A Non-Ordinary Friday
October 20, 2025 3 CommentsPhoto by Jr Korpa on Unsplash 16th September 2023 In early January 2023, I had dinner with a couple of friends from my “end of life” circle. At that dinner, as well as bravely avoiding all contact with alcohol (dry January and all), I fell with delightful curiosity and intrigue into at least two, new-to-me, […]
Read MoreSo – I Didn’t See Any Swans
October 20, 2025 No CommentsMain image by Dype Official on Unsplash. All other photos my own 10th September 2023 Race Event day + one. My lower back is achy. I can feel my tight thigh muscles, and know they will be all the tighter tomorrow, event day + two. But otherwise, all good. Better than good. I feel enthused, […]
Read MoreMy Biggest Little Trail Run
October 20, 2025 No CommentsPhotos my own, taken today 8th September 2023 Fellow Griefling, poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, whose daily poems keep me both grounded with the earth and connected to the stars through her exquisite words, sometimes introduces her poems with a line like, “short big poem” or “very short poem” or even, “very very short poem”. I […]
Read MoreComing to the Here and Now – Right Now
October 20, 2025 2 CommentsImage by Jon Tyson on Unsplash 5 September 2023 I am feeling jittery and distracted. It’s not wholly uncommon, of course, but I seem to be lacking focus more than is usual. Part of it, I realise, is that I don’t have enough structure in my days at the moment. A lot of the time […]
Read MoreWhen answering with the same words is not an option…
October 20, 2025 No Comments21 August 2023 All photos my own. Main photo: Ring of Brodgar, Mainland Orkney Medjool and I have been continuing our lovely holiday and are now exploring the Orkneys. (I understand that, while one should not say, “the Shetlands”, one can say “the Orkneys”. But perhaps I should check. (I just did… it pisses some […]
Read More“Everyone has a story for how they end up here”
October 20, 2025 No Comments15 August 2023 Photos my own For the past ten or so days, Medjool and I have been on holiday in Shetland. Note One: Despite there being approximately 100 islands in the archipelago, I quickly learned to refer to where we were as just “Shetland” – not “The Shetlands” or “The Shetland Islands”. Whether we […]
Read MoreSixty. Unimaginably Sixty.
October 20, 2025 1 CommentImage by Nick Fewings on Unsplash 28 July 2023 Yesterday, 27th July, Mike would have been 60. His birth date – 27 07 1963. My birth date – 27 03 1967. Same digits. Just turned around in a couple of places. I love number patterns, and I always loved that our birth dates had the […]
Read MoreA love letter to my parents
October 20, 2025 1 CommentPhoto my own 28 July 2023 Last weekend my parents had their 60th wedding anniversary celebrations. A little prematurely, in truth, for they were married on 7th September 1963 (“seven nines are sixty three!” being the clever little ditty for each and any one of us who wanted to be sure to remember their special […]
Read MoreWidows Walking in Wild Weather
October 20, 2025 1 CommentPhotos my own 16 July 2023 It is almost fully five years since I wrote a piece called “Widow Walking in Wild Weather”. It’s here: http://www.widowingemptynests.com/2018/09/23/widow-walking-in-wild-weather/ And, potentially lacking in imagination, this piece is called “Widows Walking in Wild Weather”. Plural. Simply because this time it is not just me, but me and fellow widbud, […]
Read MoreEndings, endings, endings everywhere
October 20, 2025 No CommentsMain image by Ben Wicks on Unsplash 9 July 2023 One of my favourite “change” models (and I know quite a few) is that of Bill Bridges – and crucially, it’s called “Transitions”. I love this man’s work for so many reasons – not least because I trained for my first marathon, back in 1997, […]
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