In March 1942, the UK Government rationed supplies of coal, gas and electricity as part of wartime efforts to conserve energy. You might remember that from history lessons, or parents’ and grandparents’ wartime stories. In the Autumn of 2022, similar rationing strategies were discussed by the UK Government, though interestingly, they were never implemented. Increasing … Continue reading Cooking up a Storm
Somehow, we are in March already, and the biting winds of winter are giving way to milder weather. The need to stay home and cosy, immersed in recovering my creativity and focusing in on rest, is gently ebbing away, replaced by a rising sap of energy to do, to be, to clear the decks and … Continue reading Revolutionary Rebellion – Restorative Rest for Creative Mothers
After two months of rest, and a week of illness, I am stepping out of the skin I needed to wear to get through it all and finding myself faced with the utter joy of reclaiming my creative life – seeing myself in the mirror again, instead of the tired warrior who needs a good strong cup of tea, and a month of early nights.
The words have been stuck. As though something in the smooth flow of brain to fingers, heart to throat, soul to spoken word, has shattered into irretrievable bits that I couldn't put back together, and the words were all everywhere and nowhere, building up like water against solid rock. What has always come so easy, … Continue reading In a world where everything is breaking, mend whatever you can.
When I was in my early twenties, I went on a date with a man who, as my Gran would say, could have charmed the birds from the trees. He was polite, opened doors for me, did that old fashioned waiting-til-you-sit-down-before-he-does thing. I remember sitting across from him at a Chinese restaurant he had chosen … Continue reading Creative Call : #redflagsproject
I don't think I have ever, in my life, struggled with finding words as much as I have this past 3 months. Lockdown life is bewildering, challenging, tearful, gloriously quiet, restful, heartachingly sad, furiously angry, grief filled, joyful, and all the feelings inbetween. Often all of the feelings all in one go, which is a … Continue reading The Ballad of Lockdown Life
Craft, whether of words or paint, yarn or cloth, has always been the beating heart of my life. The fuel that takes me through each day of my journey in this world. There has never been a time when I have not used creativity as a crutch to hold my head above the stormy waves … Continue reading Crafting Our Way Through Corona
My Dad died on the 17th of May 1996 - a Friday afternoon in a busy hospital, a stones throw from what is now my children's favorite park. I'd traveled up from Uni that morning, jumping on the first train I could get out of Liverpool Lime Street. Mum said he waited, as the … Continue reading Death in Corona
It is the strangest feeling to sit with the cursor blinking, unable to find enough words, the right words, any words to properly describe what is happening in the world right now. I've been writing, deleting, writing, for what feels like weeks. Feeling battered by the storm of stories, like an ocean full of currents, … Continue reading Breathing Room and Rainbows
In the time before plastic permeated every part of our lives, hemp was a valuable, sustainable, versatile plant that was cultivated without the hugely negative associations that have been fashioned around it over the last 100 years. A plant that can become food, medicine, textiles, shoes, rope, animal feed/bedding, building material, paper, insulation, bioplastic and … Continue reading Can Hemp Equal Hope? Bringing Cannabis Sativa to The Climate Conversation.
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