tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219683492024-03-23T18:32:13.386+00:00my (elastic) gap yearWisdom for the credit crunch from Dickens:
“My other piece of advice, Copperfield,” said Mr. Micawber, “you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and—and, in short, you are for ever floored. As I am!”apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.comBlogger660125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-36624611213778079512010-03-31T15:02:00.002+01:002010-03-31T15:04:47.844+01:00Moonlight flitThis blog needs a whole lot of updating, so I've decided to set up a new home at wordpress. So please crossover see my new blog <a href="http://midnightflit.wordpress.com/">it'sabouttime</a>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-34159526105887793132010-03-22T23:55:00.008+00:002010-03-23T14:00:49.766+00:00Reconnecting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-uuT9sKMjrNsJoZNGX-TU2-zPAHZ4qNNzphAYOhUL4srwCXbkMaaDKW1FDSn8JKMD6hCb-_YMqUDq-D1H-NyxL7mdF2ozigjRQmLrNUVW2tgwKoUDIlZvuJE9bKG3nNzvKJg/s1600-h/IMG_4431.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 194px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8-uuT9sKMjrNsJoZNGX-TU2-zPAHZ4qNNzphAYOhUL4srwCXbkMaaDKW1FDSn8JKMD6hCb-_YMqUDq-D1H-NyxL7mdF2ozigjRQmLrNUVW2tgwKoUDIlZvuJE9bKG3nNzvKJg/s320/IMG_4431.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451827618293402626" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2PqWwQpm_dyyqWlpVr1FGzAcVHF24Iddv6v01-5015tsxZVY4lYZZ-QEPxzuzLUEDqt25KMZF9S_Yj44gx5NRRCCV_XX2fisbHzycZ6vUyUKEG7bV0-tdQqulUCQZpyLr8UK/s1600-h/IMG_4427.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx2PqWwQpm_dyyqWlpVr1FGzAcVHF24Iddv6v01-5015tsxZVY4lYZZ-QEPxzuzLUEDqt25KMZF9S_Yj44gx5NRRCCV_XX2fisbHzycZ6vUyUKEG7bV0-tdQqulUCQZpyLr8UK/s320/IMG_4427.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451827525014862626" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOHAIO4g0mKCt-9fQ6MqhmG8Pc5CfDgb5BsXm26jKmOIgkIgDX_q_8WQooWJrYZ8O8viiEfDsQIIjv3XQLFng4dPwtmE6YEfcYdyRDI0sS1oQvef-JQwk9s5LWAkbwnxlxkO3/s1600-h/_MG_4448.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOHAIO4g0mKCt-9fQ6MqhmG8Pc5CfDgb5BsXm26jKmOIgkIgDX_q_8WQooWJrYZ8O8viiEfDsQIIjv3XQLFng4dPwtmE6YEfcYdyRDI0sS1oQvef-JQwk9s5LWAkbwnxlxkO3/s320/_MG_4448.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451827408778071634" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhziyjimObQukcj8zyJFPR_HNh2ICq07p0gBdD4kt0k2Ayl5NsvGvNQpTIj1bCNVaMSrC25q-od0uLUNQjX5pQnJw4xzrwZF1sJYlme_qEjXC_FQ0IsXhonfNGGCzWYBZkLTDeY/s1600-h/_MG_4400.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhziyjimObQukcj8zyJFPR_HNh2ICq07p0gBdD4kt0k2Ayl5NsvGvNQpTIj1bCNVaMSrC25q-od0uLUNQjX5pQnJw4xzrwZF1sJYlme_qEjXC_FQ0IsXhonfNGGCzWYBZkLTDeY/s320/_MG_4400.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451827283577990706" /></a><br /><br /><br />Well things finally seem a little brighter. N was able to sit up for quite a while yesterday and we had a good chat and a few laughs. She has been experiencing terrible headaches due to the surgery leaving a tiny tear in the dura,the membrane over the spinal column and it's been upsetting to watch her deal with it. But the tear is beginning to heal, and she even managed a few steps outside today.<br /><br />And D, my other breast cancer friend of long-standing, has asked me to take her for a hospital oncology appointment on Wednesday, as her husband is away on business. She is doing an oral chemo, to treat a recurrence, that has the nasty side effect of stripping the skin from your hands and feet, which means she can't drive at present.<br />But the chemo is doing some good, so what she's putting up with is not in vain.<br /><br />It feels good to be helping them both out, it reminds me how lucky I am.<br /><br />As for the rest of the world I continue to be scunnered with the election campaign. I want to start a Facebook group called "I demand a line on ballot paper headed <em>none of the above</em>". The thought of the St Elmo's Fire generation of the Tory party forming the next Government makes me shudder. And yet I don't want to see the Labour party, as it currently functions, re-elected.<br /><br />I've done some interesting things in my absence,including a local radio broadcast with Colin, where I got to read a few poems. And this Thursday morning I'm reading at Hendersons in Edinburgh with two other Calder Wood Press writers, which I'm really looking forward to. (BTW <a href="http://www.calderwoodpress.co.uk/">Calder Wood Press </a>now has Paypal for international orders)<br /><br />I also had part of the house painted, which was great, though the effort of emptying everything out of the rooms concerned and then putting it all back was exhausting. But I'm glad I did it, as the house looks really fresh and ready for Spring. <br /><br />My dear friend Meg is coming over from the States in June, and she jokingly told me that she expected to find the resort upgraded. Well it is and I can't wait to see her, as it has been almost 6 years since we last met in NY.<br /><br />My garden continues to be a joy to me. My show auriculas are growing by the day, and several have flower buds on them. I've been taking them out during in the daytime and putting them back under glass at night. But soon they will be able to stay out in their "theatre". And the borders are awash with blue scillas and hellebores and the daphne scent on a still morning is just wonderful. I've planted a barrel of tatties, and rocket and lettuce are through in the vegetable planters in the greenhouse. And I have pots of things to go out into the beds once all risk of frost is over, verbena bonariensis, three types of ornamental grasses, violets, hardy geraniums etc, etc. So hopefully it will all look fabulous in high summer. <br /><br />I'll try and get round some other blogs this week, as I want to see how everyone is doing. Photos are of the garden and a birch down by the river.apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-46413315828287449272010-03-20T22:46:00.001+00:002010-03-20T22:49:30.090+00:00LissieMy latest favourite song. The whole EP is beautiful. Be back soon......<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xKLS3LtDF-o&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xKLS3LtDF-o&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-71191351275361493612010-03-15T13:36:00.009+00:002010-03-20T22:42:42.083+00:00SnowThis is a draft I wrote at the weekend. It will explain what I'm up to at present.<br />I hope you are doing well.<br /><br />Snow<br /><br />for Nieves<br /><br />I’ve pruned the roses, cut back herbaceous<br />shoots and stems and planted primulas in pots,<br />so you can see a little colour from the window<br />when you get home. Now I’m on my knees,<br />with a knife, scraping weeds from pavers.<br /><br />Dandelion, couch grass and yellow-flowered<br />oxalis, till fingers find a tiny, hairy seedling<br />that my eyes identify as comfrey, <em>knit-bone</em>,<br />and I smile, because it seems a good omen, as if<br />this life is still willing to give you what you need.<br /><br />Miles away in that hospital bed you are a flightless,<br />featherless, gawky baby bird; secondary growth excised,<br />two new titanium branch lines shoring up your spine.<br /><br />You once said your name means snow in Spanish.