Smile - 5

Me - Is there a reason you left the TV on?

Partner - Yes, I didn't turn it off. 

Smile - 4

Colleague 1 - Would you like a cup of tea?

Colleague 2 - No thanks. The boss has just made me one. 

Colleague 3 - And that's put him off for life!

Smile - 3

Me - Have you heard the latest guidelines about cleaning your teeth?

Boss - No. 

Me - Apparently you should now clean your teeth twice a day for two minutes with toothpaste.

Boss - Do you think three times a day with gin counts?

Smile - 2

My partner, whilst working on Clippings for me, asks - I did ask you if there were anymore blogs to be included on this page. 

Me - Did you?

Him - Yes!

Me - What, when I was in the room or down in the kitchen making tea?

Smile - 1

It's not what you drive, it's how you drive that intimidates people.

Virtual Fruit Cake

That's not implying I am one...

I'd like to share some virtual fruit cake with you. I made a large fruit cake for the week my partner and I took off recently. We didn't go away. We made furniture for the office, bought things we needed and I also did a lot of gardening. 

We were both tired. We needed to do something crative which tied in with practical things that needed to be done around the house. We ate small slices of my fruit cake for tea in the afternoons, drinking herbal tea with it; chamomile, blackcurrant or fennel. We listened to more music. We hardly watched any TV. Instead we re-watched the original Star Wars films in the evenings. 

The fruit cake was succulent and firm but it wasn't heavy at all. There were great chunks of dried fruit in it; fig, date, apricot, pear, apple. The texture was firm yet yielding. The taste was fruity-sweet, not too sweet. It was a treat. It gave us energy when we'd been working hard  physically all day. 

During the week I didn't write any haiku and only a few stones. I stopped thinking about trying to make money out of my writing. I stopped trying to decide what to write next; should I re-write my romace, should I write my planned novel about depression, should I work on my fantasy series or write the final futuristic tale, or should I write more poems and short stories to sell to magazines? 

I rested my mind. I enjoyed gardening. I made tomato soup from my homegrown tomatoes. I read three books; "Pay Attention - A River of Stones", " A Year of Questions" by Fiona Robyn and "Soulforge" by Margaret Weis. I stopped feeling tired. I stopped worrying. I enjoyed being.

Now I'm back in routine and I know where I'm going. I'm working on short stories because they're alive to me at the moment. And in November I'm going to participate in Nanowrimo for the first time ever in order to start my novel about living with depression. 

I love being focused!

Element - 30

Wind;

keen breeze in sunlit air

chilling my skin

awakening my brain. 

Element - 29

Storm;

being allowed outside

to see and feel the lightning dance

and to jump at the sound 

of chariot wheels 

churning overhead!

Element - 28

Storm;

anvil cloud

and a fierce sun 

out of a solid-blue sky. 

Burning heat,

stifling air,

even the breeze is warm.

Scent of rain

out of the west.

Element - 27

Sun;

fiercely caressing, relaxing

my skin, muscles

and mind.

Element - 26

Mist;

light-fingered moistness chilling my skin,

white veil dropping before my eyes. 

Where is the sun?

Something I've learnt recently...

Writing morning pages is like cooking with leeks. 

If you spend time preparing them and get all the gritty bits out before you start cooking leeks, it makes life so much easier. I've found the same with writing morning pages. 

If I get myself out of the way first thing, I can concentrate so much better on everything else during the day. It's as if all the stuff that usually whizzes round in my head, distracting me, gets poured out on the page. It doesn't solve any problems, but it does help me to concentrate on what really needs to be done. 

So thank you Fiona for inspiring me to come back to the habit of morning pages in both Lorrie's Story and A Year of Questions! 

The Butterfly Tree

My short story, The Butterfly Tree has been published online by The Absent Willow Review!

If you would like to read it, click here

Let me know what you think!

Element - 25

Rain;

seeping, pouring all night

lingering into the morning

fine mist hanging over wood and field

concealing sky

moistening my skin

Element - 24

Cloud; 

pastel white

blurred at the edges

on sky-blue paper

looks unreal

Element - 23

Sky; 

blue so bright

only glimpsed briefly

between shrouding clouds

of grey

Element - 22

Wind;

gusting, grabbing

coolness diffusing the sun's heat

wreaking havoc 

on trees and fields

Element - 21

Rain; 

violent showers and gusting winds

soaking, drenching, trickling

off stone and earth

liquid life falling

from turbulent skies

Element - 20

Rain;

monotonous tap on plastic roof, 

dreary, irritating rhythm, 

much-needed water.

Element - 19

Earth; 

is moisture, fertile & rich

dark soil supporting tomato & pepper plants

nourishing, giving life.

Element - 18

Rain;

fine shower suddenly falling

from high clouds

Element - 17

Sun;

heavy with heat,

liquid gold in the air

benign, sovereign, joy-bringer, life-giver,

light.

Element - 16

Cloud;

low & drifting

conccealing the far horizon

closing in

making an island of the hilltop

saturating air and earth

with welcome moisture.

Element - 15

Rain; 
backed by a flurry of windiness
cool drops fall heavily
soaking concrete and earth.

Element - 14

Thunder; 
squeezing the air out of my lungs, 
lays his oppressive hand upon me, 
deafening me with his sudden roar.

Element - 13

Air;
heavy with the threat of rain
of moisture lingering in the atmosphere - 
warmth, life, hope.

Element - 12

Cloud;
grey looms, threatens
casts sporadic showers
but here no rain falls.

Element - 11

Earth;
damp, holding water,
saturated after long, drenching rainfall.

Element - 10

Stone; jarring, inflexible, strong yet cracks weaken it. Natural bone of the earth, shaped by man to defy God.

Element - 9

Cloud; grey-wetness moisting the air, cool droplets clinging together, darkening the light.

Element - 8

Rain; spitter spatters on the greenhouse roof, flat drops of transparent moisture, pearl-like against the grey sky.

Element - 7

FireBreath; heat of the sun carried in the wind, burning from the south, holding dryness in the air. Summer heat with Autumn gales, a hot vortex of blue and gold.

Element - 6

Earth; dry, dusty, hanging onto every atom of moisture it can so the plant life it nourishes will survive.

Element - 5

Moon; new and slender piercing the night. Full and heavy, taking her time to rise and set.

Element - 4

Sun; glorious harbinger of perfection - heat, light, growth. On the sun you can depend to rise, to fill the world with light and heat. Dangerous, yet vital.

Element - 3

Wind; gusting tugging, playing, shoving, jagged dances with leaves and branches. Strong, irrestible, unseen.

Element - 2

Cloud; droplets of water congregate, make the air grey, mist sight, conceal all behind an impenetrable curtain.

Element - 1

Fire; burning, devouring, hungry heat. Vital source at my core, essential heat and light. Always changing, dancing, moving, flickering colours. Both death and life.