Skip to main content

PUT THE BACK OF YOUR HAND ON YOUR FOREHEAD AND WIGGLE YOUR FINGERS (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 64)

PUT THE BACK OF YOUR HAND ON YOUR FOREHEAD AND WIGGLE YOUR FINGERS

  

This morning the air is cold and wide. I believe I can smell the woody sap from the myrtle branch that was snapped by the recent heavy snow fall.

 

The snow saw us choosing to hibernate indoors with only a brief attempt at a snowman. That young person who used to love playing in the snow didn’t resurface in me for this snowfall and my snowman was not a success. On reflection I rushed it and didn’t wrap up as warmly as needed to complete the task effectively. The hot chocolate afterwards was delicious nonetheless!

 

Alt text says this week’s photo is a group of people posing for a photo. I say it is Kath and I posing with a promo board after seeing Wicked.

 

The weekend started with a trip to the cinema when we found ourselves with some unexpected free time, and ended with a fast food burger. I felt young again! 

 

There is real joy for me in going to the cinema because being immersed in a film is one of my favourite things to do, and one of the few places where I am solely focused on one thing. And a fast food vegan burger is rare in our world so always a novelty. Restorative time makes my heart sing.

 

The film was fantastic and if you get to see it then perhaps you too will feel the wonderful empathetic pull during the dance scene. And if you ever see me put the back of my hand on my forehead and wiggle my fingers then maybe you will do the same.

 

The main feature in the middle of the weekend was the Wool in Garden City yarn show. This means that in yarn show terms 2024 began and ended at Welwyn Garden City. It felt good to be back there and to see familiar friendly faces. There was time to catch up with chat and laughter and a little nod to the joy of #ElasticBandPhotos. I had also been sent a mission to complete whilst I was there which felt rather splendid. My mission was to pick up a gift from a wonderful friend. Receiving a message to let me know that there would be something at the show for me was super cool and unwrapping it was a joy indeed…A beautiful Christmas decoration chosen with our Dawn Chorus time together in mind. I love decorations and how each one celebrates and frames a particular moment or memory, and I am excited to think about getting the tree out very soon. I know that the hula skirted neon crocodile won’t be in there shaking his pompoms, because he cracked last year, but it still makes me smile to think that I chose him and wrapped him up for Kath some years ago!

 

Kellie Bright was preparing for a charity event and brought the squares and partially completed crochet blankets along to the show. I don’t have the necessary skills to help with the sewing up, but I loved seeing so many people enjoying being part of this. I did however honour my promise to tell people when I think they are amazing, by letting Kellie know this very thing and giving her a copy of ‘Lovely’ (one my #ElasticBandPhotos)! Kath was able to help by crocheting together sections of the Tom Daley blanket. 

 

Flopping onto the settee with a cup of tea when we got home gave us time to put our feet up and raise our cups to Helen who organised the yarn show. It was good to be part of something with such a wonderful atmosphere, and tired and happy is a good way to go to bed!

 

I will leave you today with a poem that seems to go with some of the temperatures we’ve been having ...

 

November Cold

 

November cold

is bone cold,

chalked moon cold.

 

November cold is fragile echoes

for the poet who does not like petrichor.

 

November cold says,

winter’s coming,

clouds your breath.

 

November cold has the indistinguishable

scent of trees riding on the air.

 

November cold

is rain cold,

faintly herbed.

 

November cold says,

the poet who does not like

rain on dry ground is a fruit fly.

 

November cold

is metal cold

spiked cold.

 

 

I hope your week contains connection and energy and empathy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IT STARTED, HOW IT’S GOING (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 92)

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...

LIFTED (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 108)

LIFTED Listening Link  This morning, the cool air brings the smell of hash browns as the traffic builds its familiar rush.   Alt text offers no suggestion for this week’s photo. I say it is my sister, me and my mum in the lift after coffee and before a little shopping spree. I love this moment in time from our lovely, shared day, and the fact I remembered to take a photo.   This week I learned that I am a competent pumpkin carver. Good company, a simple design idea, a whiteboard marker pen and a last-minute pumpkin purchase resulted in a Trick or Treat worthy exhibit which made me smile.   It has been like adopting a mini half-term this week... catching up with a good friend, time with family, carving that pumpkin, having a toffee apple, going to a big firework display, landing on the settee of lovely people and having a photograph taken... and perhaps there will always be echoes of school holidays even though I no longer have these as ...

MY YEAR IN REVIEW (#SingingAsTheDarknessLifts 114)

 MY YEAR IN REVIEW   Listening Link This morning it is raining and the almost unchilled air carries strong hints of green.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a collage of a group of people. It is indeed a collage and it is made from the photos that accompanied each blog post this year. I do like to take a look back before I look forward and I thought this would be one way of doing it for 2025.   When I was little I loved an annual. To me it was a book of delightful snippets collected together to be enjoyed in a period of time that involved a break from routine. I can picture myself reading in my pyjamas, the seemingly bottomless sweet tin, and the advent calendar that left its glitter on our fingers with all its doors open telling me that it was indeed Christmas Day. This week’s photo is like the cover of my 2025 annual.   This blog has been my way of building a good relationship with Mondays, and the fact there have been 114 episodes since Sept...