This will hurt me...

A grey old day today, as this photograph will attest. At the moment I am halfway through Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, which I am enjoying - if that is the right word - very much. I will endeavour to put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard?) afterwards and talk a little bit about them, but for the moment the experience has sent me back into the work of the poets of World War One. For whatever reason, this grey sky had me thinking of a poem by Wilfred Owen that I first read maybe twenty years ago, and remains a favourite today. I thought that I would share it. Somehow, the words are even more powerful when you know a little about Owen's life and his eventual fate. Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen It seemed that out of the battle I escaped Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped Through granites which titanic wars had groined. Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned, Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred. Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared ...

Being Monday, today was Pregnastics day again, which meant that Henry and I had to decided what to do for the evening. After a long and vigorous debate (we nearly came to blows), we finally settled on making ANZAC biscuits. That way, Jennifer would have a treat ready when she came home, and also have a bribery option should mini-Mussolini play up tomorrow. Thus, the photo that you see above are the fruits of our labour (minus a few that had to be taste tested prior to the photo session). Some of you would no doubt be very familiar with the ANZAC biscuit, but I would wager than even more are not. For the benefit of those who haven't heard of - or tasted - them, I will give a bit of back story. Even better, I'll give you a 100 percent guaranteed easy peasy recipe! Now, there are a few theories on the origins of ANZAC biscuits, but what we do know is that they emerged in their present form during the First World War. For the REAL beginners, the term 'ANZAC' originated as a...