Category: Simplifying
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Wide windows and a wet, wet spring – Creativity flowering in Braidwood
Why garden? Why write? … ‘Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.’ American writer Edith Wharton said that and I think of it often since moving to the country. These days, still in La Nina, our well overflowing and the creek rushing and rising as rain continues to fall, drinking the day can…
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A hopeful path forward in a fractured world – Sarah Wilson’s new book
An adventurous heart Sarah Wilson’s This One Wild and Precious Life navigates through the problems facing us all right now: coronavirus, climate change, racial inequalities, political and economic polarisation, as well as loneliness, in an accessible, thought-provoking way. The author spent three years pondering these issues and she takes us on her travels over that…
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The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Nothing left to lose I’m travelling through Ireland, en route to a writing residency in County Kerry and the bookshops here are brilliant. A favourite one is Charlie Byrnes Bookshop in Galway. My favourite book from there is The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (Penguin, 2018). Sitting before roaring log fires in Shankill Castle’s drawing…
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Slowing down – A beautiful book on sustainable living: Mark Boyle’s The Way Home
The Way Home: Tales from a life without technology. Mark Boyle. (Oneworld Publications, 2019) It’s a surprise to learn that Mark Boyle has a degree in Economics and Marketing. He lives in rural County Galway in a dwelling he built himself. He chooses to live without electricity or running water. He has no car and…
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Recipes for happiness
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That warm glow of excitement and satisfaction It’s been a while since my last blog post and I make no apology. I don’t write them for click-bait – they’re for contemplation and the odd laugh. I’ve been working – writing non-fiction – and, of course, reading. One thing I read expresses precisely my situation about…