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 […]
Tag: Haibun Monday
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 […]
What you can’t see can’t hurt you
I was pregnant and staying with friends in the one-storey lodge house of an old priests’ college in the middle of Ireland. Although allowed in the college grounds, my friends kept to their own garden, put off by tales of a death in the swimming pool, long fallen into disrepair, and ghosts from the private […]
Harvesting the Moon
Although trees are still mostly green, the year is finally turning. Autumn is here: hedges are crimson with berries; leaves are yellowing, and the year is fading to brown. In the air, there is already a taste of frost. I find myself willing leaves to change colour and fall, so that I can crunch them […]
A Hike in the Moselle Valley
When I was about nineteen and living in Cologne, after repeated ferocious tonsillitis my tonsils were finally removed. A hike in the Moselle Valley had been planned by some male friends of mine and they insisted I come along, post-operative or not. It was late autumn, frosty and cold. The ancient hotel we were staying […]
A Taste of Southern Comfort
Fifty was a special birthday for me: I had a new teaching post to start in September, my daughter had come home to celebrate with us, and I had completed half a century pretty much unscathed. I opened cards and a few presents and was feeling good. I knew that my husband was planning something, […]
One Shining Moment
One of my shiniest moments was when I played the genie of the lamp in my junior school’s production of Aladdin. I was about ten years old, very shy and lacking confidence, but I loved singing, dancing and acting, the only times when I came out of my shell. My costume was bright and colourful, […]
Impressions of New York
I was nervous about the long flight, the stories I had heard about New York, and the terrible event of the previous year. Yes, my one and only visit took place a year after 9/11. We came in to land at night, lights sparkled below us, but I was sitting in a middle aisle and […]
Shakespeare First
I have always loved Will’s work from the moment I was introduced to his plays at school, and I remember falling in love with the sonnets as if it was only yesterday. The first poems I wrote as a teenager were sonnets and I still fall into the form when I least expect it. The […]
