A View From My Summerhouse

Meet My Main Character Blog Tour

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

Wonderful, talented, published author and also lovely friend-to-me Jo has tagged me on the ‘Meet My Main Character Blog Tour’! Thank you so much Jo, I’m honoured to have been invited.

Jo has published African Me & Satellite TV and Shadow People 1 – The Finding. She hopes to publish Shadow People 2 – The Hunger within the next couple of months!

Isn’t this a cool book cover? Using Jo’s own words, it’s ‘designed by the multi-talented and most cool Chris Graham‘. (Also known to many as that loveable and kindly Story Reading Ape!)

You can meet Jo and the other authors she’s tagged for the Meet My Main Character Blog Tour over at Jo Robinson.

For this blog tour, we have to answer questions about the Main Character in a Work in Progress, as follows:

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

2. When and where is the story set?

3. What should we know about him/her?

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

As those of you who read my blog already know, my WIP is my memoir. Not all these questions apply, so I thought it best to refer any of you who might be the slightest bit interested to my short Memoir Book Blurb, which hopefully answers some of these questions.

Regarding question number 7 and publication, (no pressure then, ha!) all I can say is at the moment I’m still writing my first draft but I hope it will be sooner rather than later. I’ll be posting updates as and when and meanwhile, as I always say, watch this space!

Now I get to tag other authors, published or not, but who are, as Jo so delightfully puts it, ‘scribbling away’!

If they accept, they will post their Meet My Main Character Blog Tour post next Monday, 2nd June (goodness, June already?).

All these lovely authors are people I hugely respect and admire (and Jo, you are one of them, but I can’t tag you back, otherwise I would!) and who inspire me greatly in my writing journey. I’m also proud to call them friends:

Mike
Mike has already published The Eye Dancers, a Young Adult sci/fi fantasy novel. Mike’s writing on his blog ties in his deep admiration and love of sci/fi with the characters of his book so eloquently. In other words, he tells a great story! Mike is a great guy and he and I have enjoyed several lively discussions about, among other things, our shared love of The Twilight Zone.

Dylan
Dylan has recently published his book Second Chance (congratulations once again Dylan!) and his recent blog posts about his publishing experiences, in all their glory, have greatly inspired me and many others. He also happens to live where I grew up so that makes him more than okay in my book (pun intended!).

Evelyne
Eveylne has published Trapped In Paris, her juvenile fiction novel. I love the flow and beauty of Evelyne’s writing. We also share common ground, she as a French woman who moved to California in the early 1990’s and lives there still, raising her children, and of course my life, as a Brit, who lived there with my children for almost 20 years.

Nav
With the very recent publication of Nav’s powerful non-fiction book The Mirror, I can’t wait to be able to say “I knew him when…..” Enough said!

TBM
Another amazing writer, TB has published Marionette, A Woman Lost and is soon to be publishing Confessions From A Coffee Shop. Sounds intriguing! She gives me great ongoing support and encouragement while I press on with my memoir, along with so many other friends here. TB is an American living in London and so right there you just know that she and I share some fun exchanges, not least of all our enjoyment of knocking back a swift half, or two, at our local pub…

All that’s left for me to say to you lovely people is, “Tag! You’re it!”

Posted in Blog Hops, Blogging, Writing Updates | Tagged Authors, Blog Hops, Blogging, Meet My Main Character Blog Hop, Memoir, Publishing, writing, Writing Updates | 44 Comments

Bite Size Memoir Number 3: Magic and Fairy Tales

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

I came across Lisa’s site, Lisa Reiter – Sharing the Story while reading Irene’s recent ‘Bite Size Memoir‘ posts. I intended to ‘join in’ at the beginning but here we are, week three, although just making it before the deadline today!

Thank you to both lovely ladies for this opportunity as I jump in now!

In Lisa’s words: ‘Bite size memoir is designed to help anyone record some personal memoir in small manageable bites‘ and each week she invites us to do so using a prompt she gives out each Friday.

You can find out more about this challenge by clicking on the link to Lisa’s site above.

Meanwhile, here is my 150 word bite size memoir for this week’s prompt:

Magic and Fairy Tales

I believed in fairies once but I wasn’t so keen on ‘fairy tales’, finding them dark and yes, grim.

My fairies, tiny, mystical creatures, lived with their pixie friends in the woods behind my house in the English village where once I lived.

Their world was safe and peaceful; I imagined them flitting from flower to flower, bathing in dewdrops and singing so sweetly that even the hedgehogs would stop to listen.

