Happy Holidays…

Another year has flown past, and nothing much has changed at all.

A Year in The Life…

I have been away for a while. Lost for words in the year of Covid-19. I really do not know what to say that hasn’t already been said.

Farewell to Fine Friends…

Last  you heard,  I was rabbiting on about the new outhouse in the back garden. There has been a long silence since that episode, but I did not fall down the hole! As a good friend pointed out recently, there has been a dark cloud hanging overhead this year. This might explain why I have been feeling a little under par, a little short on creative energy, why I have not written for so long.

The Long Drop….

Just a word of warning: folks with delicate sensibilities may find the subject  of this post somewhat unsavoury. If  you are on the squeamish side, you may want to give it a miss….

Twenty Seventeen…

Another year has come and gone; another year in the lives of a couple of west coast island dwellers…

Bored in Paradise…

November has never been my favourite time of year. The rapidly shortening days combine with deteriorating weather systems to create a cloud of doom that shrouds my days.

Saving Seed….

Last Friday morning it was snowing again as I set off for town. I was on my way to the annual Words on the Water writer’s festival. Every March for the past sixteen years I have attended this local cultural event. When I returned late Monday afternoon I felt rejuvenated. Some seeds of inspiration had been sown at the W.O.W. festival!

While I was away the robins returned to our garden, pecking and peering about on the ground for excited worms. It seems they  have brought spring  with them. Although it is still chilly, the sun is shining and buds on the flowering shrubs are  plump. The grass has begun to grow again and the first daffodil  is about to burst open.

Marmalade…

 

The last blast of winter seems to have taken place and the crocuses are blooming. Snowdrops drift across the pet graveyard under the black walnut tree like snowy remnants left behind after the last thaw.

Storm-Watching…

Two weeks ago I was strolling around the garden in a tee-shirt admiring the budding snow drops and the emergent daffodils; boasting about the warm temperatures and the fact that spring was just around the corner.

Since then the weather has taken a drastic turn for the worse; winter is still very much upon us. We do not often experience such extreme winter weather on this part of the west coast and it comes as a bit of a shock! It makes me wonder why on earth I choose to live here, on this remote island in the middle of nowhere. Why do we insist on spending the winter months anchored here, stuck on this rock like frigid limpets, when we could be somewhere much farther south sunning ourselves like iguanas in the sand?

When in Doubt…

Christmas is over but the tree is still standing as I attempt to retain some sparkle during the continuing dark days.

So far, this New Year is off to a rough start. The dear old dog died and I am still not over that. I catch glimmers of her dark form shuffling here and there in the shadowy corners at the edge of the back garden. My mind is playing tricks on me.

The weather this winter has not helped to cheer me. Here, it has been hovering around freezing, or a few degrees below, for the past month or so. We have been burning through an extraordinary amount of firewood. I find it quite tiresome.

Already it is time to start working on the year-end taxes, again. Next week, that idiot to the south will step into the driver’s seat. Chaos seems to reign everywhere on earth. I find myself waking up in the darkest hours, fighting off the blasted mid-night terrors!