Race for Life - we did it!!!

Well, we've finally done it! The Top Team of Penny's Pals (ie Andrea, Tasha, Clare and me) have done the Race for Life and so far we've raised £485 for Cancer Research, hurrah! It was a fabulous time, in spite of the rain, and I really really like the concept of being applauded when I cross a finish line. Bring it on!... Actually, I think I shall hire a band of followers to applaud me every time I enter a room - now, that's living ... Mind you, I needed the applause by then as we didn't exactly hang around - the walkers set a cracking pace and we did the whole thing in an hour. Astonishing. I also never knew there were quite so many hilly bits in Stoke Park, but heck I do now. So, a big thank you to Andrea, Tasha and Clare for being part of the A Team, and a big big thank you to all of you who've sponsored us - it's hugely appreciated. Thank you. And, of course, a special big thank you to Lord H who picked me up afterwards and had even bought me some chocolate. What a super-hero.

This morning's meditation is:

Meditation 144

The word
is a dry frame,

a scaffold
waiting to be filled

with something,
we know not what:

a small slow pulse
of sound

where, if you bathe yourself
in silence,

you can hear
the river flow.

I've managed to write another scene of Hallsfoot's Battle, which brings me to the mop-up chapter. I've written a fair amount of this already, so I need to add another major scene or two in, and check the flow and logic of it with what's gone before. But I feel the end of the first draft might just be in sight, hurrah. When I get there, it'll definitely be time for more applause.

Sticking to literary matters, I've just signed off the final version of my short story, The Voyage, for the Real Bible Stories Anthology 2009 for Bridge House Publishing. So that's another tick off the list. Plus I'm posting excerpts of my GLBT novels in the Coffee Time Romance GLBT chat day so if you're in the mood (as it were), do come along and join in the fun. There's some great authors and some kick-ass books in the mix.

Tonight I'll be glued to Primeval - the last episode I think! Hell, I'm going to miss it. And there's some comedy on too, which might be the perfect end to a very worthwhile day.

Today's nice things:

1. Taking part in the Race for Life day
2. Poetry
3. Writing more of Hallsfoot
4. Signing off The Voyage
5. Taking part in a virtual GLBT chat
6. TV.

Anne Brooke - packing a heck of a lot into her day

Cancer Research Race for Life Day - we did it!!

Publicity tasks and Race for Life preparation

Another scorcher of a day today. If only we could be lying in the gardens, eh. Though it's really rather more than a tad too hot for me, I fear. Anyway, here’s today’s meditation:

Meditation 140

It is perhaps
in the leftovers

of five small loaves
and two fish

that wisdom
can be found,

but I have
let wisdom

slip through my grasp
so often

that I can no longer
taste it.

At work, we’re starting the long arduous lead-in to Freshers’ Week in September. I am attempting to go through last year’s publicity material to see what needs changing and what needs adding. Copious amounts, I fear … The exhausting haul of summer beckons.

I’m also putting last-minute arrangements in place for our Cancer Research Race for Life event on Saturday – so at least the four of us who constitute Penny’s Pals will have a fighting chance of actually meeting up in the general throng. I’m getting quite excited about it now, I must say. Mind you, when I mentioned the necessity of bringing water, sun-cream and a suitable hat, Andrea suggests I might like to bring along a portable drip too, just in case – so I fear that public opinion of my state of fitness is not great. They’re probably right too. Even Lord H wonders if he’ll be able to drag me back into the car afterwards. And we’re only walking it. In the meantime, if you haven’t donated yet, you still have time so here’s the link again, just in case you missed it earlier in this paragraph.

We spent our lunch hour listening to the Vice-Chancellor give us an overview and pep talk about the future. Maybe we should have had it outdoors? Might have been more pleasant then - the room was way too hot for concentration. Indeed it was all very well-meaning and full of good stuff, I'm sure, but the mind-numbing management-speak and wild use of acronyms meant I was really unable to grasp any of it. Sigh.

Tonight, I’ll be glued to Springwatch, and then I hope to catch up with the poetry programme with Sheila Hancock that I videoed last week. And I’m still thinking about my short story about letters and deceit. It’s slow but bubbling away. Somewhere …

Today’s nice things:

1. The weather, sort of
2. Poetry
3. Race for Life preparations
4. TV
5. Short story thoughts.

Anne Brooke - cultivating numbness in the heat
Cancer Research Race for Life - 4 days to go!

