Year 4 - cherry tree house
A book I read this year referred to the "noisy sunshine and showers" of children's emotional lives - a wonderful, instantly recognisable characterisation! In…
Yearswriting
Thoughts on 2025
The best part of this year has been Anna and Joe arriving to the house. There's a list of Anna-isms on the fridge, a glut of tupperware in the freezer, and a…
Years2025 · reflection
Year 3 - cherry tree house
Earlier this year, Lucy sent me 'Metaphysical Animals' in the post. It profiles the philosophers Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Mary…
Yearsbook review · relationships
Thoughts on 2024
I enjoy December for the sense of the year coming into land. There are well-worn cues of festive street-lights, carol concert rehearsals, and the putting-up…
Yearsreflections · writing
Year 2 - cherry tree house
The days are long, but the years are short. Looking back at the post I wrote last year, I was nicely surprised to find a photo of the cherry tree looking…
Yearscapsule wardrobe · clothing · fashion · lifestyle · reflections · style · system
Living in the 200-year present
Think of the birth year of the oldest person you know, and then to the end of the likely lifespan of the youngest person you know. This is your 200-year…
YearsFaith · future · prayer · time
Thoughts on 2023
I feel immensely fortunate. I've had a really good year. In anticipation of the need to perhaps engineer some of my own fun, I had planned "23 celebrations…
Yearsnew year · reflections
Another year - cherry tree house
One way to measure the brilliance of a given year is surely how many times you see the sea. This year might just be a record: in Feb I swam up in Edinburgh…
Yearsbreath · breathing · fitness · health · personal · reflections · stress · tradition
"Two Dogs on a Trip to France"
The days are getting longer, and I am busy feeling thankful. I'm enjoying my work and the sunshine, being able to eat lunch outdoors, and the rhythms of life…
YearsIKEA · play · pretense
Thoughts on 2022
We live inside the stories we tell ourselves. Stories help us make sense of the world around us. We form a narrative out of events, we derive meaning from our…
Yearsyear in review · stories · joy
Another year - piano house
When we moved last year, we were working with an assumption that we'd live at piano house for at least three years. Having moved at the beginning of May 2021…
Yearscourage · reflection · vulnerability
Thoughts on 2021
One of my highlights of 2021 came from something I registered for spontaneously following a twitter recommendation. In the middle of COP I went along to Dark…
Years2021 · glory · reflection · wonder
Another year - glebe rd
Cultivate love, pursue integrity, practice gratitude, live courageously, commemorate properly. 5 years of reflections at the end of a year, and a half-decade…
Yearsducks · grief · reflections · seasons · time
A bit of Holy Folly
A lot of my work this year is geared towards COP26, the UN climate negotiations being held in Glasgow in November. The pathways to meet the stated…
YearsCOP26 · deep time · Dorothy Day · holy folly · impact
Thoughts on 2020
This is my fifth (!) end of year post. As is now customary, this year has once again included a house move, and I find myself once again amazed and bewildered…
Yearscourage · gifts · personal · redemption · reflections · thanksgiving
2020: the year that wasn't
When news came that Sheffield was entering into tier 3, nearly a month ago, I really struggled. I've been treating this year as a 'blip', a crisis to come…
Yearschange · coronavirus · grief · loss · pandemic · personal
A first year in Sheffield
I don't imagine I'm old enough to say that I'm getting used to the years going by. Nevertheless, another year has slipped past and I am reluctant to see it…
Yearsdeath · grief · homecoming · personal · reality · sorrow · worship
Thoughts on 2019
Another year has gone. Once again I find myself amazed and bewildered by how much can change, and yet how quickly change turns into routine. 18 months out and…
Reflections on a year in London
This week I received news which means I am likely to be moving up north to Sheffield from September. This has come in same week as celebrating the formal end…
Yearsa rocha · bonhoeffer · courage · Dorothy Day · failure · honesty · hope · mess · reflection · stephen timms
Thoughts on 2018
Life has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for.
