You’ll know when it’s autumn

It isn't really autumn today, but you'll know when it gets here. You'll know because the blushing berries will reveal their crimson hearts. You'll know because the flowers which bloomed with an old master's oil-paint madness will turn to watercolour and then seep quietly away. You'll know by the dusty shadows summer has left in…

Retrograde

If I were to write horoscopes, I’d fill them with real-world advice. “As Mercury opposes Saturn, be wary spillage when you open ink bottles.” “With Pluto in your fourth house, you will unpick many more stitches than you knit.” “50% of planets are retrograde now; you will be incapable of anything more advanced than reading…

April showers bring forth May flowers

Okay, well our climate didn't get it quite right this year and we had to wait for the May downpours to do their work before we could enjoy a blossoming forth in June. But summer seems to be here and for that we can be grateful, even those of us who prefer the chillier months…

Time gone, or still to come

I am quietly slogging away with the transcription of old journal entries, trying to wrangle them into a slightly more cohesive collection. This is serving its secondary purpose of burning through some ink, but it's also burning through paper and the sheets are becoming increasingly random as I unearth old books and pads to use…

They’ve frozen up my beard

Now the frosticles appearAnd they've frozen up my beard....God, or whatever means the good,Be praised that time can stop like this.Not at the meadow! I haven't actually got a beard, but I've always been partial to them on other people. Mainly men, it has to be admitted. Once the sun is up, I start the…

It doesn’t have to be stellar

Stellar progress is always lovely if you can achieve it, but good, solid, plain old progress will get you there in the end. I'm halfway up the first sleeve of the Heather Sweater and this week I'm setting myself the goal of doing at least 45 minutes of work on it each day. I think…