Skip to main content

Six thankful things

Once again another month is screeching into the distance before I have had a chance to gather my thoughts for anything more than family updates.  So this is just a quick one: six things I'm thankful for this month. 

1. More writing contacts made, through volunteering to write about FIGMENT Derby - an art festival with the emphasis on participation.  I wrote a post about it for Love Derby, and another one for the Silk Mill Museum (not up yet but hopefully will be soon).  It was pretty interesting writing about the same event twice, for different audiences.

Adding to the beanstalk at FIGMENT


2. Runner beans from the garden.  This is the closest I have come yet to my ambition to have a glut; we are not quite overwhelmed but certainly have a steady supply!



3. Theo growing up.  He is now basically out of nappies (not 100% potty trained but I'll spare you the details) and has graduated to a big bed.  Or at least he will do as soon as the mattress arrives next week; for now he is in the cot with one side taken off.

And he can ride a motorbike...

 4. The life of our neighbour Mr Stokes, who died last week aged 94.  He was a keen gardener till the last.  This squash was from his garden; eating it seemed a fitting way to remember him with thanks.



5. Blackberries starting to appear.  We went picking yesterday and got a reasonable haul.  I froze 500g and made the rest into a delicious crumble.



6. And finally, it's almost the end of the school holidays!  Actually, it's been a good five weeks.  The weather has been great, with only a few days of rain, and we've done some fun things, with more planned for the final week.  I always find myself looking forward to getting back into routine, though.

We enjoyed ourselves!

Labels:

Comments

John Evens said…
I'll be honest, I found your Love Derby article difficult to read, which is unusual. It didn't flow for me. I couldn't tell where any paragraph was going to go. Maybe I'm too American these days or just not a part of the target demographic for this piece. But since you seem to be giving this writing thing a go, I thought I'd give you some blunt feedback. Have you tried Hemingway Editor? I mean, I love a complex sentence. If everything is easy to read you risk being boring. I just needed a bit of balance. Maybe have some creatively worded descriptions up-front to get my attention but then dumb it down to convey the actual information of what you did. Don't mix literature and news. Have both elements but keep them separate. I have no idea if this is good advice or not. I just found it taxing to have to enjoy the imagery and extract meaning from the same sentences.
30 August 2016 at 20:23
Martha said…
Thanks for the feedback! Reading it again, I think I see what you mean; perhaps I went a bit over the top with description at the cost of just explaining what it was. Maybe because I knew what had happened it was hard to read it from the point of view of no knowledge of the event. Anyway, I appreciate the honesty and I'll bear it in mind for the future!
5 September 2016 at 08:29
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Churnet Way: a wonderful walk

The loop from Oakamoor to Froghall and back was one of the most enjoyable walks I've done in a long time. It had a bit of everything: woods, ponds, rivers and railways; steep climbs and sweeping views; an unusual church, an ex-industrial wharf, and, as a final bonus, car parks with toilets. Of course, the sunny weather helped too. I parked in Oakamoor and set off along a quiet lane called Stoney Dale. This is the route of the Churnet Way, which deviates away from the river for a couple of miles. After a while I turned right and climbed up through the woods on a gravelly path, then dropped down to the B5417. a spring in Oakamoor   Crossing the road, I entered Hawksmoor Nature Reserve. It has some fine gateposts commemorating John Richard Beech Masefield, "a great naturalist". I found a photo of the opening of the gateway in 1933; unsurprisingly, the trees have grown a lot since then! A track took me down through the woods to East Wall Farm. Lovely view! Nice duck pond as ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ecclesbourne Way

On the first Saturday of the month, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway runs a railcar from Duffield to Wirksworth at 8:20 in the morning. Its stated purpose is to carry people to the monthly farmers market in Wirksworth; I suspect that the railway needed to get the railcar up the track anyway, and decided that they might as well carry a few customers at the same time. To me, it looked like the perfect way to start a walk on the Ecclesbourne Way . The railcar was a funny little thing, more like a tram than a train, with stripy seats and a good view at the front through the glassed-in driver's compartment. Toby glanced at the other passengers and decided that he was the youngest by a long way. I guess not many teenagers get up early on a Saturday morning to travel on vintage rolling stock. We chugged steadily along the track, pausing at a couple of level crossings where the guard had to hop off and open the gates for us to go through. The railcar then stopped again for him to get back o...
Post a Comment
Read more

National Forest Way: The End!

The National Forest Way finishes at Beacon Hill, Leicestershire, with beautiful wide-ranging views in all directions. I'd been hoping for a sunny day, and this one certainly fit the bill. The frosty earth lay under a glorious canopy of shining blue sky. I parked at Swithland Wood, close to where we finished the previous walk. Finding the waymarker on the first gate was bittersweet - this was the last time I would be following these familiar circles.   Swithland Wood had been acquired by the Rotary Club in 1931, and later passed on to Bradgate Park Trust. The lumpy terrain was due to slate quarrying. I skirted a couple of fenced-off pits. As I left the wood, I passed a lake which I assumed was another flooded quarry, but with an odd little tower next to the water. I followed a road up a steady hill towards Woodhouse Eaves. Many of the houses were surrounded by walls of the local slate. Woodhouse Eaves was a prosperous-looking village with some nice old buildings. Crossing the wide ...
Post a Comment
Read more