It's Still Life

I am thankful for a moment of quiet by myself on the patio, with a cup of coffee, listening to bird song, bees humming in the roses, and then … 

… noticing that I am being watched by a very curious grey squirrel. I love it when the morning comes together like this — easy and without fuss, cool breeze finding its way … 

…over the South Downs of Sussex, which is also a National Park, just a short way from where I live. I am so thankful for the circumstances that brought us here to this corner of the world, 

…where ordinarily it is green and lush from rain, but this is climate change in action, and I defy anyone to argue otherwise, but I will do all that can to make my footprint smaller by driving my electric car, avoiding plastics, and grow whatever food I can in the garden, 

like cucumbers, peppers, and our apples trees and grapevines, the squashes, and the herbs, and buy from local sources and farmer’s markets, and pop-up stalls alone the roadside,

…and in particular my sweet, juicy tomatoes from the greenhouse. 

Most of the flower border has perished from lack of rain for 65 days, but the purple thistles are still growing and happy with the high temperatures and dry, clay soil. I’m thankful for a small, albeit prickly bit of colour in the garden. 

And I am thankful that I live close to the sea, and all that it has to offer a poet who loves the scent of old salt,

and when the sea is beyond my sight, I can look up into the sky and watch clouds chase the colour blue.

Beyond that, I am ever so thankful for friends near and far, for those who keep me in their thoughts and for those I keep in mine. 

And I am thankful that Peder cooked dinner tonight: steak bites and a salad.