Better Together AND Married With Children

No, I don’t think so. I really don’t get that impression at all.

In fact, based on my very general understanding, having a baby after 40 through IVF (and I’m talking about giving birth, not getting pregnant) would probably take at least a year and a half, and quite possibly two years, from the moment the decision is made — even under an optimistic scenario.

So no, IVF is absolutely not what I’m implying. I’m suggesting something much simpler: spending a lot of time alone at home with your husband during a pandemic may have certain predictable consequences.

And I’m also saying that sometimes fate is just fate. There’s no need to rebrand it as a "decision".

[October 28; November 4; November 9; November 15/19?, November 29; December 5, 2021 and January 12, 2022]

Something about these actresses’ stories has been intriguing me.

Do you remember the Main Heroin saying that filming Belfast inspired her to become a mother, and that shortly afterwards she was pregnant?

Just to put this into a timeline: Belfast was filmed over a seven-week period between September and October 2020. In August 2021, the Main Heroin announced the arrival of the Little Human. She was 42 at the time.

For the record: nine months from October 2020 takes us to July 2021.

Now let’s look at Karolina Wydra.

In an interview published yesterday, CMB’s friend says that in July 2020, she and her husband “decided it was time to procreate”.

. . . On December 22, 2020, she posted this photo on Instagram. It’s no longer on her profile; the screenshot comes from a post I wrote on my blog back in 2021.

. . . Then this one on March 15, 2021.

. . . And this one on May 10, 2021.

. . . Karolina Wydra was 40 in 2021.

For the record: nine months from July 2020 takes us to April 2021.

So I’m genuinely curious: what is your experience with motherhood, particularly motherhood after 40? I have none myself.

What I can say from my own experience — despite having my children earlier — is that once you DECIDE you want a child, you normally spend months trying. Months. Plural.

So: is it statistically possible for a woman around 40 to DECIDE she wants a baby and become pregnant a week later?

And is it statistically possible for the exact same thing to happen AT THE SAME TIME to two friends?

Just to avoid any misunderstanding: what I’m saying with this post is that these actresses’ motherhood stories bear very little resemblance to reality. They sound more like a polished, marketable version of how life is supposed to work.

And secondly: is there really anything embarrassing about simply saying, “I got pregnant”? Is the whole “I decided at this specific point in time that I wanted a child” element really absolutely necessary?

1805 Woman's dress (by unknown maker, American)

cotton plain weave (mull) embroidered with cotton

✨ A solar eclipse is coming!

🌒 The eclipse Britain almost gets 🇬🇧

On the evening of 12 August 2026 the whole of the UK will see its most dramatic partial solar eclipse in nearly three decades.

The same eclipse will be visible across Europe and some will enjoy the ultimate solar spectacle: a total solar eclipse.

Millions are expected to gather in Greenland 🇬🇱 on the west coast of Iceland 🇮🇸 , and in northern Spain 🇪🇸 hoping clear skies will allow them to experience an awe-inspiring event as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth line up in space. The moon will pass in front of the sun, creating a total solar eclipse.

Viewers in the UK and Ireland will still see a major partial eclipse. No part of the UK is inside the path of totality, and yet the whole country is nearly swallowed: 89.6% of the Sun covered at Aberdeen, 94.7% at Plymouth, 95.8% down at Penzance. Nine cities, four nations, not one of them dark.

That gap is bigger than it sounds. Obscuration counts area, and the last few per cent of the solar disk is still raw, undimmed sunlight — enough to keep the sky blue, the shadows sharp, the corona invisible. Plymouth sits 680 km from the centre of the shadow band, Aberdeen 1,109 km. The difference between 94.7% and totality is not five per cent; it is everything.

The whole thing happens on the way down. First contact sweeps south from Aberdeen at 17:06:42 UTC to Plymouth at 17:18:53, and maximum falls between 19:03 and 19:15 BST with the Sun only 10–15° above the horizon — low, hazy, straight into the western evening.

I won't want to miss it! ✨🌒 🕶️

📽️@lunardelight

Circumstances computed from the JPL DE440 (released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris)

#eclipse2026 #solareclipse #partialeclipse #uk #astronomy #skyfield #ultimatesolarspectacle

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Happy 12 anniversary outlander!

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Beautiful love photoshoot!

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If you’re like me and had absolutely no idea what the Edinburgh Tattoo was, let me help because apparently Scotland has been doing this since 1950 and nobody sent me the memo. 😂

The idea began in 1949, during the Edinburgh International Festival, and the first official Edinburgh Military Tattoo was held in August 1950.

And no… it’s not actual tattoos. 😂

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual spectacular held on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle, featuring:

Military bands, marching and precision drill

Massed pipes and drums

Highland dancing

Scottish and international music

Performers from around the world

A huge finale with fireworks

And then there’s The Skye Boat Song.

Yes… that song. 😂

The song is much older than Outlander and is connected to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite story. Outlander simply made it internationally famous to a whole new generation.

So when it’s performed beneath Edinburgh Castle with pipes, drums and hundreds of performers…

It’s basically Scottish history meeting modern pop culture.

And then comes the Lone Piper

one piper appearing high on the castle after the huge spectacle, creating that quiet, dramatic moment before the finale.

Honestly?

Peak Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😂

Sam and me 😊

really like Caitriona to say this, and she does it often in interviews !

Foto collage 😊 Beautiful and happy!

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I can't stand this photo

I Almost Do. Taylor Swift

He’s probably just sick with jealousy over Cait’s success because she’s absolutely killing it!!!😂 Sam’s whole “I don’t care about Cait” act imo just comes off so sour and frustrated, she’s the one who’s booked and busy, mingling with A-listers, filming six movies in a row, while he’s over here sitting around with nothing going on, flopping hard, and stuck clinging to the only thing that ever actually worked for him: Outlander.

Obviously, I don’t know Sam or what goes on inside his head, but if I had to guess, I’d say you’re very wrong, Anon.

I have no doubt he congratulated her privately and that he’s genuinely happy for her success.

Sam seems to have chosen to focus on other things this year, and let’s not forget that he also starred in a series that’s coming to Amazon. That’s hardly insignificant. And while he chose not to make a huge deal out of it, he also did Macbeth on a very respectable stage, which is a major achievement in its own right.

I do think that now his schedule has opened up a little, we may see him turn his attention back to acting. But obviously, that’s up to him.