July

 July split into two halves for me. I really enjoyed the first part of the month. Here’s what I was doing then:

Hosting my sister and nieces from New Zealand.  We did the usual touristy things - walking the walls, ice creams by the river, trip to the zoo. 

Going with Kate to see the musical Six at Storyhouse theatre

Dog walking in the Cheshire countryside.

Eating berries I’d grown myself for breakfast. I had a good crop of raspberries and blackcurrants. The blueberries weren’t so good this year so I let the blackbirds finish them off. I also had a few morello cherries from my newly planted tree, a surprise as I’d been told not to expect any fruit for three years. 

Going to London for the weekend to attend a wedding party.  A beautiful evening in the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital. 

Meeting ganching in the Tate Modern during my visit to London. 

All good so far and then:

Cancelling plans for a birthday visit to Kew Gardens because of extreme hot weather warnings.

Waiting over two hours in Euston for delayed train back home. The whole rail network appears to be falling apart in this country especially routes up north and this was not a strike day. Paul had to come to pick us up from Crewe as we’d missed the last train back to Chester by then. 

Feeling grim and then testing positive for Covid on the morning on my birthday.  I’d felt a bit hot and headachy the night before but put it down to heat and exhaustion of day in London but there was no arguing with the two lines on the test the next morning.

Worrying that I’d been a superspreader all weekend.  Thankfully I have only heard of one other person I’d been in contact with who had caught the virus,

Drooping around the house feeling very sorry for myself for the last two weeks. It hasn’t been much fun even though I wasn’t that ill - just like a cold really . But I’ve felt very tired, lethargic and lacking in any motivation to do anything. Still not feeling great.

Pulling myself together to attend Kate’s delayed graduation ceremony this week. We stayed in Sheffield for the evening and went to a ‘bring your parents’ evening at the Students’ Union. Good fun though I was absolutely shattered the next day,

Cheering myself up this weekend now I’m feeling a bit better with a visit to a very impressive local garden and an outing with Kate to see her friend acting in an open air production of ‘Little Women’ in the Grosvenor Park. 

Enjoying my own garden now that we’ve had some rain and it is all looking a bit greener. 

This is what I’d like my garden to look like. NGS garden opening

June

 

June has been a busy month. Here’s what I’ve been doing using Christina’s …ing format.

Watering the garden. The weather has been mostly cool and cloudy but not wet in this area.  I’ve planted lots of new perennials, a rambling rose and a wisteria to grow up my new pergola and it’s been hard work to keep them thriving. I’ve discovered things that do best in my garden are plants that don’t need much water: sedums, lavender, self planted foxgloves and poppies.  I might have to give up on sweet peas which used to do so well for my dad.  They certainly need richer soil and more rain. 

Celebrating with Kate who has now finished her teacher training course and has got a job in a primary school starting in September.  She’ll be teaching Year 3 like she did on her final teaching practice which she enjoyed. 

Making some progress with my writing though haven’t done anything this week.  I’ve joined a group with some of the others on the course I did and have set myself a target of writing 15.000 words in July. 

Reading books by writers from Northern Ireland.  ‘Trespasses’ by Louise Kennedy was set in the 70s when I was growing up there.  I loved it - sad but accurate portrayal of life at that time.  It’s the best ‘Troubles’ book I’ve read since ‘Cal’ by Bernard MacLaverty.  I’m now reading ‘The Raptures’ by Jan Carson set in 1993 in a village called Ballylack where children are mysteriously dying .  It mixes realism with a kind of ghost story and again I’m really enjoying it. Jan Carson says she wants to give a voice to the Protestant experience in her books.  I certainly ‘recognised’ many of the characters she portrays in her novel.

Eating raspberries for breakfast picked fresh from my my garden The blackcurrants and blueberries will be ready soon - I’m planning a summer pudding. And my fan trained cherry tree I planted last year has a few  ripe cherries which I need to pick soon before the birds get there first.

Travelling to Dorset last weekend for more celebrations- my sister’s 60th birthday.  All five of us were there as New Zealand sister is in the for a visit for the first time since Covid.  There were 21 of us in total with nieces , nephews and their partners.  Despite rather chilly and occasionally damp weather we had a lovely time: a trip to the seaside in Weymouth, a celebratory meal in the village pub and a birthday barbecue.  I made the cake and NZ niece decorated it beautifully. 

The Best View in England: Arvon Foundation Creative Writing Course at The Hurst

John Osborne's Best View in England

Last week I went on a residential writing course with the Arvon Foundation.  I’ve been longing to do one of these courses for years, putting it off because of lack of time, family commitments and hesitation about spending so much money on a ‘holiday’ just for me. I’m so pleased I did sign up - I had a brilliant time.

