Pictures of Maddie

We've just had a photo session, Mr Grigg and me, here in the kitchen.

It's usually me behind the camera - I've never been much of a one for inflicting my fisog on the world. Invariably, pictures of me on the web are of tea cups, tiki masks and Fra Newbery's painting The Spirit of Bridport.

I also use this one a lot.  I like it. I took it. But I'm not in it. 

'Smile girls,' I yelled from afar. 'Jump up and down a bit.'

So they did. 

It's one of my favourite pictures.

But, over the last few months, it's me who's had to be the subject of the photographs. 

'Can you send me a nice photo of you by the sea?' the feature writer at Good Housekeeping said to me last summer.

'Do you really need it?' I said. 'Can't you use a picture of the Greek village we lived in, or a back view of me?'

'Well, not really,' she said. 'It's a two page feature and it's all about you and how you felt living on a Greek island.'

It happened again this week.

'We'd like a head and shoulders picture of you,' said the nice lady from The People's Friend magazine.

'Can't you use a picture of my new dog?' I asked.

Well, she is rather beautiful.

'Of course not,' the nice lady said. 'Not unless the dog's writing your column.'

So there, in a roundabout way, is the announcement I had to make. On the strength of this blog, I've been asked to be a columnist for the oldest women's weekly magazine in the world.

It's a huge honour, a wonderful opportunity and I can't stop pinching myself at my good luck. So I've had to jettison the reluctance to having my photo taken because, basically, the dog is rubbish at writing.

And as my first column is due to be featured on or around April 1st, I reckon photo number four.

What do you think?

That's about it.

Love Maddie x