Singing as the Darkness Lifts

STRIDING OUT    Listening Link This morning the air carries the scents of fuchsia and tea rose, and I wonder whether an elephant hawk moth is eating leaves somewhere close by.   Alt text states this week’s photo is a person in a graduation gown. I say it is one of my special someones striding out in a mortar board and gown.    I clapped and clapped and my hands were wonderfully tingly in celebration of all those at the ceremony. And I loved so many parts of it… that buzz of so much potential gathered temporarily in one place... the lump in my throat... the tear in my eye…the nudge and smile I got from the woman next to me in response to my extra loud applause and my heartfelt ’Yay’ on hearing their name called… the fact she whooped too…the photos…the meal out afterwards. That’s a great kind of striding out.   My kind of striding out was wetter and sensing that the photos would be far less frameable I made a video instead. I ...

ENTHUSIASTIC APPLAUSE Listening link This morning I am interested in what the air smells like where you are. I am also interested in whether you will, in the future, help me to celebrate my hundredth episode by taking note of what the morning air is scented with on that particular day. If my calculations are correct the one hundredth episode will be on Monday 8 th September and I would love to collate as many responses as possible to mark the occasion. That episode will also coincide with my blog being two years old. One hundred episodes over two years charting a new journey and keeping the promise to embrace Monday mornings. That feels good.   Alt text says this week’s photo is two women taking a selfie. I might say it is two women standing in a field readying for a concert and my sister would say it is not a field. She would be right because Dreamland Margate, which is where we were, has artificial grass and is in a town, but we were definitely readying for a concert. And...

HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING     Listening Link  This morning the cool air is very welcome. It carries the vague scent of cut flower stems.   Alt text suggested this week’s photos could be a collage of a person lying on the grass or a collage of a person smiling. I say it is my author photo from 2020 alongside one of my author photos from 2025.   I still like the photo of me lying in the rosemary from five years ago, but can never unsee the single hair under the word poet which escaped my notice at the time. And I really like the recent photo. It’s actually me!   Not only can I face the camera and smile now, I am also willing to pose for more than one photo at a time. That’s a lot of progress. And I am proud and intrigued to look back and see where I have come from. Of course if you ask Kath how difficult I find it to stand still and gaze into the middle distance or how many photos we rejected along the way there is a story...

ENTERING MY BLACK AND WHITE PHASE Listening Link This morning the air holds a hint of holly.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person leaning against a brick wall. It is me and I am indeed leaning against a wall with the aim of getting used to having my photo taken. It is time for me to update some pics and my lovely wife has been offering to capture some images for me. There will be more to follow, but for now here I am leaning against a brick wall.   Do you ever hear an echo from the past when you are doing something in the present? This happens to me sometimes when I am having my photograph taken, and I remember being told I looked very serious once at an interview years ago and needed to smile more. Aaargh, that would be my serious, nervous face! It sometimes makes me think that this is what I am going to see when a photo is taken. It is good to face this head on (or indeed looking into the middle distance) and see how much I can move away...