When I walked alone in the woods, I breathed in the respite of their tranquil world as it eased the suffocation of my reality.

Yet, when I write of the past, sometimes at its darkest, I remember the little girl who searched for fairy circles and picked flowers for pressing in scrapbooks; I smile at this child, mesmerized was she by the pure magic of finding speckled blue eggs warming inside a blackbird’s nest.

This, my true magic.

Posted in Bite Size Memoir, Childhood Memories | Tagged Bite Size Memoir, Childhood memories, English Woods, Fairies, Magic, Memoir, Pixies | 76 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Work Of Art Is An Abalone Shell

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

The theme for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge is ‘Work of Art’. Michelle defines it this way:

“Art” isn’t just paintings and sculptures, it can be anything in which we find beauty and meaning — even food. Show us a thing, place, or person that’s a work of art to you.

Works of art are everywhere we care to look but of course art’s beauty, as with all creativity, is subjective. Thinking of so many possibilities for this challenge one voice called out louder than all the rest and I realised that I didn’t need to look far for art’s ‘beauty and meaning’.

Walk with me then, if you will, down a few steps and into my garden and I shall show you my kind of art.

Witness the glory of the lavender as it sparks into deepest purple, all the more a work of art since I moved this particular plant at least twice last summer; a thrill for me to see it taking root and form as it welcomes all who look upon it:

Spring Garden
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Then we look upon the merest hint of a delicate pink that has kissed the edge of the first flush of a budding rose, exploding into scented life from winter’s hibernation.

Rambling Rose
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

With a deeper sweep of nature’s paintbrush and another rose gives up its blushing splendor.

Spring Rose (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Added to the artist’s palette is the buttery yellow of the Iceland poppies who dance to their own tune in the bright and breezy spring air. Happy to be alive, they stretch up to the blue above with their little yellow hats:

But when I think of art and all that is marvellous in God’s creation I think not only of flowers and plants and trees on the land but of ‘all creatures great and small’ and I remember my days by the sea.

In my garden sit two Abalone shells. One intact, one broken, yet sit they do, side by side, as they have done through wind and rain, sun and snow as the years rush by.

Since the days when my children and I found them, washed up on the Californian shore so many years ago.

Abalone shimmers in the sunshine with its mother-of-pearl iridescence.

Abalone Shells
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Sea otters eat abalone, along with mussels, clams, crabs and snails. When they are finished eating the juicy insides, the empty shells are abandoned and travel as sea-treasures sent to us who walk through the sand and wait patiently for the tide to bring them in.

When I look upon these shells I think of California, of returning to a small fishing town called Morro Bay, where my children laughed and played for years and years. Where we used to watch the otters and the seals also at play, if we were lucky.

Gazing out across the harbour with my friend last year, how thrilling to be able to capture this little scene:

Hey! You wanna piece of me? California Sea Otter, Morro Bay CA
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Keepin’ it cool man!
Californian Sea Otter, Morro Bay CA
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

‘Works of Art’ then are everywhere, as viewed through the camera’s lens. What moves one may not move another but how wonderful it is to explore our inner artistry and to discover our kind of art.

‘A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be’. – Abraham Maslow

Posted in Garden Snippets, My California, Nature & Wildlife, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged Abalone, Art, California, Creation, English Garden, God, Nature & Wildlife, postaday, Roses, Sea Otters, Weekly Photo Challenge | 68 Comments

Friends, Phones and Phubbing: Do We Have A Failure To Communicate?

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

Ever been out with a friend and halfway through your cosy little chat they stop to check their texts and emails? Well, you might be surprised to know that if so, you have just been ‘phubbed’.

What does this mean? Well, apparently the word ‘phubbing’ means the following:

‘Snubbing others in a social setting by checking your phone‘.

In fact, recent research by advertising agency McCann shows that 37 percent of people now think it ruder to ignore a text than it is to ‘phub’ your friends.

Really? I wonder what age-group this refers to?

There is no doubt that the way we communicate with one another has changed rapidly for those of us who grew up without mobile technology. The only kinds of telephone we had were the kind that plugged straight into the wall.

We had one of those heavy, black telephones (the kind you now see in antique shops) but my friend had to use the telephone box at the end of her street.

We would arrange a time to talk and cram in as much as we could before either her coins ran out or my mum told me time up.

No such thing as free local calls, you see.

