For once the midges have done me a favour as they drove me in from my planting and made me focus on finishing my activist piece. When the lovely little darlings are circling your head and forming their own cloud through which to bite you on a regular basis you know enough is enough. Not even a sprig of rosemary behind my ear worked today so I abandoned my planting and retreated. For someone who is quite willing to take the fight against malaria to the mosquito I am less successful with the Scottish midge.
Before I head into this post I must just say thank you to all of you who have messaged me about the two pieces of writing on my personal blog. For me, writing is a dialogue not a statement. Writing should make others think and evoke a response and if I am achieving that I am completely thrilled. I think this is the teacher in me. I have always been a teacher that takes learners on a shared journey and I think I have moved that across to my writing. I read a piece yesterday about the relationship between the natural world and humans. On the surface it was very well written but as a piece of communication it was completely impenetrable. I am quite well educated having got as far as a masters degree and I struggled with the language and the meaning got all caught up in that language. In the end the message was lost forever and I struggled to see the point of the piece. As I home in on a desire to write about the natural world I see far too much of that type of writing. This is a complete and utter waste as writing that tries to persuade needs to be accessible if it is to have any chance of success. So, the fact that my writing prompts feedback that suggests the internal messages are clear is important to me. I will rely on my readers to tell me if I start failing at this. Home school was a gentle affair with some of the mechanics of learning focused on such as spelling and grammar. There were no objections from the boys as they settled to their work and I took my chance to do some house jobs. Sometimes it is just lovely to hear the silence. The silence that equals concentration and application. I know that because I always do a little test at the end of the morning and today the results were stunning. George can now spell better than me and Max can finally apply himself without any fuss and has proved, to himself, that he can spell. The nuts and bolts of learning are a strong feature of our home school as we want the children to have all the tools necessary to be all they want to be. We are getting there.
After school I continued my planting out before stopping in my tracks remembering that I promised a plant sale in 10 days time! I reversed the wheelbarrow and put some of the plants back in the tunnel telling them that if they don't sell they can join their friends in the raised beds. My stocks that I grew from seed are now in a smart row and I noticed that my Livingston Daisies are starting to flower in the tunnel. If the midges hadn't had their way the little daisies would now be in the ground. Alas, they remain in the tunnel. Those plants that I planted out a few days ago are budding and flowering and it is all very exciting. My snapdragons are nearly all in flower and there are some strong looking buds on my dwarf sunflowers and borage plants. You just know there will be pictures.
It does feel good to get my activist piece finished and it is now in a moderation queue for publication. As soon as it has been approved (assuming it is) I will post the link and you must tell me what you think. I talk about you guys in it which makes complete sense to me. I have now started having conversations with you in my head so no one can ever accuse me of being out of touch with my readers!
In the end I do, in fact, stake my claim on the activist description but perhaps my claim is less obvious than others. I was asked to submit my piece and for days I struggled with this. I didn't see myself as an activist and I finally figured out why. I associate activist with the protesters we all see on the TV and that is not me at all. I am not saying that I don't have a voice because you all know that I do. But I am not inclined to shout and I think, if I am honest, I was a little intimidated by the term activist. Having re-read Satish Kumar's book I felt more able to contribute to his new site. Once I had finally buckled down and written it I felt a strange sense of belonging. What binds all the stories together is a deep love of our planet and I don't think it is anymore complicated than that. I had made it far more complicated than it needed to be. My little butterfly prayer flag made £5.00 so that is one more net to save some precious lives in Zambia and I am pleased. I have some lovely people joining me for tea and cake on Thursday to make tulle butterflies to ensure we have enough to get us through a few more weeks. More full cups have been emptied into my tin so we shall be able to make another donation very soon. The boys have the job of counting all the pennies so thank you George and Max.
One of those days when the sky merges with the sea in a dove grey hue and a sailing boat is gliding though in all its white glory. A real stop and stare moment. It looks like 'silence' to me.
I am sharing a dance piece that I love today. Hope you enjoy.
Until tomorrow. xx
No comments:
Post a Comment