Thursday, October 17, 2024

Called, mushrooms and venison.

1. Waiting for prescriptions in the pharmacy, I lose myself in a short story and have to be called -- several times.

2. Lifting the lid on this week's box of mushrooms -- autumn chanterelles and bright orange girolles.

3. Nick has made a venison stew for supper, and it is delicious. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Beginning late, fog and pigeon on a pot.

1. The radio conjures up Thomas Tallis's Spem in Alium. We lie in the dark and let our day begin late.

2. Our world has become small, swaddled in fog.

3. Pigeon crouched on a warm chimney pot.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Sounds of water, rosemary and new phone.

1. All around, water is sounding as it runs, drips, seeps, trickles and falls.

2. Nick calls up the stairs to draw our attention to the smell of rosemary from the focaccia he is warming in the oven. 

3. The latest iteration of the new phone I've had my eye on is on offer -- for less than I was expecting to pay for last year's model. The men in my life weigh in with their opinions for twenty minutes; and then it's on order.


Monday, October 14, 2024

Parade, mushrooms and up on the common.

1. To follow the puppet parade down the hill. It's strange to see in our everyday town marching crocodiles, a narwhale, a crowd of cardboard rhinos, a hut on chicken legs, cloud sailors, steel plate fish and some cheeky crab people with eyes on stalks. 

2. The mushroom farmer tucks a few extra grey and gold oysters into my bag to go with the bristly white bobbles of lion's mane he has just sold me. 'They're closer to us than they are to plants,' he says, adding that they have all the nutrition of steak and none of the disadvantages.

3. We walk out with Grandpa to see the autumn colours up on the common.

Wednesday, October 09, 2024

Grasses, spider and spy cameras.

1. Grasses heavy with last night's rain and their own seeds, turning gold as autumn progresses.

2. A spider with a large star on his back has picked a spot by the door -- out of the way, but a place where we can keep an eye on him.

3. He has for reference pictures of Cold War spy cameras. The Soviet model, with its unusual curves and brass fittings, looks like it has slipped into our timeline from an alternate history.

Tuesday, October 08, 2024

Eggs, company and cards.

1. The sound of four eggs jiggling in the pan.

2. I am asked to sit in the bathroom and spot clean a school uniform -- more for the company than for the cleaning, I think.

3. Then we realise that playing a video game will be complicated -- we will have to buy another copy, set up computers and troubleshoot. Instead, I find a pack of cards and teach him to play rummy.

Monday, October 07, 2024

Going to the bakery early on a Sunday, wet afternoon and loom.

1. It is very early on a Sunday -- I'm the first one up -- but the bakery is open and we need more bread.

2. The best thing to do seems to be to join the sofa-and-blankets party and watch another episode of Wednesday

3. I have time and headspace to try the darning loom I got a while back.

Called, mushrooms and venison.

1. Waiting for prescriptions in the pharmacy, I lose myself in a short story and have to be called -- several times. 2. Lifting the lid on t...