Needless to say we rarely talked on the phone with our friends ; we said all we had to say in person, face to face, at school.

Sounds archaic, I know, but least we didn’t have to worry about being phubbed.

When I moved to California in 1986 there was no internet or cheap, international calling plans.

So Mum and I wrote letters, great reams of them back and forth and we planned phone calls once every two weeks for one hour, budgeting for them as they were so expensive.

Letters from home were my lifeline.

It would be different today. We would Skype and email, and what’s wrong with that?

Absolutely nothing!

Now Mum and I text and say ‘LOL’ (which we used to think meant ‘Lots of Love’ until my daughter put us right)!

What then of our use of mobile phones? I’m as guilty as the next person of jumping to order when I hear a text come in, but when I’m out with a friend I really do try not to do this, unless I’m worried it might be from one of my kids.

Spending quality time with family and friends without constant interruption emanating from our phones shouldn’t be so hard to achieve, surely?

We’ve all witnessed couples who sit down at a table in a restaurant and immediately pull out their phones, bury their faces in them and communicate wonderfully.

Just not with each other.

What about the people who answer their phones when standing in the middle of a queue (usually at the Post Office, I’ve noticed) only to discuss where they are (“I’m at the Post Office!”) and where they’re going next.

While their phone friend might be fascinated to hear this, we mugs standing in line are not.

My first mobile phone was a clunky Nokia with a Union Jack faceplate to remind me of home when I lived in America.

Years later I graduated to a Motorola flip phone and I loved it.

My Motorola Flip Phone – Hello Moto!

It didn’t take great photos but I could use it quickly and easily for calls and texting which is all I needed.

I dropped it more times than I care to remember but it always kept going.

One time, while walking through town shopping in the rain, the heel of one of my boots caught on the slick kerb of the pavement as I attempted to cross the road.

I went down like a ton of bricks, landed firmly on both knees, bum in the air.

Not a pretty sight.

My phone flew out of my bag, which had tipped upside down, and skidded into the middle of the road.

Of course this happened right in front of some workmen who were painting the outside of a department store.

“All right love?” came the concerned words of one of them as he rushed over to help me, but I was already up and standing in the middle of the road, dusting off my phone.

It still worked! Phew!

“No thanks, I’m fine!” I replied breezily as I limped off. Never mind my bruised and blooded ~~pride~~ kneecaps.

The point being? Well, I was more concerned about my phone than anything else!

Is that normal? I seriously doubt it…

Now I have a Smart phone, oh yes I do. As some of you know I often post photos here from my Android.

I’ve only had it a few months and already the glass has shattered.

Smartphone?? Before the glass broke…

I have to be careful. I still can’t text as quickly as I could on my faithful flip phone.

One slip of the finger and I’ve ordered three books from Amazon, called emergency and sent money to someone I don’t even know on PayPal.

But it has its uses; for one thing, believe it or not, I can use it for making calls.

Although I should confess to having a Facebook App and my very own iAquarium…

In summing up then, I do wonder, are we able to balance our ever-growing reliance on modern technology with the care and nurture of our personal relationships, face-to-face, taking time out to switch off and so escape communication overload?

I certainly hope so!

Today’s youngsters are born with a phone in their hand. Second nature. But does this mean that the way they communicate with one another is any worse (or better) than the way we of a certain, ahem, age/generation do?

Last year, when in California, I was with my daughter and her father at his place. We were going out for the day to visit family and waiting for her to get ready.

While waiting, I became engrossed in something on my phone, although it couldn’t have been much as I wasn’t on ‘roam’ and I didn’t have any internet.

EH (ex-husband) was texting away on his phone…

When my daughter appeared to tell us she was ready, neither of us heard, lost as we were in our separate phone worlds. Exasperated at being ignored, she blurted out, “Can you hear me? I’m ready!”

Oblivious before, we both ~~came to~~ looked up at her, wide-eyed and speechless.

‘Honestly!’ she huffed, “It’s like dealing with a couple of teenagers, always on your phones!” Obviously this wasn’t the only time this had happened to her…

Maybe it’s not the young who have the problem with communication after all. Those of us who have had to adjust to this ever-changing world and the way we interact with one another might just have to be careful.

Case in point: There are those who consider ‘phubbing’ to be so rude that ‘youngster’, 23 year-old, Alex Haigh from Australia, started a ‘Stop Phubbing‘ campaign on the internet.

So perhaps there’s hope for us all. Go Alex!

