It's Still Life

I. Bookshelves!

Once, our long wall was covered with them, now we have four: reference, cookery books, road maps folded along old journeys, mementoes tucked between them and, inevitably, dust.

One of Peder’s books on the right-hand edge of the second shelf is Star of the Sea. The meaning of my own name. It’s had been sitting there quietly, waiting for me to notice it all along.

II. Tomatoes! 

The plants in the greenhouse are still producing. A little water each day, and somehow they keep answering with fruit.

III. Granola

Thankful that I managed to re-crisp the homemade granola in the oven after Peder left the jar open overnight.

Damp granola is nearly as bad as soggy toast.

IV. Weather!

Thankful to live in such a stunning part of England, where the weather can change its mind this dramatically in minutes. Completely energising, although that may also be the fish and chips with malt vinegar.

I recall as a child sitting in the car beside my little sister, rain running in rivers down the windows, while Dad came hurrying through it carrying four fish dinners wrapped in paper. Bon appétit days.

V. Holly

The holly is setting berries, promising greenery for wreaths and candle rings at Christmastime …when the Oak King takes the year from the Holly King and the light begins its slow return.

Ours is Golden King: gloriously misnamed, since only the female plant bears berries. Golden Queen, then. 

VI. Apples

There’s been so little rain that the apples are mealy, pulpy, and deeply unconvincing. Thankfully, I don’t have to rely on one a day to keep the doctor away anymore.

These days, the nurse appears to be doing most of the work.

VII. Rain

Look at that. Just 3mm of rain a few weeks ago, and the grass began greening up again. Then on Tuesday we had 30mm, and the River Mole, (our own little River Styx, vanishing underground nearby) began to flow again.

Apparently, even a river can come back from the dead.

VIII. Air!

Thankful for clean, clear air to breathe. The sort that makes the sky look freshly washed and every field seem farther away than it is.

IX. Six Sentence Stories!

Thankful for Denise’s Six Sentence Story challenge, where talented writers build whole worlds in the briefest possible space. It has nudged me from poetry into an entirely different way of thinking, and I love both the challenge and the writers who, somewhere along the way, became friends. Here’s my episode this week: Dead Men Don’t Drown.

X. Defiance! 

I am thankful for the scarlet red rose bush that defies drought.