I have been absent from here for far too long. I have been writing furiously and working on other projects and never seem to get enough time to get back here. Shameful I know. I will attempt to do more in future and not forget. Perhaps I'll start penning poetry next. No on second thoughts the world isn't ready for my awful odes yet.
If and when I ever do get this other stuff finished I'll be singing from the rooftops. Still it's where all my creative 'juices' have been going for a while. The farm keeps me busy too and we've had so much rain in these parts this year I swear I'm growing webbed feet and gills. If there are reports of a mermaid it'll be me most likely.....a very nasty case of GM gone wrong.
This has been a fairly typical scene in these parts this year, the road is on the left....the river is on the right and I'm nearly knee deep in water. More of the same before too long I suspect. So I shall leave off again for a while and plan what to delight you with in future....you have been warned.....gurgle, splash...
Aha! It had to happen Blogger has given itself a new look as well just to confuse me when I thought I had it sussed. I don't know if it's just an age thing but I'm not sure I like it when everything gets altered to 'improve' it, whether or not it needs it. I note they have done the same with Twitter and Facebook. It just confuses the likes of me! It took me long enough to get round to writing a blog at all!
Its been a busy few weeks of late. Lots of jobs to do around the farm, lawns to mow, spring cleaning to begin...stop, reconsider and do anyway! I loathe all this cleaning but it does look better and it's amazing where you find things you thought you'd lost or discover exactly where you put things 'in a safe place' only to forget where that was like some kind of perplexed squirrel!
As the daylight increases so does the list of chores...makes me wonder whatever I find to do all winter. Ha! only joking there's even more to do then in many ways! So come on spring show us what you've got....and please no more showers, thunder, hailstones....some sunshine would be grand!
Pleased to see the swallows returned last week and bluebells are out. The primroses are a delight and there are goldfinches everywhere. Such pretty little birds. So as they say hope springs eternal...wonder what's going to happen next?
I can't believe it, after all the lovely dry, warm, sunny weather...today we have had howling arctic winds which have been buffeting the animals and knocking large branches off trees, all accompanied by rain peppered with hefty snowflakes.
Last week I was floating around in a summer frock and today I'm loading logs into the wood burner like it's going out of fashion...so I guess it's helpful that nature is tossing down a few more branches to replenish the next year's stock!
I can't quite believe the change. I've had to bring my wind chimes back in again so we can sleep for the din! Not so much a delicate tinkling as a discordant clang!
In common with the livestock - by my observations on their reactions - I don't like the wind! Not when it is gusty like today because it is so unpredictable. Trees topple and invariably smash precious fencing, rubbish appears in trees like unruly washing and I have to collect it! The log burner can get too hot or not burn at all if the wind is in the 'wrong direction' and I inevitably get hay or grit blown in my eye whilst doing the feeding chores on the farm so spend a while crying copiously from one eye...thus making my nose drip too! Whilst I dodge low flying branches and spend an inordinate amount of time hunting down wind tossed empty buckets!
I was just starting to enjoy spring as well...ah well. Perhaps it will last longer next year.....
In common with a great many others I have been attempting to pen a novel for what feels like (and actually is) years now and at last the first draft is complete. I have come up with a title too... believe me even this small detail was agony.
Now having read it through once to ensure there are no major plot 'howlers' I will sit on it for a little while before I go back and read through it all again very critically. I am quite pleased with myself, to have written so much rubbish takes some staying power I can tell you!
When I think how much writing I've been paid to do over the years it blows my mind... yet this 'pure fiction' is a very different animal! Even if I never do anything with it I know I've created it and had the staying power to get there.
Working on other stuff at the same time...like everybody else, made me constantly want to escape back to the world of my own creating where I could play God! In this world at least I am omnipotent...or am I? If you've always fancied the idea of writing a story but never tried it - have a go...we all have a story to tell and it really does do amazing things to your self-esteem!