I do wonder though whether ‘phubbing’ could be the least of our problems.

Posted in Current Affairs, Friendship, My California, Travel | Tagged California, Cell Phones, Communication, Family Life, Friendship, Letter Writing, Modern Technology, Phubbing, Social media, travel | 95 Comments

A Lingering Look At Windows: High Voltage Tattoo Parlor

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

Tattoos anyone?

It’s been a while since I posted some photos for Dawn’s A Lingering Look At Windows challenge so to get started up again, I’m spicing things up a bit. Well, for me anyway! Your average English country garden post this ain’t!

What we have here are some shots I managed to squeeze in (and I mean squeeze) from the back of my ex-husband’s car (a white Mustang Cobra no less).

This might sound strange and I’m sure some of you would like to know what on earth I was doing there, of all places?

Well, during my trip back to California last year with Aspie D, having spent the bulk of my time with my friend on the Central Coast, I joined Aspie D and her father for the last few days of our trip.

She wanted to see some of the old haunts in Los Angeles (Hollywood, Disneyland and the house from the TV show ‘American Horror Story’, that kind of thing) with me.

Driving through West Hollywood, we drove past Kat Von D’s famed High Voltage Tattoo Parlor as featured in the TV reality show, LA Ink which Aspie D used to watch.

EH (ex-husband) stopped just outside the shop so I could grab these shots. Not the best, I agree, but they are windows, and we did linger!

No sign of Kat Von D though.

You can see the reflection of EH’s car in this photo. I’m crammed in the back and could hardly sit up straight. Not that I’m complaining or anything…

Gunning down the streets and freeways of LA in that is great – as the driver!

I have actually driven that old car a few times, back in the day. As I’ve written here before, nothing beats the deep rumble of a V8 engine.

EH recently sold the Mustang. 20 years he had it.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, no, I don’t have any tattoos. Not my thing. Are you kidding? I thought I was being rebellious when I had my ears pierced (I was 18). Sad isn’t it?

Both my boys do though and when Aspie D was 15 she informed me that she was going to get a skull with wings tattooed across her chest and neck.

So of course I took her straight down to the nearest tattoo parlor…yeah right! I told her not under my roof and hoped that by the time she was ‘of age’ she would come to her senses.

I did also suggest that if she ever got one like that, I would get a tattoo of a fairy with Union Jack wings tattooed on my chest at the same time. A nice mother and daughter day out I thought.

She changed her mind. I wonder why?

Posted in A Lingering Look at Windows, Family Life, My California, Travel | Tagged A Lingering Look at Windows, California, Family Life, High Voltage Tattoo Parlor, Hollwood, Kat Von D, LA Ink, Los Angeles, Mustang Cobra, travel | 62 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Aspie Girl On The Move

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

It occurred to me recently that where I live now is the longest I’ve lived in one house (six years) for the past 35 years. Up until now, it would have been five years but the average ‘stay’ was about three.

When my children were young, we lived in the same area on the Central Coast of California for over a decade so although we moved house a few times, we always managed to stay within the same school catchment area so that the kids didn’t have to move schools.

This week’s theme for the Weekly Photo Challenge is ‘On the Move’ which gives an added definition to the kind of ‘moving’ I’ve been thinking about.

As Cheri explains over at the Daily Prompt:

‘Whether on foot, in a kayak, or on a train, we can document our lives easily. More than ever, the moments of our in-betweens are photo-worthy and shareable.’

With both trains of thought (no pun intended!) coming together on this theme of ‘moving’, my ideas for this post drifted towards my twenty-one year old daughter, Aspie D:

To her younger years when she was so often ‘on the move’, as defined by the challenge, and happy, healthy and content within her family’s safe bubble:

Aspie D enjoying a day out on her scooter
Beach walk just off the Pacific Coast Highway, Morro Bay, California 1990’s
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Before the challenges of being a female with Asperger’s Syndrome and the resulting severe anxiety which blights her daily life took hold and for which she is now receiving professional support.

She has made great strides recently in many ways and I couldn’t be prouder.

But it isn’t easy.

Aspie D on Holiday Mount Shasta, California, 1990's (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Aspie D going on holiday heading to the lake
Camping near Mount Shasta, California, 1990’s
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

I think of when we bought our last home in California. It was our dream home but our dream became our nightmare. If my marriage was bad before we moved in, it deteriorated at breakneck speed almost as soon as the removal van pulled away.