The Hurst Photo credit: Anise Hamilton

The course I took was held at The Hurst in Shropshire which was formerly the home of playwright John Osborne.  It’s a beautiful old building in a rural setting surrounded by a huge garden. Every morning before our workshop started I did the ‘azalea’ walk through several hundred metres of very colourful, scented azaleas and rhododendrons.  Stunning but a bit too much - clashing colours and slightly sickly sweet scent.  I  preferred the wilder section of the circular walk which was at its peak spring luxuriance with fresh leaves, fading bluebells and a pink/purple weed (red? campion) and, on one glorious sunny morning, dragonflies with metallic blue wings.. I wasn’t alone in appreciating the garden - quite a few of the other writers enjoyed attempting to identify the wildflowers and unusual garden plants. 

Photo credit Anise Hamilton

Another day some of us went on a longer walk in the afternoon.  We walked past the giant redwood trees and then followed the track across a steep meadow dotted with buttercups to the pretty village of Clun and its ruined castle. And then there was the reassuringly messy kitchen garden and the bench looking over what John Osborne insisted was the best view in England. Just being in this place was inspiring.  

Each evening the course members and tutors got together over dinner.  We took turns in groups to cook the evening meal and wash up. Good fun if a little stressful at times.  The Hurst isn’t run like a hotel - you help yourself to breakfast and can make yourself a drink in the kitchen whenever you want. This made it seem very welcoming. The food was simple, healthy and there was plenty of it including a new cake every day.   

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Our tutors were crime and historical novelist, Andrew Taylor and Janine Giovanni who had a career in publishing and now works as a writing coach.  Each morning they ran lively workshops for the group of fifteen writers.  Andrew has published over forty novels so he knows what he is talking about yet he was very modest.  One thing he said which I found reassuring was that he does not fully plan his novel before he begins to write.  In fact he says he ‘gets ideas’, he ‘blunders forward’ to complete a first draft and then much of the work happens at the rewriting stage. He also stresses the importance of what he called wrong-footing the reader and allowing them to make up their own answers.  And this doesn’t just apply to crime fiction.  Janine set out to help me and my fellow procrastinators on the course explore and dismantle the blocks which prevent us from actually completing the writing projects we have embarked upon.  Her practical advice and gentle guidance have left me feeling more determined and positive about moving forward with my writing. 

One of the best things about the course was meeting the other writers, a really interesting and diverse group of people.  The oldest was in her 80s, the youngest only 20, with most somewhere in between. Some were experienced writers, others were just getting started.  We came from all over England and beyond - one writer had travelled from Canada, another from the Isle of Man.  There were, among others, journalists, teachers/lecturers, young professionals from London, and an engineer from Yorkshire who brought along her violin to entertain us. We wrote in a range of different genres - crime fiction, fantasy, children’s fiction, romance, historical fiction and climate fiction.  On the final evening we had to read some of our work to the whole group.  Although I was a bit nervous,  I felt more confident than I did at the beginning of the week and enjoyed reading the piece I’d written.  

Regular readers of this blog (all three of you) may recall that this is not the first time I have attended a writing course. I returned from that one full of inspiration and good intentions but still did not complete the project I started.   This time I’m not letting myself off the hook.  One problem I have is that now that I am largely retired I have too much time.  And no deadlines.  So I have taken Janine’s advice and have made an arrangement with another member of the group to swap 1000 words every month. No excuses.  . 

Visiting The Scullery in Ballyronan

A couple of weekends ago I went on a visit to Northern Ireland along with two of my sisters.  We booked a holiday cottage near our home village of Ballyronan.   Normally we stay with Sylvia who lives in Co Down but this time she joined us to stay locally so we had a bit more time to see relatives and in particular to check out The Scullery, the cafe which has now opened in our old family home.  

My mother Sadie was postmistress in the village for 35 years.  This photograph of her and Jim, my father, was taken in 1998 shortly before she retired. Photo Credit Ardboe Gallery.

This is what the old post office looks like now. 

On Saturday we had lunch in The Scullery with my Aunty Mary. She used to help Mum in the Post Office covering holidays.  We also used to help serve customers with varying degrees of competence.  I wasn't much good, being too absent-minded to remember to tear out the dockets in pension books so the accounts wouldn't balance at the end of the week. A cousin who lives in Belgium also joined us for lunch with her husband - she's not in the photo as she took it. So it was a real family reunion. 

It was very strange having lunch in what was our old sitting room.  I am pleased, though, that the house is now full of people again. Joanne who runs the cafe and her husband have done a really good job renovating  - it looks really smart and modern. I gave her a copy of this photograph of Mum and Dad. and hope she will display it. She says that quite a few of her customers remember coming into the  Post Office and talk about them.

