March 2021 Donations

Planned Parenthood

Who We Are
In October 2016, Planned Parenthood turned 100 years strong. Planned Parenthood was founded on the revolutionary idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and fulfill their dreams — no ceilings, no limits. 

Today, Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide.

Campaign Zero

When I read this in July of last year I knew it was a cause that I would donate to again and again: We can live in a world where the police don't kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability.

And through Omaze:

Black Girl Ventures

Our mission is to provide Black/Brown woman-identifying founders with access to community, capital, and capacity building in order to meet business milestones that lead to economic advancement through entrepreneurship.

We fund and scale tech-enabled, revenue-generating businesses (under $1M) founded by people who identify as Black/Brown and woman. We ignite civic engagement and hyperlocal infrastructure at the intersection of business support services, supplier diversity, social and financial capital.

Founded in 2016 by Serial Entrepreneur and Computer Scientist Shelly Bell, Black Girl Ventures addresses the unique challenges Black and Brown women face in accessing social and financial capital to grow their businesses. The BGV Style competition is the largest pitch competition globally for Black women founders. It uniquely combines the premise of Shark Tank and Kickstarter by activating community participation in donating to support women-owned businesses directly. We have funded 76 women of color, held over 25 BGV Pitch Programs across 8 cities and served over 170 participants. 

Black Girl Ventures pledges to accelerate 100,000 Black and Brown women-identifying entrepreneurs through Community Building as a Service (CBaaS). Shifting the idea of community building from being viewed solely as a community service to a valid and viable business offering to ensure the development and growth of small businesses. 

We believe in a world where ALL ideas have a chance to succeed. 

Quintessentially Foundation UK

Our Story

Quintessentially Foundation is the award winning and grant-giving arm of Quintessentially Group, providing funding and building awareness for UK registered charities.

Through mindful entrepreneurialism, our aim is to improve the welfare of disadvantaged communities and individuals, facilitating change and allowing dreams to become a reality. Established in 2008 - Quintessentially Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Quintessentially Group has raised over £13 million for charities through unique and innovative events.

Our Mission

Through innovative events and charity partnerships, Quintessentially Foundation are proud to have helped 10,000 school children in Enfield and Croydon through Place2Be, helped with funding towards a new cancer centre in London through Maggie’s and assisted vital projects in Syria through War Child. This year we are also working to help stop food wastage in London.

Quintessentially Foundation has proudly supported a variety of charities over the years including Rays of Sunshine, Greenhouse Sports, The Prince's Trust, Sentebale, Rugby Portobello Trust and Elephant Family.

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!

Close

I've had Close in my Netflix queue for a while now and decided to watch it in between audiobooks today. Noomi Rapace is incredible in every role I've seen and this one ranks way up at the top. Just a fun, shoot 'em up where she's taking out the baddies and lives to fight another day. Definitely one to watch again.

(photo kidnapped from pinterest)

February 2021 Books

♥ The Thorn Birds ¹ by Colleen McCullough

* The Jeweled Daughter by Anne Maybury

* The End of the Affair ¹ by Graham Greene - I had seen the film version of this novel but remembered very little, so it felt very new and fresh going in to this. Colin Firth's performance was magnificent and it was easy to imagine every moment described and get sucked right in to the lives of the three main characters. 

♥ Bid Time Return (AKA Somewhere in Time) ¹ by Richard Matheson - I had listened to Scott Brick narrate this gorgeous story back in 2018 when it was available through one of my library apps. I loved it so much I bought a physical book and then the audiobook off Audible. Even though I knew the ending from the film and from reading it before it still devastated me. I was a sobbing mess for the last half hour. Oh it's so good.

* Undaunted Courage ¹  by Stephen Ambrose - I loved learning about all that went in to the Lewis and Clark expedition, especially the importance of York, who one never really hears about. (Surprise, surprise.) I own a physical copy of Stephen Ambrose's detailed account but really enjoyed the audiobook that I purchased off Audible. 