<br />Well it can only be the kind of snow that falls<br />high above the tree line, up on the <em>sierras</em> and <em>picos.</em><br />Powdery and dazzling - snow at its best.<br />Snow that persists.apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-73696596179849575472010-02-25T13:48:00.005+00:002010-03-02T20:05:26.529+00:00Ruth's Diary by Fiona Robyn<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRlkLud7B6QSVwkG0oEzoQnAsyBIJLmkJz8qRF3-DqwU12vUOtz_rJalL2ml8Yoc1esNKF8mAq8T0KrfF89-bBHe8C5tQA4IrW6vIzpCIjp93n0-YW3JV9F_e4vgjlpe7CCxh/s1600-h/thaw.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442178407373577618" style="WIDTH: 143px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 220px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRlkLud7B6QSVwkG0oEzoQnAsyBIJLmkJz8qRF3-DqwU12vUOtz_rJalL2ml8Yoc1esNKF8mAq8T0KrfF89-bBHe8C5tQA4IrW6vIzpCIjp93n0-YW3JV9F_e4vgjlpe7CCxh/s320/thaw.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><p><em>Sorry for my continued absence. I've just got a lot of things to contend with at present. FIL coming to stay, decorator starting work today, etc, etc. But I did agree to take take part in Fiona's amazing Blogsplash, so here goes..........</em></p> (PS this was drafted on the 25th, but posted on 1 March as agreed.)<br /><p>Ruth's diary is the new novel by Fiona Robyn, called Thaw. She has decided to blog the novel in its entirety over the next few months, so you can read it for free.<br /></p><br /><div><br /><p>Ruth's first entry is below, and you can continue reading tomorrow <a href="http://read-thaw.blogspot.com/">here</a>.<br /><br /><p>These hands are ninety-three years old. They belong to Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. She was so frail that her grand-daughter had to carry her onto the set to take this photo. It's a close-up. Her emaciated arms emerge from the top corners of the photo and the background is black, maybe velvet, as if we're being protected from seeing the strings. One wrist rests on the other, and her fingers hang loose, close together, a pair of folded wings. And you can see her insides.<br /><br /><p>The bones of her knuckles bulge out of the skin, which sags like plastic that has melted in the sun and is dripping off her, wrinkling and folding. Her veins look as though they're stuck to the outside of her hands. They're a colour that's difficult to describe: blue, but also silver, green; her blood runs through them, close to the surface. The book says she died shortly after they took this picture. Did she even get to see it? Maybe it was the last beautiful thing she left in the world.<br /><br /><p>I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to carry on living. I'm giving myself three months of this journal to decide. You might think that sounds melodramatic, but I don't think I'm alone in wondering whether it's all worth it. I've seen the look in people's eyes. Stiff suits travelling to work, morning after morning, on the cramped and humid tube. Tarted-up girls and gangs of boys reeking of aftershave, reeling on the pavements on a Friday night, trying to mop up the dreariness of their week with one desperate, fake-happy night. I've heard the weary grief in my dad's voice.<br /><br /><p>So where do I start with all this? What do you want to know about me? I'm Ruth White, thirty-two years old, going on a hundred. I live alone with no boyfriend and no cat in a tiny flat in central London. In fact, I had a non-relationship with a man at work, Dan, for seven years. I'm sitting in my bedroom-cum-living room right now, looking up every so often at the thin rain slanting across a flat grey sky. I work in a city hospital lab as a microbiologist. My dad is an accountant and lives with his sensible second wife Julie, in a sensible second home. Mother finished dying when I was fourteen, three years after her first diagnosis. What else? What else is there?<br /><br /><p>Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. I looked at her hands for twelve minutes. It was odd describing what I was seeing in words. Usually the picture just sits inside my head and I swish it around like tasting wine. I have huge books all over my flat; books you have to take in both hands to lift. I've had the photo habit for years. Mother bought me my first book, black and white landscapes by Ansel Adams. When she got really ill, I used to take it to bed with me and look at it for hours, concentrating on the huge trees, the still water, the never-ending skies. I suppose it helped me think about something other than what was happening. I learned to focus on one photo at a time rather than flicking from scene to scene in search of something to hold me. If I concentrate, then everything stands still. Although I use them to escape the world, I also think they bring me closer to it. I've still got that book. When I take it out, I handle the pages as though they might flake into dust.<br /><br /><p>Mother used to write a journal. When I was small, I sat by her bed in the early mornings on a hard chair and looked at her face as her pen spat out sentences in short bursts. I imagined what she might have been writing about; princesses dressed in star-patterned silk, talking horses, adventures with pirates. More likely she was writing about what she was going to cook for dinner and how irritating Dad's snoring was.<br /><br /><p>I've always wanted to write my own journal, and this is my chance. Maybe my last chance. The idea is that every night for three months, I'll take one of these heavy sheets of pure white paper, rough under my fingertips, and fill it up on both sides. If my suicide note is nearly a hundred pages long, then no-one can accuse me of not thinking it through. No-one can say; 'It makes no sense; she was a polite, cheerful girl, had everything to live for', before adding that I did keep myself to myself. It'll all be here. I'm using a silver fountain pen with purple ink. A bit flamboyant for me, I know. I need these idiosyncratic rituals; they hold things in place. Like the way I make tea, squeezing the tea-bag three times, the exact amount of milk, seven stirs. My writing is small and neat; I'm striping the paper. I'm near the bottom of the page now. Only ninety-one more days to go before I'm allowed to make my decision. That's it for today. It's begun.<br /><br /><p><a href="http://read-thaw.blogspot.com/">Continue reading tomorrow here...</a></p></div>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-4277590506794558312010-02-10T13:55:00.003+00:002010-02-11T11:48:49.216+00:00Checking InSorry I've not been around, life just keeps getting in the way at present. I've been listening to lots of radio as I get on with other things. I particulary enjoyed Start The Week this week on Radio 4, programme information is <a href="http://http//www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qgvzt#synopsis">here</a>. It actually developed into a brilliant discussion about human beings need for hope, and how the theatre is possibily the only place that is currently tackling issues like economics and faith - things which to my mind are becoming increasing indivisible.<br /><br />I've got three photo projects upon the latest brilliant issue of Mung Being, which has the theme of secrets. Here is <a href="http://www.mungbeing.com/issue_30.html?page=17#2434">one</a> <br /><br />And here's <a href="http://www.mungbeing.com/issue_30.html?page=18#2435">another</a><br /><br />Off out into the sunshine now while it lasts. This is about my garden in early Spring.