Thoughts of a Soo

WHAT WAS I THINKING? PodBean Link for those who like to listen   This morning the air wraps around me with its cold temperature and brings the smell of raw cake mix. It is the unbaked beginning of a day.   Alt text says this week’s photo is, a red sign with a smiley face on top of a wood roof. I say it is a fence rather than a roof and a frying pan rather than a sign. I saw this on a winter walk and remembering repeating the route on a different day to see it again because it felt cheery and fun.   There seemed to be a lot of thoughts in my head on a particular walk this week. The seeming randomness of them appealed to me, but I also longed for elements of silence as I walked because I seemed to be staying in my head not looking at the surroundings or the view. Perhaps there were no buzzards, no singular robins, no territorial squirrels, but perhaps too I was not in a ‘noticing things outside of me’ frame of mind.   I had the rhythm of ...

  TWELVESES PodBean Link for those who like to listen This morning the air carries the dull scent of newspaper print. This strikes me as a contrast to last night when it was stirred with the magic of wood smoke and incense. The moon, jacketed in clouds, has waned to 58%, and in hedgerows the birds are welcoming one another to the day.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a plate of food with a bowl of fries. I say it is our ‘on the road’ evening meal on a day where late elevenses of tea and cake became twelveses, and lunch a little while later was a shared meal deal. Sometimes in someone else’s town it can be difficult to know where to go to eat and I am grateful to the local person I asked for advice who recommended this place to us.   I have motivated myself to get back into the swing of walking this week, and found joy in noticing the changes in the hedgerows and in the amount of light at different times of day. I have been am...

PONDERING THE POSSIBLE  PodBean Link for those who like to listen   This morning the air brings a vanilla scent – essence of cake not ice-cream which seems strange given the iced snow that covers one side of the pavement. Somewhere above the clouds the moon is waxing to fullness, and I realise I don’t know what vanilla looks like before it becomes darkened pods. Gentle trickles of water and the fact the cold doesn’t reach my bones as soon as I am outside tell me the temperature is rising.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a sign on a wall. I say it is the Ponderosa sign with a cardboard cutout of Dolly Parton on top of the wall. I won the cutout in a competition some years ago and enjoyed taking it on a little tour! The picture seems apt given that the following snippet from an interview with Dolly Parton has floated in and out of my mind over the past couple of weeks while we have not had access to a shower: “In the winter time, we just had a pa...

READER, I DONNED ‘EM  PodBean Link for those who like to listen This morning the air smells cold, and there is a transparency to its freshness. I think I almost catch an essence of almonds, but am mistaken. Soft flakes of snow float down before turning to rain.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person and a person wearing Christmas lights. I say it is me and my big bro donning the fairy lights, and smiling for a photo. I enjoyed a range of family photographs with the lights, but did not manage to capture any ‘head through the festive wreath’ photos this time round. I will hold that thought for next year and find a nice one to take on my travels with me. The lights were good though and even helped my visibility on a slightly foggy evening on a stroll to meet with dear friends when we were on our travels down south.   It was foggy again on Christmas Eve which gave the perfect opportunity to sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with gusto. I do...