Mrs Birks Blogs

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 ...