* I Love the Bones of You ¹ by Christopher Eccleston - I really only knew of Christopher Eccleston from 28 Days Later and the season he was Doctor Who, but I love me a memoir and this one intrigued me because it was to focus heavily on how he was shaped by his father. His dad wasn't perfect but he genuinely loved Chris and it was so touching when he said how his father looked forward to the times where he would sit and read to his son. So often dads seem to phone it in and just tolerate their role (or maybe that's just my own experience) rather than find the joy in as many moments as possible. Glad I bought this from Audible as I know I'll be listening to it again.

Whose Body? ¹ by Dorothy L. Sayers - I could not get into the story; I think I was too distracted because I truly remember nothing except that a body was found in a tub and the narrator's voice for the butler had me in absolute stitches. Down the line I may give it another shot, maybe on a long drive where I can really tune in and focus.

¹ - audiobook
² - abridged version
* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

Mary's Mask

My sister-in-law constantly finds pure gold at swap meets and thrift stores. Look at this piece that she picked up recently. Isn't it beyond fabulous?

Queen Mary's Dollhouse

Text exchange with the big brother on Thursday afternoon.

Spring in Ireland

Barbara sent me this photo that she snapped on her morning walk the other day. It's like a picture postcard!

Postcard from Lisa

Reunion with the Boys

I needed to drop off Roark to Xavier so he could take him in to work for an oil change the next day. It was the first time I saw Xave, Mary, Zach, and Jackson since December 2020. Sitting at the kitchen table, I ate cold crinkle cut fries and Sicilian pizza with the cheese yanked off like a long peel of sunburnt skin and deposited in the trash bin, while from a safe distance the boys and I caught each other up on life. Jackson is definitely taller with grown up teeth coming in and even the cats are bigger! They were toddlers when I saw them last and now they are full-fledged teen-kitties. Before leaving I convinced the fellas to do one of my favourite things - take a silly selfie.

(That Superman used to be mine. I gave it to Zach nearly a decade ago. He passed it over to Jax a few years back. I love that he's still being used for acting out wrestling tournaments, being body slammed from a child leaping off an ottoman.)

Detective Card

The fabulous Helen Coldwell created another masterpiece featuring my darling David Suchet as Poirot. This gal is unstoppable.

Meloncholy Matadors

-Side A-

Dreams - The Cranberries

Lithium - Nirvana

Darkness - Rage Against the Machine

If I Ever Lose My Faith in You - Sting

How Could You Want Him... - The Spin Doctors

Borderline - Madonna

Jungle Boogie - Kool & the Gang

Comanche - The Revels

Mr. Right - Garth Brooks

Little Green Bag - George Baker

All Apologies - Nirvana

-Side B-

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Sugar Pie Honey Bunch - The Four Tops

Hairdresser on Fire - Morrissey

Take a Bow - Madonna

Pretty Penny - Stone Temple Pilots

The Man Who Sold the World - Nirvana

Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede

Dead Souls - Nine Inch Nails

Piece of My Heart - Janis Joplin

Love Tried to Welcome Me - Madonna

January 28th 1995

#6 of the Idaho Potato Mixes

(Clearly in 1995 I did not know how to spell melancholy - but I was pretty close!)

More from Spirit Listography

Fishtown Fridge

I took this pic of Kay's fridge after we picked up some lunch at Goldie Falafel one day. 

Date Nut Bars

In the kitchen I am the human equivalent of ten natural disasters rolled in to one. Tsunami, squall, earthquake, hail storm, blizzard, hurricane, tornado, volcanic eruption, locusts, and raging wildfires. I'm great at reheating and okay with pasta salads but give me any other recipe and it will turn out only barely edible. My foray into a quote unquote easy date/nut bar did not go exactly as planned. But here's the recipe I kidnapped from the @foodwithfeeling Instagram account with slight alterations by me.

• 12 Medjool dates

• 1 1⁄2 cups of nuts (I used dry roasted & salted cashews, dry roasted & salted peanuts, and sunflower seeds.)

