Spiderman

11th March 2020

Spiderman

Below is a picture of my grandson, Theo ( sorry, Spiderman)  who is four today. I thank God for him and all my grandchildren and great grandchildren. I love them all dearly.  I found an entry in my journal for the day Theo was born. I will copy it here exactly as it is, with no editing, so, apologies now for errors etc. and sorry if you find it a bit boring.  My journal is just a daily rambling. 

March 11th 2016

7.30 am

Well, what news , there you are , another new addition. Baby Walker, born 4.25 am this morning. What lovely news. We will go over later for a few hours. New life, hew hope. That makes twenty one grandchildren now and what is to be is yet to be revealed.

I just wonder what the family will look like in ten or twenty years time. There'll be more grandchildren, but also more great grandchildren. 

What a blessing it is , our large family. And each new addition so precious. 

Tiny hands that will grow and perform the many tasks of life. That cheeky smile that says, oh it's good to be here with you guys!. Those chubby legs that will eventually get into mischievous corners. 

Who does he look like? Seeing the family genes in each of his expressions. 

And don't cry baby,we're all here for you. What will you be like? How tall? What will you like to do?What will you be good at? What kind of a person will you become? We love you to bits, even though we haven't met you yet. Your softness calls to us to hold you close, showing you how the world can be comfortable and kind. You might learn otherwise later. But, for now, for you, the world is wonderful. 

And I am your Grams. 

Hopefully we'll get lots of time together to get to know each other.

Hopefully, I'll be blessed with many more years of life , so I'll be able to enjoy your own family in the future.

I wonder what your sister and brother will make of you. Will Liam, big brother, protect you, look after you? And Livi has been looking forward to your coming for a long time now. She'll be over the moon with you, I'm sure. 

And your Dad, his heart will melt, he'll fall in love with you, with your obvious likeness to him, part of him. And of course, your mum, she'll be so happy.

See what joy you bring to the world. All your aunts and uncles, cousins and other relations are there for you, loving you already. You are one lucky little boy. 

And still no name yet. "Baby Walker", we laughed at that this morning, at the pun, me and grandad. 

As I get older, I get more sentimental about our family. It becomes more important . And my hope is that during the time left to me, I see more of all my children ( those with or without children) and all the grandchildren. I will have to make plans so that we get to do this.  

Day 4 Cage

4th Oct 2019


4th day of OctPoWriMo.

I have had some lovely comments on the last three days, so thank you to everyone who took the trouble. I have also passed the 50,000 visits to my blog . Yipee! That feels like a landmark of sorts. Anyway please keep in touch.

Hidden



Wistfully

You have waited for me,

Hoping

You have hungered for me

Silently 

You have softly sought me

And there,
there you are

More precious than

Pewter or silver or gold

Here am I 

I come to visit you

To sit with you,

You, 

Hidden in the bread.

Disguised behind the veil of

Reality

Where is the key

Where shall I find it
How shall I open the lock 

Tell me,

Tell me.

Three years ago today

11th March 2019

I don't usually share writing from my journals, especially on my blog, which obviously, gets seen by so many people.
But I make an exception today.
Three years ago today a grandson was born - he was neither the first child nor grandchild, but when I heard the news early in the morning I had to go to my journal. Looking back, I'm surprised by the joy of it, considering it was only a month after my mum died.
I copy exactly as I wrote it, unedited, bearing in mind, it's a stream on consciousness.

