. And if you don't make money, you make someone happy. Even better.
8. Head over to Violet Posy's Thrifty Christmas. Great ideas for presents (see 6.)
9. Turn light and heating off in the rooms you're not in. Don't have heating come on timed, just switch it on as you come in. Turn it down if you get too hot in the late evening. In fact, turn the temperature setting down a bit. Turn off your chargers and other items on standby when not used.
   
10. Don't get your roof repaired or your plumbing fixed. OK, I'm joking, but I'm getting ever so slightly used to having water come in through roof, ceiling, walls, into and out of cupboards, having overflowing baths and sinks. Our drains seem to have decided to let water in rather than out, when it rains. It rains a lot in Western Scotland. But that's another story. Cubling's comment: Need Bob the Builder come fix it! We got Ronnie the Plumber, Bob was busy).

Above all, I hope you can join me in appreciating the things we do have a little bit more every day. Like Cubling's infectious giggle when Mr Tickle is running for her, or her delight in being scared of Daddysaurus. And, in spite of being broke, I'm so looking forward to the holiday I can't really afford because I can't wait to see Cubling find out about sandy beaches and the sea without freezing her toes off.

Any more tips? Please do share!

Craft Advent Calendar

I had an idea. It doesn't happen a lot, so if it happens, I get all excited.
Inspired by Violet Posy's Thrifty Christmas, and today being the first day of December, it occurred to me how nice it would be to have one little Christmassy craft project for children for each day of December. A sort of Craft Advent Calendar.

So, I'm inviting all you fellow bloggers who have Christmassy craft ideas to blog about them and add the link to this post, and hopefully together we'll be able to create a unique crafty advent calendar which we can all draw inspiration from.

Are you up for it? Consider yourself tagged!

Let's bid for Cumbria!

I'm sure anyone in the mummy blogging world already knows about this but on the off chance that anyone reads this who doesn't follow me on twitter, who isn't a mummy blogger and who isn't my friend on facebook, and who's actually not heard about it, I absolutly need to tell you about this wonderful initiative:

Kat of Housewife Confidential came up with the amazing idea of raising funds for the Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund by mobilising the British Mummy Blogging Network and got together donations of amazing auction items, donation of a website hosting the auction and another one putting it all together, and the support of the blogging community and their social networking power.

Since yesterday, the auction has been life. It'll run until Sunday and I'm sure there'll be something for anyone to bid for. Having been a bit of a headless chicken recently, I totally missed the deadline for contributing a lot, and never managed to touch base with the two PR contacts I've got (I'll never get the PR business sorted, not my cup cake I suppose), so I've been a bit of a numpty for supporting this amazing initiative.

So, my meagre contribution are two hand knitted baby and toddler hats. They're not meagre though, because really, they are luvly. They are the one and only Baby Kate hat, knitted as samples for A Hat in Time by no-one less than their designer, Lisa S Rowe. The toddler hat will fit appr. an 18-30 month old and comes in a lovely shade of olive green. The other one is an baby hat in soft and snugly rosey-pink. Both are knit in the softest yarn you could imagine.

I think they may go into the raffle, or be late items for the auction (did I say I was late? Doh!).

Finally, just to give you a sense of what it's like to be flooded, please could you read this blog post. I really can't put it any better than this blogger. Just go there. Read. Then go to the auction bid, donate, support the Flood Recovery Fund. Thank you.