On this, the last day of September, I am in a woolly jumper looking out on my very wet garden. Summer is definitely over now. There have been some lovely golden September days between the showers though and I escaped for week in Greece at the beginning of the month. I travelled by myself to the island of Kalymnos just off Kos to take part in a Writers’ Festival. It was a bit of a trek - flight+ ferry+scary taxi ride along a stunning but very windy coast road with a driver who was texting en route.
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| View from my apartment |
I joined seven other writers (not sure I can call myself that) at Harry’s Paradise in the town of Emporeios. It really was a kind of paradise with a shady bougainvillea filled garden, excellent healthy home cooked food and a resident kitten called Lucky Shrimp. The writing festival consisted of a storytelling workshop with an evening performance of our stories on the roof of the building as the sun went down. This was quite an experience - terrifying but exhilarating too. Then we had three days of creative writing tuition from Niall Williams who is a very wise and engaging teacher. It was because of my previous attendance at writing workshop in Co Clare back in 2017 that I signed up again. His wife Christine was also very supportive providing one to one advice, very useful for me with my procrastination and self-doubt about my writing.
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| Harry’s Paradise |
It was a very international gathering. I was the only member of the group who lived in England. One of the writers was from Belfast, two from Australia, three from the US and one Canadian who currently living in Portugal. Some of the writers were quite experienced and one had written nonfiction books for children. We got to know each other very well in a short space of time as we had to work together on storytelling and we were encouraged to recount tales from our own lives, So it was good that we all got along well and I felt comfortable sharing my writing. One evening we went on a boat trip along the coast and to another island. It really was idyllic with glorious scenery and a beautiful sunset.
I returned home from Greece and then had a few days away last week with Paul and the doggies. We went to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, where we used to go when we lived in East Anglia. A few days of English seaside - eating fish and chips, walks by the sea and catching up with old friends. Paul took some arty pictures with his fancy new camera.
Home again now and back to my garden which has been a bit neglected recently. Harvested the borlotti beans (not before Alfie gobbled some from the plant and then vomited - lovely). I am enjoying the dahlias and late flowering perennials. I am also very pleased with my apples. It’s the first time my tree has produced any fruit. Some of them are huge! And they taste good too. - the variety is Red Devil and the flesh is tinged slightly pink. Below is one big apple. And it’s the only Big Apple I have experienced this September as I missed out on a sisters’ gathering in New York because it unfortunately clashed with the Greek trip. Oh well - can’t complain. It’s been a lovely September.
