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52and40/26 Out of the Blue
My daughter tells me she learned at school there hasn’t been a May as dry as this in Scotland since before I was born in 1976. It seems we picked a lucky time for digging a new border in the garden and moving plants around to fill it up. It’s become habit, to go out between…
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52and40/25 Regenerative Circuits
The hardest bit of writing for me isn’t finding ideas or receiving rejections. Both of those are plentiful for me at this stage. Both of those are great teachers too – to be appreciated and understood just as the nice, easy bits are. For me, the hardest bit’s waiting for feedback. The no-woman’s land of yay or nay.…
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52and40/24 Galaxy Formation
I grew up thinking I had an un-mathematic brain. Yet as I’ve aged I’ve discovered my brain’s just fine with mathematics. Science too. Whaddya know till you retry? Viewing an often chaotic world through an organised lens can be comforting. I’ve found maths and science have overlap with understanding human behaviour, too. This week, with help, I’m…
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52and40/23 The Selfsame Well
A friend died recently. She was my writing teacher first (and my first writing teacher). I can trace roads from everything I’ve had published in the last two years to Helen, her guidance at every way-marker. Even with this map I’m disorientated; floundering in comprehending such a special woman being gone. In grief, all roads lead inevitably to my Mum.…
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52and40/22 Uprising
Our wee extension’s starting soon and early signs say the plants are keen on change this summer too. We’ve imposed new garden structure by getting rid of the decrepit shed, clearing the Krugeresque brambles and waving cheerio to 9m of mixed hedge which only ever managed to look tortured, despite optimistic pruning. A winter project which leaked into spring was a new boundary fence. With…
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52and40/21 Pivot Point
Years ago, while reading about dog training, I learned the phrase, ‘pressure creates counter pressure’. I was struggling with our then enormous puppy pulling on the lead. The phrase underlined my feeling that yanking back was only making my arm hurt more and my stress levels soar. So I stopped yanking back. Disengaged from negativity. Got used to…
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52and40/20 Pigs Might Fly
We took ourselves to Raasay in February. A proper road trip – a long time in the car, sweets, music, stops for the dog to wee, chats about memories. Maniacs in white vans, eye-spy and the name game. Does it all sound perfect? It wasn’t. We fought, too. There were hideous tensions as well as…