Mrs Birks Blogs

It's been almost a year since I wrote my last blog post.  I was in a particularly dark place thinking about Jon's birthday at the time.  He should have been 50; he wasn't.  Now, in the blink of an eye, he would almost be 51.  Anyway, this post is going to be more positive.  That's not to say that the pain of losing my favourite person (my 'heart's best treasure') has gone away but we have learned to live with it and life has continued albeit in a sort of small, half life, kind of way.  I described myself as 'being over the worst' to a friend the other day and she gave me a look which said 'don't be silly'.  I guess I meant that things aren't quite so raw.  That there is some sort of new normality that we have settled into and even though I hate being without Jon, I am still here and my children are safe and well.  That is something to be very grateful for. A lot has changed in the last year.  Robin, the Cavalier King Charles we got th...

Dear Jon, Last night when I couldn't sleep I started thinking about writing to you.  Tomorrow will be your 50th birthday and of all the 'anniversaries' since your death, this one seems particularly hard.  You were always better at writing the soppy stuff than me.  Even though your handwriting and spelling was terrible, you always used to write the loveliest messages to me in birthday and anniversary cards.  I write the occasional blog, but you were always so much better at expressing your love for me and the children in writing.   I wish I had trusted that love more. When I read those cards back now, I can see that your love was constant and uncomplicated.  You were proud to be my husband and proud to be a father.   I wish I had seen that and just enjoyed it.  I was wrapped up in the everyday and I was insecure.  I questioned our relationship.  I didn't need to.   You loved me the way that I am, you chose me, you liked me...

I didn't really want to write this post and have been putting it off for ages but I feel I must finish our cancer story which ends pretty much in the way you'd expect.  Mr Birks has gone.  'Gone' is a pretty rubbish way to put it considering my last post which mentioned the language of cancer but there's no easy way to say that someone has died.  6 months after diagnosis and 6 weeks after writing my previous blog post, Jonathan Birks, the funniest man in the world, died in the Tapping House Hospice, Norfolk. We never did get our pain free time in the end.  Although Jon always claimed it was more discomfort than pain, he wasn't able to sit properly or sleep or eat, it completely restricted his life and took the joy out of everything.  He went from being relatively mobile to unable to get out of bed by himself very quickly and his final deterioration was shockingly quick.  If you've never seen death close up, like I hadn't, every little change comes as a...

I haven't posted on my blog for quite some time and it's not just because of my usual tardiness.  I usually post about nice things on here, things I enjoy, things that make me happy but since my husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer it has been hard to find anything that brings me joy. When my husband told me that he had found a lump, my first reaction was 'I hope it's not cancer'.  His Mum and Dad both died of cancer a few years previously and within one year of each other, so in our family cancer means death.  No survivors, no fighters who have won, just beautiful people that have left us too early.  When he went for his second biopsy, I knew it was cancer.  By this time, my optimism that it could be something else had disappeared and I was beginning to think through practicalities - How would he cope with treatment?  How would he eat?  How would he talk?  Even with our experiences of cancer, I still hadn't faced the idea that he might di...

Looking back over this blog, I find it VERY difficult to believe that I have never written about Harry Potter before.  In fact, I did start writing a post last year but looking back it only contained one sentence, so no wonder I didn't post it! Anyway, the daughter and I are HUGE fans of Harry Potter.  I couldn't wait until she was old enough to 'get into' Potter and now she is like a walking encyclopedia.  We have loads of the books - original, illustrated and Kindle in Motion version, plus house colours (Ravenclaw) and an American Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I have a Hogwarts and Slytherin 'goblet' from the original WB store and we were given the original Lego Hogwarts and Hagrid's Hut.  As I write this, I'm in my Hogwarts hoodie and I'm being to see how obsessed we seem... But before this turns into a list of stuff, this post is all about indulging in your Potter addiction by visiting some of the best Potter attractions.  Now h...

Everyone knows that I do like a bit of upcycling.  In fact recently, we upcycled our very old and very grotty Ikea table.  I mention that it's an Ikea one so that you all know that I didn't destroy a fantastic, retro piece of furniture with glue and paint.  It was already a grotty looking thing that had started yellowing pretty badly, so we had nothing to lose by upcycling in a slightly experimental way. When we cleared out my in-laws house we kept some of their old maps - I had a vague notion of doing something crafty with them.  What we hadn't noticed when Barbara and Nick were alive was that everytime we had moved house (and we have moved house a lot) they had bought an Ordnance Survey map of that area.  The husband and I were both really touched by this, so the maps felt even more special and we thought we might want some of them 'out' to look at.  Queue perfect marriage of table that needs a tidy up and maps of special places we have been. I p...

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich is a fab day out for families and it's free!  With two lovely children's galleries and an interactive map that kids can navigate using an iPad, there's plenty to see and do before heading off to the cafe for tea and cake or better still, down the road for some pie and mash at Goddards. But it's not all about the kids.  This week I enjoyed a photography exhibition called 'The Great British Seaside:  Photography from the 1960s to the Present.  The exhibition featured images from Tony Ray-Jones, David Hurd, Martin Parr and Simon Roberts. I have loved Martin Parr's work since teaching a little bit of A Level Photography a few years ago and there is something about street/beach photography that I find completely engaging.  I didn't know much about the other photographers but I think I was most taken with the work of Tony Ray-Jones.  In his short career, he travelled to beaches around the UK to capture 'the sa...