The food was good too.  I had homemade vegetable soup which was delicious and a slice of wheaten bread. Some of the others had 'Ulster Fries' complete with plenty of fried bread - soda farls, potato bread and a pancake.  This comes in the standard size below and a 'Wee Fry' for smaller appetites.  There are also plenty of buns and traybakes to have with tea and coffee served in pretty floral mugs and you can buy Morelli's ice cream to takeaway at the counter.  We used to have to drive all the way to Portstewart for that and now you can get it in Ballyronan.

We stayed in Moyola River Cottage, just a few miles from Ballyronan.  It was really lovely clean and well equipped cottage in a quiet spot near the river.  We didn't know the owners though some of our relatives did. They were very friendly and it's a great place to stay if you want to visit the area.  It's near Seamus Heaney HomePlace too - I'd have like to go back there but there wasn't time.

On Sunday morning we went for a riverside walk right down to where the Moyola joins Lough Neagh.  It was a glorious day - the sun shone all weekend.  And then we went back to Ballyronan for a walk around the marina there.  It's a long time now since any of us lived in the village so not many people remember us but we did run into some familiar faces in the local shop. 

 

The Moyola River.  Seamus Heaney writes about the river in his poem 'A New Song'

My cousin Lorna and I also visited an elderly lady who was friendly with my mother before she was married.  I am continuing my research into family history and it was a real pleasure to talk to this lady, Nan Dale, about her memories.  She told us about what life was like for them in the 50s.  They used to cycle together to Magherafelt to catch a bus.  Mum used to work in what Nan called the Assistance Board and Nan worked the telephone exchange.  She also told us about holidays they spent in Bray in Co Wicklow and also in Portrush. 

We only stayed two nights as at present it is only me, the eldest sister, who is retired.  It was all over much too quickly. I plan to return later in the year to do some more research and visit relatives I didn't have time to see this weekend.

April...ing

I've been neglecting the blog recently.  So time for an April catch up. Here's what I've been doing.

Visiting an exhibition of mosaic art called Constellations in Chester Cathedral.  The hanging piece above was made up of tiny mosaics in bottle tops.

Holidaying in South Wales.  We stayed in Saundersfoot near Tenby.  The weather was a bit mixed as you can see from the pictures below.  Lots of walking on beaches and up hills. The walk from the village to our holiday home was pretty steep.

One day we went to Pendine Beach (below) which is 7 miles long and the location for world land speed record attempts.  We thought it would be a good walk for Alfie.  What we didn't discover until we got there is the Ministry of Defence own the beach and access is restricted to a small section near the car park.  When we strayed too far along the beach a disembodied voice which I think came from our phones told us not to cross the line. Big Brother is watching you!. 

We also had a day in Tenby, a very pretty seaside town with more beautiful beaches. 

Saundersfoot was full of wild flowers.  The verges were covered in primroses and we found violets and wood anemones on our walks.

In the town centre park hundreds of daffodils were used to create the Ukrainian flag.  I have mixed feelings about the rash of blue and yellow flags around the country.  I suppose it shows support but then it's a bit of a futile gesture.  Like Pritti Patel wearing a yellow and blue ribbon in her lapel while making it near impossible for Ukrainian refugees to get a visa.

Celebrating Easter and eating chocolate with Kate who returned here for the holidays. It wasn’t much of a holiday for her though as she had an assignment to complete for her course and is also busy applying for teaching jobs. 

That’s it for this month. 

March Magnolias

 

I started this post over a week ago and never finished it. Oh dear!  I wanted to share these beautiful photographs of magnolia trees in Ness Gardens taken by my friend Juana last week when the weather was sunny and warm. It was a lovely afternoon and the magnolias were at their best.  They don't last long but are glorious when they do.  

If you look closely at the photograph above you can see that I am wearing a grey foam sling.  I have injured my arm - fell and fractured a bone in my elbow.  My own fault - foolishly wore boots with heels to walk to the pub, went over on my ankle and then lost my balance.  I'll be in the sling for another couple of weeks and it'll be ages until it's strong enough so I can get on with gardening jobs.  This is very frustrating.  It even hurts a bit typing this. I'm throwing out the boots and sticking to flats in future..

Below is my own star magnolia tree planted last year.  Doesn't match the ones above but it's doing ok.  

February..ing

 

I’m squeezing in at the end of February with a brief monthly round up.  Here’s what I’ve been doing:

Squelching through muddy fields with Paul and the dog.

Watching the garden slowly come to life.  The snowdrops pictured above are not in my garden though - these pictures are from gardens I visited last week. 

Feeling happy that the Covid crisis seems to be coming to an end.  Paul tested positive last week on a lateral flow which was a surprise as he’s rarely in contact with anyone outside the house.  Luckily he was symptom free and I seem to have avoided catching it. 

Feeling sad that the world, having emerged from one crisis,  is now lurching towards another frightening and unpredictable future. 

That’s it for now.