Ten things for which I give thanks this week…
I am glad to have finally finished the A to Z 2026 Challenge at last, for whilst I enjoyed learning everything I hoped and more, and have had comments of similar enlightenment from readers, I did set myself a mighty task this year, and if I do it again, I will give myself someting simpler which will also allow me more time to keep up with other participants…
Normally, I shower, but on Sunday mornings, I have breakfast in the bath, with a book! I am grateful for having allowed myself this small decadence and I sometimes read non-fiction long-form which I otherwise have little space for, however, I have been reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and even if I manage 20 pages, at 433 pages in total, it has taken a long time. The title, is eventually revealed as the flag of the short-lived Biafran republic and the novel is, in the author’s own words, about Love and War. For who would want to read a novel purely about war without being fleshed out with real characters. I have been writing a similar novel in a desultory way for about the last 20 years. Similar in that the Rwandan genocide lies at the heart of the story and similar in that it concerns fictional characters caught up in a history which is ultimately the result of colonialism and equally awful post-colonialism. Writing and reading such books is hard, because the material is dark, however it is not all dark and there is a sub-plot (with a little humour) which is finished and can be read alone if anyone is interested… I hope that now the A to Z is over, I might return to the novel and nudge it toward completion…
Barbara and I have made an agreement to go out somewhere each weekend, use her boot scooter to get around and so far we have stuck to it…
The weather has been sunny all week, saving the rain for the Bank Holiday Weekend – still, it saves me watering the garden – since everything is in containers, that needs keeping an eye on all the time in Summer…
Finishing the A to Z has let me get back to writing poetry and the first offering at dVerse Poets Pub, was a Golden Shovel for which I chose a quotation from Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. This is my favourite piece of poetry (even if it was a radio play) and if you have never heard the Richard Burton original version you can find it here.
We had some awful news last weekend, Barbara’s niece went outside to find her husband dead having stuck hi head on a stone wall – at under fifty, the only gratitude is that it seems to have been instantaneous. His widow and two almost-grown-up children live in Geneva – a long way from the support of her sisters and parents… Our hearts go out to them…
The big early flowers – daffodils and most of the Tulips are gone over and this week has been about small flowers (and Dandelions)…
I saw an article about “Rebel Botanists”. Inspired by French botanist Sophie Leguil, they label wildflowers at the edge of pavements – I could o with that as I often wonder what the plants are called…
Wishing you all your very best week, wherever you are…