New Official Trailer for Mystical Circles

Watch the new official trailer for  Mystical Circles on my YouTube channel. Directed, produced, filmed and scripted by my daughter Abigail Robinson, who is a Creative Media Production student, it’s been six months in the making, and Abigail has done brilliantly. For those of you living in England, in the deep chill of November, watchContinue reading “New Official Trailer for Mystical Circles”

Why So Many of Us Love Doctor Who

So many children’s bedrooms up and down the UK and around the world must look similar to this one, in our home. In the recent celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the BBC drama series Doctor Who, the question has been posed:  why do you think Doctor Who is so popular? Since everyone in ourContinue reading “Why So Many of Us Love Doctor Who”

A Review of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy

I’m a great  admirer of JK Rowling both as an author, and on a personal level. So when I knew she’d published her first adult novel, I was keen to read it. When I began to read The Casual Vacancy several months ago, I found it a struggle to get through the unrelenting nastiness ofContinue reading “A Review of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy”

200 Years of Australian Art at the Royal Academy: Connections Between Painting and the Spiritual Realm

From indigenous art through to ‘discovery’ by European explorers, this exhibition of Australian paintings at the Royal Academy, London, in November 2013 took me on a journey through the spiritual heart of Australia. As Russell Drysdale said, “In Australia there is a quality of strangeness that you do not find … anywhere else.” Reviews of theContinue reading “200 Years of Australian Art at the Royal Academy: Connections Between Painting and the Spiritual Realm”

Friends At Last: Building Trust in the Animal World

Molly has now overcome her resistance  to the idea of an alien cat in the house with her (albeit her mother) But it took  Willow a little while to overcome her annoyance at her daughter Molly’s initial rejection of her. She spent a few days expressing her annoyance, and trying to exert some discipline. SheContinue reading “Friends At Last: Building Trust in the Animal World”

Mother and Daughter Relationships – Poignant Family Drama in the Animal World

Mother and daughter relationships – a popular trope in TV sitcoms/family sagas/romantic fiction/women in jeopardy/social and romantic comedies and many other stories. And in the last few days my family have been immersed in a poignant drama in our home between a mother and a daughter. A mother who was separated from her little girlContinue reading “Mother and Daughter Relationships – Poignant Family Drama in the Animal World”

Challenging False Ideas of God: The Judge-Who-Could-Never-Be-Pleased, or Perfect Love and Limitless Goodness?

‘”These things are sent to try us.” This is just one among many cliches in the English language that we use without thinking. Yet how often do we stop to realise they are meaningless? Who sends these hard things to ‘try’ us? An almighty sadist in the sky? This  stands as one of the most popularContinue reading “Challenging False Ideas of God: The Judge-Who-Could-Never-Be-Pleased, or Perfect Love and Limitless Goodness?”

What Do We Do About Art? There’s Always a Little Shop At The End

What do we do about art  when we wander around great art galleries and museums? We see wonderful things on the walls and maybe we’re overwhelmed. These great art works are distanced from us, somehow, by the awesome spaces and dimensions of the gallery. We could never have these original art works on the wallsContinue reading “What Do We Do About Art? There’s Always a Little Shop At The End”

The Dream of William Morris at Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds

My dream, wrote the designer William Morris, is a dream of what has never been… and therefore, since, the world is alive, and moving yet, my hope is the greater that it one day will be… dreams have before now come about of things so good… we scarcely think of them more than the daylight,Continue reading “The Dream of William Morris at Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds”

In Memory of Hattie, a Beloved Pet Cat – and the Gracefulness of Letting Go

This is Hattie, born 1996, who died on 21 September 2013, at home, in her basket, peacefully, in a deep sleep. When a much-loved family pet dies we need to decide what to do next. But we kept Hattie lying in her basket for a day and a night, nestled in her blanket, where sheContinue reading “In Memory of Hattie, a Beloved Pet Cat – and the Gracefulness of Letting Go”