puff nettle, puff daddy, puff the magic dragon! on sunshine shady days nettles emitt this weird mesmeric spool of smoke… its actually pollen… as NOT evidenced in the photograph… but trust me, was happening… they are wind pollinators i never knew of this curious phenommenon till, a couple of years back, elise and i observed it in the woods at the reservoir and deduced what was happening gandalf-ian smoke rings! something profoundly satisfying to curious close scrutinise nature, to wonder at a few of her beautiful mysteries and mechanisms this nature photography lark is tough… requires buckets of patience and something more sophisticated than my rubbish phone… spent at least 5 minutes trying to capture it, for nowt if the loch ness monster and big foot have a moonlit tea party waltz around the back yard, you can guarantee i’ll just have a fuzz grainy shot of cup cake crumbs… sigh
revel in this your beautiful, perfect but perishable body cherish the astonishing, intricate, infinite complexity of form, for we are dancing miracles! limbs akimbo, eyes and heart that flame eternal with love crikey o’Riley aren’t we fabulous …….. personally i’ve always had a somewhat reluctant relationship to my body, so mind heavy, head centred, that its a constant suprise i don’t just topple over never thinking i’m particuliarly beautiful, bearably average with a strong, a so so strong predisposition to sloth… and yet, much neglected, my physique, usually functions impeccably all those breaths, the flourishing, crimson blood coursing, biome nibble digesting… these processes that swirl and tick with nary an intervention of thankless thought bravo! gratitude, ta muchly! handsome is as handsome does this the golden courgette star flower of desire
late back from an amble around ardingly reservoir with daughter… lockdown leftovers tea… samosas and bhajis, with humous, vegan quesadilla, pad thai and full power salad… anglo-indian-thai-lebanese-mexican… total yum, what a fusion gastro suprising world we inhabit… not quite the corn beef hash, cornflakes and pink mousse of the 70’s! x
another day soused in lucid sunshine, whilst doing my morning pages, ploughing beneath the lines, through the trough and sloth of thought book poised at a certain angle, i can see the ink glisten as it gushes forth onto the page a tantalising scintilla, then it is dry, from flow to ridgid certainty i love writing with an ink pen… monk in his scriptorium… such a different process to hen pecking each letter on a keyboard… his nibs, snickety scalpel steel mine is much battered, a quid from W H Smiths (W H Audens?!)… i usually write in purple ink, but black, holds all colours the miniscule twitch and creep of muscles in the hand, a perfection of poise and pressure, as tho embroidering elaborate monograms on a silk handkerchief… even if it looks like spider spool scribble! a miraculous process, crab wise scuttle across the page (remember to breathe!), for what? spiteful, lazy embittered thoughts, gripes and glum grumbles ha! i love the glamorous squandering life is ease and grace, surfing the crest of the present, endless becomming, this extraordinary and rare privilege of being alive! all joined up bart simpson ate my shorts bart simpson ate my shorts bart simpson ate my shorts dwell forever in love dwell forever in love
Oh and important only to my obstinate pedantic brain… The typed words are what’s written on the paper and exactly one side of A4! x
…. to dianne: ha! why should frank be spared my warblings? thank the kids for their impeccable tolerance… i think it helps being one step removed, whenever Finn and S see me writing something, theres always much eye rolling and an involuntary wince poor lambs how they suffer as for the colour scheme, kudos to my interior design consultant xx
oh and just back from gathering elder blossoms and a sea swim… lush day here! x
…. to iain: thanks, good to hear from ya… embrace the gobbledy gook, however it comes… obvious ideas around process rather than result, ink pens do make us think different i’m somewhat fascinated by the whole shebang…one huge strand of our thoughts are in words, which are sounds we make with our mouths, with mutually agreed meanings, except instead we create them with our subtle finger muscles and ink on paper, these scribbles are then read somewhere else in time and space, the sense summon spoken aloud in our heads… it’s plain beautiful bonkers! i read your comment in the tone of your voice… even tho i probs haven’t seen you in 10 years anyway hope all be glorious, enjoy the unexpected boon of furlough… time to do what you want for yourself xx
…. to alex: Wow, are pens right and left handed?? In my privilege I had no idea!… Dexterous and sinister… Weirdly was going to say that occasionally I write one side left handed to limber up an unused part of my mind, thoughts flow differently then… Love to ya lefty xx