I promised my daughter, who was eight years old when we moved in, that we wouldn’t move again, if I had anything to do with it, that we would stay there until she graduated from high school when she was 18.

The move was hard on her, she detests change and did so then but of course we didn’t now that she had Asperger’s and just how vast the impact of having to change her routine, never mind her home, really had on her.

What she needed, what we all needed, was stability and security, not more upheaval.

She was happy in her new home, with her freshly-painted bedroom with the wallpaper border decorated with tropical Tree Frogs. Just what she had asked for…

Two years later, upon seeing the ‘For Sale’ sign on our front lawn, she took one of her shoes off and threw it at the sign. Then she ran into the house and up to her room where she cried her eyes out.

That’s the true reality of divorce.

Before we left, I took my children, who by then were 20, 14 and 10, on holiday to San Diego. We had wonderful days out at the Zoo, Sea World, and the Wildlife Safari Park.

We also had fun ‘playing’ at Paradise Point where we stayed, including riding about on what is known in America as a ‘surrey’ (defined in the US as ‘a light four-wheeled carriage with two seats facing forwards’):

Aspie D and brother Nicky Paradise Point - San Diego 2003 (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Aspie D and brother Nicky on a Surrey at Paradise Point – San Diego 2003
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Then came the day to leave our California. Time to head out to the airport and take to the skies, to move to our new life in England.

But not without Aspie D’s newly acquired Beanie Baby cat to share the journey. Just one of many to add to her collection, now stored away in a big box somewhere up in my loft. Probably worth a small fortune…

Aspie D on the moving walkway at San Francisco Airport, 2003. What new life awaits? (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Aspie D with friend on the moving walkway at San Francisco Airport, 2003. What new life awaits?
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Life moves on, new adventures awaited us. I returned to England as a single mum, having living away for almost 20 years, and had to find a new home, new friends, re-enter the workforce, and begin again.

Then I found someone I didn’t expect to in a million years; my hubby.

Together we formed our new family. We went on holiday together, explored new places, had exciting adventures.

Aspie D & Nicky on a hair-raising camel ride. Not Morroco, no, but Lanzarotte believe it or not! 2008 (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Aspie D & Nicky on a hair-raising camel ride. Not Morocco, no, but Lanzarote believe it or not! 2008
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

I was unable to keep my promise to Aspie D. Yet we kept moving forward, not allowing the brokenness of the past to overwhelm us. We pressed on and I know that my daughter will find her way.

Aspie D - horse riding American Style 1990's (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Aspie D – horse riding American Style in California 1990’s
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

She is Aspie Girl ‘On the Move’.

Posted in Asperger's Syndrome, Family Life, My California, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged Asperger's Syndrome, California, Childhood memories, England, Family Life, postaday, San Diego, travel, Weekly Photo Challenge | 65 Comments

Spring Flowers In West Country England

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

There is no reason for this post other than for the simple fact that spring is a time for flowers and I like flowers and I like spring so I thought it would be nice to share a few photos with you. That’s all!

So, as promised, here they are. Before I go on please, if you want to experience a vision of really great flower photographs, do visit a couple of lovely ladies who just happen to have stunning blogs:

Theresa at dba Third Hand Art – for gorgeous photographs and digital art too

Jude over at Earth laughs in flowers…, – beautiful flower photographs

Meanwhile, here are mine:

Firstly, these are taken from Barrington Court, a National Trust house and gardens not far from us. If you want to visit just the gardens and the workshops, which are open during normal business hours and include a pottery barn, fabric shop, hand-made jewellery and woodworking shop, you don’t have to pay a parking or entrance fee. Always on the look out for freebies, that I am!

A truly beautiful place if you want to take a long walk within some tranquil and immaculately cared-for grounds.

I was rather taken with this fountain:

Not to mention the walled garden with the hidden doors which reminded me so much of one of my all-time favourite books, The Secret Garden.

What’s not to love about that story?

These next photographs were taken during a walk through the gardens of Minterne Magna, a gorgeous, privately owned estate situated half-way between the towns of Sherborne and Dorchester in Dorset.

Watch out for this magnificent stag, he appears out of nowhere….

…but don’t worry, he’s not real. He’s made of willow!

Just had to share, this is St Andrew’s Church at the entrance to the gardens. It dates back to late medieval times and contains memorials belonging to the Digby, Napier and Churchill families.

