Week 19
New books, birthday swifts and a wicker man
Hello!
How are you? Isn’t it beautiful out there? It has been a big week here. It was my birthday (YES a big one. Aren’t they just so weird…), and the sun shone. I sat out on the back step on my birthday morning with a cup of coffee and saw and heard my first swifts of the year, which I think is about as wonderful a birthday omen as you can get.
And then I also had a book out! Published yesterday, 9th May, A Year in Story & Song is a compilation of tunes and tales from past almanacs, all wrapped up in this absolutely beautiful package, with gold foil illustration by Gemma Trickey. I am so delighted with it, and you can now buy it for everyone you love here:
This is my weekly post where I tell you something I have done/eaten/noticed etc…this week that felt particularly ‘this week in the year’, and then you tell me yours in the comments. Then at the end of the month I compile them all into a big beautiful poem and we love it. It doesn’t sound like it should work but it just does. Please do join in, everyone is welcome.
Here’s mine:
Burning a wicker man
Yes an actual wicker man! Not *quite* as big (or as murdery) as the one in the film but I can appreciate an evening that contains alarming nods to folk horror. This was at a Beltane event run by Wander Gather Bristol, with beautiful live music (about swifts!) from The Scruffy Pooks, below, a folklore screening, and an open mic slot. It was an excellent way to see in the summer, particularly once the torrential rain eased off enough for a match to light.
Now over to you. What have you eaten/spotted/baked/sacrificed to the gods of summer this week that felt particularly ‘this week’?
Irises standing tall ready to burst like yellow topped paint brushes.
Deep red geraniums doing there thing in terracotta pots on the patio.
Planting potatoes and onions in the garden in the dark of the moon. Enjoying meals of freshly foraged asparagus and morels. Lilacs and Dogwoods in all their glory this week.