Yearsdeath · Faith · grateful · gratitude · hope · life · New Year's · reflection · significance · thoughts · uncertainty · worth
This week in thoughts
This week I have enjoyed the autumn light as I cycle back from work, had the joy of seeing Siân in Coventry, and have been trying to find my feet in the midst…
Yearsbusyness · change · identity · justice · progress · responsibility
A Reflection on Year 3
I graduated yesterday, Friday 29th June. The week before graduating I felt caught in a web of different emotions which all liked to visit at least once during…
A Small Update
A few things that I am thinking about simultaneously at the moment without writing about any of them!
Thoughts on 2017
I love the year end because it provides an opportunity to sit and look back over your shoulder and discover quite how many things have happened in the chunk…
Years2017 · december · New Year's · reflection · reflections · thought · year end
On Resting
What I've been learning about rest + some practicalities
Years2017 · balance · busy · busyness · New Year's · pace · peace · reflection · resolutions · rest · time · winter · work
Michaelmas Term 2017
A little look back at the last couple of months...
Years2017 · commandments · hope · love · matthew 22 · michaelmas term · university · winter
Cambridge Bucket-list
35 things to do in the coming year before I leave!
Yearsbucketlist · Cambridge · checklist · philosophy student · student · university
Jobless + Directionless, but not lost
Finding myself with no 'next step' or 'end goal' for the first time, and learning that life is not linear.
Years2017 · job · lifestyle · reflections · summer
Assorted Thoughts.
A little list of a few things that I've come across over the past month or so that have made me think, but which I don't have the time to formulate a proper response to.
Years2017 · lifestyle · summer
Slowing down
Processing Not Being in the Best Place.
Years2017 · Faith · first job · give me jesus · intern · internship · Isle of Wight · lifestyle · summer · thoughts · weakness
Starting Full-time work
A small update!
Years2017 · intern · internship · lifestyle · student · student blog · summer · tiredness · working
On turning 20...
Thoughts+reflections upon entering a second decade!
Years2017 · aged 20 · aging · birthday · birthday reflections · lifestyle · reflection · reflections · student blog · summer · thoughts
Easter Term 2017
Photos from my last term of second year!
Years2017 · Cambridge · Easter term · friendship · Hebrews · newnham · student · summer · university
Meeting Emma Thompson
Heartbreak - "broken plates sitting at the bottom of your rib-cage"
Years2017 · cambridge union · Easter term · emma thompson · heartbreak · humanity · lifestyle · newnham · newnhamite · student
A Reflection on Year 2
Thoughts on the main life lesson I've learned in my second year of studying philosophy at the University of Cambridge.
Years2017 · Cambridge · integrity · jesus · life lesson · newnham · philsophy · second year · summer · undergrad · university · vegan
6 hours of exams done, 6 to go!
60% of the way there!
Yearsbirdsong · Cambridge · easter · Easter term · exams · philosophy · undergrad · university
Fingerprints
How incredible is it that we are all united in having the most beautiful patterns marking our skin - and yet these patterns are all unique?!
Years2017 · Cambridge · creation · fingerprints · fitzwilliam museum · studying · thank you · thankfulness · university
When All the World is a Hopeless Jumble: 10 days before my logic exam
Work is currently Not Fun.
Years2017 · Cambridge · exams · logic · philosophy · spring · student blog · studying · university
8 months, 1 Journal
Writing in anticipation of the moment when lots of seemingly ordinary days as recorded on the pages of my journal suddenly reveal another story of God's grace and faithfulness.
Years2017 · faith journal · faithfulness · journal · journalling · lifestyle · personal · reflections · student journal · thoughts · time
101 Blog Posts (?!)
A pause for a thank you!
