Tomorrow is my daughter’s birthday, about which I have written before. The day she was born was frosty and the night was clear with a full moon. Restless owls hooted among the trees, a fox barked in the distance, and the wind roaring in the chimney caused a shiver of hot cinders. All of these […]
Tag: Haibun Monday
Changing Sky
Autumn walks are for me the most beautiful. I have been doing the same lap for months now, but I never tire of road, bridge, lane, past the boats and horses, and back round again, usually at the same after my evening meal. lichen on the bridgeflowing into wintertimethe steadfast river I get to see […]
Bliss Beneath the Willow
I’ve never known such heat to punish our small island as it has this summer. However, while all around us fields frazzled, some even burned, and gardens wilted, our sanctuary has remained green and lush. When the heat indoors proves too much to handle, I escape to cool breezes and shadows beneath the willow to […]
May Flowers
The cherry tree has been stripped of blossom, but the first of the honeysuckle is blooming in our garden, in time for this week’s flower moon. Its scent floats on the breeze, having survived the wind and downpours to which this May has subjected us. This morning, the sun is shining on a cascade of […]
Window View
It’s chilly in here. During the recent sunny spell, I turned the heating off. The rug over my knees and legs is keeping them warm; my fingers are white with cold. Mojo is sitting on the back of my chair; I turn my head to smile at her and she turns to me, a cat […]
Anticipation
From my desk, I look out of the window and see the ornamental cherry tree, sunlight flickering through branches studded with shiny buds, reddish-brown splashed with pale green. A brisk wind shakes them, as if telling them to just get on with it. Every year is the same: I hold my breath, waiting for the […]
Terrapins and Sweet Corn
I met Caroline in our first year at an all-girls grammar school, and we spent as much time as we could together. She lived a bus ride away in a bungalow, the first one I’d ever come across, which her parents had expanded upwards into the roof, where Caroline had her bedroom. It was a […]
Welcome Back
I read recently that Britain’s largest bird of prey, the white-tailed eagle, is back in England after 240 years; it’s hard to believe that they were once a common sight here in southern England, as they were hunted to extinction. Apparently, the last one seen was in 1780 at Culver Cliff on the Isle of […]
Rejuvenation
2015 was to be my first full New Year as a free woman. I had left teaching the previous summer, although still working as an examiner, and embarked on a writing course with Penguin Random House, on which I hoped to complete my children’s novel, Joe and Nelly. But I had an itch that I […]
Just Playing
Before the second lockdown, I spent some Tuesday mornings walking with a group in our local woodlands, fields and lanes. Every week, the group leader planned routes for us to explore. I was delighted to discover new places to enjoy the landscape. On one of our walks, we stood at the top of a rise […]
writing in north norfolk 