Paris

Two weeks ago we were in Paris.

And before it fades from memory and thankfulness, here's a little celebration of exploring, of visiting a dear friend, of open spaces and grandeur, of creativity and sunny balconies and good cheese.

I'd never been to Paris before, I guess I wasn't that fussed about going, and if Heloise had lived in another place then we would have gone there instead. But it is a bit silly to have had a friend there all this time and never visited.

So we went. Penzance to Paris isn't a quick job when you have no car and there's only a limited number of flights leaving from Bristol airport. But after a lot of trains and buses and walking with heavy rucksacks through the dark and rain in Bristol, we got there, and I'm so glad we did.

Something's got to give but what?

I've done some great things lately, like perform poetry in Plymouth and visit a friend in Paris and hang out with some cool older ladies down here in Cornwall.  I have lovely photos to edit and share and poems to scribble down and blog posts I want to write, but no time it seems. And when I do push myself to do everything, I get ill - like last week - when I had to cancel stuff and spend a lot of time in bed. I say that relationships are priority and yet I don't think I've been around for friends.

I can't seem to find the balance, and I'm not really sure how to change things.

So, for now, here's this morning on my walk to the sea, in an attempt to make a better start to the day...

Listening to creation (walk from Penzance to Faugan Round)

I went for a walk yesterday. Needed to get outside and breathe November air, and search for a view or too, and blow out the cobwebs as they say. Actually I found quite a lot of cobwebs on my walk, but I'll get to those later :-)

I went to explore, with an aim to find something that had caught my attention on the map. I went to find paths I'd not walked down before. Not having a car has limited how far we can go in terms of travelling around Cornwall but today reminded me again that there's always more to find and to see, right where we are, we've just got to open our eyes wider and dig a little deeper.

I'm sure I've said it before - I think creation has plenty to say to us.  And interestingly nearly all the songs that were sung at a church service I attended this evening mentioned creation or nature in some way - the sun, waves, mountains, etc - all reminding the songwriter of some aspect of the Creator.

So today, as I walked, I tried to listen...

Penzance Writer's Cafe writings

Sometimes I go to the Penzance Writer's cafe meetings. I'd go more, if I wasn't doing a 9-5ish job. There's lots of enthusiastic writers, and coffee and cake. What more could you want? :-)

I did escape from emails and google docs for a couple of hours last week to listen to a Jane Moss from Lapidus speak. I think the idea of writing for wellbeing (which is what Lapidus is about) is interesting and makes a whole lot of sense.

Jane took us through a few writing exercises. It always amazes me how the smallest starting point can unleash so much, and also how much easier it is to write in a space with other writers, with a brief and with a set period of time to do it in.

Thought I'd share a couple of things I wrote -  unpolished, straight from the pen so to speak.

A weekend in Exeter

Last weekend I went to Exeter.

Partly to have a break from Penzance and make the most of taking some annual leave, partly to see my little sister who studies there, partly to catch up with a a few other friends who live there, and partly because I'd never actually been into the city before.

The megabus leaves at 5am from Penzance and cost me £7 to get there. It saved me pennies and meant I had all of Saturday in Exeter (I arrived at 9am), but when my alarm clock went off at 4am - and when I was failing to sleep on the bus - I wasn't sure that saving money was all that worth it!

It was that weekend when the seasons properly changed. Saturday was the warmest start to November on record (or something like that!). My friends, Annah and Mike, have a gorgeous home that properly makes the most of sunshine, I must admit I'm a little jealous, but they've worked very hard to make it so lovely.

Autumn ramblings

There's been lots of poems recently, so thought it was time for a bit of a life-update. Because I still don't really have a clear focus for this blog, haha! But then I'm not a one-thing kind of person.

I have started a photography website, because... well because one day I'd like to be doing more of that in my life, and it's somewhere just to have images and barely any words. It's not looking quite how I'd like it to yet, but it's a work in progress, like me, like many things in life.

I still wonder at what and when and how much to share here. How much to explain? How much to reason? How much to fill in the blanks? Even if I wanted to, I'm not sure I'd know how. Today, I'll just write, and see what comes.