Month: July 2023
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When joy is ‘on hold’
Yesterday I took a dear visiting friend on a brisk walk through the temperate woodland just a couple doors down from us, and after we’d looked at the vast vista out over Loch Ken, we proceeded further to the Raider’s Trail and Kirsten’s Bridge over the babbling brook, through the field of blooming thistle, and…
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A handy stake . . .
So, in much the same way as I trundled along down the High Street of New Galloway back in March with a For Sale sign on my back, shifting it from our new home to the small cottage we were putting up for sale, this past Friday I lifted that very sign from Spring Cottage…
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The ineffable wonder of water . . .
I’m to mow the lawn this morning, with our lovely rechargeable battery- powered Bosch mower. When I looked out of the kitchen window, the delight of the glistening droplets caught my eye, sparkling as they were in the sunshine across the grass. Not because I should have to delay my mowing chore until the sun’s…
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Growth, more abundant
The huge poppies lining our front path have in a few cases grown taller than me! Apparently, were we to be assiduous gardeners, we should be culling rather a few of these rampant plants, but on the whole I love a wild and woolly approach. Okay, I may have to tackle that over-growing Mahonia plant,…
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A poem, publicly printed
A couple months ago, a call came out through the WriteOn writers group based in New Galloway from a previous member who is now chairing the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival. The editor was looking for poems from eager writers about cycling. In response to an earlier stimulus from one of Claire Lynn’s Northumbrian Writers…
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But if it is broke . . .
I’ve often had cause to remember the adage, If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! But sometimes, as with our beloved Harry Hymer’s side front bumper, it is most definitely broke! It was a disagreement with the gate as we tried to squeeze through the narrow passage beside our new-to-us house. That altercation didn’t slow…
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The joy of surprise . . .
I’m not a great fan of surprises. I feel confused by them, not sure how to react. But when I’m somehow complicit in the surprise, the dénouement can bring great joy. So it was yesterday. We thought we’d see what all the work has been about, down at the Ken Bridge, where we’d seen diggers…
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Sunny side up, or over easy?
We’ve been waiting weeks for the giant poppies in our new-to-us front garden to bloom. These plants are just about taller than we are! Three have opened all at once, in the past couple of days, and it’s been worth the wait. There’s lots more on the way, too. Over the past fortnight, life has…
Roads to Joy 