Snapshots From the Past

  The weather was glorious. You would be forgiven for mistaking it for a July afternoon rather than one in mid-September. The tell tale signs were the occasional yellowing leaves and clusters of rose-hips, glimpsed on the hedge in passing. I was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans because of the heat. I hadn’t come …

Not Such a Fruitless Exercise – Autumn Foraging

It was my own fault, really – I’d driven by the trees on many occasions, ferrying the children to and from school for the last few weeks and I admired the ripe fruit, making a mental note to ask the man who lived at the house at the end of the road for permission to …

Sunny Sunday Sentiments – Thoughts of My Mother

Sunday morning, 10 am. Coffee in hand, I sit at the back of the house on the blue painted steps that lead from the patio doors from my parent’s bedroom, doors that were rarely ever opened. They were put there by my father so my mother could enjoy the view of the garden from her …

Trying Times – When Your Train of Thought Has Left The Station and The Cat Doesn’t Help

Demelza silently miaows at me from across the couch, her eyes twin pools of darkness. She watches as I take pains to arrange my seat, like a fussy hen clucking in straw, placing this cushion here and that one there. I take my comfort seriously especially when finally sitting down to write. I’m always intending …

Fabulous Festival Feelings – Dreaming of the Electric Picnic and making it happen

  You don’t expect wonderful things to happen to you on a mundane Sunday afternoon. These things are normally reserved for others, the little fulfilment of dreams we hear of in passing and sigh because they would never happen to us. Today I allowed myself to believe and amazing things happened. Let me set the …

Letting go of Summer

  I've been trying to stretch out the summer for as long as I can - not acknowledging the signs all around me; the way the evening is quick to darken; meaning I must drive my children home from their summer jobs instead of letting them cycle.. There is a chill in the air and …

Red Geraniums on the Deck

We’re at T-minus two days and there’s an air of barely suppressed panic mixed with excitement seeping throughout the house. All conversations start and finish with the word “Wedding”. We’re at the mostly “calm before the storm” stage – scratching out the jobs that need to be done off the list scribbled daily at the …

Mermaid Hair and Pre-Wedding Jitters

  There are barely three weeks until the day of my daughter’s wedding and my hair is still green. The last lingering reminder of my Glastonbury adventures. The box of dye promised a temporary shade that would wash out in eight washes and yet more than twenty rinses later it stubbornly refuses to go quietly. …