Archives for: 2008
HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?
Christmas Murder!
If I get through the season of good will without killing someone it will be a miracle!
EWE-REEKA! IT'S OUT AT LAST!
HIBERNATION ANYONE?
THANK GOODNESS IT’S MONDAY!
They say you should live every day as if it was your last, but you can take it a bit too far!
THE WORLD GROWS EVER STRANGER
Perhaps it’s because my pending Halloween party is on my mind or maybe the folk lore article I’m currently researching caused it, but the sight of the little Dunnock peering at me from the side of the footpath yesterday took on an added significance when the post arrived this morning …
THE LAVVY IN THE ROSES
Was it Halloween that night? It must have been somewhere around that time as I remember tissue paper leaves blowing in rustling drifts through the lavatory door and apples rolling under our feet as we crunched our way down the twisting paths of my grandma’s rose garden to our nightly ablutions.
THREE DARK LADIES
It's Halloween or Samhein on Friday and the start of what the Celts called the Long Dark which means lots of velvety evenings by brightly burning fires supping something warming and frightening ourselves witless with the weird and wonderful! Hopefully I'll be doing just than at our Halloween party, starting with this poem!
IT WAS A PERFECTLY ORDINARY DAY
If you think that sounds like the start to a piece of clichéd fiction you would probably be right, but this really happened …
FOR WILL WHO WASN’T THERE TO SHARE THE MOMENT
I wrote this for my son who rang while I was walking the Lakeland fells. He wanted to know what it was like!
ONE PERFECT DAY
You start by finding a narrow pull off from the twisting road that snakes and twists around the lower fell side like a lazy eel. The sun burns with tropical fierceness, but you don’t care, because it has shone so little lately that you are just glad that it has chosen today of all days to shine out like you remember it used to do when you were a child and there were endless days of strong autumnal sunlight that burnt you brown as hazel when you wandered harvest fields searching, for blackberries and mouth souring sloes which reminded you of your grandmother’s shiny bible jacket and by association, of bitter Sunday sermons when you yawned and squirmed and gazed longingly through diamond panes at vivid skies dipping with swallows.
WELCOME TO FLORIN
It’s been a very hectic few days to say the least, but the good news is we’ve five new arrivals on the farm including this cute little lassie …
AT LAST!
STOP THE WORLD I WANT TO GET OFF!
Have you ever tried pouring a quart into a pint pot? That’s what yesterday felt like by the time I collapsed into bed well past midnight!
FUMING!
PUBLISHED! THE ARISTOCRATIC NECK
Got this out just in time for the Ashby Arts Festival. Quite an interesting foray into the world of self publishing!
£1 COACH TRIPS, 2 for 1 MEALS & CHEAP TRAVEL LODGE ROOMS
I’m up to my eyes in hay at the moment as we’re haymaking, but thought someone might be interested in these offers that dropped into my mail box this morning.
HAY … HAY … WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY!
Sorry about the dreadful rhyme, but the weather is absolutely wonderful here and you’ll never guess …
LONDON TO BRIGHTON BIKE RIDE - DID IT!
Entering the London to Brighton bike ride was the result of a rash, alcohol induced moment during last New Year Eve’s party …
Blue Bell Warriors - Audio!
Creating audio files is easy and really useful for practising spoken verse. Blue Bell Warriors is my latest effort!
MAY DAY!
Beautiful weather and a lovely evening so what do most normal folk do? Get the barbie out of course, but not many get the Maypole out as well!
SWIFTS
The swallows are back! One flew low over my head and reminded me of this poem I wrote about swifts!
TRAINING BEGINS!
I’m huddled against a lock bridge, trying to pump up BF1’s flat tyre with horizontal rain driving tin tacks into my face …
Aaaaaaaarh ... I'm In!
IT’S NOT FAIR!
SIGNS & OMENS
It’s late afternoon with another hour or so before sunset, but the evening shadows are all ready thick and cobwebby at the bottom of this narrow bay. The Welsh name for this is, Porth Synfor, but to me the English rendition, Hell’s Mouth, personifies better the other worldly menace that seems to edge around us.
EUREKA!
I’m standing in the main viewing hall at Llandefni museum hardly able to believe my eyes!
GHOSTS & EVAGELISTS
The hotel receptionist is trying to frighten the living daylights out of me by recounting the story of a ghost called George who delights in playing tricks on staff and residents ...
THE CHURCH BEYOND THE VEIL
Nearest and Dearest has just made a rather pointed comment about my waist line, prompted mainly by the fact that he’s discovered the large bag of Minstrels squirreled away in the little cubby hole that sits between us in the car.
FRUSTRATED
It’s another outrageously beautiful day, but I’m feeling too miffed to enjoy it. Firstly, after fiddling and prodding and waving his arm bearing personal sat nav system at a passing satellite, Nearest & Dearest has informed me that the million mile bike trip of yesterday was in fact just 18.243679125 miles, (exactly!).
A MILLION MILES & BACK AGAIN
My bum is killing me! We have just ridden a million miles to Llyn Alaw resovoir via twisting lanes, a farm cart track and now a muddy footpath ...
THE WELL OF NOTHING MUCH
It’s funny how Christmas and holidays tend to bring out the worst in relationships, especially those involving your significant other. I am not best pleased when after a long, knee crunching, lung searing climb up a perpendicular hill I reach the top feeling more than a little smug for not having dismounted, only to hear my mobile ringing.
LATER THAT MORNING
According to Graham Philips, author of the Marian Conspiracy, the Virgin Mary’s bones were kept in this church, but we’re unlikely to be able to verify his supposition because ...
OF KESTRALS & CHURCHYARDS
The silence here is absolute. I am quite alone except for a kestrel that has just landed on one of the grave stones. It looks a bit surprised to see me and I’m a bit shocked too. I’ve just spent the past few minutes poking around in a ruined out house a few yards from the church and found nothing more exciting than an old funeral bier.
IN SEARCH OF THE VIRGIN MARY
Have I got religion? Not exactly, but I have it on good authority that the Virgin Mary is buried on the isle of Anglesey!
EARLY ONE MORNING
It's early morning and I'm standing in our yard watching the dawn come up. Pale, fingers poke through the trees like a pink glove and point towards the stables. Two nodding heads make soft, wickering noises as I approach.
LAST SUNDAY
I’m standing in a thin vest and lycra shorts on a sodden hillside. Hordes of fit, athletic looking men are hurtling down the incline towards me. They smell of sweat and embrocation.
THE POWER OF DREAMS?
Remember Pharoh's dream about the seven fat cows and seven thin ones? Well I dreamed of something similar the other night. Any Josephs out there?
THAT HAT!
Phew! Bet you're glad the festivities are over! I certainly am though we had some great parties, including our Solstice celebrations which caused my daughter to wax lyrical over my er ... wonderful hat!