Green Fingers and Motherhood
I’ve succumbed to the Green Finger disease. The one where you obsessively rifle your way through seed catalogues, gardening suppliers, Alys Fowler books and blogs and that’s not enough! I’ve been writing lists of what I want to grow, scrap it and write it out again with gardener’s haste. In a split second, I find myself ordering a plastic greenhouse, in the next, it is up with a cucumber plant rooted at it’s base with a trellis made from cane to climb. Lettuce has been laid out among rosemary, thyme, horse radish, oregano and tarragon. I won’t mention how I nearly cried when I was
Hello Spring. Hello at last.
Life recently entails; sunshine at last and a dive into the garden with flowers planted and sun adored! Gosh, how long did we all wait for that one?! With the arrival of the sun, blossoms graced our trees, sandals made their way onto feet (not mine, I wear ,boots till June) shorts came out (the husband’s) and smiles brandished grey faces! It’s salad season as we shy away from root veg, we want greens, reds, pulses & watermelons! What else… writing at the desk with the baby on my lap, I’ve been working on an article for a week or so and
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver (published in Avrupa)
Literature | Review Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver Climate change, no, it’s not a dirty word; it’s a very real and obvious plight. It’s that ‘thing’ that makes our winters wetter and milder, forcing trees to rot and fruit to blacken; it’s that thing that causes freak snow flurries in April and thirty degree heat -waves in October. We only have to look at our fruit to know that something is not quite right. Did you notice this summer how blackberries didn’t make an appearance until almost August and were short-lived? Or how fruit doesn’t seem to ripen in the
Returning to Sussex, in September
It seems a thousand years ago (September) when the husband and I broke away from the confines of the city (wearisome London) and made our way to our holiday idyll (Sussex) . Our skins reddened and blistered from the sun (we’re of a pale grey hue now from winter) and our thighs toughened from 6 hour walks along the river Ouse and the green rolling hills. The lovely locals were surprised that was able to do so much walking (hours and hours) at 4 months (a whole 2 months ago) but tiring days were counteracted by quieter ones at the lodge where
Seeing through fog
Today, we (doggy , a friend & I ) plunged into the fog. It’s atmospheric presence enveloped me like a thick, moist blanket as my wellies slipped, slopped and slid in thick mud. Beyond bent trees, on the forest ground lay the glowing orange and red of fallen leaves as the sky and ground blurred into one. Sometimes you need to be immersed in fog, to really see your way.
Hello Autumn
Autumn has at last tapped us on the shoulder and asked us to take notice. And how can one not notice!? The drop in temperature has replaced that stifling heat we had for a while with its crispness. The crunch beneath our feet as we walk mesmerised in a new world of gold and orange. I do love Autumn! My mother asked me today which season I preferred to which I said, ‘I greet each season with excitement and enjoy each one for what it is…as long as they don’t drag out.’ On our walk this morning, I pointed out
Walking. Lots of walking.
Gosh I love the outdoors, and walking, lots of it to the point where my leg muscles feel like solid blocks. When I walk the dog, I fall into a rhythm as I follow the park’s overgrown track, brushing against blackberry bushes and treading carefully around mud pits that have been churned by horse hoofs and joggers. A breeze brushes through the narrow path, tickling the hairs on my neck. In the summer, I am shrouded by nature, thanking the tall trees for their thick foliage which hide me from the sun (when we’ve had it). Being pregnant in the heat
Lewes to Plumpton
When the weather is beautiful and my mind needs clearing for the work in hand, there is nothing like taking one’s self to the countryside which is what Mr Cranmer and I did yesterday. We made our way to Lewes, Sussex to walk along the South Down’s way. We know the town quite well now as we’ve been a few times, it’s somewhere I like to go to feel closer to the steps of Virginia Woolf. The land, rolling hills and hidden tracks offer the mind to wonder beyond the body. As you push your legs, your body
Kew Gardens
Peter and I paid a visit to Kew Gardens a couple of weeks ago, and although the daffodils hadn’t opened yet, there was an abundance of beautiful Snow Drops. The greenhouses/conservatories were beautiful, hot and brimming with life, and the grounds a delight to walk across. I bought the pretty green plant pot from the gift shop and placed my orchid into it… I brought a little part of Kew home with me. The photo in the background is of my father in the 70’s I like to keep it in front of me while writing, I find it inspiring.
William Blake at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground
It’s all at once a curious desire to visit the grave of a long ago artist, yet it is not; which is why I finally went to visit Defoe, Bunyan but most importantly, Blake at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. Above his memorial stone is a beautiful fruit baring fig tree, and above his actual sit of his burial is an incredible tree, perfectly one with nature, I wonder if angels venture there. William Blake’s memorial stone the Fig tree above Blake’s stone The tree that Blake was actually buried under Bunyan Bunyan Bunyan The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to
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