Footnotes on Life

Life is dappled don't you know Not all bright field Not all pitch black Not all twilight Not all dawn Life is dappled don't you know Not all sunset Not all dusk Not all half light Not all starlight Life is dappled don't you know More like puddles of sunbeams strewn...

You know how a photograph captures a particular moment? Back in the days of print-only photos this was especially true as photos were fewer and farther between. Nowadays we can take thousands of photos. One of my closest friends has over 20,000 photos on her phone. I...

I find myself thinking and writing about this and that. Specifically swimming and running. Of course this is not only about swimming and running, or indeed about any form of exercise. As you read what ‘swimming’ and ‘running’ mean for you, I imagine what you think of...

Notice the snail, her patterned back, her identity which grows with her. That she cannot take off, for wherever she goes there she is. Her home, her shell is her. All swirls and colours. Little by little she travels far. Feeling her way, unable to see much at all....

In the well known book 'The BFG' by Roald Dahl, the BFG character, (who creates and delivers dreams), says that ‘dreams is very mystical things’, like they are enshrouded in some kind of mysterious mist. This has been my exact experience. Dreams are different from...

I am new to writing, to me it is like holding a baby. Tiny and unpredictable, endearing and with lots of needs. But still I remind myself that babies of all species have their part to play. I am used to what I am good at not being seen much at all. Chaplaincy is a...

Tiny nostrils breathing in sweet sweat Bound tightly by bright colours to a warm, capable back Hearing her melodic hum calming anxious cries Held and cradled in a place both soft and strong Perfectly safe in her cocoon of care We have heard the phrase ‘stay safe’ a...

Tomorrow we will begin again, New dew will form at the break of dawn on grass that is ever so slightly taller The first light will waken anew, lifting open an awestruck eye to the beauty it beholds And the earth will be new, again Our bodies being healed and restored...

There is this canopy above us all which holds, contains and is lit up by, a multitude of stars. There are many things which may come to mind when gazing at stars in the night sky. I wonder what it makes you think of? Sometimes we might feel like we wish to rewrite the...

The shapes we thought we knew cannot hold us anymore The lines too straight angles too pointy squares too boxy We must draw circles instead spheres of endless possibility I wonder what shape is framing this experience for you? It seems to me that straight lines do not...

When someone says ‘thanks’ to you, what do you say? ‘It’s no bother’ ‘Don’t mention it’ ‘My pleasure’ I think I default to ‘You’re welcome’. In that phrase, when it is genuinely offered, I think I am saying: You are welcome here, to have had this space and place, you...

Technology holds its own wonderment and I offer gratitude for that all it captures and communicates. We have depended on it for years, especially to connect with those we know who live abroad. We certainly would be in a different place without it. However, although it...