St Andrew’s Church, Mintern Magna
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Then just to round off:

Today I took my usual walk around the neighbourhood. When I left my house, the sun was shining but it was a little chilly. Then dark clouds rolled up and I got caught in driving rain. Determined to carry on, the clouds parted and the sun shone again, drying me out just in time before my return home. You never know what you’re going to get around here!

Enjoy your spring wherever you are today, my friends, and see you soon 🙂

Posted in Nature & Wildlife, Photos | Tagged Barrington Court, Dorset, England, Flowers, Mintern Magna, photos of flowers, Spring, The Secret Garden, West Country | 87 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: English Bluebells of Spring

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

Mintern Magna, Dorchester April, 2014 (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Mintern Magna, Dorchester, Spring 2014
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Home-Thoughts, From Abroad
‘Oh to be in England
Now that April’s there
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
White the Chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
in England – now!’
And after April, when May follows…’

Robert Browning – 1812 – 1899

To read the rest of the poem, click here.

Browning wrote this poem as a homesick traveller longing for memories of home. I remember how much I missed the seasons when I lived in California and this reminds me to never take for granted where you live.

I longed to feast my eyes on the English countryside (which is not to say I wasn’t in awe of the majesty of the wild beauty of California, far from it) but for me to be able to take a walk through the woods on an English spring day when the breeze is warm, clouds gather overhead warning of impending rain, yet hold off for a few hours and the trees whisper amongst themselves as they conspire with the birds, is a gift I readily accept.

Path to Duncliffe Woods, Dorset
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

How perfect then that the theme for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge is ‘Spring!’ I had plans to post some flower photos on Friday but they went pear-shaped (my plans, not the flowers).

Getting ready for a long weekend and having my boy home for three days had me bashing elbows with my fellow grocery shoppers, which is the price I paid for leaving it so late. Still, it’s all worth it isn’t it?

So back to ‘Spring!’. The challenge asks:

‘Share a photo which describes what spring means to you’.

In this case I would have to say that spring means a wood full of bluebells, and I’m so happy that we were able to get a walk in this weekend to see them before they disappear.

There is just the place, Duncliffe Wood, which lies a few miles west of Shaftesbury in Dorset and which is managed by The Woodland Trust. The Trust’s vision, as taken from their website is :

‘A UK rich in woods and trees, enjoyed and valued by everyone.’

A personal note here: My dear Granny, who lived to be 94, has three trees grown in her honour as donated by the family to The Woodland Trust. They keep a catalogue of all the trees planted and grown in memoriam of loved ones, so the Trust has a special place in my heart.

I always think of my Granny in an extra-special way every time I take a walk through these woods…

Duncliffe Wood then, is old! It’s mentioned in The Domesday Book of 1086 and contains ancient lime trees, some between 600 and 1,000 years old. Another little snippet of history for you history lovers out there! (Source credit: Wikipedia)

Entrance to Duncliffe Woods, Dorset UK
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

The Trust seems to have created a specific trail for young families with signs along the way showing how to recognise certain flora and wildlife.

Here is an example:

Notice the middle sign is asking for volunteers to help with Owl Box Monitoring Training! Sounds fascinating don’t you think?

Along the way, a delightful hideaway. Looks like the kind of den we built as kids down the lane where we once lived. We spent hours playing inside it. Them were the days, eh?

Duncliffe Woods, Dorset
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Now for the bluebells:

This is what Spring means to me, as I walked through the woods:

God’s Bluebell

Rustling waves of wood-green
Among the throng, yet unseen
of birds trilling on the wind
To usher in May-time’s scene.

As heaven’s-blue cast on the swell
of damp, soft earth and does compel;
So write I must and burst with joy!
Caught up in rapture of God’s Bluebell.

Photos taken with my phone (Android) because I forgot my camera…

More flower photos tomorrow, the ones I had planned for Friday! I’m also winding my way to you all, slowly. Happy Spring Day my friends 🙂

Posted in Nature & Wildlife, Poems, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged English Countryside, photographs of bluebells, Poem, Poetry, postaday, Robert Browning, The Woodland Trust, Weekly Photo Challenge | 70 Comments

Letting Go

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

The theme for this week’s Weekly Writing Challenge is Flash Fiction. One of the challenges is to write a story in 300 words or less. I’m going for broke and have written mine in 298 words, not including the title, and it’s written from an American perspective this time.

Letting Go

Taking one last sweep of her son’s room before closing the door on his boyhood life for ever, Cathy choked back her tears.

