Posts

Finding Community In A Cafe

  Hello,  Gosh it's been quite a while since I wrote for myself over here, and I thought it would be nice to check in.  Since my last post I have started an Instagram account highlighting day to day life with illness and disability, and started volunteering for a Foodbank in their Media and Comms team so it has been quite a writing-based time.   How is your October going so far? I have to say I'm loving the mild and crisp sunny days we seem to be having at the moment. The conkers are falling, the leaves are crunching and everything is preparing for Winter.  I wanted to write about an experience that inspired my yesterday, to think about the word 'community' and to delve into how easy it is to find this, in modern day society.  I think with the normality of smart phones, especially as a twenty-something, I think it can be so easy to move about the world with your face solely illuminated via screen. Even if we wanted to meet others or strike up meaningful conversations, w

Wonderful art to see in St Ives

 This being our last day in St Ives meant that we got out early to seize the day. After donning trousers and a fleece for the first time this holiday (the breeze is bracing today!) We walked the short distance to Porthmeor Beach with our flasks of coffee and sat and watched surfers battle and ride the choppy waves.  It was lovely to drink hot creamy coffee whilst breathing in the sea air, then try to find more art galleries to peruse.  Since being here we have gone to the Tate (review a couple of posts back) and yesterday to the Barbara Hepworth sculpture garden, where giant beautiful sculptures are dotted amongst flowers. All this art is inspiring and captivating and I wanted to try and see more whilst in the seaside town famous for its art, its artists and its art movements.  We found ourselves in artists studios, each unique and personal, each messy, beautiful and interesting. We found ourselves in multiple galleries and boutique shops, admiring brushstrokes and colours. We found ou

The Eden Project May 2024

 On Tuesday 21st of May we trundled the hour and a quarter journey from St Ives, to a place we'd all been excited to see, The Eden Project.  It is a place we went when it first opened, as my Dad knew some people on the project team, but that was back when they only had one biome, rather than two and I couldn't remember anything of our time there.  I must say, it is a fantastic place to visit. There is two biomes, sort of like big bubbles in the rock face (or should I say clay face as it was an old clay pit originally). One biome is Rainforest and the other is Mediterranean landscape. The air is dense and warm and plants, flowers and fruits grow in every direction.   Fabulously, I found Eden super accessible, with a little forward planning. Three weeks before our holiday I booked our tickets with Jack as my disabled companion and I reserved an electronic  wheelchair (that is free!). This meant that on the day, once our tickets were scanned I headed to a friendly staff member who

St Ives Adventures, Jack's 28th Birthday

 Tonight I am writing this post from a cute seaside themed room. I am writing on my phone after eating a supper of toast with peanut and coconut butter (my new favourite thing ever, it's delicious). The blind crinkled, with colours of stone and pinstripes in bottle blue showing in the cotton. It is closed, white pillows are stacked and a nautical themed light sits beside me, lighting the pages of Growing Goats And Girls (review to follow on my other book related blog!).  I feel really cosy, really content and really happy. We have been in the small seaside village of St Ives, ('we' meaning Jack, Mama and Pop), since Friday afternoon when our little car trundled from Hatchbeauchamp in Somerset to cobbled streets and fishermen's cottages here in Cornwall. We stopped off at a pretty hotel there to break up the truly exhausting 6 and a half-hour journey from Cheshire to Cornwall and it made our yearly holiday all the more special. I have never been to Somerset before and I

A wonderful day out in Chester

  Hello,  Today I thought I'd recount a trip I took with Jack, a couple of days ago.  Jack has been feeling quite unwell and having blood tests to try and find the cause, so it isn't often both of us have the energy to go and do something outside our town together at the moment. Tuesday was wonderful as it was one of those rare days that we both felt well enough to venture out and we decided on visiting Chester. After calling at Wrexham for a quarter of an hour and not really feeling we could see much due to lots of hills which I struggle to walk up, we redirected and called into the beautiful city known for its clock tower, Roman Walls and listed buildings.  We wondered around for a while, finding a market near to where we parked that we hadn't been in before. There were so many stalls selling delicious looking food, cakes, gifts, flowers, even champagne! It all looked amazing and was undercover, with an amazing atmosphere. We were initially drawn in by the life-size Tardi

Books I've read so far in 2024 and the joys of writing

 Hello,  Two blogs in two days Molly?! I hear you proclaim,  I know, doesn't write for six months and then writes two posts... Like buses really.  I love blogging and sometimes when life gets busy it's so easy to forget about the joys of writing. I've recently been taking courses in literature and I've been really delving into creative writing for the first time in the past few months. I realised recently how much blogging helps with finding my own narrative voice and just finished a course on BBC Maestro an online learning platform where industry experts guide you in their field. It was incredibly informing and was called  Writing Children's Picture Books  with Julia Donaldson. In that time I have read dozens of picture books, marvelled at the prose and craft and enjoyed the beautiful illustrations that you find everywhere in children's literature. I'm now learning about Writing Love Stories with Jojo Moyes and Writing Poetry with Carol Ann Duffy and I'

Love Letter To Liverpool

 Hello, I hope whoever reading this is well, happy and having a lovely day.  The sun is out here and although it definitely feels way  too cold to be sure Winter isn't over and Spring is truly here, we are nearly at the end of April.  Today as I walked into town, I felt the warm sun on my face and felt so excited for warmer days. I recently started gardening a few weeks ago and today potted up my Christmas Rose's to bloom in December and some Crocus bulbs alongside my Iris, Forget-me-nots, and Lobelia. I love the feeling of being in the sunshine, my hands in the soil and watching something so small, growing and flourishing through the seasons.  Jack and I recently moved to a pretty Cheshire town, not far from our parents and to have a little yard with a washing line that pulls out, pots with plants and a mini greenhouse is wonderful.  I realise I haven't caught the blog up since last September and I feel like I need to update an old friend. I have been feeling quite poorly