<br /><br />Garden Flight<br /><br />You’re back, nervous as a fawn<br />on the edge of a clearing, ready<br />to run should the wind change<br />and carry my scent. <br /><br />It’s a tentative show, hellebores,<br />crocus, a few purple twigs of daphne,<br />but already there’s a strong suggestion<br />of what might be.apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-29663861345418118482010-01-31T13:52:00.008+00:002010-01-31T14:21:27.625+00:00Fixing things<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvsl2YQlau4Vh4W1UQHTYlcif1l4LucAaxQ0oAlYYPpDmy12dJr85LXnYjQ481n4QEcN5sb0elVWAI06WHG_I5CHoTR-9-udqFKpJc4MPm-2OrX6V3PzSkEHSO3yuvYRBRBCN/s1600-h/scim.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5432908035299829330" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPvsl2YQlau4Vh4W1UQHTYlcif1l4LucAaxQ0oAlYYPpDmy12dJr85LXnYjQ481n4QEcN5sb0elVWAI06WHG_I5CHoTR-9-udqFKpJc4MPm-2OrX6V3PzSkEHSO3yuvYRBRBCN/s320/scim.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I've been busy organising a spate of mini repairs around the house - new taps for the bath, as the old original ones finally gave up the ghost, booking a painter to come and paint our bedroom, my time of shinning up ladders to paint 15' high ceilings is over I'm afraid, buying and fitting a new loo seat, so that you don't feel like you risk a giant clam bite every time you go for a pee!<br /><br />I must admit it feels good to get these things fixed - funny how you can thole something for ages, and then all of a sudden your patience just snaps.<br /><br />In the last couple of weeks I've had two meetings with poetry friends. One was a lovely walk round the Botanic Gardens, with lunch in the new building at the West Gate and a good blether about poetry and future plans, including a public reading we hope to do in the Spring.<br /><br />The other was joining a new mini critique group, with two completely new friends. We hope to keep this going once a month for the foreseeable future - and if the first one is anything to go by I think it will be really worthwhile. The three of us seemed to click right away and had a wonderful time sharing ideas and talking poets that we like and admire. I think it is good to shake yourself out of your comfort zone and try something completely new once in a while and I'm really looking forward to our next meeting.<br /><br />This is a busy week - tomorrow morning I'm at the launch of "Carry A Poem" and then on Tuesday I have a meeting of my local group pm and at night the joint launch of three pamphlets, including "Collection Point", the group anthology edited by Judith Stewart and me, that Colin played a big part in helping us to get printed.<br /><br />This morning was an early start to watch Andy Murray not quite pull it off against Federa. I think he lost the match in his head as much as anywhere. I hope he shakes the "last British man to win a major" hoodoo one of these days.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The photo of this wreck of a Scimitar, that I saw on a walk past a farm yesterday, shows that even when your are totally ravaged good bone structure still counts - like Richard Harris or Peter O'Toole!</span>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-66690516305968942212010-01-25T19:45:00.006+00:002010-01-26T00:00:31.674+00:00Here I amNews on friends continues to be heart-breaking, as my dear N had bad news with her latest MRI. I just hate the fact that she has to go yet another round with this disease, and seeing what the news does to her and family. Sometimes life just asks far too much of those we love.<br /><br />Today I spent the afternoon in the garden, it is the only place my head stays clear at present, as I meander from one job to the next. Today I spread ash, from my neighbour's wood-burning stove, around under my fruit trees. I did it last year too, and it seemed to really boost the crop.<br />And then I cut back the stalks of perennial things. The place has a bare look to it, especially after the disappearance of all the snow. At this time of year it is hard to believe it will ever be the mad plant-packed space it is in June.<br /><br />Tomorrow I'm going to sow some seeds into Jiffy compost pots in the propagator. I always find this soothing, the tiny capsules cupped in my hand, shaking them into damp compost, the labelling, the smell of wet earth, the anticipation.........<br /><br />This is This Mortal Coil, with a Tim Buckley song, Song to the Siren - I find it beautiful.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4mUmdR69nbM&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4mUmdR69nbM&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-42105279637228188362010-01-20T13:42:00.002+00:002010-01-20T13:48:59.633+00:00"Carry a poem'Edinburgh’s annual City of Literature reading campaign will give away thousands of free books & poetry pocketcards, and there’ll be a month of poetry events. I'm really excited about being involved with this great project and I can't wait to get a copy of the Carry a Poem book, which will be launched next week.<br /><br />If you are interested my on-line entry is <a href="http://carryapoem.com/tag/jackie-kay/">here</a>. It is a great website , so if you do look be prepared to lose and hour or two!apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-27995169071981542502010-01-18T12:42:00.007+00:002010-01-19T16:21:20.313+00:00ThawThe snow is all but gone, the pond has defrosted and the fieldfare has left for pastures new.<br /><br />Yesterday I started my annual cleaning out of the greenhouse, and began by washing all the algae off the glass, to let in the maximum amount of light. My auriculas seem to have come through to cold spell pretty well, probably due to the fact that I kept them on the dry side in good gritty compost. I hope they will now start to put on some growth, as I can't wait to put them out on the "theatre" that I've created for them.<br /><br />Last week I did some still life work with camera. I like to collect old kitchen utensils, potato ricers etc, etc and I had an idea for using this 1950 aluminium sieve/colander thingy. One shot from the session has since been accepted by the e-zine Mung Being, so I'll link it once it is up there.<br /><br />And we went to see <a href="http://%3cobject%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22344%22%3e%3cparam%20name=%22movie%22%20value=%22http//www.youtube.com/v/WelTrGgmhPs&hl=en_GB&fs=1&%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22allowFullScreen%22%20value=%22true%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22allowscriptaccess%22%20value=%22always%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cembed%20src=%22http://www.youtube.com/v/WelTrGgmhPs&hl=en_GB&fs=1&%22%20type=%22application/x-shockwave-flash%22%20allowscriptaccess=%22always%22%20allowfullscreen=%22true%22%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22344%22%3E%3C/embed%3E%3C/object%3E">"Sex, Drugs and Rock &Roll"</a> - the film about Ian Dury. I've always loved his lyrics and this biopic is brilliantly done, Andy Serkis is Dury. It's well worth a look if your sick of the usual cinema fare.