March Adventures

"Everything we do counts." - Caroline Myss

Hello there - no, I am not dead, nor have I fallen off of the face of the earth and unfortunately I can't say that I have spent the past month typing my fingers to the bone as my last post would have you believe. I have been writing and I have a beautiful outline written and various scenes and parts of my new book almost totally flushed out. I have felt slightly possessed in my writing this time. It's slightly cliched to say so but I truly feel like this book is being whispered in my ear. I find whole scenes and parts arriving on paper in front of me as quickly as my pencil will go. It's frustrating that this has also been one of the busiest and most stressful times I have ever had at work. But luckily this book wants to be written. It is coming to me whether I sit down to write it or not.

Other than this, Mark and I have also been on a few adventures this month! We spent a lovely day in Exeter and stopped off on the way there at an antiques and architectural reclamation yard. I am completely in love with a huge iron gate that they have for sale and I needed to go and take a sneaky photograph. (If you look on their website under 'Gates at Toby's, it's the Jungle gate.) The place is just teeming with incredible treasures: doors and fireplaces and huge old bathtubs, art deco tiles, and a jumble of miscellaneous strange items. They used to have a huge statue of a witch that I absolutely loved. You can't see it properly in this photograph but right now they have a pair of enormous dog statues for sale that clearly used to sit on either side of the driveway of a stately home. Amazing.

We also went out for lunch with Mark's family to a hotel called Lewtrenchard. I had never been somewhere where the waiters put your napkin on your lap for you before!! On our way home we decided to work off our rich lunch by climbing to visit Brentor church. Half-way up we met a lovely couple coming down. She told us that they had been wanting to climb up to the church for years but had never had time. Now, at 87, she had finally climbed all of the way to the top - and she was in heels!

And as if all of those adventures weren't enough, on Saturday I met an angel! I have been stewing in my own juices a little bit lately and I decided to go out for a walk. I usually go over the cliffs and down to a big beach near us, but on Saturday I was nearly over the cliffs when I felt really drawn back along a different path.

It was low tide so I was able to walk straight across the smaller beach. I was alone except for an elderly man and his dog. As our paths crossed he greeted me and drew my attention to a pair of nesting seagulls. His dog jumped up to greet me and the man told me that the dog's name was Lucky. We stood and talked for a few minutes about the day and about some other things he had seen on the beach. Then he smiled and called Lucky to follow him. I smiled back, feeling happier than I have felt in ages. As I walked away I realized that I could see Lucky's footprints on the beach but none from the man. There was one other set walking in the same direction as my own but none coming towards me. Could he have been an angel? I sure hope so!

Whew! So now we're caught up! I'll try to be here more often now that my world has calmed a little. And how have you been?