Singing as the Darkness Lifts

CRUSHED LOVE HEARTS     This morning a cool breeze feels like a refreshing contrast after a super-hot weekend. It brings with it only the smell of smoke.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person taking a selfie. It is indeed and it is me taking a selfie in front of part of Kath’s stand at Wolverhampton Racecourse. I was looking to see if I could find a good angle for our pre-show photo while she was having a wander round, and I rather like this picture so I kept it!   This show gave us the hottest temperatures for a show set up that we have ever seen, and I could definitely feel the importance of staying hydrated! Lunch at shows is always peanut butter in rolls – easy to prepare wherever we are staying and a nice simple protein hit. Often there are chocolate bar snacks in the lunch bag too. I always used to have one of these in the late afternoon when things were getting quieter on the sales front, but this was not a sensible option this time giv...

  A BANDSTAND HAT TRICK FOR A SKYLARKER    PodBean Listening Link This morning the air smells of summer. It is warm and brings fuchsia and clover. It is the kind of air that hugs you as you step outside.   Alt text says this week’s photo is of a person standing in front of a microphone. And it is. My gratitude to Neil Henderson for capturing this moment in time where I am reading my poems from the bandstand at Oswestry Pride. I often look rather (for rather read incredibly) serious in photos so it’s good to have this one!   This was my third reading from that bandstand, and I love having been part of the event since it started in 2024. I also love the fact that when I reflected on reading there the first time it was my wish to be invited back. And now I can celebrate a hat trick. It was also nice that people took time to compliment me on my poems. I like a compliment along the way.   And I’ve done some learning over...

FINDING THE BREEZE   PodBean Listening Link This morning the birds are offering a range of gentle sounds and the air brings the scent of clover and warmed beach stones.   Alt text says this week’s photo is two women taking a selfie, and indeed it is. It is Kath and I settling into our seats aboard The Waverley Paddle Steamer .   I think Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn might have ignited my interest in paddle steamers many years ago. And when I found out that a paddle steamer visits Llandudno for a few days each year I was eager to take a ride. Having missed the opportunity to book tickets in the past I made sure I was more organised this time, I bought the tickets earlier in the year and pinned them to the noticeboard in readiness. It’s always a nice feeling to see tickets pinned to the noticeboard and the gap that was left behind when these ones were unpinned has now been filled with a pair of tickets for a Ruby Wax show. ...

A SLIGHTLY BLURRED MIDSUMMER RONNIE   PodBean Listening Link  This morning the air is already warm. It carries strong floral notes and the scent of someone’s freshly brewed coffee.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a small animal in the sky. I say it is Ronnie jumping for joy with a pompom crown. Midsummer seemed to creep up on me this year and a late evening photo seemed one way to acknowledge and celebrate it so off I went to lie on the patio under a waxing crescent moon to capture this photograph.   All in all the week was gentle and quiet. Joys included delivering copies of the group poem to the residents at the housing association, feeling physically better after a recent hysteroscopy, drafting poems about said procedure so that it is set down out of my head, finding out during a conversation with a friend that there might be an audience for said poems even though I thought they were possibly a bit niche, getting back out int...

DONNING THE T-SHIRT      PodBean Listening Link         This morning the sun is hazy behind clouds and the wind stirs the air to bring rich, strong notes of rosemary.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person standing in front of a brick wall. It is indeed and the person is me. And I am wearing my 'Association of Business Poets' t-shirt.   Donning the t-shirt this week was a real pleasure because it meant that I was signifying my readiness to deliver a poetry workshop. The extra pleasure came because I was being invited back for a second visit. My destination... a housing association wherein I have found a wonderful group of poetry appreciators and poets.   My first visit on National Poetry Day last October featured me reading a set of my poems dedicated to that year’s chosen theme of ‘Play’. And during the visit I discovered that the group included people who wrote regularly, people who loved to lis...

A PERSON FLYING THEIR HORSE ON THE BEACH   Click here to listen   This morning the sun is warming the rained-on ground and the green scent of plants is rising in the air.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person flying a horse on a beach and this description absolutely delights me. It gives me the perfect title for my blog in a week when things that have happened don’t really make great titles. It was one of those weeks which I thought would be summed up well by a photo of Ronnie not quite in shot as he jumps for joy (it was very windy and he kept blowing off course). I have other photos of him completely in the frame where the sky appears beautifully blue, but this one represents for me that wonderful human balance of finding joy when life sprinkles in a few obstacles.   The photo was taken on my birthday during a visit to Rhos-on-Sea for some ice-cream. Being at the coast and eating ice-cream are on my list of fun things I like to do, and bir...