Category: Creativity
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. . . come sailing by . . .
Among the eclectic variety of seasonal songs, delivered with appropriate gusto by the SongWave Choir over our weekend of concerts, the lower voices shared in a Humberside version of the carol ‘I Saw Three Ships.’ As related in the programme notes, the connection of the ships to the heralded events surrounding the Nativity was finally clarified…
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The festive season begins . . .
The first Sunday in December is often, but not always, also the first Sunday in Advent, the start of the Christmas season. But I believe that December’s first Sunday is always the traditional ‘lights-up’ event here in New Galloway, which we shall experience this year for the first time. Villagers apparently gather at the Golf…
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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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A sense of accomplishment
I’ve often realised, as the creative writing sessions have accumulated, and I’m apprised of the errors littering my newest submission, that I have been too easily pleased. The creative writing community has a term for that: the bons mots are the writer’s ‘darlings’, and in order for the work to properly progress, they must be…
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The origins of creativity . . .
You begin to realise, as you learn more about the area around Dumfries, that Robert Burns is quite the most important figure in these parts. What we may not appreciate, especially if we’re not natives here, is that the tales of this patch were ready and waiting for a poetic sensibility to capture and immortalise.…
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The clock’s ticking . . .
While we consolidate and settle in, another parameter of life is returning: a sense of a routine, a schedule. Since we are such creatures of habit, the disorientation when the routine has been thrown awry can be discomfiting. Just as worrying to me, however, has been the sense that I’ve taken on too much again,…
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The delight, and relief, of humour
A couple years ago, I attempted to write a humorous poem. I’d have to say, I’m not renowned as a comic turn, though I have experienced a few exalted moments of shared laughter at my own expense, during our folk club days. I finessed and titivated my poetic efforts, as helped by friendly members of…
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As the sun rises
The daffodils at the top of our new-to-us garden nod towards the dawn of Easter Sunday. We seem to have been imbued with a surplus of joyful moments, this weekend, with more to come. Yesterday I finally sat down and did my hour’s stint on this month’s VisualVerse.org prompt. It had taken rather longer in…
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Wisps of sphagnum moss . . .
As age creeps up on us, it can get harder to deal with rejections, failures, lack of success, whatever you might feel despondent over, but on the other hand perhaps one’s skin gets tougher too. Strategies for coping might have been developed, and these in turn can contribute to continued productivity. When we took our…
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Of three graces, joy . . .
We saw the delightful sculpture by Canova, the second one he’d created of the Three Graces, by commission, at the Victoria and Albert Museum some decades ago. In researching for this blog (yes, a reasonable amount of study goes into these entries!) I came upon one of the earliest known examples of the graces, as…
Roads to Joy 