<br /><br />I'm also getting hooked on the Beeb's new series of Wallander. I didn't like it first time around, preferring the Swedish series with subtitles. I wouldn't say the plots are great, sometimes it is just Bergerac with schnapps, but I do like those big gloomy landscapes.<br /><br />This is Emily Barker's "Nostalgia", which is the theme tune to the series.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WelTrGgmhPs&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WelTrGgmhPs&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-14627080717683253912010-01-11T13:20:00.006+00:002010-01-13T12:36:34.926+00:00"Cancer is no longer a question of life or death"Finally <a href="http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Aboutus/News/Latest_News/CancerNoLongerQuestionLifeDeath.aspx">someone</a> has something to say about living after cancer treatment. The piece on Woman's Hour today was excellent, it mentioned the fatigue, chemobrain/the cognitive effects, gastric problems, heart problems etc.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong - the alternative isn't great, but some guidance on how to recognise long term effects of potent treatments would be very welcome, especially when most of us are constantly tuning into bodies that have already let us down.<br /><br />Also welcome Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book, <em>Smile or Die</em>, which "confronts the insistence on positive thinking and blind optimism endemic in American society. She argues that a culture of relentless cheerfulness and the misguided belief that optimism can influence outcomes has had a negative impact on business, religion, academia, and even medicine. Barbara Ehrenreich looks at a corporate culture where positive thinking has replaced job security and argues that unquestioning optimism was in no small part to blame for the financial crisis."<br /><br /><em>Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World</em> is published by Granta.<br /><br />If you know someone who has just been diagnosed please don't immediately ram the "be positive" message down their throats, they need space to assimilate the information, and they are also entitled to grieve for their prior life and self.apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-9927209294849798562010-01-10T15:44:00.011+00:002010-01-19T16:20:03.610+00:00Reasons to be cheerful four and halfI'm writing this for me. It is just a list of things I'm glad to have experienced these last few weeks and days:<br /><br />Staying up late and watching <em>The Deer Hunter </em>again. God they all looked so young.<br /><br />Watching <em>The Secret Life of Bees </em> - even though this film wasn't a great critical success I was interested in the character of <em>May Boatwright</em>. I think the creation of a personal "wailing wall" is something we all need from time to time.<br /><br />Also coming across the TV show Nurse Jackie - Edie Falco is fabulous in it and the script is sharp and witty. I'm recording the whole series, and I can't wait for the next episode. <br /><br />Seeing the <a href="http://hiddenlanegallery.com/">Margaret Watkins "Forgotten Woman" </a>exhibition at the Hidden Lane Gallery in Glasgow. Talking to the gallery owner about this exhibition and his next one, on the artist Hilda Goldwag, was a treat. He plans to do a whole series of exhibitions on women whose work has been over-looked or forgotten.<br /><br />Having lunch in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed <a href="http://www.willowtearooms.co.uk/sauchiehall.htm">Willow Tea Rooms </a>and then walking past his masterpiece - the Glasgow School of Art. A friend and I made the trip on a day when all the world was saying, "only travel if you have to" and while the pavements were like skating rinks the air frost in the trees, as seen from the bus on the way over, was worth the trip alone.<br /><br />Seeing that the curlers have ignored the naysayers and gone ahead with an unofficial <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/323419-outrage-as-rare-bonspiel-cancelled-curling-tournament-goes-unofficial">Bon Spiel</a>. If life is not about taking calculated risk then I'm not sure what is about. (BTW it's not a cold snap -Radio 5 have dubbed it, "quantative freezing" and I agree with them!<br /><br />We still have snow, but it feels a bit milder today, evidenced by the fact that the bird bath has water in it again and not ice. My weather diary is now in its second year and already it is interesting to look back - this time last year the winter aconites were through, no such luck this year.....<br /><br />Some shorties that have occured to me over the piece/peace.<br /><br />sheep in snow<br />so many shades of white<br /><br />air frost – <br />trailed by my breath-self<br />and a single set of prints<br /><br />heron ousts cormorant<br />cormorant ousts heron<br />channels yield to ice<br /><br />blackbird lunges, thrush parries<br />another January day gnaws <br />at family tiesapprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-9607149648974055502010-01-09T12:00:00.003+00:002010-01-09T12:31:40.661+00:00Emma CurranSee her full story on her <a href="http://www.myspace.com/emmacurranmusic">myspace page</a> But basically she is a young Scots girl plucked from the crowd by Snow Patrol to sing "Set Fire to the Third Bar" at their NY gig in 2007. They liked her performance so much they asked her to reprise the number with them at King Tut's in Glasgow. She's now making an album, as well as finishing her nursing degree.<br /><br />I wish her lots of luck. She sounds a lovely girl.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n65c2xhxmtQ&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n65c2xhxmtQ&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-7554493395519539782010-01-05T16:15:00.009+00:002010-01-06T14:15:38.075+00:00Baby it's cold outside<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkn5NPsGYSgqJP7sPO96hN9-sP4nC6cCPld4Q8tbyy_y212yfTGRo_aWzkg5_Qip5YrgeXMkLq1JiHemolpwSQFtcJH9hX9Vdhp1eZmPTiboRlMWcEb5HvpTa-s9uaBwdChdu/s1600-h/card.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423295877924677714" style="WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkn5NPsGYSgqJP7sPO96hN9-sP4nC6cCPld4Q8tbyy_y212yfTGRo_aWzkg5_Qip5YrgeXMkLq1JiHemolpwSQFtcJH9hX9Vdhp1eZmPTiboRlMWcEb5HvpTa-s9uaBwdChdu/s320/card.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-IGpWXaCyYpXueKKrRRR7DNhtFFhdPxfxbz-N0jshbFoTc81_CeW7hM4dp3hsNaJG6LLGl18V9QGCe0JQyFiByyfs2CdpBnhWwXXdpxz6jIeo9labxm9-1ZpGOYlACCm80mT/s1600-h/icicle.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423295764303146514" style="WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-IGpWXaCyYpXueKKrRRR7DNhtFFhdPxfxbz-N0jshbFoTc81_CeW7hM4dp3hsNaJG6LLGl18V9QGCe0JQyFiByyfs2CdpBnhWwXXdpxz6jIeo9labxm9-1ZpGOYlACCm80mT/s320/icicle.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPOv33XrMCuEKdDrWwA7OAgXITzBVAzCyWmsrDoMhcvZkN-GoihcOaLwLKyFEs0DpKwqt7sM869Fo7lFs-BLVusk9PiHBoaoF5XlQUZAA5hFzkcRTqbRF_crG9EfUoDxXFnkoC/s1600-h/corm.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423295638168724082" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPOv33XrMCuEKdDrWwA7OAgXITzBVAzCyWmsrDoMhcvZkN-GoihcOaLwLKyFEs0DpKwqt7sM869Fo7lFs-BLVusk9PiHBoaoF5XlQUZAA5hFzkcRTqbRF_crG9EfUoDxXFnkoC/s320/corm.