Singing as the Darkness Lifts

   JUST START AND KEEP GOING   Listening Link    This morning the air is fresh after the rain, the sky is blurred grey and the magpies are sounding their rattles in the trees. I think I can smell horse chestnut leaves; I call it autumnal. My mind is on the changing of seasons and the passing of time.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a group of people posing for a photo. It is in fact a trio of siblings having their cobwebs well and truly blown away on a boat trip to the forts off the coast of Kent. I loved this summer holiday day and I love the fact that this picture encapsulates a moment in time where we were truly in the moment out on the water.   Three years ago I decided to get up and sniff the air each Monday morning. I also decided to write a blog. The reason? A pivot. A very large one where I decided to step out of my thirty-year career and see what came next for me.   And the first blogs w...

BETTER TO BE BORN LUCKY THAN RICH  PodBean Listening Link   This morning the air brings gentle hints of autumn. It holds coolness and damp. The seasons are shifting.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person standing in front of a display of knitted clothes. I say it is, and that it is me in front of some of Kath’s designs at Wonderwool Wales. I also say that alt text missed the fact that I am wearing my Dolly Parton t-shirt. This is an older photo, but one which seems suited to this blog. The title for this blog, better to be born lucky than rich , is one of my nan’s sayings. And whenever it rings in my ears it brings a smile to my face. Luck has given me things that I could never buy. And that t-shirt has led to many conversations with a whole host of good people. Back in 2011 I opened an email and cried tears of joy. It was my Golden Ticket, my Charlie Bucket Moment. As a child I loved the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the thought...

LOOKING FOR A SIGN       PodBean Listening Link. This morning the ground is damp, and the birds are singing unhurried songs. The air is fresh and floral; a light mixture of flowers and grass.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a stuffed animal in the air, and indeed it is. It is a blurred Ronnie jumping for joy by a bridge in Port Sunlight. My eyes were a little blurry when taking the photo and I didn’t really realise that he was quite so out of focus until I checked the photos later on! (Note to self... don’t catch up with reading things on the phone during car journeys when your wife is driving without putting the reading glasses on because it makes your eyes feel strained, tired and a wee bit blurry.)   There was a partial eclipse this week, which was marked by brother and sister colanders, jacket potatoes , a dragonfly fly-by, bat swoops and shooting stars. That’s a lovely kind of eclipse evening.   And this weekend I was feelin...

LOGANBERRIES   PodBean Listening Link This morning the air smells of minty toothpaste and traffic. It has elements of autumnal coolness in it as the sun begins to establish itself in the sky. Alt text is not available to offer a suggestion for this week’s photo content. I say it is Ronnie having a photo shoot with some hotel curtains as background in order to add some interest and depth to some hurried photos of blackberries and raspberries. In the back garden whilst marvelling at how a great forest of borage self-seeds each year I noticed that the autumn fruiting raspberries were beginning to ripen. This had me spinning me back in time to my nan giving me my first loganberry. I loved this large firm fruit with its clearly hollowed core and the way it brought my favourite taste of raspberries and mixed this with the depth of blackberries without bringing the tartness of those bramble fruits. I loved those hands that offered it to me and the love that always radiated from my n...

IT’S TIN, IT’S POTTERY, IT’S PEARL   This morning the warm air brings the scent of coffee underscored by rich dark chocolate. I stand still to linger in the moment and breathe deeply.   Alt text says this week’s photo is of a stuffed animal in a bush of yellow flowers. I say it is Ronnie ‘pre-cataracts’ ignoring the fact that there are lots of spines on gorse bushes while posing for a photo at The Great Orme. This is also the photo for August on the #LookThere calendar this year. The photograph was taken during my MA when I was exploring locations for my video poems as part of my reading poetry aloud project. The project included putting together a collection of short poems which could then be read by me and by someone else. The idea was to compare the two readings and also address my nerves around reading out loud. It was a fun and interesting way to explore poetry performance, and I have fond memories of bringing the work together and of the people...

HUMANNESS   PodBean Listening Link      This morning the ground has been dampened by rain for the first time in ages and the air is all roses and rosemary.   Alt text says this week’s image is a colourful background with words. I say it is a page from a carousel created by Maxine Bell for The Association of Business Poets . I also say I love it.   Since becoming a founding member of The Association of Business Poets I have thoroughly enjoyed the thinking that has been involved. As a group we have been able to meet online and spend time working on our values. This is an area that is of huge interest to me. When I started my coaching qualification in 2023, I loved the sessions centred around thinking about personal values for life and work. I had not focused in on this with such intensity as an individual before and it taught me so much about me as a person, and about how I find balance and joy. For The Association of Business ...

POEMS TO MATCH A TEATOWEL        PodBean Listening Link This morning I have to wait for the cool breeze to blow towards me. When it does it brings rosemary and grass. Before that the first scent hanging in the air is curry powder and spices, and I remember clearing the out-of-date jars and stacking them in the recycling box by the front door.   At text says this week’s photo is a stuffed animal in the air. This is true, but I also say it is Ronnie jumping for joy and somersaulting on the promenade at Prestatyn. It is also a celebration of a moment in time and the sea in all its churned up grey-brown glory.   A coastal walk to blow the cobwebs off is always on my list of self-care things to do, and this week’s trip to the seaside did the trick. I like walking in my local town, and I like walking in the forest nearby, but there is a particular joy to walking at the coast that delights me. The fresh air, the sound of the waves...

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...