Life news:
Am gradually getting to feel a bit better, hurrah, though I'm still dosing up on catarrh remedies and blowing my nose for Britain. How delightful. I've taken to carrying wads of tissues and 2 handkerchiefs everywhere with me, just in case. A girl in her prime can enjoy several.
Still, I did manage to get round the golf course fairly unscathed with Marian on Friday - we haven't played for ages, what with Easter and conferences and holidays and such like, so it was nice to get back on the course. Neither were we as bad as we'd feared we might be. Also lovely to see two beautiful song thrushes on the course. Talking of which, Lord H and I enjoyed seeing a deer in the garden yesterday evening, and we also spotted a garden warbler (a lifetime first!) at Pulborough Brooks on Saturday. Huge excitement but really what a dull bird. It has absolutely no distinguishing features except a very lovely voice. Almost like a template for all other warblers, which at least have more interesting markings, poor thing.
Meanwhile, the election excitements continue. Lord H and I were rather bemused when watching the film of David Cameron going home after election night to see that he had to ring the doorbell of his own house in order to get in. What???!? Is he just too posh to carry his own key? Or does he expect the butler to open for him? Or perhaps the lovely Samantha doesn't allow him to carry housekeys? The plot thickens indeed ... Perhaps, Lord H says, it's because he and Nick Clegg got on so well during their first date that Dave gave his keys to Nick so he could call round "for a quick chat" later? Lordy, but then people wonder where I get my book ideas from?? I fear Lord H is not as innocent as he seems ... Best to keep a close eye on the "Dave & Nick talks" and see if they exit their meetings with their hair messed up and wearing each other's ties. You heard it here first.
Anyway, this weekend's favourite headline comes from The Sun: Squatter Holed Up in Number 10. Yes indeedy. Say no more.
Today, we've helped our friend Liz celebrate her 60th birthday party with a buffet lunch and flowing champagne. Though I did think it was probably best not to let the champers flow my way, what with the drugs. As it were. We didn't stay too long due to (a) illness, and (b) a deep-seated terror of parties. But happy birthday, Liz, and here's to 60 more of the same!
Writing news:
Not much to report this weekend. I'm carrying on writing more to The Executioner's Cane, and I'm also continuing with my erotic straight short story, The Boilerman and The Bride. 3000 words and rising. Ho ho. I've also sent out a couple of submissions, one of which is the possibility of a haiku chapbook. We'll see how that goes, but it would be nice to have a poetry collection out somewhere, however small, that I haven't had to produce myself. I don't think I'm as bad a poet as my poetry sales actually indicate, hey ho.
Talking of which, I've written two haikus this week and here they are:
All that voting angst,
tremors of expectation -
and no-one in charge.
Suddenly the sky
is filled with swifts: boomerangs
piercing silent clouds.
Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal
ANNE BROOKE BOOKS: Independent writer of modern fiction
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Holidays and assorted fun stuff
A short blog as I really have to go to bed but here are the edited highlights:
1. We've had a really wonderful few days away.
2. Birds seen for the first time this year are: stone curlews, great bustards (lifetime first - and you can find out more about the reintroduction of these fantastic birds to the UK at the Great Bustard Group), a wheatear, house martins, a mandarin, reed warblers, sedge warblers, Cetti's warbler (the loudest bird on the planet), a whitethroat, a red kite and a swift.
3. Longleat is marvellous - I held my first snake at the snake handling session - a corn snake which was absolutely beautiful and incredibly warm. I loved it. However I passed on the tarantula holding session - mainly by running screaming from the spider handler woman. Ah the shame ...
4. We heard our first cuckoos, and our first ever booming bittern (though we didn't see it).
5. At the Hawk Conservancy, we flew a Harris hawk (briefly) and held a barn owl and a tawny owl. Marvellous. I love birds of prey. They're the best.
6. The Delaneys and Me received a very nice review at Jessewave Reviews - so thank you for that!
7. My review of Simon Van Booy's short story collection, Love begins in winter, is up at Vulpes Libris.
8. I wrote 2 haikus and here they are:
Elegant giraffes,
glorious gaudy ceilings:
Longleat in the spring.
Eight swans drift over
startled cattle: air shimmers
an ancient magic.
Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal
1. We've had a really wonderful few days away.
2. Birds seen for the first time this year are: stone curlews, great bustards (lifetime first - and you can find out more about the reintroduction of these fantastic birds to the UK at the Great Bustard Group), a wheatear, house martins, a mandarin, reed warblers, sedge warblers, Cetti's warbler (the loudest bird on the planet), a whitethroat, a red kite and a swift.