I live on the western side of the country, not far from the sea and half way up a mountain...the Atlantic provides much bounteous rain, to be honest rather too much of it this year in particular. However, in some parts of the UK its been so dry there have been drought orders issued and water supplies are threatened. It seems incredible to me as I squelch about in gumboots and waterproofs and yet my friends in the east tell me this is true. I worry. There has been a lot of talk in the press about us having a lack of Vitamin D - usually naturally provided by sunshine in our bodies...unless you live around here and never get to see it that is. So imagine my delight today, sunshine YIPPEE! I was so excited because it feels like spring outside. Then I ate my lunch and watched the forecast, guess what? torrential rain here tomorrow and the next day...bother! That didn't last long then did it? I'll put my sunglasses away and get the waders out again then. Good job I didn't get all carried away and invest in a solar panel!
I put sheets on the line as well, nothing like spring air line dried bedding! I thought I'd make the most of it before the deluge set in at least. So far, so good. Perhaps when I'm having sweet dreams it'll remind me of the one dry day we had between all the rest when the sun came out, the sky looked blue and winter seemed a distant memory...yeah right...I'll keep taking the tablets! Oh and I'll swap the sunglasses for those rose tinted ones instead and everything will be fine. If ever there was a case of a tiny bit of sunshine 'going to someones head' then I'm living proof...good job winter only comes around once a solar year...
Get down on one knee and propose today if you are female.....it's your BIG chance!
Celebrate your real birthday if you were born on this day and stop moaning you age at a quarter of the speed of the rest of us!
Discover if that digital watch with the automatic date function is as clever as your thought...yep mine passed the test!
Stare in amazement as Windows gets the date right too!
Hooray! It's only around one in every four years so I'm taking my daughter to the pictures to celebrate! You have been warned!
Look out this must mean there are Olympic games on the way too......
I know quite a few A level students are taking their examinations at the moment, some doing re-sits, some early papers. There have been mutterings in my house on this topic, cups of coffee supplied and lashings of toast and Marmite proffered. Information is being crammed in at the last minute, pens checked, pencils sharpened, brains honed and vast amounts of fish being consumed as it has been a long held belief - I'm not sure if there is any real evidence to support it - that this supports the memory. My Mum always called it 'Brain Food' when I was in this situation (all those eons ago when Dinosaurs ruled the earth) so I do the same. I figure 'well it seemed to work for me' so I've kept my side of the bargain and fed the next generation in the same way! I dislike fish, so if anyone tells me I ate it all for no good reason (and now twice over) I shall cry!
Failing this, if you are amongst those taking exams, tests, driving tests, proficiency boards or whatever...every good wish from me to you. After all a bit of good luck can't go amiss either surely can it?!
I met a total stranger this week who was trying to take a photograph. It doesn't sound very interesting on the face of it I'll admit, but it was. We took the time on an overcast winter's day to talk about it, the light, the movement in the image, the composition which makes for a good picture, the setting required for the light, the contrast and why shadows on a sunny day cause such problems! I was told quite candidly
"So many people just look, but they don't see"
Which got me to thinking how right this was as an observation on life as a whole. We don't notice subtle nuances because we are in too much of a hurry, we don't appreciate what is in front of us because it has become commonplace or we just don't bother to observe the textures, colours and movement because we take it all for granted.
Ask yourself, when did you last look closely at a birds feathers and the way the light hits its plumage, even apparently dull birds like starlings have an iridescent quality like oil on water which is staggeringly beautiful and produce a myriad of colours if you truly look and yet they appear a muddy brown if one only glances. Have you noticed how an animal's coat is made of mixtures of different coloured hairs, even a white coat is full of greys and yellows or even the odd black hair if you look! Have you observed the way the world is reflected upside down in a raindrop suspended on a branch before it drops to the floor? Have you noticed how many colours are visible in the pebbles on a stream bed or how many different shapes and types of lichen grow on a tree? Have you watched a sunset reflected in the glass of a tall building? Have you made a note of the cracks in the pavement beneath your feet and the shapes they create, or perhaps the paint peeling on a railing revealing its past life and previous colours? No? The highlights in a loved ones eye, the colours in their hair, the texture of their skin? Perhaps you should! If you start to truly look around you the commonplace becomes extraordinary, it's just like viewing a new world through a child's eyes or experiencing what you thought you knew like an explorer visiting a wilderness for the first time! Try for yourself! I guarantee it will amaze you.
So a chance meeting with a fascinating stranger who enthused about a hobby and the world at large opened my eyes again. I've passed it on. It's up to you what you choose to do with it!