‘I’ll be waiting in the car Mom!’ called Mike from downstairs, interrupting her thoughts.
Not daring to allow even a hint of the dread of this day to show, Cathy hurriedly wiped her eyes and put on a good smile as she got into the car.

‘Ready?’ Mike shot his mom a sideways glance, drawn away momentarily from the lure of his cell phone.

‘Yep! Let’s go!’

For the first part of the journey, Mike chatted excitedly about his life to come as a College Freshman and Cathy tried her best to sound enthusiastic.

Later on, Mike’s eagerness to ‘just get there’ seemed to Cathy that it was tinged with nervousness and as they drove closer to their destination, they both drifted off into the lost thoughts which had peppered their conversation but which now gave way to the silence between them.

Arriving at last, the rest of the day was filled with signing papers, heaving boxes and meet-and-greets. Cathy was grateful for the distraction of the organized chaos, but far too soon the moment she had dreaded arrived.

With bitter relief, it was over and done with in a hurried blur of hugs, kisses, love-you’s and ‘’Bye Mom, I’ll call you soon!’

And that was that.

It wasn’t until later that night and curled up on her son’s bed, that Cathy allowed the tears to fall at last, soaking his pillow as she let her mother’s grief take hold, wishing as she did for all the world that her boy was a three-year old again, snuggled up next to her as she read him his favorite story one last time.

What future awaits? Eldest son, Morro Bay, California 1987 (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

What future awaits?
Eldest son, Los Osos, California 1987
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Posted in Flash Fiction, Weekly Writing Challenge | Tagged Dpchallenge, Flash fiction, Weekly Writing Challenge | 83 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Letters Of A 17th Century Prisoner

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Sherri Matthews

This week’s Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is to share a photograph with letters, any letters.

As Cheri puts it:

‘As you look through your lens, think about how your image might convey something bigger: a snapshot of how we communicate with one another, even if we don’t speak the same language.’

As soon as I found out about this challenge I knew exactly which photo I wanted to share, being one from the series of photographs I took when visiting the The Cotswolds in early March.

I’ve always been taken with old churches and the wealth of history and hidden treasures contained within them.

Since my children grew up in California, when we visited ‘back home’ in England I wanted them to know as much about their British roots as their American ones and hopefully instill in them the same love of history I’ve always enjoyed!

This meant ~~dragging~~ introducing them to places I wanted them to know about and not just in London, such as The Tower of London and Westminster Abbey but other places along the length and breadth of this wonderful Isle of ours, from Whitby Abbey and York Minster ‘up north’ to Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge ‘down south’ in the plains of Wiltshire.

(A Minster is an honorific title given to particular churches in England, most famously York Minster in York. (source credit: Wikipedia))

Surprises met us in the most unexpected places. For instance, we didn’t expect to discover that King Ethelred, brother of King Alfred the Great (849 – 899 AD) and King of Wessex from 865 to 871 AD, is buried in a tomb inside the church at Wimborne Minster, a small market town in Dorset just a few miles from where I once lived before moving to the States!

(My inner geekiness is coming out now, I love this stuff!)

While visiting the village of Burford in the Cotswolds, I had to stop by the church, parts of which date back as early as 1160 AD. Looking casually around and admiring the architecture and beautiful stained glass windows I was drawn to the font, which itself dates back to the 12th century.

Immediately, I noticed this delightful little gem; beneath some protective glass is a carving on the lead on top of the ancient font:

Carving on the font at Burford Church, The Cotswolds, England (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

It reads:

‘Anthony Sedley 1649 Prisner, ‘.

A sign showing a copy of rubbings taken of the original writing (placed on top of the font, hence the reflection captured in the photograph) explains the brief story; who this man was and why he felt the need to inscribe his name on the font in this way:

Tracing of original carving by Anthony Sedley, 1649 on the font at Burford Church, The Cotswolds, England (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Tracing of original carving by Anthony Sedley on the font at Burford Church, The Cotswolds
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Out of the 300 plus ‘Levellers’ (a group of radicals who, during the years of the English Civil War, challenged the control of Parliament – source credit: History Learning Site) trapped and imprisoned by Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers on the night of 13th May, 1649 and for three nights hence at Burford church, three were executed (shot) and subsequently buried in the churchyard.

Sedley wasn’t one of them, escaping with his life, and his letters, carved out for us to read some 360 years later, appear to be his only remaining memorial.

I wonder what became of ‘prisner’ Anthony Sedley?