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Well I'm happy to back, having hopped,skipped and jumped over the "Festive Season"."The weather outside is frightful" as the song says, but I'm enjoying the white-out and the sense of isolation and muffled quiet that it brings to everything.<br /><br />And as is common when we get easterly weather sweeping in off the steppes we are getting a number of interesting visiting birds, I've had fieldfares in the garden, stripping the remains of the rosehips, and cormorants and goosanders have been driven up from the frozen estuary onto the deeper water of the river inland. One of the photos here is of an almost Japanese print-like shot of one of these cormorants trying to dry his wings. The other two are of cardoon seedheads, in the artichoke family, covered in snow, and icicles hanging down below one of the town's bridges.<br /><br />I think we are heading for the coldest winter I've known since I was young girl and I'm dreading how many plants might get snuffed out in the garden - although they will create welcome spaces for new things.<br /><br />Meanwhile I'm happily using the time indoors to have a clear out, the older I get the more minimalist I get, and today I spent a happy hour up a step ladder pulling out part of the bookcase and reorganising my poetry, photography and gardening sections. Although I have to confess I spent more time reading than tidying.<br /><br />I've also had a great time reading Calder Wood Press' catalogue of pamphlets, so that I can give Colin a bit of help on the website, though to be honest he doesn't really need it, as he has everything set up really efficiently.<br /><br />I also sent Sally Evans a wee bit of video on her bee talk at the Callander Poetry Festival back in the autumn. I really enjoyed hearing her speak so knowledgably on the subject, and it has only increased my yen to have a hive, as well as some bantam hens. Sally has added it to an fantastic new section she has on her website, which is all about bees, click <a href="http://www.desktopsallye.com/page14.htm">here </a><br /><br />Oh and some RFA veterans have done a lovely tribute to my grandfather, see <a href="http://www.historicalrfa.org/ceo-d-hood-dsc">here</a>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-57040761224199766432009-12-15T13:41:00.005+00:002009-12-15T14:04:06.056+00:00Break<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfAJGQD4U3zIvgeqhqSYMBehcC0UE99Jn8KY4wTKpCjAbT4QmK6gXztI9Fi76R5Xhctbqnc4EPrWbOkz5g7OmHO193ivoiiNJddiVxAHnXZHiLvaFitDRQsWamI4iLDYDJdlT/s1600-h/arsh.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfAJGQD4U3zIvgeqhqSYMBehcC0UE99Jn8KY4wTKpCjAbT4QmK6gXztI9Fi76R5Xhctbqnc4EPrWbOkz5g7OmHO193ivoiiNJddiVxAHnXZHiLvaFitDRQsWamI4iLDYDJdlT/s320/arsh.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415463454218411362" /></a><br /><br />I've decided to take a break from life on line, at least until the turn of the year.<br />I'm not entirely sure why, I just know I feel overloaded with words, opinions and images etc, and a digital fast or retreat feels like a good way of cleansing my head and spirit for the prospect of a new year.<br /><br />Andrei Arshavin, Arsenal's Russian striker, does a <em>Shhh </em>celebration whenever he scores a goal. And when he's asked why he does this he simply replies, <em>Shhh<br /></em><br />So here, with love, is a little piece of <em>Shhh</em> from me<em>.</em><br /><br />See you the other side of the year.apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-59856097945946700312009-12-08T15:45:00.001+00:002009-12-08T15:47:07.138+00:00The Piano Creepsfeaturing Mary Lorson - she really should be a big star by now. This is just about the light level here!<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QZdwgaOoP_o&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QZdwgaOoP_o&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-47032570590083882592009-12-08T12:10:00.006+00:002010-01-06T16:45:31.111+00:00Big tides<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqi_FyC6ols6Wemb8w6x1iJiNNzkjXJSil_95Wjag-jG0y50z5UiLoou3mT5b_WFRcEnlb1NB-iyeYZDDkJrpx8byYCexNNh-QkDizXAOMh1LjQwlC_0Sje5pGb5WSUmRYzOUk/s1600-h/leg.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412836982026805698" style="WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqi_FyC6ols6Wemb8w6x1iJiNNzkjXJSil_95Wjag-jG0y50z5UiLoou3mT5b_WFRcEnlb1NB-iyeYZDDkJrpx8byYCexNNh-QkDizXAOMh1LjQwlC_0Sje5pGb5WSUmRYzOUk/s320/leg.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2E5vMq4oKN_NG0dhbc17d62uCzVRySFjCeMgfowi8DWjwTfm255KgSQn6F7JWnjsdfU-STgWbnAUybsQw0odg265wydQp30Y29hmgtOOTl7129jGO7iKMRTYXknpJJyFkF4WB/s1600-h/tide.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412836841275729666" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2E5vMq4oKN_NG0dhbc17d62uCzVRySFjCeMgfowi8DWjwTfm255KgSQn6F7JWnjsdfU-STgWbnAUybsQw0odg265wydQp30Y29hmgtOOTl7129jGO7iKMRTYXknpJJyFkF4WB/s320/tide.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>The beach on Friday, although much good did it do me, as the lurgy is back again. I just can't seem to shake it off, so I'm taking it easy to give my poor old immune system a chance.</div><div> </div><div>The other shot is the dog taking a high-level leak. </div></div>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-50305078356326286882009-12-04T16:33:00.004+00:002009-12-04T17:34:45.842+00:00Bit of a Sophie Calle experience<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwUwbK2d5ig6L4Iz7HZMeDoGq2Vl__q2VV1hA-570GQT-HlUGI9EWdk5wwSsri0FnSrP_Is-UxE4cwLr7ELtdoITHtyiUsiyMEDPuvUZAhH7q1wXtPvOGGc3_ufaDzfAy2UZcv/s1600-h/soph.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411429149103018706" style="WIDTH: 92px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 130px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwUwbK2d5ig6L4Iz7HZMeDoGq2Vl__q2VV1hA-570GQT-HlUGI9EWdk5wwSsri0FnSrP_Is-UxE4cwLr7ELtdoITHtyiUsiyMEDPuvUZAhH7q1wXtPvOGGc3_ufaDzfAy2UZcv/s320/soph.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Or rather it is the reverse of a <a href="http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/sophie-calle-talking-to-strangers">Sophie Calle </a>experience. I am getting e-mail for someone with my name, but, judging by the mail's content, a whole different life from mine.<br /><br />She is younger, with a new baby, has just bought a house and has joined a mother and baby group. I don't know where the error is in her e-mail address, and I'm not keen to reply to any of the messages I'm getting, so the stuff just keeps on coming. It is all a bit weird.<br /><br /><br />one dot omitted<br /><br />and a voyeur receives<br /><br />the perfect gift<br /><br /><br />And just to expand on the Calle element why not tell me about your own strangest virtual identity crisis?apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-3746780159621191472009-11-29T14:48:00.004+00:002009-11-29T15:12:16.556+00:00MorrisseyI loved Morrissey on Desert Island Discs today. I feel like I've finally grown up when people like him are the subject. Although conversely I like the fact that he is still very much a Peter Pan, who refuses to play in this crazy world of ours.<br /><br />See his eight records <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p068y#segments">here</a>.