Wednesday 26 May 2010

Might Twitter give rise to Tweets as the new Haiku?

Direct experience before words and language?

Cool morning air touches my nostrils. Am I breathing in
or is Gaia breathing out? Ah!

2 crickets signal the end of St Glace, the warmth returns.
In go the tomato plants.

Watching hairs on my old paintbrush.
How many strokes, cutting in, playing a role to make the edge?

This mouthful, honey's silky sweetness, nectar gathered from many flowers,
incessant work for my one  lick.

Nothing to lose but my insanity.
Memories of playing a kazoo on the train. Just be. Now.

The candle is burning down. My gap year is coming to an end.
I need to use my time wisely.

Transient birdsong, blackbird, cuckoo, dog barking, traffic, my breath,
bell chimes 9.

When spitting, spit, with a balance of tension and relaxation,
with intention, deliberately, mindfully.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Small actions; little things

What litte things can we do to live a bit more simply?
"Live simply, that others may simply live." A 1970s sound-bite..
I picked some fresh mint to make tea and thought about the zero food miles, packaging.....
For years I've been planting cuttings from herbs, growing them on a bit and then giving them away or selling them at school fairs etc. I've planted out a few sprigs of rosemary and lavender descended from parent plants from 1986 in Cornwall, now growing in France and heaven knows where else.
I filled a raised bed, made from salvaged timber, with compost which must be at least 5yrs old. I'll plant beans in one and tomatoes in the other. All the old garden rubbish had completely broken down. The ash tree benefitted from all that rubbish we piled next to it in 1994, such as layers of ancient chicken muck we initailly mistook for lime rendering it was so hard. I use a shredder now to reduce all the hedge and orchard prunings to small pieces. I store them for a year or two before using them as mulch.
The weather has been getting colder 20, 19, 18 ....15 degrees C. So put on another sweater. Once I get working I soon warm up. It is interesting how quickly the body gets used to a dwelling at around 15 degrees C. No central heating here to turn down in these C18th cottages, but thick mud and river stone walls hold the heat. I knew it was colder inside because the butter was hard.
Snowed today so had to cut up some old wood and light the woodburner. Old hand riven oak roofing lattes, salvaged when the barn was re-roofed 10 years ago, must be well over 100 years old nearer 200.