Return
Most people who read my blog and/or follow me on Instagram know that I tend to be mostly absent from social media during the school holidays. I still have a mooch around, looking at other people’s input, but don’t really post very much myself. What with Joe being home all day and us having nobody to take him off my hands for an hour or two, I have to be realistic about what I can and can’t get done.
The evenings, by the way, tend to be a period of recovery.
And binge-watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix. I missed it the first time around but am now very Into It.
So we’ve had some truly fantastic weather lately; we’re all sporting healthy-looking tans and the sun loungers have had a lot of use. I’ve actually been out bare legged on more than one occasion. Some days have been uncomfortably hot; even the kitchen lost it’s chilly edge (temporarily).
And then yesterday the rain came. And the wind. Joe and I spent the day playing board games and then curled up under a blanket to watch Beauty and the Beast (his choice - I find musicals intensely irritating for some reason). But I’ll give it it’s due: no bits sad enough to make him cry. And at 2 hours 13 minutes long, I got a nice break from his incessant talking. Win win.
It’s still raining today. The lupins and eryngium in the garden are all but flattened. I’ve been online looking at coloured opaque tights and am fantasising about getting my ankle boots re-heeled once we’re back down in Lancashire.
I’m writing this at the kitchen table; the lamp and fairy lights are on, and I’m feeling a bit melancholy. Jay’s off work today (hence my blogging) and the sound of the rain hitting the skylight at the top of the stairs is nice but at the same time relentless.
Last week the cat killed the female blackbird which lived in the garden. I’m still upset about it; the blackbird got stuck in the outbuilding a few weeks ago and I caught it and let it go. The next day it was hopping around just inside the kitchen door. It was always flitting about in the cherry tree or darting across the stream. I liked it being there.
So when I found it, with tear marks all over its poor head and neck, deposited in the spot usually reserved for unfortunate mice and shrews, I was really sad. And then angry. I know it’s ‘what cats do’. But Mackie isn’t my cat. He belongs to Jay. I grew up with cats in the house and like them, but Mackie and I don’t get on particularly well - he can be unpredictable and nasty at times; other times he’s needy and affectionate. (We won’t go into the crapping-in-the-laundry incident). So the blackbird thing has finished it for me. Especially when I saw its mate by the house, clearly agitated, and now hopping around the garden alone.
On a lighter note, I’ve just finished reading Calypso by David Sedaris. I heard him on the radio once and always intended to try some of his writing. Whenever we go to the library, I look at the ‘New Arrivals’ section, and I was excited to see a few books worth borrowing.
I’m busy with a writing project of my own, and Calypso was a revelation to me: Sedaris is an essayist. Who knew there was such a thing? (Not me, apparently). He writes about whatever he likes, in an extremely clever and funny way, and I’d never until now thought about essays. To me, they’re something you unwillingly churn out whilst at school or university. I’d always associated them with uninspiring subjects, with deadlines and desperately trying to write enough words to satisfy the brief. Beginning, middle, end. Yet suddenly, the thought of this new approach made me feel as though a whole new world had presented itself.
Of course, writing - like blogging - has taken a back seat lately. But my notebook’s always close to hand. I do like writing using the computer, but not long ago I uninstalled MS Word by mistake. And writing on the laptop drives me a bit nuts. So it’s the old fashioned way for me: pen and paper. At least until I stump up for Word again.
Because blogging time’s in short supply right now, I’ve used photos here which are straight out of the camera. I usually enjoy editing as it’s a creative process, but it’s also time consuming. Not so if you use Lightroom apparently, but I tried it (and paid for it) and found the whole thing way too technical. I’m definitely a right-side-of-the-brain type.
Anyway, this was a not-so-quick return to Frond & Feather land - not sure when I’ll be back (we’re off to England the week after next) but I will be back… Oh, and Joe’s got a new blog post too.
P.S. The pictures were taken at Bharcasaig, which is maybe four or five miles from us. It’s usually a very quiet beach. There are wild raspberries growing nearby so we’re going back in a week or two to pick some.
