Lammas

I've just come back from a couple of days in Glastonbury, my centre of the universe. It always shakes everything up and makes me look unflinchingly at myself and what's going on in my world.

This time was, as ever, the same but different. It was even more different than usual. Changes are coming and this is the time I begin to consider which seeds to sow next. What is finished, what is beginning, what is ongoing... of course this comes from the turning year.

Lammas is the season for looking back and giving thanks for the harvest. Of acknowledging that which is ending and looking towards the seasons approaching and the possibilities for the future.

Next week will be four years since my Mum died. I mention this here but I do not intend to write any more about it. I have told the story of my Mum's death and Sam's birth many times and now it is time to lay that story to rest.

And give thanks for what is.

Love xxx

In one month...

I will be 40.

I like being my age, and the idea of being 40. I like pottering in the garden, writing poems, baking with Sam.

I like our new habit of football club, "Mini Dribblers", on saturday mornings, followed by a trip to the "Numbers" cafe, armed with magazine for Sam and newspaper for me.

I got my results from university yesterday and scored straight 'A's in all my creative writing modules. Not bad for an old-school drop out. And a full-time single parent.

I have started compiling poems for submission to competitions and publications. It would be great to get something published.


My life is possibly the most challenging and the most satisfying it's ever been.

Love, Love, Love
xxx

My 100th Post as LucyFurLeaps

I am thinking I should make this count but really I wanted to have a quick ramble. I am starting to get back to some writing again. Following a few weeks of manic listmaking and doing, a wonderful week's holiday in Devon with Sam and my best friend, and needing a break after the intense meltdown-producing end of last semester at university.

I have still got plenty to keep me busy- obviously full-time single motherhood is top of the list. Also the garden, see my Roar!Earth Blog for more on that, and the general re-organising and de-cluttering of the house.

I am trying to find time to get my bike serviced and go swimming but haven't quite managed it yet...

Poetry is still my main concern.

Politics is creeping in too, after the inevitable let-down of the ConDem coalition. I am choosing what I read and when I read it carefully because it is so depressing and worrying. But I am keeping informed and wondering where to start 'acting'.

I am going to join a political party. I am fairly sure which one it will be but it is conditional. More writing on this when I have done the deed.

The Ingredients of a sword

A spoon

Playdoh

Cricket bat

Bubble mixture

Tin foil

String

Wrapping paper

("We don’t need socks")

A paper plate

A paper bowl

As instructed by Sam

A Slight Blow of My Own Trumpet.

June has only gone and turned into July! I have written bits and bobs but nothing substantial for a while. In truth I haven't stopped in other ways. I have been catching up with the huge list of tasks around the house which have been waiting for me to finish university for this year. I've spent time with Sam and been on holiday to Devon for a week. I've been trying to keep track of my burgeoning vegetable patch (see the Roar! Earth blog for more). I've read a few books and entered a couple of competitions.

But, if you'll pardon the vulgarity, I'm going to have a slight parp on my own trumpet here, because on Monday I got my Independent Creative Writing assignment back from uni, marked by my tutor Rachel Cusk, and I got 80%. She has called me " a marvellous poet" amongst other very postive comments.

I am so relieved to have got a first for this latest collection of my poems, among them six sestinas. I worked very hard on them and they mean a lot to me. What it really means though, is that I have to keep going.

This is just the beginning.
Leaping! xxx