Ha! Of course, hand trailing rather than leading… Smudge blots are beautiful (if not very legible) hug right back at ya darling xx
oh and if you ever get the chance have a look at leonardos note books… they are simply amazing! mostly for the chaotic tumble of ideas and extraordinary sketches… but also, as most likely a leftie, the writing is right to left mirror writing! xx
to Luna: Loooona! yes! he’s a cornish piskie, from polperro… he was sitting (dancing) on my shelf this morning and felt for his playful energy… when i bought him down, i thought of his twin… and you… of sitting on the battlements of jaisalmere with those curious kids… enchanting hope you, the ‘family’ and your little one (possibly not so little now!?) are flourishing. Love xxx …. oh and obvs come visit the south coast if ever your over in britain! x
Crazy portu-geezers, camels, desert, fires beneath the huge looming stars, a bewildering, wonderful, unforgettable combo! Xx
yoga poses i’m enjoying at the mo (a short series, almost certainly of 1) tree pose (Vrksasana)… i’ve always considered myself to be reasonably rubbish at balance poses, but by doing yoga more in the morning rather than much later at classes in the evening, i don’t fall over as much! gravity is less early in the day q.e.d… actually i always just knew it was you buffoons putting me off with your inept teeter tootter toppling! (oops!) things i like about tree pose… well, i always imagine i’m some sort of mature majestic beech, slender, tall, smooth grey skin trunk (fagus fagus! and i was fagin in the caves) gotta love the flow of tree energy… we be ents… tweaking a Reiki(?) meditaion… in the pose focus attention on the hara, just below the belly button, all weight flowing down the stationary leg then imagine roots burst forth from the foot, then wriggle down into the ground slowly these roots start to absorb energy up from the earth mother… red gold, gold red… oozing upwards to suffuse the body next as the arms waft aloft, stretch, reach to the heavens, white light flows down from the heavenly father, through the crown chakra… these 2 energies blend and merge in the heart, we shimmer tantalise with light ….try not to fall over ………………………………………… inevitably getting into pose, before the 5 second timer on my computer camera was a dash… watch da birdie! and i much prefered just goofing about! sigh signalling virtue again! tis a hobby during lockdown
ooh meditated in the back yard this morning… things to do in lockdown part 777… seedlings outside for ‘toughening’ up… tis the season of the frisson of al fresco, all our usual practices receive the spur of excitement of being beneath sky by a herculean effort have updated my meditation status… from sporadic to… fanfare… erratic! may well look as tho i’m grumpily snoozing in a deck chair… but occasional waves of the golden nectar of ambrosial bliss… lots of pondering what to put in the washing machine …socks!… thinking those churruping sparows are exceedingly LOUD… usual meddlesome mind… meditation is super, do give it a whirl, if you don’t already… soothing and pleasantly incremental… just keep plodding along… nothing to get right… nowhere else to be… nothing to see here change is inevitable, to open eyes to the nettle patch rather than the usual buddha bit o’metta bhavna, some prising of chakras open… bish bash bosh om shanti!
obligatory ‘normal people’ post, yes, i know everybody has reccommended it, but felt to add my small pebble of praise to the pile… if you haven’t already… watch it… one of the best things on telly in a while finally finished it last night, didn’t feel the need to rush inevitably a bit of a soap opera tear jerker (i blub easily) about attractive yet troubled young folk BUT… beautifully filumed, it looks amazing, the irish accents are familiar, and the mannerisms even more so, fab music, superb direction… all of which makes space for and holds the luminous performances of the 2 main protagonists nuanced, subtle, mercurial, vulnerable and compelling… feels real x
ooh by a pleasant congruence laura marling picks the music on whats probs my fave Radio show … was thinking i should try to share things i like, just to dilute the slew of selfies? this mix is almost lounge jazz… Roberta Flak, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell and many others i’ve never heard before… i think dad would have liked this… the ambience reminded me of being a teenager loafing around in the armchairs after sunday lunch… inevitably picked up his taste for mournful female vocals sherbailey has long cancelled her spotify, so i listen to a fair bit of radio, tho only ever on catch up the chillest show is brill, as it’s all mellow music, most of it frightfully modern… phil taggart, northern irelands finest (and a brighton resident) makes me laugh. I’ve loved mz marlings stuff all the way back to ‘alas i cannot swim’… talent.
