Today’s post* is brought to you by a writing prompt. The prompt is to “write a list of your favourite holiday activities”. I wanted to…
I am a widow. I was widowed when I was a young woman of 35 and my life has never been the same since. In the…
After returning from my Homeland Holidays at the end of August, I had great hopes for a spectacular September for my PhD. Only I got sick that first…
After three wonderful weeks in the Homeland, I am heading home to my Heartland of Scotland. My bags are packed, I’ve checked in at the airport, and…
When we think about the grieving that happens after the death of a loved one, we often think about the suffering those left behind are…
Yesterday was (would have been?) my 12th wedding anniversary. And much like last year, I spent the day distracting myself with my PhD before taking some time to…
It is Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK, so I thought I’d share a bit about my recent efforts to keep my mental health in…
As I enter the lovely month of May, I am aware that it will be a manic month filled with mayhem and madness. There is…
Today marks eight years since his heart stopped beating. And in that very same moment, my own heart shattered into a million pieces. Remarkably, my shattered heart…
When the Dangerous Women Project was launched last year, I immediately found myself wondering if I was a dangerous woman. I wondered if there was anything about…
In the early twenty-first century, a young woman’s choice in the West to live unmarried is widely accepted. Equally, thanks to the divorce law reforms…
Anyone paying attention should know by now that the gloriousness of plastic is less than glorious. And, in fact, our planet is in quite a…
Since (a few failed attempts at) re-entering the dating world post-widowhood, I have learned that there are many struggles to dating in the modern era. From the drama…
I started 2016 with the high hopes of meeting (and exceeding!) one simple running goal: To run a sub-2:00:00 half marathon. I knew it would be a…
It’s Christmas Eve Eve (which means that tomorrow is Christmas Eve) and I am acutely aware that this Christmas is different from all of my…
Winter is sneaking up upon us and that means cosy nights in front of a crackling fire. But to enjoy those cosy evenings, I need…
Sometimes in life, you wobble. And no matter how strong and sturdy you thought you were, you begin to sway back and forth; wobbling. That’s…
That’s it folks: the buck stops here. Actually, I suppose I should say the pound stops here. Why? Because my last PhD stipend payment was today, and…
My time at Serenity Lodge is coming to an end, and I am finding that the calming serenity I found here is starting to fade away,…
Regular Just Frances readers will know that I have a rare bleeding disorder called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). But what they may not know is that…