<br /><br />Funny how things come along in twos, like buses, because I've also been watching a documentary film on Warhol, another of my fascinations, and one of Morrissey's choices, Nico see below, also featured there. The documentary also made me think what a great job Sienna Miller did in the film about Edie Sedgwick.<br /><br /><br /> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JgdZFnZ6M0k&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JgdZFnZ6M0k&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />I would love to get to Pittsburg to see the Warhol Museum. He made a box up at the end of each day to hold all the bits and pieces of the day's events, and the museum has them all on a vast rack of shelving. One box is simply marked, "mother died".apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-69721246205200694852009-11-26T09:45:00.007+00:002009-11-30T10:16:12.891+00:00Lost Few Days<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpEy_PT3y8X2gwXKFnaC2xs48-9OwktjgLFjI17TKq985_BsSwSnVf_1csndFq7hMQ8rH5dMe0sLQHGhMRWQSlqJq3hY_nMG2Z4FlfSWSGwd6pjPPQJjFV399g0JkwHfSlDJe/s1600/haws.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408350488814775826" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 170px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIpEy_PT3y8X2gwXKFnaC2xs48-9OwktjgLFjI17TKq985_BsSwSnVf_1csndFq7hMQ8rH5dMe0sLQHGhMRWQSlqJq3hY_nMG2Z4FlfSWSGwd6pjPPQJjFV399g0JkwHfSlDJe/s320/haws.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I've had some lurgy for the last ten days, I can't call it flu, as I'm not willing to submit myself to the sea of viruses that is the GP's waiting room. But I think I am starting to revive, if only by virtue of the drop in my coughing fits.<br /><br />I can't believe that it will be December next week and as usual I have little desire to do the whole Christmas thing - if I could I'd buy a ticket to some off season hot spot and disappear until March.<br /><br />But I did make some progress on the garden before I got ill, having bought some incredible show auriculas from the wonderful Alison at <a href="http://www.angusplants.co.uk/Order%20info.htm">Angus Plants</a>. They have fantastic names like "Cinnamon" , "Baggage", and "Snowy Owl".<br /><br />Mine are all potted up in gritty compost in a cool greenhouse, waiting to go out on my new "auricula theatre" which I made from an old set of oak shelves I bought at a jumble sale, and which the lovely Jamie, my new 6'4" handy man, put up for me on the shed wall. (I really regret the dearth of men with power tools in this family - I blame my mother for taking me to see 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, it left me thinking I'd marry into a family who would be able to whip up a barn before lunch.)<br /><br />And I have my seed order from the amazing <a href="http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/">Plant World Seeds </a>nursery. They have some wonderful things, including rare wild S. American seeds that do well here. I'm planning to grow lots of grasses, as I love their movement, and how good they look when frosted.<br /><br />Next week I have to submit myself to N's make-over plans for me, she want to supervise me buying an outfit to wear to the dinner for the launch of the National Galleries anthology. It will end in tears..........<br /><br />And a couple of wee things:<br /><br />you left a gap in the world today<br />the colour of a blue November noon<br /><br />no more palmate leaves<br />no more sticky sap for bees<br />no more waxy candles in June<br /><br />goodbye old friend,<br />this late in the year<br />we need light<br /><br />--------<br /><br />walking in sharp November light<br />carrying my fog within<br /><br /><br /><br />Yours<br /><br />Crabbit Annieapprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-34196802930710162522009-11-15T16:15:00.004+00:002009-11-15T16:39:17.370+00:00Poetry Junkie<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvmhZqEcY3Ax2wFSWr6SCo-crOBsmIH8F8N_GGLfLeu2J7J9fyVOlsy0zZAWBYVr11RuIrRFBgRZm2JldCzpM4vts4GwOsHr1arNlZm5x4lsuRfS2ppcVhfrsapv9peB4g6u7/s1600-h/chestnut.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404370094818499986" style="WIDTH: 251px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvmhZqEcY3Ax2wFSWr6SCo-crOBsmIH8F8N_GGLfLeu2J7J9fyVOlsy0zZAWBYVr11RuIrRFBgRZm2JldCzpM4vts4GwOsHr1arNlZm5x4lsuRfS2ppcVhfrsapv9peB4g6u7/s320/chestnut.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I went along to Kevin Cadwallender's launch of his pamphlet Dog Latin last week. It has been published by Calder Wood Press, and contains a wonderful selection of pieces. If you want to sample some of Kevin's work see here:<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TCyjDCSsaW4&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TCyjDCSsaW4&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I also met Crafty Green Poet at the gig, which was lovely, as I've enjoyed her blog for some time now.<br /><br />After that Anne and I scooted up to the School of Poets class at the Scottish Poetry Library, and Kevin jokingly called us a couple of poetry junkies. There are worse things in life to be me thinks..........<br /><br />On Wednesday I went to fashion show that my friend N's daughter-in-law helped organise, she's a designer and lecturer at Glasgow School of Art. The show reworked charity shop clothes into high fashion and it was really well done, with goody bags and an after show party.<br /><br />And Friday I saw a Japanese friend and we went to see the Scott and Shackelton photographic exhibition at the <a href="http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=37#current">Queens Gallery</a> Herbert Ponting shots from the ill-fated Scott expedition are absolutely stunning.<br /><br />Now I have a bad cold, something I always seem to get when I'm exposed to lots of people, I just don't have any resistance to things any more. So I'm lying low and living on lemsip.<br /><br />The photo is of some of the gilding on the door of the Queens Gallery - horse chesnut leaves and flowers. Here in my home town they had to chop a massive old one down this week, as it was diseased and had a number of deep wounds on it limbs. Seeing the huge gap it has left behind made me think of this Niedecker poem:<br /><br />My Friend Tree<br />by Lorine Niedecker<br /><br /><br />My friend tree<br />I sawed you down<br />but I must attend<br />an older friend<br />the sunapprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-58869294054375213532009-11-05T15:52:00.014+00:002009-11-14T13:31:00.498+00:00Great Great etc Uncle Patrick Henry<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-qz0jNiBUFRVP1avkIg7mF785e2jia3fVr4vXtPl5JMc4IAETvBieqTycehBul-EDq9vO60hZocH4VRgGPYiZ_3n9yqTv9myWfidxc2BLq_vKSgwicUqKl0C5APESpOc8INx/s1600-h/Trois%2520Arbres%2520Cem.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 215px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-qz0jNiBUFRVP1avkIg7mF785e2jia3fVr4vXtPl5JMc4IAETvBieqTycehBul-EDq9vO60hZocH4VRgGPYiZ_3n9yqTv9myWfidxc2BLq_vKSgwicUqKl0C5APESpOc8INx/s320/Trois%2520Arbres%2520Cem.