3. Longleat is marvellous - I held my first snake at the snake handling session - a corn snake which was absolutely beautiful and incredibly warm. I loved it. However I passed on the tarantula holding session - mainly by running screaming from the spider handler woman. Ah the shame ...
4. We heard our first cuckoos, and our first ever booming bittern (though we didn't see it).
5. At the Hawk Conservancy, we flew a Harris hawk (briefly) and held a barn owl and a tawny owl. Marvellous. I love birds of prey. They're the best.
6. The Delaneys and Me received a very nice review at Jessewave Reviews - so thank you for that!
7. My review of Simon Van Booy's short story collection, Love begins in winter, is up at Vulpes Libris.
8. I wrote 2 haikus and here they are:
Elegant giraffes,
glorious gaudy ceilings:
Longleat in the spring.
Eight swans drift over
startled cattle: air shimmers
an ancient magic.
Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Steep hills, milestones and hospital shennanigans
Never rely on the weather forecast. The powers that be swore blind to us that today we should expect torrential rain. They even kept up that belief through the whole day in spite of evidence to the contrary. In fact it's been crisp sunshine. Very pleasant indeed, if on the chilly side of pleasant. Oh Lordy, do I sound English here? We are all obsessed with the weather. I stare at the online forecast every day. Sadly. Anyway, encouraged by the lack of rain, Lord H and I have spent a large part of the day wandering around The Devil's Punchbowl - yes, it is a great name. We didn't find many birds, but we did manage to get so far down into the valley that it took me at least eighteen years and a great deal of moaning to climb out again. Ah, my knees just can't take it, you know. Mind you, they never could - I'm only good on the flat.
On the way back, Lord H nipped into Tesco to stock up on essentials such as ice cream and champagne (how we love to live elegantly here in the shires), while I popped into the hospital to see Gladys - who has unfortunately fallen over and broken her wrist earlier this week. As well as sustaining a rather horrendous amount of bruising. Being Gladys, she of course wasn't wearing her alarm (deep, deep sigh) when it happened and so had to lie there all night before the carer came in the morning. Thank the Lord the heating was on really. Anyway, she's not best pleased at being in hospital. The twenty minute visiting time went something like this:
Gladys (loudly throughout due to despair and anger): I don't know why I'm here. I want to go home.
Me (also loudly due to big mouth and genetic inability to whisper): You're sick and you've broken your wrist. That's why you're in hospital.
G: You're a horrible girl and you should take me home but you're too nasty to do that.
M: Yes, I'm really evil. I have no idea why you put up with me. I am indeed on the slippery slope to hell and the fire is already licking at my ankles. Shall we fill in the menu?
G: I'm not eating anything. I want to go home. (attempts to land Yours Truly a sharp right hook at this stage, but is unable to do so as too bandaged up)
M (ticking boxes on menu): How about some chicken, mashed potato and ice cream? You like ice cream.
G: I don't know why you're all keeping me a prisoner here. They broke my wrist deliberately to keep me in here.
M: Did they? They must like loud old ladies in wards then. They probably don't have enough of them. Would you like some water?
G: I hate water. I want to go home. All you churchgoers are evil. You're hypocrites.
M: Oh defintely. Mind you, as I don't really go to church any more, I'm glad that doesn't apply to me. At least not for that reason.
This latter statement seemed to flummox her - I don't think Gladys has ever really got the hang of my leaving the church - and so the conversation continued. I was really jazzed up when I left. Not because I'm a softie who likes doing good works - to be honest, I don't. Gladys has become a duty over the years and I've never had a capacity for mismatched friendship. I was more jazzed up from having been shouted at for twenty minutes for no good reason. Bloody hell, I'm not at work now. It's all very exhausting. All the more so as I doubt that Gladys will be heading home any time soon. I suspect a nursing home may well be on the cards - and should have been for some time, in my opinion. Please God let me have the ability to know when it's time to give in gracefully to the inevitable, when I reach that stage. Bloody hell though, I suspect that she'd even like it, if she just stopped complaining for one second.
I also have to admit that at the point of being accused of breaking her wrist myself (which came later), I did think that if I had done it, I might have resorted to the pillow method instead. So much quieter. Sigh! Anyway, why is everyone I know or in some way responsible for in hospital at the moment? And different ones too, dammit. Do I have no healthy friends left??
Meanwhile, back home, I have reached the milestone of 60,000 words for The Bones of Summer. Hurrah! I'm going to stop it there for a while now - partly as I need the break and partly as January looks like being an editing month. Jay Margrave's novel, Luther's Ambassadors - which will be the third of next year's Goldenford books - is ready to be given the once-over now. It's come at the right time too, I think.
