Acting is all about honesty, if you can fake that you can fake anything.
Jeni Barnett I have come to the conclusion that I am lazy. Indolence, of course, is the prevaricators excuse for fear. I do loads of things but they’re all displacement activities. I meditate, on rising, and put any thoughts of anything out of my head. I listen to Deepak Chopra and imagine that my world is unutterably … Read more
I’ve talked to my nephew and niece, I’ve talked to my oldest girlfriends, I’ve talked to the old git and I’ve just come in from sitting in the sun, on a bench in the garden talking to my next door neighbour about confusion. Are we not all confused? Are we not victims of governmental decisions … Read more
My little golden Maneki-neko is waving her arm backwards and forwards. I always thought she was Chinese but I’ve since learnt that Maneki-neko is Japanese in origin, at any rate she sits on the left speaker on the shelf in front of the window. She’s meant to wave in good luck. At the moment she’s … Read more
The blueberry bush, of thirty years, was singed by the hot sun as was my ancient camellia, their leaves papery and curled. There are brown patches on the lawn and my two new rose clippings that were doing so well have turned a deeper shade of pale. The blackberries are now shrivelled, the spinach wan … Read more
The White House Rose Garden was established in 1913 by Ellen Louise Axson Wilson the wife of Woodrow Wilson. It was on the site of a previous ‘colonial’ garden established by First Lady Edith Roosevelt, those roses took a lot of tending and a good deal of horse shit. Then a rumour reached me that … Read more
8.15 and it’s dark. There are those who complain about shorter days and the onset of winter, but I like the sniff of autumn, and the crunch of curled leaves. Our cottage is designed to be cool in the summer and cosy in the winter, those damn peasants knew what they were doing building granite … Read more
Don’t we accumulate friends over a lifetime. A posse of like minded pals, or even unlikely chums that crop up year after year when their birthdays come round. January is lean for me, I do know about three folk with their birthdays in the bleak month. But I’m too overwhelmed by Christmas to remember them. … Read more
When I left the cottage the rain was barely there, By the time I reached the field it was a proper summer shower warm and ‘Soft’ as they say in Ireland. I would like to be in Galway now, on the rough Atlantic coast, eating in smoke stained bars whilst the fiddlers play and the … Read more
On the way to the organic farm shop the dawter spied a herd of deer in a field. We drove past them on our right, leaving them behind us as we swung round the lanes towards the fresh vegetables. We arrived, on Monday, the sign said ‘Open Tuesday till Saturday’. So the girl turned the … Read more
We have a drawer full of candles. Our next door neighbour does car boot sales and house clearances so he gives us boxes of old, waxy, white candles, dirty, drippy Christmas candles and if we’re lucky boxes of old dining room tapers that melt into ghostly fingers down the side of our candlesticks. We’ve always … Read more