• 2⁄3 cup of Enjoy Life mini chips

• soupy nut or seed butter to drizzle over top - optional

As directed, I soaked the dates in water for a few minutes to soften them but I was too lazy (big surprise) to drag out the food processor, so I threw the dates in my Bullet and spun them round and round. Then I tossed in the nuts and seeds. Yeah, the nuts became dust, which was clearly not the intention. Whatever. I smooshed the mixture into a Pyrex container then melted the chippies on low heat, stirring til they were ready to pour over the date/nut slab. I topped it off with plops and drags of Sunbutter and crumbles of the date/nut mixture, tossed it in the fridge and waited. They actually taste pretty good but I think next time I'll follow the directions to the letter and use the food processor so the nuts remain nuts.

Manor House Daydream

In one of my many hours of scrolling through random photos on Instagram I came across The Manor House in Castle Combe. It now has me daydreaming of one day being a rich old gal and staying at this luxury five star hotel...

(photo kidnapped from travel.in.uk Instagram - photo credited to explorewithed Instagram)

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Lucky McWiggles!

Time for a mish-mosh, hodge-podge of St. Patty's Day stuff from this month, starting with Miss Bailey and all her cuteness.

I love Krispy Kreme, but they are really stretching it with the "Lucky Unicorn" donut for St. Patty's Day. But I do like the one with sprinkles!

From Barbara across the pond:

Mail from Bishop!

And from Renee, too!

And today from Isabella:

Post Script 3/22 from Barbara:

Award Ribbon

I sent out some Yellow Owl Workshop award ribbons to pals and was so happy to receive text messages in reply!

The Neverending Story

I'm currently listening to Gerard Doyle read Michael Ende's fantasy bonanza The Neverending Story. I, of course, being a child of the 80s, first saw the film version on the big screen and loved it. Reading the book I am once again sucked into the world of Fantastica and wish I had read this book as a child. The character of Bastian is much more fleshed out in the book and is so easy to love, especially if you, like me, can always identify with the underdog. Gerard Doyle does a phenomenal job of bringing each character to life and keeping the pace moving on this extraordinary adventure tale.

(post script - I really didn't like it when Bastian turned in to a real shit in the last quarter of the story, but I get why and I'm glad he eventually realised what a horse's ass he was being and got it together in the end.)

Find

Last month I took apart an old frame of Nana Irma's to clean it up a bit and discovered that behind the photo of Nana on vacation as an adult was a baby picture of my cousin Christopher, and sandwiched between them was a photo of Irma at fifteen. We have so few photographs of Nana from before she married (her mother was evil incarnate and therefore never bothered to take pictures of her beautiful, wonderful children). To come across this, I'm guessing, school photo, was a slab of pure gold.

Twin Peaks 25

It's hard to believe it's been four years since the third season aired and I'm only just sitting down to watch it. I scored the entire season from my local library so that I can binge-watch. I heard next to nothing about the show except that most of the cast returns and some people mentioned being disappointed and that it's slow. I have set for myself zero expectations, except to feel glee at seeing those old familiar faces on my television again. I'm about to put on the third episode and so far I'm really enjoying the show, especially seeing lovely Catherine Coulson, who I met (and hugged!) back in 2014. Fingers crossed that the rest of the season is thrilling and weird and confusing and fabulous!

(photo kidnapped from tvseriesfinale)

Kid 90

I saw the trailer for this film last night and signed up for Hulu again just to see it. I never watched Punky Brewster when I was a kid but I always knew about it and it's hard to forget a lovely name like Soleil Moon Frye. It was so cool to see all the home movies and how many moments were captured of so many familiar faces from my formative years. Just a fantastic documentary about how really hard it can be to grow up and how those high school years and friendships make you who you are when you finally reach adulthood. I absolutely plan on watching Kid 90 again while I still have a subscription to the 'lu.

(photo kidnapped from seat42f)

Bella in Boston

To celebrate their third anniversary, Isabella and Jacob went with a couple friends to Boston for a few days. When we FaceTimed the other night I told her to be sure and send me a pic of the adorable couple and she did! She was worried about what to order if they went to a bar, so I gave her a couple of ideas of what to ask for, y'know, something a bit girly and yummy. I said Madras (I used to get that when I would go to the club on goth night back in the day), or to ask the bartender for a tasty martini, like a Lemon or Apple-tini. Looks like she was brave and wound up having a fab time.