The glory of the edit and the joys of Spock

I am being organised and focused today, or trying to. Ho hum. But I must admit that when I'm seriously editing, the rest of my life does rather get put on hold. However, here's this morning's meditation:

Meditation 131

The price of commitment
is blood
and torn flesh,

something given
willingly
by the one

who wants to stay;
sometimes the open road
does not enchant us.

We've also managed to show our faces at church this morning, and what wonderful belting hymns we had today. Ah, they don't make them like they used to, you know. There's something about All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name that really stirs the blood - the perfect processional hymn indeed. To the right tune of course, not (sadly) the one that appears to be on the web, sigh ... Also a pleasure to have in the pew behind us an old man who had the most glorious baritone singing voice - like listening to a torrent of the best honey pouring over a mountain. He turned out to be a retired bishop (of all things), so good to know the church can occasionally, even these days, make a good musical choice.

For most of the rest of the morning and all this evening, I've been working away on the final edits to The Bones of Summer, and am now proudly at the start of Chapter 16, page 110 (of 192 pages), so am pleased with how it's gone so far. And I'm learning a huge amount about how different the American language and spelling is to the UK's. It's an eye-opener for sure. Though it is exhausting.

I've also continued to take part in the online gay fiction celebration weekend at the Literary Nymphs Yahoo Group, and have posted a second, rather more intense excerpt of Painting from Life, and erotic extracts of both A Dangerous Man and Maloney's Law. The response has been positive, so that's a relief (as it were).

But the BIG EXCITEMENT of today is that I have finally, finally, finally gone to see the new Star Trek film with Lord H, and I have to say it is utterly and incredibly brilliant. I loved it and can't recommend it to you highly enough! I have fallen in love with Spock all over again, and the whole thing was clever and witty and sharp and warm. Not to mention very very exciting. Great stuff. The moment the DVD comes out, I'm there with my purse open, geared up to watch it all over again. If you haven't gone to see it - and even if you don't like Star Trek - just go. It'll be worth it.

This week's haiku is:

You unknit the day
so it falls like bright raindrops
on my weary skin.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, a BIG thank you to all you wonderful people who've donated to the Cancer Research Race for Life - it's very much appreciated and the team is very grateful for your continuing generosity. It's stunning.

Today's nice things:

1. Poetry
2. Good hymns
3. Editing Bones for publication
4. Gay fiction chats
5. Star Trek!
6. Haikus
7. People's Race for Life generosity.

Anne Brooke - waiting for the mother ship to summon her home ...
Cancer Research Race for Life - helping those with cancer

Butterflies, birds and Basildon Park

Another day in the country today, though a different part of it, hurrah - but I did manage to get today's meditation poem squeezed in before we set off:

Meditation 121

Beyond the river
everything crystallises
into the possibility
of truth.

Flesh and bone
solidify dreams
and what is written once
will be written again

in fire.

Then it was a quick turn-round and an equally quick coffee and chat with the downstairs neighbour's daughter (hello, Gisela!) before making our way to Dinton Pastures Country Park in Berkshire. Which took rather longer than it should as we, somewhat foolishly, decided that the quickest route would be through Reading. Hmm. My advice is if you ever at any point in your life think that the quickest route to anywhere (apart from Reading itself) is through Reading, then think again. The signs are crap and the roads are worse and, thanks to my less than top-notch navigational skills, we actually ended up in Oxfordshire. In the Chilterns. Ho hum. However, the plus point is that, due to my complex set of detours, we did spot a red kite, which is our first one for this year, hurrah! So every cloud, etc etc ... And when we finally got to Dinton Pastures itself, it was a grand place indeed. With loos, which is always vital, I feel. Rather too many dogs for my liking though (I don't mind dogs - well, no, actually, I don't like them at all, but that doesn't fit in with my next phrase - but I couldn't eat a whole one) but still a very pleasant walk. We spotted some sandmartins and common terns (both new for this year in this country, though we did spot terns in Istanbul earlier in the year), and several orange tip butterflies. I love orange tip butterflies. Small and white and it looks as if their wingtips have been dipped into marmalade. Wonderful.

