When my niece Saskia was just 3, she announced in the car one day: ‘I was once a man like you daddy’. We were surprised but not nearly as gobsmacked as when she continued explaining: ‘I was a tramp. I lived in the woods under a pile of leaves. I drank beer. A lot of…
Ms Fix-It
Perhaps it is time to stop trying to fix everything? The last 5 months, since Laura died, I’ve been in a mad dash to sort everything. There is some part of me that wants everything to be OK and in its place probably because I can’t cope with any more loss or uncertainty. I’ve just…
Journey of Souls
OK so I am obsessed with the afterlife. I want to know what happened to Laura, where she is now and if I’ll ever see her again. So I am over the moon about my new book Journey of Souls by Michael Newton. The author spent 30 years hypnotizing 100s of people, getting them to…
Gay Pride
Gay Pride NYC – 2011 Laura and I often joked about hiring a float for the pride parade to celebrate our love. It would have been the most boring float, two ‘gray gardens’ ladies in a giant bed smooching. Our love story played out at the same time as the most extraordinary and historic gay…
How to Mend a Broken Heart?
Glastonbury in Somerset is supposed to sit over the heart chakra of the world. What better place to mend my sad and heavy heart. In 12 days time, after dropping off my parents at Stansted airport (they are headed to Scotland for a wedding), I’m going to borrow their car and drive south to visit…
17th Century Nun’s Prayer
This may be a fake old text (there is some contention surrounding its provenance) but it is still awfully funny, human and apt. Mum and I found it sifting through boxes of stuff from my parents move last summer. Could it be the handiwork of plain-speaking Yorkshire nun Mary Ward (1585-1645) who defied the vatican’s…
Gravity
Tonight I rewatched Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity and understood for the first time why Laura loved it so. I didn’t get it originally. I just thought the acting and special effects were good, but the story was implausible (Sandra Bullock didn’t have one scratch from all the space debris, and those helpful space stations kept materializing…
Farewell Junior
In My Last Summer this week, one of the five terminally ill patients, Junior, suddenly died. He started to bleed profusely from his cancer tumor and his pain shot up so much the hospital told him he was too ill to go out and celebrate his 49th birthday. His fearless partner Sonia ignored the advice,…
Week 2: Reversing High Blood Pressure
This week Mum’s blood pressure has been consistently between 118-132 over 72-80. A drop of over 80 points on the systolic. It is purely the diet, the Resperate breathing technique and a little daily walk. Mum sweetly says it might have to do with me being home for a visit too.
Tootie + Tweets
Brooklyn Museum, Spring 2011
Amaranth, Quinoa & Buckwheat – the Breakfast challenge
Does anyone have a good recipe for cooking amaranth for breakfast? We tried this morning and it was a bit like eating tiny ball bearings. Even soaking it over night didn’t change the texture much. We also tried popping it (as suggested on the packet), which resulted in tiny puffed flecks, like bits of dust….
Laura – Washington Square Park
When Laura was taking photographs, she was in her element. She became so engrossed I could have emigrated and she wouldn’t have noticed. The first photo I took of Laura in Washington Square Park, her favorite park (just a few streets from her home on Gay St). She was entranced by the pigeon man and…
Dancing with Sheep
This weekend Cambridge was a tug of war between May Balls (students cycling about in black tie and ballgowns en route to parties) and a farm fair. We went to the fair and saw a Kiwi shepherd and his dancing sheep. As his bemused sheepdog Misty looked on, the woolly flock mimicked the shepherd’s dance…
Calling You
Every few days I catch myself thinking ‘I should call Laura’. Then I remember I can’t. My first thought when I arrived here was ‘I have to call Laura and tell her I’ve arrived safely’. For a split second it seemed life was normal and she was just home in New York. I guess when…
Week 1: Reversing high blood pressure
Before our Puglia trip, a nurse at mum’s hospital told her: ‘Go on holiday. Don’t worry about your blood pressure. Eat whatever you want’ We all hoped she was right. Mum had a fantastic time eating carefree (gelato, rum babas, pasta, panini, salty prosciutto, potatoes cooked in dripping etc). But the moment we got home…
Soul Love Forever 