MUSINGS FROM THE BOWER 57

 

 

And so another year begins – what will 2015 hold in store? I’ve been tardy in writing this blog over the last few months, partly due to the pressure of work and partly because a recurrence of sciatica stopped me from going to many of the places I had hoped to. The poor Bower became neglected, although the passion flower, clematis and honeysuckle still made it pretty and even in the late autumn it was still clothed in green due to the unnaturally mild weather, with passion flowers amazingly blooming right into November.

 

 

A smaller pudding this year!



Christmas had me thinking about those celebrations I remember from earlier years – this Christmas just three of us sat down to our Christmas meal, and though we were joined on Boxing Day by my son and his girlfriend, it was still only a gathering of five. It made me nostalgic for Christmases when the children were young, when we had both sets of grandparents round the table, when uncles and aunts and cousins visited, and when Christmas was filled with love and laughter. We still have love and laughter in our house, thank goodness – but not that special kind you get when twenty or so family members get together, retelling family stories, teasing each other with remembered family anecdotes. Yes, I know I said that I wished Mum made gravy like my Aunty did, with lumps in, and that I spent a couple of hours glaring at my Aunt Ro, saying, ‘Ro ’pilt the milk,’ when I was two, because she did while making my lunch. There’s no one to remind me of those sayings, and others just as silly, any more. When I was much younger, Christmas would echo to the sound of Dad and Uncle John playing popular songs and carols on their harmonicas as we all sang along, Mum would be laughing and joking with her sisters and Grandad would be watching us all benignly. Happy, warm, fuzzy memories.

 Now, though, it’s time to look forwards, not back – a new year, fresh and unsullied. I’m not making any resolutions as I rarely manage to keep them, though I did manage to keep the one I made a few years back to eat more fruit, with the result that often the kitchen resembles a greengrocer’s shop. And I also have managed to keep 2013’s resolution of filling in my wildlife diary regularly and taking plenty of photos to back it up.

HMS Alliance

Christchurch Marina

Christchurch Marina

 So, what has happened since my previous blog? Well, the last time I wrote, I was looking forward to a short break in the New Forest and another in Norfolk. The first was a trip with my husband, the idea being to show him the places that my daughter and I have discovered on our trips there – the walk up the hill past the golden bracken, looking out for colourful toadstools and red deer, and the ancient fallen tree by a stream, covered in lichen and strange fungi. The next day was to be spent at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, in Gosport. Sadly, my sciatica meant that I could do little more than sit while he went exploring, and much as I would have loved to have been able to climb up into HMS Alliance, it was impossible. Hopefully we will return this year when my leg is in gear! We visited the marina at Christchurch and the quay at Mudeford, and though I managed to take some photographs, I was forced to stay seated most of the time – luckily the weather was good and there were plenty of benches.

Starfish at the Sea Life Centre

 A trip to Great Yarmouth by my daughter and I three weeks later fared little better, with a trip to the Sea Life Centre in in the town mainly spent sitting down – although at least I could still admire the beautiful aquaria.  The much anticipated visit to Minsmere RSPB Nature Reserve in Suffolk was reduced (for me) to a painful hobble between benches, and so that’s another place we will be returning to. However, time heals, especially with the aid of Co-codamol and Ibuprofen, and I must just learn not to twist suddenly or lift heavy objects!

My book, ‘Cornish Shallowpool Dolls’, was published in October, and I’m thrilled that a pile of copies have been snapped up by a Cornish bookseller, who has asked me to do a book signing for them in Spring. The book is proving surprisingly popular with doll collectors and those interested in Cornish lore, featuring as it does hundreds of beautiful dolls all handmade in Cornwall around thirty years ago, many dressed as Cornish tradespeople and famous characters. I had enormous fun creating mini tableaux of a bakery, dairy, harbour, town square and others, to display the dolls. I’m still working on the book ‘Nelly makes a Bloomer’, the follow up to the novel ‘Nelly’s Knickers’. It’s almost complete and should be published later this year. That’s providing I can keep the characters under control and stop them wandering off to do their own thing; an occupational hazard for writers!

 I wish you all the very best for 2015; may it be full of happiness, beauty and laughter. And, of course, a flower-decorated bower!