[One from the archives, originally posted Sunday, 27 September 2015 sophiecosussex.blogspot.com/] Harvesting the delight of Parham "Welcome to the true heart of England, and of Sussex." The voices of the land seemed to speak to me, "Take your time, linger, let us ensnare you. Perhaps you'll never leave." As a child, I read many a fairy …
Continue reading "One From the Archives: Harvesting the Delight of Parham"
13th August, and already it feels more like September. I am certain that the year, in the rush to escape the last grasping clutches of the summer's heatwave, has over run and got a whole month ahead of where it should be. Not that I'm complaining however; this is my favourite time of the year, …
Continue reading "Local Patch: jumpers at dawn, fairy street-lamps by the ditch."
August 1st. I walked to work today, taking a route across the common to avoid the busy main roads. I felt the need to spend some time in nature, as thought it were trying to catch my attention over something important I had near forgotten. As my steps dropped into a rhythm of root rock …
With the Harvest moon lingering bright and resonant in the October skies, the bountiful season of gathering-in is drawing to a close, and the shortening of the days is becoming more obvious with every passing morning. Thoughts are turning, as the leaves turn, to battening the hatches for winter. On the allotment we are taking …
2017 has been a year of '1sts', of new experiences... some huge, some life changing, some small, some perhaps only of consequence personally so unnoticed by the rest of the world. This weekend it was the turn of one of those smaller moments, but one that is no less inspiring than any others on the …
A buzzard, bent-winged into the wind, was hanging against the clouds as I walked up the driveway to work. I had to acknowledge a pang of mild jealousy as I watched him twist his ruffled feathers and bank, realign, then tilt and soar off over the tree tops. Behind me, the jays were raucous in …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Into the Wind"
I popped to my Mums house, to exchange a couple of bits of shopping we'd picked up for each other. It is just a 5 minute walk around the corner, but I found myself amazed by the complete image of early autumn offered to me by the remnant hedgerows and woodland edges that soften my …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Return to Autumn"
It's been days since I heard the Swifts. July was washed away in a week of heavy showers, and the rain seems to have rinsed the cloud-cutters from the sky. Perhaps they have left us already; they are after all the first summer migrants to head south to their winter quarters. It does seem odd …
Continue reading "SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: The Snail Bone-Yard"
Introduction – the turning year When planning some writing, there is nothing worse than sitting down to start a project, and staring at a blank white page! It can really stifle the creative thought process. Thankfully, today my page is far from blank. My inspiration has travelled forward with me thirteen years, from the days …
Sussex Field Notes 