I've heard from Narges. Her parents are safe for now but a friend of hers - a fellow architect with three children - has been killed, and his wife badly injured. The hospital she had her children in, the mosque she worshiped at, the university she attended - all destroyed. War crime after war crime

My most recent blood donation went to the poorly babies in the trust I work for 😍

Back to work tomorrow and I was dreading it but luckily my kids are making it so much easier by being absolutely foul to each other today 👍🏼

Someone has posted an Instagram reel of 'Durham's best kept secret' and it's quite literally the most popular and well known cafe in the entire city.

My 4yo woke me up this morning with a series of facts about Big Ben/the Elizabeth Tower ('Lisbeth Tower is its real name but I like Big Ben more why it's funny Mammy.') Did you know? It's recently had lifts installed. It was previously only accessed by spiral staircases.

Goodnight my loves. Don't feel I'll sleep well tonight (plus Phil is out, which always affects my sleep anyway), so am going to read until I can't keep my eyes open any more x

Thinking tonight of my dear friend from primary school, Narges, who lived in Durham while her dad did his PhD at the uni. Then she went home to Tehran, and I was broken hearted. We're still in touch - she's now an architect living in Canada. Her family are still in Tehran. They're dear people.

Genuinely scared about the way things are at present, and my anxiety is in override, but in the absence of being able to offer anything useful or that hasn't already been said by others, I'm going to surround myself with gentle, peaceful things and not let onto my kids how awful the whole thing is.

9yo: 'Do you like the tree I've drawn?' Me: 'Yes, it's gorgeous.' 9yo: 'Guess what I'm going to put in it? It has the initials MBR.' Me: ... Me: ... Me: ... 9yo: 'It's MARY BENNET READING! How did you not get that? 🙄' Me: 'Of course! How silly of me.'

The boys have been drawing Judy Hopps from Zootropolis this afternoon.

The boys wanted to go out for breakfast this morning, which is absolutely fine, but even when it's something they want to do and have actively asked for, the effort involved in getting them up, dressed, and then out of the house is so monumental that I'm wrung out before we get anywhere.

We watched a bit of The Imitation Game with 9yo earlier - one of my favourites. Every time Alan Turing is getting perplexed at the small talk and not quite understanding what he's doing wrong, he's been saying things like 'But he's right though! I feel the same way he does!' 🥺🥺🥺

9yo, tucking into a mini all day breakfast (toast, eggs, beans, hash browns): 'This is nice. Not the nicest full English I've ever had, but nice.' Me: 'Well it's not really a full English, is it? It's like a mini English.' 9yo: 'I've decided this will be called a full Isle of Man.'

We've come to an airfield cafe and have a view of the light aircraft right outside the window. It's very lovely here, apart from the fact it's taking an age for the kids food to arrive and it closes in twenty minutes 😬

Why ask my father, who is standing beside me, when I could shout at increasingly high volume for my mother, who is on a different floor and at the opposite end of the house? - My 4yo's inner monologue, apparently.

Weather is wild and quite scary out there. Feeling very thankful to be safe and warm at home and knowing we have nowhere we need to be. Stay safe, friends. Stay safe x

Finished my magpie. Don't look too closely at this one, the backstitching is very rough around the edges because I did It at the in-laws and it was very noisy 🤣 #crossstitch #stitchsky

Phil has put the boat race on the telly and promptly fallen asleep. I can't find the remote. Mother in law and father in law are both also asleep so am watching all kids on my own. And as if that wasn't tedious enough, one of the commentators on the boat race used to bully me at Brownies 🙄

Aren't holidays meant to be relaxing? Because so far booking this has aged me approximately forty years.

We have come to my in-laws for a Easter get together and omg it is chaos. Sister in law and brother in law keep bickering about everything and nothing. They're currently trying to book the family holiday and I'm supervising four sugar high kids. The noise is unworldly.

I put these bird drawings on my website so someone could buy them. Support art! Support colour! Support hands and making things with them! www.chloecumming.com/birds

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

Actual conversation I have just had: Me: 'Right, time to turn Pride and Prejudice off. Teeth and bedtime.' 9yo: 'If I brush my teeth quickly can I watch five minutes more?' Me: 'Right. Fine. Ok.' 9yo: 'Yes!!' Things I didn't have on my bingo card.

Since watching The Other Bennet Sister, 9yo has decided he wants to climb Scarfell Pike. I've bartered him down to Cat Bells to start with, and for the past hour he's been planning supplies, snacks and routes. He now wants to go to Waterstones and get a book on fell walking.

It also showed this one 🤣 'I'm bored Mammy, what should I draw?' 'Why don't you draw what you can see?' 'Good idea!'

Instagram memories throwing this up - I slept this way for eight months 😭 The only way I ever got any rest at all.

