A five-star review and murder will out ...

Am thrilled to say that the Rainbow Reviews site have given Painting from Life a five-star rating and their comments are here and below:

“This short story is lyrical, fluid, and quietly unsettling; the style perfectly suited to its subject ~ an artist's obsession, the end of a marriage, the evolution of a relationship between elderly Peter and the unnamed protagonist that defies classification. That relationship is intense, deep-rooted, life-changing, but every attempt to label it is rejected ~ the artist denies that it is sexual, Peter denies that it is filial, but the two of them are drawn together, their lives entwining to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. A masterful piece of writing, and a haunting story that lingers in my memory.”

Many thanks indeed, RR - much appreciated! Talking of writing, here’s this morning’s meditation:

Meditation 133

A power given
only to be yielded

to the one
you look for.

Sometimes it is a yoke
to weigh you down,

a sword at your head
to threaten you.

Dark nights
and needy voices

fill your every thought
as you wait

for the only thing
you have known:

moonlit desert;
the singing breeze;

bitter taste of locust
on your tongue.


I seem to be getting rather more involved in the Gospel of John than I’d anticipated – it’s opening up more for me than I thought it would, so far anyway. Let’s see what happens tomorrow though.

At work, I’m catching up on emails and filing. Odd how that dream of the paperless office never came to much – I still have enough files to blockade in the whole of Senate House, should it come to that.

Took the University Writers Group at lunchtime – the last one of the academic term, though we do still have a July date to look forward to. I decided to play a game with the gang involving either powerful jobs or illicit post (the mail variety) today, and I think it went all right. They were certainly lively anyway, and we had a couple of new people, both of which is good. However, I must admit my head is still full of the mammoth weekend edit of The Bones of Summer, so it’s tricky to live in the real world right now. I’ll miss Paul and Craig, now their story arc is done.

Tonight, I’m on the shopping run (groan …) and then it’s the joys of Springwatch (how can we have survived without it for so long??) – I’m hoping for a glimpse of a polecat and more baby bird feeding. It brings out the compassionate side of me, you know – which doesn’t happen often, so one must make the most of it. Oh, and there’s a programme on about John Donne, which I must watch. What a fantastic poet and an utterly fascinating man. I can’t wait.

Finally, it's true what they say about murder will out ... Much to our general shock & awe, the photographs of our recent Egypt Gang murder mystery weekend are now on the hotel website and can be found (prepare yourselves, folks ...) here and here. By George, Carruthers - I think they arrested the wrong people ...

Today’s nice things:

1. A five-star review of Painting from Life
2. Poetry
3. University Writers Group
4. TV
5. Photographs of some very strange people ...

Anne Brooke - making plans to leave the country, fast ...
Cancer Research Race for Life - helping fight cancer