Thursday 18th April
My last day in Lincoln with Molly as I head home tomorrow. This journey will not involve public transport as I think I have had enough of train journeys to last a life time. Pete is currently visiting his parents in Norfolk so he is picking me up and we will head back to the island by car.
I have so enjoyed my time with Molly and we already have plans brewing to do it again. She is my only girl so I do miss the girly things now she is at university. Thankfully we like similar things so we can lose a whole day wandering about Lincoln. Today was a bit more focused as Molly needs a new laptop so off we went to get some advice and now the big Internet comparison thing that we all do begins in earnest. After the search for advice and a lingering look by me at the Apple Mac Pro on the way out we had to have a coffee. We always have to have a coffee. Then the wandering resumed as we headed back into town.
Lincoln is a real gem and if you haven't been you must add it to your 'to do' list. As a city it is small enough to walk around and there is lots of see. My favourite, and slightly obsessive thing, is to look at the canal boats all tied up just begging me to buy them. There are quite a few for sale but I am not greedy, one would do quite nicely.
As I contemplate my return to the island my head is filling with our charity event on the 27th. I have gathered my thoughts enough to scare myself with the list I have to do before the event. Thankfully we are making it a family effort and the focus of home school will be on the preparation. After the event I will take a short breath before moving hazelbank into its next phase and offering more and more courses. I already have a couple in the diary and those have filled really easily so I am guessing there is enough interest to make this work. The smallholding has to pay for itself as it is not a hobby and the addition of the courses is, I feel, a good move.
In my quest for the courses to be life affirming as well as really enjoyable I am currently doing some research on prayer flags. I so enjoyed doing my first three last week and it was more than the actual sewing that gripped me. Thinking about what I wanted the flag to say and why was contemplative and releasing at the same time. I am hoping that this current research will transfer into a small, bespoke course where people can come and express themselves through their own prayer flag making process. I want to strike a balance between seeing the flags as a way of releasing us from things that are holding us back in life and the desire to be aspirational. I don't want the sessions to be a space where we get contorted by things we need to let go of and so this research that I am undertaking is critical. Although clearly a Buddhist tradition I don't really see that as that relevant to the making of a prayer flag. My research so far suggests that anyone can benefit from such an activity and I am enjoying the questions that are being thrown up by the process.
I am offering guests at our tea party the chance to have a quick go to, at least, get themselves started. They can then take it away to finish in their own time. I am currently working on a design for the Butterfly Tree charity as something I might send to Jane and the team.
Moving forward from the opening event I will be available to offer butterfly tea parties to fellow islanders who can get a group of friends together. I have mentioned this before and I already have a couple booked in the diary. I will happily come to you bearing supplies to make butterfly crafts and cake. If you can provide the tea and some friends we have the makings of a lovely time. If you then ask for donations from your friends these can be added to the growing total of funds raised for the Butterfly Tree. It is such a lovely way to raise money so do email me if you would like to book a tea party.
On a totally different subject to reflect just how chaotic my mind can be I have a collection of articles that need moving forward. In 2011 I became involved in a writing project that involved short pieces of creative writings at different locations around the island. I am probably now in a position to extend that work before putting the collection together. I am anticipating, at this stage, they will take the form of an ebook and this book will offer a different perspective on the island. The intention is that it 'speaks' to people who are interested in engaging with their own creativity and looking at where they live with new eyes. It will include some tutorials on how I approached my project on Arran as well as the pieces of creative writing themselves. The work is on my laptop which is at home but, if my memory serves me right, I have about 11 pieces already written complete with photographs. The obvious byproduct is that it might trigger some visits to our beautiful island and that would be a real bonus. The focus is on speaking the language of creativity through appreciation and interrogation of space. It is easy to love Arran but I felt that the project engaged me with the island in new and more meaningful ways.
I don't anticipate having the time to put it together until the month of October so I have set that aside. Meantime I thought I might test the water a little to see what you guys think. I have a piece called 'Meditation in May' that I wrote in response to a walk I took (in May) up to Glen Ashdale Falls. It is almost May once more so I thought I would post it and let you see what you think. I would be very grateful for your views. Look out for it soon. All the pieces are completely different as all the places they are based on are different. The list contains some flash fiction, memoir writings, personal essays and one or two more spiritual pieces. I am resisting finding a through line and allowing the differences to stand proud because there lies the essence of the project. Different places evoke different responses and I want that to be clear throughout the book.
As a potential extension to this project I am considering running residential courses on the island where guests can explore their creative responses to different places on the island. This doesn't have to be just using the written word and I would hope it would move into other artistic corners as reflected by the people engaged in the course. I am testing this idea out on you guys first so if anyone thinks this is an idea with 'legs' do drop me an email. It is very early days so all your advice will help to shape this and that is how it should be.
So, I hope, lots to ponder on from today's post. I spend quite a bit of time responding to emails from you guys and you are so good at asking the right questions that my thinking continues to move forward. Some of you have found my personal page on facebook and sent friend requests and that is truly wonderful. I am always delighted to accept as I use facebook a lot to share things and I do love a good chat! Your engagement with this humble little blog is what makes the whole thing work. Thank you, thank you.
Until tomorrow xx
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