While the days are slow and the sun still shines…I find…I have more time to dream! So, I am delighted to have found some kindred spirits to share.
Normally, all my dream input has come from Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Medium and suchlike…which is okay. But now I have occasional gems from Dr Bogdan and David Latto to ponder on. Dr Bogdan is a poet of prose in Romania who has moments of genius. I found him because he graciously liked an un-finished poem on my Gilt blog…and he had me hooked with the first of his poems I read – Ghosts
I like his unexpected slant and his apparent lack of fear with subjects. I like his breadth of imagination, even if a little dark at times. (All his writing can’t be from experience!!!) Other noteables include “pray yourself to sleep” or “You do not disturb an artist when he is in a state of flow” Be warned though…none of these are easy, but they are great nonetheless.
Another daydreamer of note is David Latto. Another great discovery from a post on a Facebook Songwriting Group – David is a singer/songwriter based in Edinburgh and has written a lovely tune called “Daydreaming“, which I had to buy. You can hear it on Bandcamp.
This is much easier to absorb because it doesn’t offer challenging thoughts. It is every bit as genius though. A great tune, arranged with beautiful guitar motifs and sung by a sweet voice. It’s summer for me!
Other people’s perspectives are funny! We were out shopping and the shop had an employee at the door acting as a Security/Customer Guidance person. As I was sanitising my hands at the door, the lady employee said “That’s some heed o’ hair! Maist men wid be jealous.” At which point, I subconsciously flicked it away from my eyes with a snap of my neck (like most vain men would) but said “Ma hair? That’s only been the last couple o’ months, ha ha…normally a’m a four oan the trimmer!” Okay, it doesn’t make much sense now that I see it written down…but as I walked on, smiling…I think I heard her ask Anne if I dye it? (prompting another flick by me) No! I’m guessing that she aspired to having long, soft, flowing hair of my hue! Anyhoo…my hair is getting long. I can now grab it from the back and ‘officially’ can have a ponytail. I have decided to let it go, but keep it, if that makes sense! The flick, it would appear, is destined to become another mannerism. I will not cut it now…or ever again, till I die! I’ll let my freak-flag fly!
On the subject of cutting, we have a big garden. It takes, both of us, a full day to cut the grass. That’s because…we use an electric hover mower which requires two x 15m extension cables and the mower has a small cutting area. Also, most of the garden is on a 30 degree slope (some parts nearer 60 degrees). In addition…there can be over a dozen, fresh, deer poo recently plopped, which would be avoided/kicked/accidentally stood on or eventually danced-on, in a ‘feck it’ manner. Of course we have extra weaponry in the form of a strimmer, but that just flails smaller poo-flecks much further than the mower. And…I haven’t even mentioned the obligitory Cleg dance (I was bitten four times but I swatted eight of them away from my flesh) or the potential of a tick (I never seem to get bitten by any, but Anne is obviously a rare delicacy!)
But, because of the recent cool period where we have had fairly consistent rain, we left a section of the the garden to grow wild. It was previously (we think) a croquet lawn or a tennis court. It’s level and about the right size. However, leaving it to grow allowed it to become a Machair and have lots of wild flowers – small white ones, tall orange ones, yellow buttercups, blue what-evers, clover, daisies, poppies, etc and the bees love it. So…we left most of it uncut.
Who doesn’t love Machair?
However, you would be wrong in thinking that we dislike cutting the grass! In fact, I detected from a neighbour that we are daft to tackle such a big garden with a small mower and what we ‘really need’ is a ride-on mower. Okay, it is true that a ride-on mower would do the garden in around 20 minutes or less, after which it would get parked until the next grand cutting event. What quality of exercise would we get from that?? Makes no sense! We get a real workout, from the inclines, the pushing and the pulling, the bending, the lifting, the kicking and the dancing. But some other people don’t see that!! They see it as a chore…a chore to get done as quickly and with as little effort as possible. A chore…so unappealing, that it’s worth spending between £500-£5000. Maybe, for them, ‘time is money’ and they would rather spend that time doing something else. But I would suggest ‘money is beer’ and I can get nice beer for £1 per pint!!! The Saint Ettiene at Aldi is nice and 4.8%, which is a lovely reward after cutting the grass. Irregardless…I won’t be cutting machair! (boom boom)
Jackson Greenhorn 