We then drove (with roughly equal amounts of confusion) to Basildon Park. Lunch was fabulous - full-on roast turkey followed by treacle tart and custard at very reasonable prices, though we did seem to enter the restaurant via the back passage (as it were), which confused everyone. Especially us. We then did a quick tour around the house - the Octagon Room is amazing and the Library is very cosy indeed. Though Lord H did point out that they didn't have as many books as we do - which may indeed be true but theirs are more neatly filed at least. He also stood in front of a picture showing a Classical soldier holding his headgear and opined: "Ah, the typical portrait of a soldier admiring his helmet ..." - which forced me to exit quickly from the room in question before hysteria set in. Thankfully, the rest of the folks around us seemed to take it seriously and nodded in agreement, but I fear that once word gets round, we may have our National Trust membership forcibly removed. I'm already known as the Woman Who Laughs at Jelly Moulds (found in every NT house across the land, sigh ...), so we may indeed be in injury time. Honestly, I can't take Lord H anywhere twice. I daren't ...

Anyway, moving rapidly on, and suitably fortified by essential English stodge (where would we be as a nation without it?), we set out on the full Park walk. Hmm, I wish now I'd taken the more genteel Park Walk. All I'll say is that was a bloody long four miles, Carruthers ... I was beginning to lose hope of ever seeing civilisation again, though at least the bluebells were good (though not quite as stunning as Mother's Essex bluebell wood offering). My feet are now utterly exhausted, dahlings. Still, I'm sure it's good for me. Isn't that my exercise ration for the month?? Oh and the joy about Basildon Park is they have a really, really good second hand book room where you can pick up whatever you like for £1. Wonderful. I purchased two books I've been meaning to read for a while, so that's saved me some money at least.

Tonight, I might do some more to Hallsfoot's Battle, but I'm not going to stress out about it too much. If it happens, it happens, eh. And here's this week's haiku:

At the division
of the paths, the wind blows through.
Hedges, fields, hills, sky.

Today's nice things:

1. Poetry
2. Birds
3. Butterflies
4. Sunday lunch at Basildon
5. Books
6. Hallsfoot - if I get to it
7. Haiku.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - taking the slow road, whether she likes it or not
Race for Life - help support people with cancer

A day in the country and a fashion disaster

Lord H and I have spent a day in the country with Mother, having the Easter I was too ill to enjoy when it was actually here. If you see what I mean. Mind you, I got up early enough to be able to write today's meditation piece, so here it is:

Meditation 120

The words I read
tell me of poisonous snakes,
scorpions, desert, hardships
and time,

then rivers bringing forth wheat,
barley, grapes, figs,
pomegranates, olives
and honey

but today their meaning
slips over my skin,
like an uncaught memory
for that woman I used to be.

I find I quite like list poems these days - they're very grounding. And as my head is mainly somewhere in the vicinity of the ceiling most of the time, then grounding - of any kind - is good.

Anyway, it was also good to catch up with the Poison Poppet and Mr Grumpy once more (hello, Mother, if you're reading this, as you know appear to have found my blog, arrgghh!!...), Gawd bless 'em both. The day's huge, huge embarrassment - and indeed I hardly dare type this for the shame it will bring upon my head - is that when I arrived at the Essex Home for Crazed Folk, I realised that my mother and I were wearing exactly the same trousers - the blue cord pair from the Edinburgh Woollen Mill. Not only that but we discovered that when we'd bought them, we'd also bought the purple pair as they were on a special half-price offer. Lord preserve us. For nearly 46 years, I have based my whole existence on the absolute truth that I am nothing AT ALL like my mother, IN ANY WAY whatsoever. Now I find that we're virtually twins, except that I'm at least two foot taller than she is. Oh, the shame ... Truly, I fear I will never live this one down.

