Category Archives: Lifestyle

Coming Home

Posted on 18 October 2015 by sheg4184

October. Manila. Home at last to my own bed, my own bathroom, my own aromas. My bruised and battered suitcase unpacked after weeks on the road, my portable wardrobe tossed onto the laundry floor. A glass of wine waiting. From … Continue reading →

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Reconnecting with Nature

Posted on 12 July 2015 by sheg4184

The best thing I have discovered this week about the people of Devonshire is their huge pride in their beautiful, largely rural county. It has been a week of delightful discoveries. At the risk of sounding like a tourist brochure, it … Continue reading →

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Kitchen Table

Posted on 16 June 2015 by sheg4184

Twenty years ago we bought a kitchen table. We bought it in Kuala Lumpur, as our family expanded to five, and it is made from the local rubberwood. Rubberwood is, according to Wikipedia, high quality, hardwood timber with a tight … Continue reading →

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Stop and Smell the Flowers

Posted on 9 June 2015 by sheg4184

“You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”  ~ Walter Hagen It has been unbelievably hot in Manila this past month or more. Every day for weeks … Continue reading →

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Thunder Storms

Posted on 1 June 2015 by sheg4184

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks! ~ William Shakespeare, King Lear The rainy season is almost upon us. Tonight the thunder and lightning pre-empted … Continue reading →

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Recapturing the Ballet

Posted on 30 March 2015 by sheg4184

Ballet classes began when I was seven years old. I loved them.  The teacher placed me in the back row where my lack of co-ordination and heaviness of foot wouldn’t distract the star pupils at the front. I was completely … Continue reading →

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The Scottish Bard

Posted on 6 February 2015 by sheg4184

“Fair and full is your honest, jolly face, great chieftain of the sausage race!                                                     … Continue reading →

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Purging Dr Zeuss

Posted on 23 January 2015 by sheg4184

Remember that children’s book, ‘Are You My Mother’ by P.D. Eastman? It’s that one where the baby bird hatches only to find he is all alone, so he bravely leaps out of the nest, and sets off to find his … Continue reading →

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Tea & Tranquility

Posted on 28 December 2014 by sheg4184

“When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things.”   ~  Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. It is almost Christmas and the streets and shopping malls of Makati … Continue reading →

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Umami: The Fifth Taste

Posted on 19 November 2014 by sheg4184

Salt, sweet, sour, bitter. I am assuming we have known about these four taste categories since Sesame Street was a dirt track through the woods. Each one tells our taste buds about what we are putting in our mouths, and … Continue reading →

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