I loved watching Nadiya's British Food Adventure last year and after several weeks thinking 'I don't need another cookbook' I gave in and finally bought it (it was probably the crisp and chocolate peanut tart that persuaded me)  Since then, I've looked at it with a drooling mouth but not actually cooked anything. Until now... I needed a recipe to christen my new Bundt tin and remembered seeing one in the book called 'Caramelized White Chocolate and Hazelnut Bundt Cake'.  Now, for those not in the know, caramelised white chocolate has the brand name Caramac, a super sweet light brown chocolate that you might remember from childhood.  It can be a little difficult to get hold of, you'll find that not all the supermarkets stock it and if they do, it can be a bit pricey because it's not available in a large size.  Anyway, with this in mind, I headed to Tesco to buy the ingredients, not completely convinced I would be able to get everything but ver...

As I said in my previous post, I was a very lucky girl at Christmas (thank you friends and family). Aside from paper cutting stuff, my husband and I were given afternoon tea for two at The Shard - Aqua Shard to be precise (I think there are other restaurants there).  At £45 per person, it was a very generous gift, so we decided to make the most of it and also booked to go to a show while we were in fancy London Town. Our tea was booked for 5pm - possibly a bit late for a dull Saturday in January but having seen the London skyline during the day at the Sky Garden a few years ago (top recommendation for free things to do in London) I was quite keen to see the Skyline at night. It didn’t disappoint! The lights made London look magical and we had a great view having been sat by the window.  The darkness inside the building meant that you could see out really well, although at times it was difficult to see what was on the table in front of you! Now the lovely people that ...

I was a very lucky girl this year because my Secret Santa bought me a book about Paper Cutting.  I had admired paper cutting at the Norwich Makers Market earlier in the year and somehow my Secret Santa found out - be warned boys and girls, Santa is watching. There is not a lot that I like more than a cheap craft and papercutting has got to be one of the cheapest I've encountered.  All you need is a cutting mat, a scalpel and blades and some nice paper/card.  As a beginner, I know very little about the weights of paper or the different shapes of scalpel blade but my new book by Paper Panda is full of tips and ideas...not to mention designs and templates. Each design in the book is graded with scalpels to give you an idea of its difficulty.  I chose the easiest, then taped the design to my cutting mat and was away. My first few cuts are shown above.  I have since read that it is better not to push out your cuts until later in the process as the paper ...

As readers of this blog will know, I have developed a thing for afternoon tea.  So when a 'Pan-Asian Afternoon Tea' with 2 hours of unlimited Prosecco came up on Wowcher, I was the first in line, debit card in hand.  The price was £34 for two instead of £71 - bargain, I thought but I've since learned that you get what you pay for! I had never been to Gilgamesh in Camden but had walked past it and read about it online.  I was keen to try out a restaurant that sounded a little bit glamorous and the pan asian twist of a Great British classic was really tempting.  My last afternoon tea was amazing (read about it here ) and had set the standard incredibly high but I was not expecting the same, just something a bit different. To start with, booking was actually quite hard.  I tried several different Saturday slots but each time was told they were fully booked.  No matter I thought (I had left it until the last minute) I will try a week day in half term. ...

It is a long time since I subscribed to the Crafty Creatives boxes, mainly because I was struggling to craft and commit to my full time job (I know which I'd rather do!).  So it was with excitement that I jumped at the chance to review a subscription box when I saw the opportunity on Twitter.  The boxes have changed since I last received one but I was still full of excitement when I saw the following tape on a big brown package. What spoilt the surprise of what was inside was the other picture on the box which revealed the kit inside.  I say spoilt but of course it didn't really, I was excited to see what the little felt creatures would look like and what the kit would contain.  Plus who can be disappointed with craft stuff arriving through the post and with the added bonus that everything you need is inside, with nice clear designs. I started the kit a few days later at 'Craft Club' - our attempt at work to relax and catch up once a week during lunchtime...

This summer we finally got around to defrosting the freezer (oh the glamour!) and, in an attempt to do my part, I decided to use up the frozen damsons that had been in there for I don't know how long (I could guess but I'm too scared to!)Anyway, jam was always on the cards - we have made Damson jam before with some success - I used this simple recipe and using the plate in the fridge test, the set was pretty good.     I also wanted to do something a bit more adventurous though and after a bit of a search, discovered this Damson and Gin sorbet recipe.    We had gin, we had damsons and I also had a Kitchen Aid ice cream churner still in its box from last year when I was lucky enough to get it free with my Kitchen Aid.    A perfect combination! Now with an ice cream maker you do need to freeze them for a long time (15 hours at least) so it's not something you can use spontaneously.    So I put it in the freezer overnight (it only ju...

While Game of Thrones goes from strength to strength (how is this season over already?), what has happened to House of Cards?  The TV drama that changed the way drama is produced and distributed, has gone from gripping, edge of the seat stuff to unbelievable, over-the-top and dissatisfying in one season. Although I didn't always understand the politics, I loved House of Cards from day one and it was one of the reasons we subscribed to Netflix.    As a Media teacher I admired the way it changed the media landscape by putting the control back into the hands of the audience,    allowing them to choose exactly how many episodes (chapters) they watched and when.    It also proved that in a world of short form video, long form drama is still something the audience wants.    With its film star cast and director, it was also responsible for blurring the boundaries between film and television - it's becoming difficult for critics to claim tha...