11th March 2016


Well, what news, there you are , another new addition!
Baby Walker, born 4.25 am this morning. What lovely news.
We will go over later, for a few hours. New life, new hope - that
makes twenty one grandchildren now and what is to be is yet to be revealed.
I just wonder what the family will look like in ten or twenty years time. No doubt there'll
be more grandchildren, but also more great grandchildren.
What a blessing it is, our large family. And each new addition so precious.
Your tiny hands, baby,  that will one day perform that many tasks of life. That cheeky smile that says,
"Heh, it's good to be here with you guys!" Those chubby legs that will eventually get into, goodness knows what, mischief as well as kicking a ball and running with brothers and sisters and cousins.
Who does he look like? Seeing the family genes in each of his delicious expressions.
And don't cry, baby, we're all here for you.
What will you be like? How tall? What will you like to do? What will you be good at? What kind of person will you become?
We love you to bits already, even though we haven't met you yet. Your softness calls to us to hold you close, showing you how the world can be comfortable, safe and kine. You might learn otherwise later.
But for now, for you, the world is wonderful.
And I am your Grams. Hopefully we'll get lots of time together to get to know each other. Hope fully, I'll be blessed with many more years of life, so I'll be able to enjoy you own family, if you have one,  in the future.
I wonder what your brother and sister will make of you. Livi has been looking forward to your coming for such a long time now. She'll be over the moon with you' I'm sure.
And your dad, his heart will melt , he'll fall in love with your obvious likeness to him, part of him. He'll love you with his life.
And of course, your mum will be so happy.
See what joy you bring to the world.  All your aunties and uncles, cousins and other relations there for you, loving you already. You are one lucky little boy. And still no name yet, though it is early days. "Baby Walker" - we laughed at that this morning, at the pun.
As I get older I get more sentimental about our family. It becomes more important and my hope is that I see more of all my children ( those with or those without children ) and all the grandchildren. I'll have to make plans....

Write on the Beach

14th July 2016

Write On The Beach

A fabulous two hours this morning at

Write On The Beach workshop,

Sitting on fold up chairs, cushions

Or, for one, an arm chair

Borrowed from a salubrious living room,

Sun warming our faces

Wind cooling our backs

Nine gathered in front of 

Beach Hut 136

A blue beacon of creativity

Nestled quietly among more 

Ordinary neighbours.

With waves rhythmically keeping time 

Mysterious - moon drift

We read poems of the beach,

Write from prompts,

Share our hastily penned words.

Pebbles, warm underfoot, listen,

Listen, to our scratchy scrawlings,

Our spoken efforts

Sometimes stolen by brazon breeze.

In just a breath, juices flowing now

Time is up.

But inspiration as plentiful as

The waters before us

Is ours to take away

Reluctantly we go our separate ways

Fresh material within us .

And some words that i played with at the workshop:

Dip Your Toe In

Dip your toe in,

Yes, that's right, it's cold, it's icy,

But, you can stand it.

Go on now, Go a bit further, try

Your foot maybe? 

Colder still? Uncomfortable - for sure,

But you'll see 

Persevere, stay with it, what do you find?

Ahh, gone numb eh? 

No feeling?

Might as well take the plunge,

Jump right in .

You know you'll be ok.

And now you scream out.

It's too much pain,

It's taking too long,

But you, you carry on,

You stay with it.

You , finally , get your reward

You, you are swimming 

Totally immersed , one with the water.

It was worth it - suffering forgotten,

Waves wash away it's echo

The sun shining on you 

The warmth of this moment precious.

The prompt for the next one is the quote: " Water: no matter how much, there is still not enough". 

At each new dawn Nadia walks with her mother,

Before the sun has time to scorch their bones

Through narrow rugged paths,

Pebbles piercing sores into dusty feet,

They carry pitchers on their heads

On their way to get water for the day ahead.

They don't speak

The task is important , urgent.

Sometimes , if they finish early enough

And the day is cool

They will go out again

Take a different road and

End up by the sea.

This time the pebbles are welcoming

They creep across them to 

Sooth their sores in the cool water.

This time the water is more than enough to

Bring a smile to their brown burnt faces.

Nadia splashes her mother and 

For a few moments they

Forget that , no matter how much there is,

There is still never enough. 

Their skin glistens a fresh beginning,

And tomorrow they will go again 

To the still, small, stream,

And the day after that 

And the day after that

But , just once in a while 

They get to smile.