Skip to main content

A MARMALADE SANDWICH WITH PADDINGTON (Episode 59)

 

A MARMALADE SANDWICH WITH PADDINGTON

 

This morning the air has been blown to freshness by the strong winds, and I love alt text’s suggestion for this week’s photo: A person sitting on a bench with a bear and a cookie!

PodBean Link for those who like to listen to this blog.

When I heard that a Paddington Bear bench had been installed in Chester I was excited to go and see it. I loved watching the cartoons when I was little and enjoyed the empathy I felt for the little bear as he explored things. Marmalade sandwiches are not really a thing for me – I often eat marmalade on toast, but not in a sandwich. However, it felt a fitting thing to do to make a marmalade sandwich to eat on the bench with Paddington. I took a bite before sitting down so my sandwich matched the shape of his. It was delicious and Kath and I enjoyed sharing it on the way home afterwards. There will be more of these kinds of sandwiches in my days.

 

Last week’s photo featured three apples on a wooden Ludo board and after I had taken the photo I thought about the way starting a new business feels like playing a game of Ludo. All the work that is needed to get round to those final steps towards ‘home’. And then still needing to roll the right numbers on the dice. The metaphor of this reminds me to enjoy the journey and that feels like just the right message to give myself at the moment. If you find me walking around saying that Life is like a game of Ludo you will know why. Here’s to those moments in life when you roll a six and get another go. For me this week this has included writing a cv for the first time in many years and taking a moment to celebrate my skills and career journey so far. It was motivational for me to see the document take shape which felt particularly good because when I turned on the laptop to start writing, it felt like a bit of a chore!

 

I now notice that a large number of my photos feature food. I guess this sort of balances the pictures of things flying in the air or lying on the ground like discarded elastic bands. But I think it might also tell me that I enjoy eating things. In my photo trunk the other day I found a whole collection of food photos that I had printed out and this included some very dubious looking quinoa. I think I was capturing the first time I had made it into a meal, but it wasn’t very photogenic! My ‘Eat the Storms’ photos show the sweet treats that accompany each episode, and I love that they are all different. These do seem to be standing the test of time and are much more pleasing to the eye. This week there was delicious chocolate cake to accompany the celebration of my first poetry collection, Magnifying Glass, being in the world for four years, and my beautiful wife Kath being in it for 51! The four biscuits on the top went a bit soggy and there might have been slightly too much buttercream, but it was delicious! Having found flour mites in the cupboard flour I am determined now to use up the new bag I bought before mites make their way into this bag. Perhaps they just hatch in the flour; I can’t really picture the mites marching into our kitchen and all the way up to the cake ingredients. (And now a little Google tells me that there is a risk I didn’t get rid of them all last time we had them and they might have come from eggs laid in the crevices of the cupboard even though I thought my cleaning was very thorough!)

 

In honour of ‘Magnifying Glass’ I will share the title poem of the collection:

 

MAGNIFYING GLASS

 

Making sure his head does not cast a shadow,

my brother orders me quiet.

 

Watch, he says,

he has been experimenting for days

with the magnifying glass they bought him.

 

Now he aims the sun’s rays,

narrowing

intensifying

targeting.

 

His control is powerful.

 

Between the far away sky

and us on the ground

he is manipulating light, tightening it.

 

He burns ants,

trapped in dips in the wood,

setting charcoal circles side by side.

 

He starts then on newspaper;

the heat bites crescents in the edges

like a hot-jawed leafcutter ant.

 

Smoke rises, lifting its smell

just before orange tongues elongate

and lap.

 

Amazingly, it kites up, up,

over our fence into the sky.

 

I stand beside, yet, behind him

staring up into the space that he loves

and I do not understand.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SOMEBODY’S MISSING (Episode 82)

 SOMEBODY’S MISSING     PodBean Link for those who like to listen  This morning the air has been sung in fresh by the dawn chorus. It carries hints of green and fuchsia.   Alt text suggests that this week’s photo is a person sitting on a lawn with flowers. I say it is a photo of my lovely dad and the flowers we chose to celebrate his life at his funeral.   This is the first new month that has started without my dad being here. I’ve learnt that I want to tell everyone what I learned from him. I’ve learned that one of the best things I can think of to do right now is carry forward the very special parts of him to the best of my ability. I’ve also learned that writing some of this down in a poem felt right, but that reading said poem when we gathered together to say goodbye to him required a large hanky and plenty of time for deep breaths.   I am so glad he came into my life when I was young and built us a family to be proud of. There’s so muc...
Post a Comment
Read more

STEPPING OUT FOR SNOOKER BY THE SEA (Episode 74)

STEPPING OUT FOR SNOOKER BY THE SEA  PodBean Link for those who like to listen...    This morning the rain brings a gentle dampness, and the air holds the scent of sap and twigs.    Alt text says this week’s photo is two women taking a selfie. I say it is me and my sister taking a selfie having learned that it is best if we both sit down. When we stand side by side for photos she looks far taller than me and the photos seem a little out of balance. She says I have shrunk. She couldn’t see me at the railway station when she arrived for her visit, and I found myself standing on tip toes and waving a big double handed wave, so perhaps I might just have to measure myself to find out if I have indeed shrunk a little!   We first met up to watch the snooker a year ago, and before this I had never watched it live. We saw Gary Wilson’s 147 break, and laughed at my sister’s impression of me telling her I was suffering from shin splint...
Post a Comment
Read more

TWO SISTERS AND A COW (Episode 80)

TWO SISTERS AND A COW   PodBean Link for those who like to listen This morning the air brings the distinct smell of cut grass. The birds have turned up their dawn chorus songs these last few days and are welcoming the mornings with a vigour that is admirable.   Alt text tells me this week’s photo is ‘two women taking a selfie in front of a cow’. I say it is my sister and I on a country walk encouraging a cow to be in our photo after we have told it how beautiful we think it is.   I have been reminded about a couple of things on recent walks:   Number one: Being dehydrated is not good for me. I often talk to the creatures I see on my walks, but when I was dehydrated recently I became judgemental and called a squirrel naughty and told a sheep it looked like a badger. My sister recounts school days where one orange squash drink and maybe a metallic sip from the water fountain were her drinks for the day. How much better we are at hydrating now. I kno...
Post a Comment
Read more