Crown and Bough

Monday 27 May 2019

I Wake Close to Morning



Why do people keep asking to see
God’s identity papers
when the darkness opening into morning
is more than enough?
Certainly any god might turn away in disgust.
Think of Sheba approaching
the kingdom of Solomon.
Do you think she had to ask,
“Is this the place?”

By Mary Oliver


(robin, Betws-y-Coed, February 2019, film on Pentax k1000)

Tuesday 14 May 2019

Victorian Extravaganza 2019



Notes:  cold but dry, partly sunny, thinner crowds than last year.  James wasn't wildly impressed with the Ferris wheel, and he didn't want to go to the circus, but I made Roan sit through it on Saturday.  Roan got a Paw Patrol balloon on Sunday that he lost thirty minutes later.  Two separate people asked us later that day if he was "the little boy who lost the balloon."  Roan and James "won" some toy guns at the duck booth, and Roan's was predictably broken in less than twenty minutes.  They played on the beach for a while, then some arcade games at the pier and some food.  We saw a live Punch and Judy puppet show, which has some questionable content involving nooses, and the devil, and throwing the baby down the stairs!

Wednesday 1 May 2019



Spring Equinox

Do not say, referring to the sun,
‘Its journey northward has begun.’
As though it were a bird, annually migrating,
That now returns to build in the rich trees
Its nest of golden grass. Do not belie
Its lusty health with words such as imply
A pallid invalid recuperating.
The age demands the facts, therefore be brief –
Others will sense the simile – and say:
‘We are turning towards the sun’s indifferent ray.’

by R.S. Thomas