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400652042531246402" /></a><br /><br />Colin Will has been clearing out some of his poetry books to give himself more room and to raise money for the RNLI. I "bought" three, including James Tate's Selected Poems and this poem spoke to me, because for those of us from hard-working peasant stock I'm not sure that it helps to know that six generation of your family were dirt poor. The fact that they survived as best they could, against the odds, to allow you to be here today is all you can be grateful for. <br /><br />The narrator of this poem sounds like an arrogant teenager and they are never impressed with anything their parents, let alone their forebearers have done, but sometimes something a parent says will stick and you return to it years later. I think Tate may also be saying that history is usually written by the winners. <br /><br />Great Great Uncle etc Patrick Henry <br /><br />There's a fortune to be made in just about everything<br />in this country, somebody's father had to invent<br />everything--baby food, tractors, rat poisoning.<br />My family's obviously done nothing since the beginning<br />of time. They invented poverty and bad taste<br />and getting by and taking it from the boss.<br />O my mother goes around chewing her nails and<br />spitting them in a jar: You shouldn't be ashamed<br />of yourself she says, think of your family.<br />My family I say what have they ever done but<br />paint by numbers the most absurd and disgusting scenes<br />of plastic squalor and human degradation.<br />Well then think of your great great etc. <br />Uncle Patrick Henry.<br /><br />My grandfather is our family's equivalent of Uncle Patrick Henry, and I have recently discovered that the Imperial War Museum now has a synopsis of his recordings with them, so if you think you have lived read on:<br /><br />"10786<br />CATALOGUE NUMBER<br />NAME:<br />Hood, David Linley Smith<br /><br />DESCRIPTION:<br /><br /><strong>British private served with 2nd Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on Western Front, 1915-1916; served as officer's batman with Headquarters, Fourth Army in France, 1916; served as aircraftsman with 2 Royal Flying Corps Repair Depot in France, 1916-1918; served as engineer aboard RFA Cairndale in Atlantic, 1939-1941 including sinking, 30/5/1941; served as chief engineer aboard RFA Gray Ranger in North Sea and Arctic, 1941-1942 including sinking 22/9/1942; served aboard RFA Dingledale in Atlantic, Mediterranean and Far East, 1942-1945</strong><br /><br />NOTES:<br />REEL 1 Background in Falkirk and Glasgow, 1898-1914: family; education; employment. Aspects of enlistment and training with Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in GB, 1914-1915: background to (underage) enlistment, 8/1914; failure of friend's father to get him out of the army,; reception at Stirling Castle; training in Plymouth, 1914-1915; interest of Lady Astor in troops; how he was befriended by experienced soldier. REEL 2 Continues: crossing to France, 3/1915; different regimental marching rates. Recollections of operations as private with 2nd Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on Western Front, 1915-1916: joining B Coy; orders to move into front line at Loos; manning front line; burial parties; first use of gas masks; affected by own gas, late 1915; mining and counter mining; attachment to Royal Engineers mining company. REEL 3 Continues: alert for German spies; narrow escape from group of Middlesex Regiment troops looking for spies; listening post duties with canary; his rescue from asphyxiation in mine; sight of unit casualties from Festubert during hospitalisation; effects of sudden thaw, 3/1916; incident in which he was under shellfire. Aspects of period as officer's batman with Headquarters, Fourth Army in France, 1916: appointment as officer's batman; sight of Prince of Wales; his officer's duties at headquarters; attitude towards luxury at headquarters. REEL 4 Continues: background to transfer to Royal Flying Corps; plans for post-war employment; story of what happened to his commanding officer from 1916; leave in Scotland; news of death of relative on Western Front. Aspects of period as aircraftsman with 2 Royal Flying Corps Repair Depot in France, 1916-1918: training as mechanic; types of aircraft worked on; contact with aces; obtaining parts of Von Richtofen's aircraft; capabilities of Royal Flying Corps aircraft; memories of the 'Mad Major'; news of Armistice, 11/11/1918; further details of aces. Aspects of demobilisation and return to civilian life, from 1919: demobilisation, 1/1919; obtaining marine engineering employment on Clydeside, 1919. REEL 5 Continues: apprenticeship on Clydeside, 1919; post-war interest in British Legion; his political opinions after First World War. Reflections on service with 2nd Bn Argyll of Sutherland Highlanders on Western Front, 1915-1916: problems of lice in kilts; case of soldier arrested for desertion. <br /><br />Recollections of operations as engineer aboard RFA Cairndale in Atlantic, 1939- 1941 including sinking 30/5/1941: his position with Royal Fleet Auxiliary; transport disruption, 2/9/1939; problems joining ship in Glasgow, 3/9/1939. REEL 6 Continues: convoy to Freetown, 9/1939; oiling duties in Freetown; last sight of HMS Jervis Bay leaving Freetown; electrical storms in Freetown, late 1939; problems with barnacles at Freetown; return to GB via Caribbean, early 1940; problems getting hospital treatment for wife; attachment of oiler to Force H in Gibraltar; previous experience of oiling HMS Ark Royal during her trials; attempt to decoy Scharnhorst, 4/1941; rescue of survivors of sunken merchantman. REEL 7 Continues: news of wife's death, 5/1941; belief of wife's Scandinavian relations that Germans would win the war in 1939; wife's escape from Denmark to GB early during the Second World War; second attempt to decoy Scharnhorst, 5/1941; preparations for emergency at sea; torpedoing of ship; abandoning ship; rescue of survivors; return to Gibraltar, 31/5/1941; return to GB. REEL 8 Continues: character of Glasgow's Ghost Train; his declining to give up berth to female US officer. Recollections of operations as chief engineer aboard RFA Gray Ranger in North Sea and Arctic, 1941-1942 including sinking, 22/9/1942: joining ship; sea trials; instructing US personnel in oiling, autumn 1941; plan to interfere with German shipping off Norway; his opinion of Polish forces; prior recollections of pre-war exercises in Bemuda. REEL 9 Continues: joining Convoy PQ17, summer 1942; collision with iceberg; orders to return to GB for repairs; fitting of new bows in North Shields; joining Convoy PQ18; fate of Convoy PQ18; start of return Convoy QP14; plan for ship to break from convoy for Scapa Flow; torpedoing of ship by U-435, 22/9/1942; provisions in ship's lifeboat and preparations for emergency. REEL 10 Continues: abandoning ship and rescue by HMS Northern Gem; return of survivors to GB; provision of public lunch for survivors in Glasgow; condition he was in on his return from Arctic; his opinion of wartime decorations and awards; conversation with newly appointed officer in charge of oiling at the Admiralty. Aspects of operations as chief engineer aboard RFA Dingledale in Atlantic, Mediterranean and Far East, 1942-1945: joining ship in Glasgow; oiling work of West African coast; contact with civilians in West Africa; arrival in Tokyo Bay, Japan. REEL 11 Continues: state of Hiroshima, Japan; Japanese preparations for naval defence of Kure; opinion of Japanese; participation in North African landings, 1943; second hand story of torpedoed San Demetrio and his encounter with the tanker's second officer; work oiling HMS Ajax; rescue of casks of unfermented wine from Algiers harbour."