Years2017 · blog · blogging · journalling · lifestyle · nostalgia · personal · reflection · reflections · spring · student blog · thank you
Lent Term 2017
"We are being renewed day by day" 2 Corinthians 4:16
Years2017 · Cambridge · friendship · halfway · Lent term · newnham · second year · spring · term · university · winter
Photos of spring + thoughts on growth
Hoping that I might one day find myself at a point where my life is reflective of the truth that God is my only need. That day will be as the arrival of spring.
Years2017 · Faith · growth · reflections · spring · thoughts
Halfway Hall
A whole lot to be thankful for at the halfway point.
Years2017 · Cambridge · Lent · Lent term · newnham · second year · university · winter
For Siân, in the midst of her Year Abroad
A letter for Siân whilst she is still in Görlitz
Years2017 · Faith · friends · friendship · hopes · personal · reflection · reflections · university · winter
Thoughts on 2016
A glance back at the last 365 days in the life of Rachel.
Years2016 · 2017 · carol · expectation · happy new year · hope · indeterminacy · new experiences · personal · reflection · reflections · unexpected · university · winter
How Today Was
What a gospel! And what a good end to the month of November and the season of autumn, here's to advent!
Years2016 · autumn · Cambridge · Faith · freedom · Hebrews · HT · leaves · university
Michaelmas Term 2016
Another term closer to finishing my degree. What a term it has been!
Years2016 · autumn · Cambridge · friendship · michaelmas term · newnham · second year · term · university
Concert Fun in Londontown
Going to see HONNE with friends from King's College.
Yearsconcert · HONNE · late nights · London · music · university
Frenniversary
A fun weekend in Cambridge with Freya.
Years2016 · autumn · Cambridge · friends · friendship · thankfulness · university
Finding Quiet
There are two kinds of tiredness: weariness and a lack of peace. And today, I got up and realised I was tired in the whole sense of the world. So I decided to cycle down to Granchester Meadows and take a little walk.
Years2016 · autumn · Granchester · nature · walking
Matriculation Dinner
Photos from the annual matriculation dinner at Newnham College, Cambridge. Second year has begun!
Years2016 · autumn · Cambridge · CamFM · college family · formals · fresher's fair · fresher's week · grace · matriculation · newnham · second year · university
Second Year Room - Peile 114
Photos of my room at university.
Years2016 · art · autumn · bunting · frames · gifts · paint · philosophy · photos · room · second year · tea · university
Hopes for the Year Ahead
As much a list of hopes as it is a list of reminders of what's important before I go back to uni. Hopes to talk less about myself. To say 'I love you' more often and to more people. To have more compassion and less pride. To share in the lives of others, to delight in the fun and mess of life. To discover I'm wrong about things and change my mind. To rejoice in the everyday. To remember to be gentle with myself if things get hard.
Years2016 · autumn · beginnings · gratitude · hopes · reflection · thoughts · university
For Tabitha, a year before her wedding day
A letter to a Tabitha ahead of August 2017 when I will cry many tears as she walks down the aisle as a beautiful bride.
Years2016 · 2017 · Faith · friends · friendship · jesus · joy · marriage · relationships · wedding
Unexpected Cambridge Encounters
A quick account of a wonderfully unplanned afternoon.
Years2016 · summer
Momentum 2016 + a revelation (ish)
A look over time away with my church and something I've learned this year.
Yearschurch · comparison · Faith · holiday · HT · joy · prayer · rest · time away
My first tattoo experience
What happened when I went into a tattoo parlour for the first time.
Yearsfriends · new experiences · permanence · tattoo
Take Me Out Tonight
A great night out with a great friend in a great place.
Yearsdrinks · friends · friendship · Manchester · new places
A Reflection on Year 1
My thoughts on the first year of studying philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge.
Years2016 · Cambridge · friends · friendship · newnham · personal · philosophy · reflection · spring · university
Easter Term: many joys and a sorrow
A look through all the different things that happened in the last 8 weeks of my first year.
Years2016 · Cambridge · friendship · newnham · personal · reflection · university