9yo and I have absolutely loved The Other Bennet Sister. We've got one left to watch. Watched episodes 8 and 9 tonight cuddled up under a blanket, with his head on my shoulder. We discussed why he's enjoyed it so much and decided he can relate to Mary. I've really loved watching it with him ❤️

This headache needs to absolutely clear off because I point blank refuse to spend my six days off work feeling like this 😭

right now the astronauts are calling houston because the computer on the spaceship is running two instances of microsoft outlook and they can't figure out why. nasa is about to remote into the computer

Thinking of a BBQ this weekend? 🔥 Disposable BBQs: – stay hot for hours – can start fires – end up straight in landfill Upgrade to one with: Lid ✔️ Legs ✔️ Handles ✔️ Your feet, your park… and your sausages will thank you. #dbbq

Out of Office on for six days and I'm so ready for the break. It's not a happy place at the moment. Happy Bank Holiday, pals x

9yo asked his best friend today if her mam was ok with them playing together now (in the past she's asked school to split them up) and she said her mam is fine about it but her dad doesn't want her playing with him. He told me so matter of factly - so unbothered. Broke my heart a little.

Hello little greenfinch. 4 of 12 birds done for my boy now. #crossstitch #stitchsky

Spent a fortune on non-essentials at Tesco. Big bunch of daffodils. Custard donuts for the boys (their faves). Lindt chocolate bunnies, just because. They've both tried really hard this term at school (eldest in particular) and the ADHD meds have made a big difference. I felt like a celebration ❤️

9yo has gone into school today - last day of term plus the talent show, so he asked to. He gave me a kiss at the door and then took himself off to school. I have the house to myself today. I'm going to sew, watch something I like, listen to my audiobook, and cook a nice tea for everyone tonight 🥰

If you look closely at this image, you might get a small clue as to what the intense interest of both my children is at present. (The Pyramid cube, Ivy cube, another 2x2 and another 3x3 have gone to school for the termly talent contest.)

Both Connections and Strands are very annoying today.

Been working on this on-off for over a year now. Finished it today 🥰 I did It for my best friend who was in the process of adopting. The adoption is on hold for a little while now, amidst much heartbreak, but I wanted to finish it for her/her baby for when it happens, which I feel sure it will ❤️

Unfortunately 4yo is now refusing to go to sleep because his brother introduced him to Motorway Cops last week so now he's thrilled at the opportunity of watching 'the naughty people with dots on their faces' (they're pixelated).

4yo appears to have taught himself to read. We've noticed it for a little while but nursery staff have now noticed him reading words off the wall and from books. But when one of them specifically asked him what a particular word said, he just shrugged and said 'I don't know, I can't read' 🤦🏼‍♀️

Interesting to see this 1947 test screen with Marlon Brando for the film "Rebel Without a Cause." Brando, of course, would later epitomize mid-century American masculinity. He was 23-years-old here.

Every time the clocks change, youngest has a terrible night's sleep. Doesn't matter if he goes to bed at what his body thinks is the usual time, or the new time. Stay up late, go to bed early. Doesn't matter. He woke up a lot last night, was unsettled when he did sleep, and I'll be a zombie today 😭

My favourite film of all time, Stand By Me, is getting a cinema release to celebrate its 40th anniversary and I have secured a babysitter and Phil and I are actually going to go OUT and EAT FOOD and watch River Phoenix at the cinema and I am so thrilled 🤗

Five years ago this morning I woke up and did a pregnancy test, feeling certain I wasn't pregnant, so I could call the doctors and get the hospital referral I'd been waiting for. And what do you know? Two lines. And now those two lines are causing havoc with fairy cakes at my in-laws' house 🥰

I was half dozing this morning and 9yo was playing Mario Kart next to me. He suddenly shouted 'Out of the way you stupid cow!' Me: '9yo! That's not acceptable!' 9yo: 'I'm not saying it about a person! About a woman! It's literally a cow in the middle of the track! A cow that gives milk & says moo!'

This was the highlight of 4yo's day today. I had to take a photo of this railway signal from both angles, and then had to persuade him against going *back* the two miles to see it again after we'd been for a cuppa.

Absolutely lush walk around Causey Arch today (oldest surviving single span railway bridge in the world, dating from 1725). Boys loved it, we loved it, have come for tea and cake in the tea rooms afterwards. 9yo even held my hand for a bit, when there was no one around 🥰

Of all the things I thought there might be arguments over in my house, who is solving which Rubik's cube was not one of the things I anticipated.

Yesterday I filmed several baby birds walking across a street directly at my camera and asked Bluesky to suggest music Several dozen folks did Some even dubbed music over the original clip. I haven't been able to get this out of my head. So I give you A Bluesky exclusive: Reservoir Ducks 🐣 🪶

Still reeling a bit from a GP telling me in a consultation today that it was 'highly, highly unlikely' that I was autistic because I had friends and a full time job 🙃