In the afternoon, when I was sure nobody would be around to see my obvious fashion disaster, we had a rather pleasant walk in the local bluebell wood. The smell from the flowers was gorgeous and there were huge numbers of them - literally a proverbial carpet of blue. Lovely. There was one point though when we caught sight of a rather fierce looking dog, with no obvious owner in sight - so naturally we sent Lord H on ahead to see if he'd be eaten. Husbands can be very useful, you know ... Anyway, the dog legged it, so we were able to pursue our rather Jane Austen-like walk unscathed. Phew.

Meanwhile, at the Crazed Folks' Home, the house martins are back and beginning to nest too, so that's good to see. Apparently they didn't turn up last year for some reason, but have now returned in full force, so Mother has messes on the window and early morning shrieking to look forward to once more - how like the home life of our own dear Queen indeed. Ooh, and I must say a huge thank you to PP and Mr G for generous contributions (offline) to our upcoming Race for Life charity event, which is slowly growing and now stands at £185. It would be great to make our £250 target, but I'm hopeful as there's still about a month to go. As a reminder, it's for Cancer Research, so a very good cause, if anyone out there is so inclined. For which thank you.

Tonight, once safely home, we have sat fascinated and terrified (at the same time) in front of a stonkingly good episode of Primeval. Great stuff indeed - in spite of the fact that it was very like Jurassic Park in lots of ways. We also felt it probably had enough going for it to be a series-end two parter, but it was not to be, alas. Still, great stuff for Saturday night viewing and we hope for more like that, please.

Today's nice things:

1. Poetry
2. Catching up with the old folk
3. Bluebells
4. House martins
5. TV.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - at the cutting edge of something, but Lord knows what

Thorn, Red Room success and a Race for Life

This morning’s Bible reading was quite a jolly way to start the week (thank goodness) – I’d all but forgotten the story about Balaam and the donkey – so here are my thoughts on it:

Meditation 98

It’s not the fact
that the donkey speaks
that gets me

but the fact
that the prophet replies.

It must have given
the fearsome, shining
angel of the Lord

pause for thought,
if only to consider

which of them
would best hear the message.


Ah, sometimes it’s tough being an angel, you know. Anyway, at work, I’ve been attempting to squeeze meetings where meetings really shouldn’t go, and hoping that nobody notices they don’t have time to breathe, let alone eat. Or … um … decide things. Still I managed to factor in a reflexology appointment for myself at lunchtime, so that was great. Very relaxing and just what I needed to prepare for this very busy week. Then again, which of my weeks isn’t busy at the moment?? Apparently though, my feet were throbbing with energy today, so maybe now’s a good time to get some exercise in while I’m geared up for it. On second thoughts, I don’t want to get over-enthusiastic too soon …

This afternoon, I’ve been trying to sort out a big lunch meeting for next week, and trying to decipher who’s coming and who’s not. It might be thirty, or it might be ten. It’s a mystery … If I’ve under-arranged, I fear I might have to get my apron on and start slicing bread. Now there’s a scary thought. Oh and I’ve finally sorted out our group entry for the Race for Life cancer research event in June in memory of our colleague, Penny Cronk who died from cancer last year – on my birthday, coincidentally enough (a fact which would have made her laugh for sure!...). Naturally, I won’t be actually running and am hoping to get away with a fast-ish walk … But if anyone out there is able to sponsor us at all, even in these difficult financial times, we’ll be hugely grateful, thank you.

Ooh, and I've just heard that The Red Room site for writers is featuring the Maloney's Law book trailer as their best video of the week, so that's a great thrill - thank you hugely, Jennifer of RR!

Tonight I’ll be at a reading group in Guildford as their book this month was Thorn in the Flesh and they’ve kindly invited me to attend. So I’m looking forward to that – and I even get dinner too, so that’s wonderful! I’ve prepared a list of questions to ask just in case, and I’ve also been practising a suitable reading for a few weeks just in case too (I have to be careful over certain words I can write but have trouble saying – ah, the curse of the family stammer …) – though I suspect I won’t need it. I didn’t at the last reading group I went to anyway. Still, preparation is all (as Shakespeare most definitely didn’t say). In any case, I hope they enjoyed the book.

Today’s nice things:

1. Poetry
2. Reflexology
3. Race for Life, for Penny
4. The Maloney trailer being Red Room's video of the week!
5. Thorn in the Flesh book group

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - ah, the film career really does start here, you know ...