<br /><br />The photo is of Trois Arbres Military Cemetery where my great,great uncle Andrew is buried. My grandfather had to read the telegram message about Andrew's death to his paternal grandmother, as she was illiterate.apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-51521919430129596742009-11-01T15:38:00.005+00:002009-11-04T00:24:09.863+00:00Projects<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie36Syyznl5oAB24r3CSHfO9ZwbniiT-jqJuT1e_P3ssi625mAQsPJAtQBSDUs7GB0Nb9s2Ha5jagRy2ElHeCR8RvCG_HgZCMRbJj1PjTxjmXeFSJrOje6l3A6HxYh31fiRYjF/s1600-h/book2.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie36Syyznl5oAB24r3CSHfO9ZwbniiT-jqJuT1e_P3ssi625mAQsPJAtQBSDUs7GB0Nb9s2Ha5jagRy2ElHeCR8RvCG_HgZCMRbJj1PjTxjmXeFSJrOje6l3A6HxYh31fiRYjF/s320/book2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399166762796097842" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgChSRP1aYnb6qgebNwnaceeKEfE-uHHUaTzj73XG0gBYFtDeui2QZOpM9r9G08JBBYqQJo0hkeE3UOJNkXtAp6vT6qsu-XKcDjYhgMtyI0wOrlokUIqTtHamtwwO4J8WtBVSZE/s1600-h/book1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgChSRP1aYnb6qgebNwnaceeKEfE-uHHUaTzj73XG0gBYFtDeui2QZOpM9r9G08JBBYqQJo0hkeE3UOJNkXtAp6vT6qsu-XKcDjYhgMtyI0wOrlokUIqTtHamtwwO4J8WtBVSZE/s320/book1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399166761048898594" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rBjk55-2kwAf-EF8Z4vq-z1XdZUYae0jmd2WpRQPq2SYYyPceCbitLnGVdqSvBuztIaq3RCEiJUTLgW9Y3Zu1eeXu-aKYtNjKBYDdVitTn849pC8Li1359eu3gedXLT_jIi6/s1600-h/there+will+be.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rBjk55-2kwAf-EF8Z4vq-z1XdZUYae0jmd2WpRQPq2SYYyPceCbitLnGVdqSvBuztIaq3RCEiJUTLgW9Y3Zu1eeXu-aKYtNjKBYDdVitTn849pC8Li1359eu3gedXLT_jIi6/s320/there+will+be.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399166758791478914" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqxXo8aaZxTYSyFrkpAhNMk0Q-JiBGDMC7M7eC5fXReh6Ls0IZnFYVnuj2ousX1KWSxdbiwQL2ECG3qDmEdVIbPRlMxX7q33ae6pEWt5IuE0u12ApVMYq4tPZE1_46QPG6VG8/s1600-h/hep.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqxXo8aaZxTYSyFrkpAhNMk0Q-JiBGDMC7M7eC5fXReh6Ls0IZnFYVnuj2ousX1KWSxdbiwQL2ECG3qDmEdVIbPRlMxX7q33ae6pEWt5IuE0u12ApVMYq4tPZE1_46QPG6VG8/s320/hep.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399166749600387154" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnX2Xh5QKCswbRLCUUchnvQFjX-_2O-V-x3p1JCJJR9bDnq6uJgSEP42U5kSPjwQLDFw3vWX9eAkAKUkc31L_x3wy2LZ-0mCodA6o0gKn2aY9jXu0KfDtKeHPhFYUMoRjhh76N/s1600-h/beech.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnX2Xh5QKCswbRLCUUchnvQFjX-_2O-V-x3p1JCJJR9bDnq6uJgSEP42U5kSPjwQLDFw3vWX9eAkAKUkc31L_x3wy2LZ-0mCodA6o0gKn2aY9jXu0KfDtKeHPhFYUMoRjhh76N/s320/beech.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399166745231560658" /></a><br /><br /><br />Yesterday I had a really lazy day as I felt pretty tired having been out and about the two previous days.<br /><br />On Friday I was at the launch of the National Galleries for Scotland "Get Inspired Get Writing" anthology, which showcases the work of the winning entries of the last two years, including my own poem "Life Class". I was really pleased to discover that the introduction is by Janice Galloway, a real heroine of mine - I saw her speak a couple of years ago on Edward Lear at Stanza and it was one of the best things I've ever heard. But the best bit is that she mentions my poem, which is just a huge thrill. I attach a couple of photos of the book. <br /><br />After that I went on to a friend's event, which was a quiz night in aid of a Scottish youth charity. I was on a team with some former colleagues and we had a great night, although we didn't win. But the names of the quiz teams were hilarious -my favourite was "Quiz Team Aguilera"<br /><br />On Thursday my friend A. and I did a wee bit of work on a collaborative project that we hope to see published in the Spring, and then we had a lovely walk in the grounds of the National Museum of Modern Art - again I attach a few shots here of the grounds, a Barbara Hepworth piece and a new installation, that says in lights "There Will Be No Miracles Here" - I've frame it against some city church spires. <br /><br />It's been a great few days, although the down side has been hearing that a friend who went through treatment with me has had a recurrence to her bones and another good friend is dealing with her son having just been diagnosed as bi-polar. I sent this particular friend a poem I've just written and she replied saying she is claiming it for herself as, "it captures how I feel impeccably" - and that means more than anything else to me.apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-56166451326964470742009-10-30T15:51:00.003+00:002009-10-31T16:16:04.355+00:00Favourite bitsSorry I'm not around, I'm working on a few projects - but hope to get back "here" at the weekend. <br /><br />Meanwhile here is a few bits of video of my year so far, my SIL's 50th, some shots of Lewis, the harvest, North Berwick, Edinburgh, Munch, the "big garden" Cottage borders that I help plan and layout last winter and this Spring, Sally Evans' bees, waterfalls etc, etc.<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.motionbox.com/external/player/id%253D7a96d7b9141fefcaf5" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" width="425" height="460"></embed>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21968349.post-71870638106882634732009-10-21T11:44:00.006+01:002009-10-21T15:45:04.185+01:00Indigo GirlsI can't wait for tomorrow night to see the Indigo Girls. While I like and love a lot of music written by younger people it is really good to be able to hear lyrics written by women of your own age.<br /><br />Today I'm looking at prints of pictures that I've just got back to try and decide which ones to get backed/mounted for a competition. I hate this stage of the process, because I'm my own worst critic and half the time I just pick the shots to pieces and lose heart. But this time I need to decide right away and then get them off to the framers, otherwise I'm going to miss the deadline.<br /><br />Last night I went to see Janet Paisley in Edinburgh. She was reading with some Ukrainian academics who have translated one of her collections and a novel into their language. It was an interesting to hear the Ukrainians speak about the act of translation, and about how poetry and humour are essential requirements in this mixed-up, beat-up old world of ours. We also noticed that their poetry books are printed in a small diary like style, which they said was standard there, as it saved on "resources" and also meant that they could be easily transported and read on the bus or tube. Maybe we should give the format a whirl here, it might boost poetry sales.<br /><br />And N has mentioned to me that her good friend Flick is writing a blog called, "Cancer Travels" - if you can please look in, as she is an inspiring woman, who is not lying down to the disease. Her blog is <a href="http://flickthorpe.wordpress.com/">here </a>.<br /><br />Meanwhile here's the girls with some middle-aged angst:<br /><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uq0WI8DGR8s&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Uq0WI8DGR8s&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>apprenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com8