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Add Value Bring Joy

  Singing as the Darkness Lifts, Episode 33 Add Value Bring Joy  PodBean Link for those who like to listen     This morning I have scented the world. It is salted vinegar on moss. At the weekend I bought myself a wire brush and some organic cleaner to help remove the moss from the driveway and the smell is in the air. It was quite therapeutic to see what could be removed by hand, and to realise how much mud collects in the grooves to let the moss grow. The mud gives the same scent as beach mud when I disturb it and it needs to go because it makes the surface slippery after rain. Once I was hit on the head by a cake tin because of moss and mud. I had got out of the car from visiting a friend and was bringing back an empty tin when I slipped and landed flat on my back. I must have closed my eyes at the sudden shock and when I opened them to concentrate on whether or not I was hurt I saw the tin just before it hit my forehead. It was quite a good comedy moment t
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A Statue of a Moose with Donuts on it

  Singing as the Darkness Lifts, Episode 32 A Statue of a Moose with Donuts on it   Podbean Link for those who like to listen and this week it is a listening one really!     Today the air carries the sweet scent of rose petals. I see magnolia flowers, daffodils, cowslips and primroses, but sense roses.   Today’s blog title is gifted to me by alt text and I wonder if I will one day photograph the moose with doughnuts on its antlers. This photograph was my ‘Eat the Storms’ photo for the most recent episode and I thoroughly enjoyed those two party rings (and the rest of the mini packet) after spending a good chunk of the day in the garden.   So not only does Damien B Donnelly give me Saturday tea time back each week with the wonderful podcast of poetry and interviews he also gives me the audio for this week. Because it is launch day for ‘Welcome to the Museum of a Life’ I have decided to include here a taster from each
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A Collage of a Person and a Pizza

  Singing as the Darkness Lifts, Episode 31 A Collage of a Person and a Pizza Podbean Link for those who like to listen     I am a really good listener and this past week I have listened to myself a lot. I have listened to the wonderful silence that exists in my head when I am in the rhythm of a long drive and also found some of my procrastination and impatien ce quite amusing.     During the middle of the week I felt like I wanted to see fitness results from the walking I wasn’t doing. ‘Just start’ or ‘crack on then’ usually works for me when I am stuck, but it didn’t get me out and walking very much this week! I was ignoring myself and ignoring the fact that I know it feels really good when I get cracking!   It took me until Sunday to sort out my thoughts on walking , when I realised I had walked a proper walk the previous Sunday and if I did it again then I was effectively establishing a new habit! I found I could even picture walk three and th
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Study in Blue

 Singing as the Darkness Lifts, Episode 30 Study in Blue   Podbean Link for those who like to listen  Today my brain tells me the air carries the smell of acorns. I do not think I actually know what acorns smell like so this makes me temporarily confused. I settle for the fact that it smells green in some way on this rainy morning where the clocks have recently changed. ALT TEXT tells me it thinks this week’s photo is, ‘a close up of a ring on the ground’. But really it is the most recent of my #ElasticBandPhotos and I call it ‘Study in Blue’ (A discarded elastic band on the ground is twisted in rounds and there are blue stones in the pavement.)   The photo was taken during my recent trip to Herne Bay. I wanted to be able to share elevenses with my mum on her birthday and share family time. There was time to do some good catching up while I was there and lovely walks by the sea too. It always amazes me how much can be packed into a couple
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The Night I Turned into a Metal Spoon

Singing as the Darkness Lifts, Episode 29 : The Night I Turned into a Metal Spoon  Podbean Link for those who like to listen This morning the air smells clean and fresh, it is raining and there is no hint of petrichor. I smile because although I am not totally specific about the smell my senses are alive.   Last week I could not determine the scent and I blamed the cold virus for affecting my sense of smell. I also now blame it for turning me into a metal spoon during the week. It was an interesting dream and wonderfully vivid... temporarily I was a human-sized spoon heading for the centre of the earth. Sometimes when I wake up after a dream the images disappear quite rapidly, but I can definitely still picture this one! Perhaps the way my head concaved into the bowl of the spoon might make its way into a poem. It might be a good prose poem!   So the week started at a slow pace because I had to wait for the sneezing to stop and then unsnuffle myself. I loved it when my
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'A Blue Apple and An Ammonite'

Singing as the Darkness Lifts, Episode 28 : A Blue Apple and An Ammonite Podbean Link for those who like to listen This morning I cannot determine what scents are in the air. I have a cold and am temporarily blocked from my observations of smell. It feels a bit strange to not be able to notice so do let me know what the air smells like where you are!   When I was little my brother would let me in to his museum for a small pocket money fee. I liked looking at the shells and fossils and interesting finds he had gathered together there in his attic bedroom. He knew stuff about the exhibits. I liked the way they were laid out and the textures and shapes. I also liked spending time in his company and finding out what was new. Amongst the sharks’ teeth I think there was also a large dinosaur tooth of some kind. I remember the shine of the fool’s gold and of the mercury which we rolled across the lino to one another.   On Saturday I enjoyed the feeling of empowermen
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‘The Mashed Potato of Getting Up’

Singing as the Darkness Lifts, Episode 27:  The Mashed Potato of Getting Up… Podbean Link for those who like to listen This morning the air smells of coal. It might be the smell of cooking from the restaurant next to the hotel, but for me in the moment it was coal.  This week I have been working on not pressing the snooze button. I feel far better when I get straight up, but some days when my day starts slightly later I have been doing a snooze! I must have been listening to myself because on one of my ‘I need to be up mornings’ I turned off the alarm and got out of bed straight away to hear myself say, “Ah yes, it’s like mashed potato.”  I love mashed potato, but when I think about making it I think about washing up the pan and the masher afterwards. I don’t enjoy the feel of the starch in the washing up water and it always seems to need extra scrubbing. But… if you wash it up straight away it’s a lot easier than if you leave it. So my morning mantra now involves mashed potato. Keepin
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