C r a f t y P e o p l e ---- confessions of a lapsed reader

Too many words?

crafty people — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:15:34 +0000

In the interview that I linked to in my last post, Rumer Godden said that she wrote by hand. She didn’t use a typewriter or word processor because every word should be chosen very carefully. This morning I read a post by the writer Anne Holloway about a session she lead with a group of young writers and would-be writers. She asked them to communicate one word at a time, in the manner of someone who has a disability and has to use means other than speech to get their message across to others. I’m sure that Rumer Godden would have approved.

Treasure Trove

crafty people — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:10:59 +0000

I’ve just spent a wonderfully calm evening with the author Rumer Godden.

I’ve just started reading the first volume of her autobiography and after my evening with Rumer I think I should read her children’s books.

One of them is called “Holly and Ivy” and the film “The Wish that Changed Christmas” is based on her book.

Steeper than it looks

crafty people — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:49:19 +0000

The coastal path from Porthleven to Rinsey. That zig-zag part is m u c h steeper than it looks.

Yes, that’s where we’re going.

Whose fault?

Who needs to visit Easter Island – it’s all here.

the butterfly has landed

and so has this one

watch the birdie

message on the beach

the final e a s i e r stretch

almost there

cooling off in the sandbar at Praa Sandsbus ride for the return journey

back to base before sunset

Hornbeam Avenue in the afternoon

crafty people — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:19:21 +0000

One of my favourite views in Bushy Park is this Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus) Avenue in the Waterhouse Woodland Garden

JAMMDI (Jane Austen Made Me Do It)

crafty people — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:28:06 +0000

Just spotted over on janeaustensworld.wordpress.com a review of Jane Austen Made Me Do It

This looks like a suitable Christmas present for a few people.

the alchemy of smell

crafty people — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 02:00:00 +0000

 the alchemy of smell
 an old powder compact
 breathe in
 and conjure up
 her handbag brimful
 her dressing table
 topped with tight ecru swirls

mouse droppings

crafty people — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:32:35 +0000

what looked like
mouse droppings in the sink
turn out to be
grains
dropped from a plate
of granary toast

How many days to Christmas?

crafty people — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:31:54 +0000

I know that I’m not the first person to mention Christmas. The local garden centre is already unpacking Christmas decorations which seems a little premature but it probably isn’t too soon to start gathering ideas for books to buy for family and friends.

Grubson Pug’s Christmas Voyage by Jane Anne Hodgson, published by Whistling Cat looks like it may well be an ideal Christmas present that could become a family favourite to be re-read every year as the Christmas anticipation builds.

Whistling Cat Books is a new publisher, based in Oxfordshire, that “believes in nourishing children’s imaginations through amusing, engaging, original stories which are traditionally illustrated (hand-drawn rather than computer generated) and produced with care and attention to detail.”

He is swimming again …

crafty people — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:51:31 +0000

“He is swimming again, dropping his head underwater and pulling with his arms. Once fully immersed he lets himself drift, feet paddling gently, using hands to steer this way and that. The water is clear and sounds of the world outside are muffled. They cannot touch him. Bright vegetation sways with the current, golden and soft, lit by sunlight filtering through from above. Far off he hears a voice, singing a familiar song, the voice of a girl. She stops singing and laughs. He pushes his hands out, then pulls them down, to propel himself forward. He kicks hard with his feet, catching silt at the bottom and it clouds around him. He cannot tell which direction her voice came from. He opens his mouth to call her, but it fills with water. Above him, maybe below, he hears a siren, its rhythms the same as the song she was singing. The water is dark, visibility restricted, his legs will not move and his arms are rigid by his side. The siren again, this time much louder. “

to find out more about the writer see here

The Lady

crafty people — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:33:57 +0000

I stumbled across this today and couldn’t resist sharing it