Oh, and some other bugger has rejected my poetry submission too. I can't even be arsed to give their name, the losers! Ah, m'dears, it's the bitterness that holds me together, you know.
Today's nice things:
1. The non-hill parts of the walk
2. Leaving the hospital without having committed murder
3. Getting to the Bones milestone.
Anne Brooke
Anne's creaky old website
Goldenford Publishers
On the way back, Lord H nipped into Tesco to stock up on essentials such as ice cream and champagne (how we love to live elegantly here in the shires), while I popped into the hospital to see Gladys - who has unfortunately fallen over and broken her wrist earlier this week. As well as sustaining a rather horrendous amount of bruising. Being Gladys, she of course wasn't wearing her alarm (deep, deep sigh) when it happened and so had to lie there all night before the carer came in the morning. Thank the Lord the heating was on really. Anyway, she's not best pleased at being in hospital. The twenty minute visiting time went something like this:
Gladys (loudly throughout due to despair and anger): I don't know why I'm here. I want to go home.
Me (also loudly due to big mouth and genetic inability to whisper): You're sick and you've broken your wrist. That's why you're in hospital.
G: You're a horrible girl and you should take me home but you're too nasty to do that.
M: Yes, I'm really evil. I have no idea why you put up with me. I am indeed on the slippery slope to hell and the fire is already licking at my ankles. Shall we fill in the menu?
G: I'm not eating anything. I want to go home. (attempts to land Yours Truly a sharp right hook at this stage, but is unable to do so as too bandaged up)
M (ticking boxes on menu): How about some chicken, mashed potato and ice cream? You like ice cream.
G: I don't know why you're all keeping me a prisoner here. They broke my wrist deliberately to keep me in here.
M: Did they? They must like loud old ladies in wards then. They probably don't have enough of them. Would you like some water?
G: I hate water. I want to go home. All you churchgoers are evil. You're hypocrites.
M: Oh defintely. Mind you, as I don't really go to church any more, I'm glad that doesn't apply to me. At least not for that reason.
This latter statement seemed to flummox her - I don't think Gladys has ever really got the hang of my leaving the church - and so the conversation continued. I was really jazzed up when I left. Not because I'm a softie who likes doing good works - to be honest, I don't. Gladys has become a duty over the years and I've never had a capacity for mismatched friendship. I was more jazzed up from having been shouted at for twenty minutes for no good reason. Bloody hell, I'm not at work now. It's all very exhausting. All the more so as I doubt that Gladys will be heading home any time soon. I suspect a nursing home may well be on the cards - and should have been for some time, in my opinion. Please God let me have the ability to know when it's time to give in gracefully to the inevitable, when I reach that stage. Bloody hell though, I suspect that she'd even like it, if she just stopped complaining for one second.
I also have to admit that at the point of being accused of breaking her wrist myself (which came later), I did think that if I had done it, I might have resorted to the pillow method instead. So much quieter. Sigh! Anyway, why is everyone I know or in some way responsible for in hospital at the moment? And different ones too, dammit. Do I have no healthy friends left??
Meanwhile, back home, I have reached the milestone of 60,000 words for The Bones of Summer. Hurrah! I'm going to stop it there for a while now - partly as I need the break and partly as January looks like being an editing month. Jay Margrave's novel, Luther's Ambassadors - which will be the third of next year's Goldenford books - is ready to be given the once-over now. It's come at the right time too, I think.
Oh, and some other bugger has rejected my poetry submission too. I can't even be arsed to give their name, the losers! Ah, m'dears, it's the bitterness that holds me together, you know.
Today's nice things:
1. The non-hill parts of the walk
2. Leaving the hospital without having committed murder
3. Getting to the Bones milestone.
Anne Brooke
Anne's creaky old website
Goldenford Publishers
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
On a downhill slope …?
This morning started out well enough. If very early, with some damn bird starting the dawn chorus when it couldn’t have been much beyond 4am. Sigh. Still, at work I managed to get my conference notes typed up in reasonable order and printed out for the boss to look at next week. And I’ve also done some rejigging to the Manor Park Mentoring handbook. We’re now three months behind our deadline, but heck things keep changing. That’s universities for you. I’ve now done so many corrections that I’m sure it bears no resemblance whatsoever to our original efforts. Ah well.
Apart from that, the day really dragged and I got quite low, I’m afraid. The stuff I did I didn’t do very quickly. Just couldn’t be bothered. Spent a lot of time staring blankly at the computer screen or the Internet and thinking absolutely nothing. You know, sometime I wonder if I’m disappearing entirely and if people are actually aware I exist at all – this would explain the lack of any obvious email response from anyone I correspond with (the old university lot, or even the wretched church lot, come to mind again, sigh …). Maybe it’s time for a happiness pill? Again.
