At school I had a very strict Primary Five teacher, Miss M.. I started the year as an innocent eight year old, and ended it as a slightly disenchanted nine year old. No harm done, that’s growing up; isn't it? Miss M. had a great range of ‘wise’, snippy sayings: her no-nonsense approach to education … Continue reading Empty Vessels
The desk at which W.S. Graham wrote his poems has found a home in Edinburgh’s Poetry Library. His chair too, though the seat has been put away somewhere, “for the time being,”the man told me. More suitably described, I think, as a table, it looks like something from a farmyard kitchen as opposed to a study. It’s … Continue reading Wheesht
Ordinarily, my days aren’t fast paced, and even though I think I live a slow life, I can feel the benefit of slowing down even further while I am on holiday. I’m still in Canada, now on Crosby Lake in Lanark County. I’m mesmerised by the woodpeckers I see from my early morning writing spot; … Continue reading A Good Life
We’ve woken up to rain: short, sharp, and torrential. It won't stay for long, but it’s so lovely to hear. How quickly one changes one’s tune! How is it that Scottish rain on a dreich February day doesn't carry this musical and welcome sound? Because there is every possibility that it won’t cease until March or … Continue reading Rain, Heron, Loon
I bumped into S. on my morning walk to Life of Pie (Canadian salute to the wonderful Yann Martel) where I go for my morning coffee and to get online. “Of course,” S. nodded when I told her about my routine, “there’s no wifi where you’re staying.” No, there isn’t. And after the initial jitteriness of feeling … Continue reading My Secret Place
I’m on the back foot, caught short, running out of time. It’s not the bathroom I’m in need of - not that kind of caught short. I need to read a book by 7pm this evening when the first gathering of my new book group is scheduled. (Question to self: why are you writing this … Continue reading Silence Is Golden
What do you do when awful things happen in the world and you want to make a change but you feel utterly powerless? Perhaps you believe anything you might try wouldn’t make any difference anyway? Do you have a quiet moment in the bathroom and cry? Do you write a letter? Share a clip on … Continue reading Do Something
“When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is very easy to miss.” So said poet and novelist Boris Pasternak. I surely don't want to miss my ‘great moment’ and have it slip by unnoticed, do you? But if … Continue reading Quiet
