Category: Diary
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The warm heart of the Hidden Gardens
“Where would you like to start?” The question, presented with a smile, is a good one. Looking at the map I’ve just been handed there’s plenty temptation. The Hidden Gardens of Kingsbarns offer no fewer than ten gardens open to visitors ready to explore nooks and crannies of this handsome village. But the tantalising trail…
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The Pond Garden in June
Blue skies again. Sunshine sparkling on the pond. A friendly breeze ruffles new leaves and turns the wind turbine merrily. What kind of killjoy would complain about the promise of yet another glorious summer day? It does seem perverse. How often have I moaned about waking to endless cold, wet midsummer days? Now, we open…
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P is for panic in the A-Z of moving house
One day Ray and I will write a book on how not to sell and move house. Timing is all and we seem to have a knack for bad timing.
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Sunset song for the winter solstice
The winter sun just hangs over the ridge of the Coolags. Its setting will seal the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. At this season the sun is a pale wick between two gulfs of darkness. So wrote George Mackay Brown, the observant eye of the great Orkney poet seeking out the touch…
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Ghosts of census past and present
Just for the hell of it, I hang Granny’s nighties and pretty petticoat by a range which has been here for 160 years, our smart new utility room still boasts the original Belfast sinks from the scullery where Elizabeth Leather would have laboured over dishes, pots and pans. How much of all this will be…
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Keep people safe: keep gardens open
If we want our grandchildren to enjoy the thrill of a thriving woodland – a living landscape – we have a lot of work ahead.
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Origins, borders and vexed questions of identity
Political turmoil throws up uncomfortable questions of identity and belonging
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Winter into Spring
It’s a turning point. For so long it seems a teasing fantasy, a few brave buds on some hopeful trees and shrubs, a cheery blackbird outside the bedroom window greeting an earlier sunrise. Then suddenly there’s no doubt. Whatever the weather, Spring is here and this year it brings an unexpected new season to Pond…
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Deliverance is local: Covid benchmarks
Our disinfected doorbell rings. Outside a smiling young man delivers a box of essentials: fresh fruit, toilet rolls, paracetamol…and just a little booze.
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All will be well: songs and poems for covid-safe new year
It all went quiet and a vision appearedWith a rose in her hair and a ring in her earAnd she says “Buenos Dias boys, this looks like the place” Doors open. Lights sparkle, glasses clink, friends laugh, music plays, singers sing, dancers dance. Fear not, this Covid-safe celebration is all in the mind. Well,…
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What’s Covid-safe behaviour? Ask your hairdresser
Think positive. By coincidence, the inspirational ‘wellbeing’ word etched into my mirror is Positive which these days has negative connotations so I ask if the salon has recorded any infections since reopening in July.
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Hyperlocal signs of life: welcome to a braver new world?
Are we so caught in the headlights of pandemic panic that we dare not pause for breath to look more closely at what is happening around us