All afternoon I've had Kurt Weill's September Song swimming around my brain. Weill composed the beautiful, liltingly melancholy tune; the lyrics, which I erroneously thought were by Bertolt Brecht (well, he and Weill did work together a lot), turn out to be by the American playwright Maxwell Anderson. I've just listened to a recording of …
Category: food
What’s for pudding?
A familiar refrain from my childhood, and one I often ask Nick as we finish our dinner - something sweet to round off the evening meal. I was lucky to grow up in a family where putting food on the table - in terms of affording it - was never an issue. With hindsight, I …
Unilateral declaration of World Tahini Day
Tahini on toast. My breakfast this morning, and it set me thinking, not for the first time, what a magical food tahini is. Surely, I thought, there must be one day in the year when this delicious, nutritious and versatile ingredient is celebrated. I searched online and to my surprise it appears there is no …
Lady Marmalade
A hopefully diverting account of my first - and possibly last - attempt at making marmalade. The weekend before last, and the COVID-19 news was getting on top of me. I thought a spot of home cooking might help me calm down and focus on something practical. We had loads of oranges from Waste Not …
End of November round-up
Wowee. I've been busy. I sat down yesterday morning and began a list of things I've been up to since I last blogged: Words for the Wild - I've had two poems published on this beautiful site, as part of their autumn 'Fruit' themed issue. I love the mix of poetry and fiction, and the …
a month away, & looking ahead
It's a week now since I got back from a month away in Australia, visiting family in Melbourne. I'm finally over the jet lag, and getting back into the swing of London life. I was very glad that Nick could come with me on this trip, my first "home" in nearly 3 years. It makes …
how my breakfast inspired a prize winning poem
I won first prize in the City Harvest Holiday Poetry Competition! My first first prize, and City Harvest's first poetry competition. And it all came about thanks to the local surplus food project, Waste Not Want Not, that Nick and I have benefited from over the last couple of years. WNWN circulated details to all their contacts a …
Continue reading how my breakfast inspired a prize winning poem
busy in a good way
There's not been much let up since my Thrive residency came to an end. On Sunday 26th June I travelled far north (for a south London gal) to perform at Finchley Literary Festival's closing event, the Poetry and Music Palooza hosted by Anna Meryt. The locals were friendly and it was a fun and uplifting evening, …
poetry in the Old English Garden
It's hard to imagine a more picturesque setting for a poetry reading than the Old English Garden in Battersea Park. Here, on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, I read some of my garden themed poems as part of Thrive's Chelsea Fringe Festival week of events. The weather was kind to me, with warm sunshine breaking through …
February’s looking up
Poor old January. Too often a long dark month to get through. Now you're behind us, and February's here, the shortest month whose lengthening days speed us towards spring. So it snowed overnight on Monday, and the wind is Siberian, but there are snowdrops in the park, and buds on the magnolia trees. This bright …
Hilaire 