Sunday afternoon

In the garden
We span round and round
Until so dizzy
We fell to the ground
Only to get up and point at the moon.

When it disappeared behind the clouds
You up-ended a broom
Swept them all away with a brush upside down
And cheered and pointed again at the moon
Then we went inside for tea.

Here is the year

At the end of this fair day

The first of the merry month of May

The plans are sown

There is work to be done

The greenest time of the year has begun


As the fire burns bright what will you see?

You'd better get busy, blessed bee.

Rainbow Magical Material

Rainbow magical material

We like to sit under you

And watch the sun shine through



You're rainbow magical material

Of red and green and blue

Pink, purple and orange too



Oh rainbow magical material

You really are

Our very favourite thing

To do

The City Reflects; Somerset House

This water

Erupts

Springs like new life

Is forced out of the ground

Amidst the static, stately square

Liquid converses

In a place of focussed thought and peace

Away from the flow of frenetic energy outside

The movement is the counterpoint

Nature breaks through

Bursting bubbles on the surface.

Happy Mothers Day

Motherhood is The Big One. For me anyway. I wanted it to change my life, I knew it would but I had no idea what it would mean in reality. Does any woman? I woke up the morning after having Sam, on a Monday morning, after a weekend of labour culminating in a caesarean, in a different world, in another dimension. The weight of the responsibility just starting to dawn on me, the lightness of the joy still enveloping me.

I lost my Mum at about the time I fell pregnant and so her life and death and my pregnancy and Sam’s birth were and are irrevocably tied.

Ultimately the ‘weight’ has set me free. It is both the hardest and easiest job on earth. I hope that one of the things I achieve as a mum is for Sam to know who he is and to have confidence in himself. To love himself. I believe the best way to do this is to teach by example and so I have had to face up to some home truths and to take better care of myself. I have started to place more value on myself and the things I do.

The idea of weight and lightness came into focus when I read Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being recently for uni : “The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life’s most intense fulfilment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become.”

Sam is my responsibility- I don’t think of him as a burden. But this resonated with me. Being a single mum is about taking the responsibility on both shoulders.

I miss my Mum now, almost three years later and I talk to her every day. Mums are human and not perfect but there is no one like your mum and you will never know this or how much they know about you, truly, until they are gone. And it is irreplaceable.

One of my oldest and bestest friends wrote “You are the mother” on the card she sent me after Sam was born. It has become my mantra.

So to all mothers I say:

You are The Mother. Rock On.

And for all mothers-to-be:

I salute you.

Talk about a blast from the past!

Just saw this!?

http://www.discogs.com/Primordia-A-Mental-Aid-Project/release/1599928

I don't even have one!

This is the first 'release' by Lucy and Dog, on cassette, made-at-home, all hand-printed and hand-stuck-on labels etc...and made in 1989. BUT -this cassette says Primordia, so possibly a second 'edition'?!

It is so long ago I can't remember.

The band became Primordia after Lucy and Dog. Then we signed to the World Serpent label.

I wonder where this person got it from? I might ask.

Shoes

I have just updated my other blog: http://www.theshoeshow.blogspot.com/ for the first time in about two and a half years. I feel really good about this. The end of The Shoe Show coincided with a very difficult time for me personally and I was sad I couldn't make the second series. Now life has moved on and I am so glad I was able to make that show. It changed my life and is a big part of the reason I am now at university.

The shoe must go on! (Thanks to Amelia for gorgeous shoe photo)