Mind you, I went for a walk at lunchtime and sat by the lake for a while, which was quite soothing. Saw two robins hopping about, which was strange as I didn’t think male robins liked other male robins as they were supposed to be quite territorial. Still, it didn’t seem to bother those two. Oh, and on my way there I caused something of a stir in the Lecture Hall foyer, which seemed to be home to some kind of Chinese delegation. On my shortcut through, I accidentally fell in through the doorway and nearly took the tea-cup of the girl standing nearest into the great hereafter. And I didn’t look so elegant either. They were all very sweet though, rushing to my aid and trying not to fuss. Perhaps they thought it was some quaint English custom – it’s hard to say.
Oh, and as I was leaving, Adriana from the UniSWriters came up and said she was intending to go to the Book Circle discussion of A Dangerous Man (http://www.flamebooks.com) on Monday 30th April – thank you so much, Adriana! That really lifted me. More than you can know. So at least there’ll be two of us there on the night. I just hope that there’ll be someone else there who’s actually read the book apart from me. Please God!...
This evening, I played golf after work with Marian, and attempted to look young and glamorous this time – but I suspect no-one was fooled. We had a brief discussion about church (she’s not a church-goer), during which she was astonished that nobody from St Peter’s had come round or phoned/emailed me to see what was going on. Well, join the club, Marian! Still, ’twas ever thus, and heck I should know – in my lifetime, I’ve left more churches than is strictly necessary. Honest follow-up for the disenfranchised isn’t their strong point. Though perhaps they're just pleased to be rid of me? Maybe I should learn from my own history, eh? Oh, but it’s Wednesday so it’s sherry night. Thank God! That'll ease the stretched thought processes.
Tonight, I’m planning a serious slump, with maybe some writing if I have any energy levels left (at all). And an early night. Let’s hope that damn bird from this morning doesn’t start its foghorn tweet while I’m still attempting to get some shut-eye this time. Hmm, some hope …
Today’s nice things:
1. Lunchtime walking
2. Two robins
3. Adriana’s Book Circle commitment – hurrah!
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
Apart from that, the day really dragged and I got quite low, I’m afraid. The stuff I did I didn’t do very quickly. Just couldn’t be bothered. Spent a lot of time staring blankly at the computer screen or the Internet and thinking absolutely nothing. You know, sometime I wonder if I’m disappearing entirely and if people are actually aware I exist at all – this would explain the lack of any obvious email response from anyone I correspond with (the old university lot, or even the wretched church lot, come to mind again, sigh …). Maybe it’s time for a happiness pill? Again.
Mind you, I went for a walk at lunchtime and sat by the lake for a while, which was quite soothing. Saw two robins hopping about, which was strange as I didn’t think male robins liked other male robins as they were supposed to be quite territorial. Still, it didn’t seem to bother those two. Oh, and on my way there I caused something of a stir in the Lecture Hall foyer, which seemed to be home to some kind of Chinese delegation. On my shortcut through, I accidentally fell in through the doorway and nearly took the tea-cup of the girl standing nearest into the great hereafter. And I didn’t look so elegant either. They were all very sweet though, rushing to my aid and trying not to fuss. Perhaps they thought it was some quaint English custom – it’s hard to say.
Oh, and as I was leaving, Adriana from the UniSWriters came up and said she was intending to go to the Book Circle discussion of A Dangerous Man (http://www.flamebooks.com) on Monday 30th April – thank you so much, Adriana! That really lifted me. More than you can know. So at least there’ll be two of us there on the night. I just hope that there’ll be someone else there who’s actually read the book apart from me. Please God!...
This evening, I played golf after work with Marian, and attempted to look young and glamorous this time – but I suspect no-one was fooled. We had a brief discussion about church (she’s not a church-goer), during which she was astonished that nobody from St Peter’s had come round or phoned/emailed me to see what was going on. Well, join the club, Marian! Still, ’twas ever thus, and heck I should know – in my lifetime, I’ve left more churches than is strictly necessary. Honest follow-up for the disenfranchised isn’t their strong point. Though perhaps they're just pleased to be rid of me? Maybe I should learn from my own history, eh? Oh, but it’s Wednesday so it’s sherry night. Thank God! That'll ease the stretched thought processes.
Tonight, I’m planning a serious slump, with maybe some writing if I have any energy levels left (at all). And an early night. Let’s hope that damn bird from this morning doesn’t start its foghorn tweet while I’m still attempting to get some shut-eye this time. Hmm, some hope …
Today’s nice things:
1. Lunchtime walking
2. Two robins
3. Adriana’s Book Circle commitment – hurrah!
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
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