Category: Poetry

Birds on the Balcony: babies, buzzards and soaring seagulls

When we were first talking about moving to Cornwall I made it quite clear that I didn’t want seagulls in my airspace

The balcony is awash with babies.  A plethora of fluffy fledglings, often with soft grey down still competing with new adult feathers.  They make me think of cuckoos, these innocent babes, for invariably they are larger than their industrious parents: puffed up by their motley mix of feathers, with their wings fluttering and their gapes wide and demanding.  Life is so precarious for these infants in their first few days of life in the big wide world.  Continue reading “Birds on the Balcony: babies, buzzards and soaring seagulls”

The View from Here: contrasts

I have the golden energy of those fleeting summer hours bottled in my heart but it will not burn for long. Memory is fickle

We have had four full days of summer sunshine.  Blistering, brilliant sunshine that fizzes, and fills the air with crackling energy and luminous promise.  When the day is brimming with such self-belief it is impossible to imagine that it will ever go away.  Logically, I know that it will, but in my heart it has been here – and will remain here – forever.  Continue reading “The View from Here: contrasts”

The View from Here: vanishing valley, vanishing view

The brume abounded and I abandoned all domestic demands and entered into a quiet, parallel universe

The first third of July passed in a whirl of fatigue, car problems, family dramas, unexpected arrivals, fog, mist and dimpsey days.    Continue reading “The View from Here: vanishing valley, vanishing view”

The View from Here: rose-coloured June

… an English summer’s day is such a joy, how can we not yearn for many of them?

How do I remember June? She certainly gave us a performance of two halves.

Her early exploits were dry and warm, with blazing days of open skies, freshness and bright sunshine.  Summer was splashed all over June’s opening scenes. Continue reading “The View from Here: rose-coloured June”

June in the Garden: an evening stroll

Now I could absorb … the faded glory of the earliest blooms – already past their prime and thus already in that wonderful blowsy, bleached state of unkempt, vintage splendour: their last hurrah

We have roses: baby pink, deep yellow, fiery red.  And a lilac: I’d not even realised we had a lilac until I saw its lanky, lazy purple-tipped blooms.  A clematis; huge, pink rhododendrons …  A week of dry, warm weather and the garden is showing us its summer garb.  Continue reading “June in the Garden: an evening stroll”

The View from Here: exhilarating May

On a sunshine-filled day in May, the view from here is exhilarating.

It seems that when it rains in Cornwall, it rains properly.  Often it’s a soft, gentle rain, so fine that it’s almost invisible – unless you’re standing in it.  And sometimes it’s hard, heavy and unforgiving.  We’ve had entire days of rain, and even more long nights of it.  But looking back at May, I think we did pretty well on the weather front. Continue reading “The View from Here: exhilarating May”

Green Up

Like the trees in Larkin’s poem, we are beginning afresh.

Quite a few years ago I had a pen-friend in Saskatchewan and she used to refer to ‘green up’.  In her corner of the world there was snow for many months and then – suddenly it seemed – green up.  I often think of her and that phrase at this time of year. Continue reading “Green Up”

April round-up: what we did, where we went

A bloggy thing – but one day I’ll be thankful to have this to look back on

Where we went:  Lansallos, Lerryn, Lanreath, Pelynt.  Not all of which have found their way into this month’s posts, but they’ll turn up eventually Continue reading “April round-up: what we did, where we went”

Birds on the Balcony: front row seats

What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?

There’s been plenty of domestic bird activity for me to watch lately.  Spring-time is a busy period in the avian calendar.

As April reached the three-quarter point I was charmed by a pair of house sparrows, Continue reading “Birds on the Balcony: front row seats”