Food for Thought for Friday --

I put all my links for June together in PARALLEL OONAHVERSE this week so please go and click on them and get your FREE DOWNLOAD of two stories of mine in Ether Books.

In addition I am also in The Quarterly Review at Bewildwering Stories.
and in Every Day Poets' Editor's View

This day last year was the super-cell storm in Newcastle-- a day that will last in the memory of all of us who were caught in it as we were with Nathan Rosen and Jenesta Matthews who visited Britain in the wettest summer for 100 years :( Look at that cloud! This was just before lightning struck the Tyne Bridge there.

So I wrote Art of the Storm

Thankfully today is calm, the sun is just coming out  and I am watching grey wagtails taking food to their chicks in a little hole in our hedge. :)

Food for Thought for Friday -- Generosity of spirit

and it's not always about the food. Sometimes it's about the company! My sister stayed for two weeks and it was a treat to introduce her to some of my friends like Amanda Baker here.

Ray made cup cakes with strawberries and flowers on and Ray is very good at cup cakes :)
We shared two meals with my friend Dorothy on Holy Island on our stay there. Holy Island for me is Dorothy's hospitality, generosity of spirit and intelligence -- It's always a treat to spend time with Dorothy.
We shared a meal with cousin Claire, her husband Andrew and his brother Tony in Newcastle. It was a treat to meet Tony too. There's nothing like extended family ties to make you feel you belong.

We happened across Prof. Prior and Tony Robinson on the Island too Time Teaming :) Mr Robinson has always struck me on TV as a generous human being and when I said (truthfully) that I watched anything presented by him on TV, I got a kiss on the cheek! Thank you Sir Tony! (Look out for that Time Team Special from Northumberland). I am glad that programme is continuing in some form. I can't get enough archaeology -- and I do miss my time treats!

There was a visual treat in store at Woodhorn Museum too in the form of unexpected access to the Oliver Kilbourn Collection which my sister loves -- well -- we both do! 
At Belsay costumes from Jane Austin films. The wedding dress Kate Winslet wore in Sense and Sensibility -- Imogen Stubbs' aubergine coloured hat and Billie Piper's riding habit -- such detail for often seconds on screen. That takes dedication and a lot of selflessness on the part of the costume makers. When you watch your next film -- stay for the titles and looks at the names. A film is a team effort.
While you're at it look at the Staff page at Every Day Poets too. My team give their time generously commenting on poems and working behind the scenes to bring you a poem a day. Thank you Team!

Esme also ejoyed Thimbleberry Jam sponge and Maple Syrup Pudding while she was here -- treats from the Upper Penninsula. Craster Kippers. Handi Lamb. Retro sweets. Oonah's marinated spiced lamb. But I wouldn't for the world tempt you with the menus and recipes. Suffice to say that's enough treats for a while :)

Then there was the abunbance of flowers almost everywhere we went. Nature is generous with her gifts too.

These in the greenhouse at Wallington

But the best treat of all was to spend time with my bestest sister! 

The Solstice is upon us and so I'll be picking some herbs for drying. If you have some raspberries or strawberries in the freezer, why not use them as ice cubes in your favourite drink? And however you spend the day, enjoy it with friends and the right spirit and you won't go wrong.

Food for Thought for Friday -- Lorsque Nous Etions Jeunes

It came about recently that my friend Jennifer on the Flash Poetry forum at WriteWords challenged my memory and provoked a chain of events. Here was the challenge:
Use 2 words.
No 1: Stimulation as we all need that at times.
No 2: Assumption.
in any way, shape or form.

Assumption? I thunk and thunk! So many meanings to choose from...and yet that word held a deep significance for me that I had quite forgotten about (and that Catholics will immediately recognise) -- 
15th August -- Assumption Day!

Laval de Roquecezière 1976.

I spent that summer with the Bardy family. Michel, le pere, Auguste, la mere, Aurelie et Camille, les grandparents, Elisabeth (17), Jean (14) et Olivier (6), les enfants. I was supposed to speak English to Elisabeth and Jean but they weren't keen so I got to practise my French quite a lot.

We started off in Paris, travelled to the Charentes for a wedding, then on the Saint Crepin, nestled in the beautiful unspoiled National Park of Aveyron, then to Marseillon sur Plage near Sete, back a while to St Crepin where M. Bardy's father was the tailor, and eventually back to Paris for my final week. It was incredible! It was also the hottest summer for many decades. I barely went out in the sun prefering the shade.

Tu vas attrapper un coup de lune, Oonah

They told me :) They were very kind to me -- all of them. They even arranged for me to spend a Sunday at a Baptist Church in (I think it was) Vianne.

But on 15th August, a day that meant nothing to me (being a Baptist) I was included in the Assumption Day celebrations at Laval de Roquecezière. The focus of this;  the lovely statue of Notre Dame de Roquecezière at an astounding viewpoint in the mountains.

I was accorded by the curate, the tremendous privilege of reading The Lord's Prayer that year at the service. 

I was 22. I was green and young and probably a bit arrogant and I may not have given the moment the place it deserved. But when Jennifer made that challenge, it came flooding into my heart like the warm summer of 1976,  and I suddenly longed to remember it all -- the place, the people, the prayer, the statue.

I looked it up on the internet. I wrote about my memory of the place and to my astonishment got a reply fron a M. Tourel. And he knew Elisabeth Bardy!

This week I had an email from Elisabeth Condomine nee Bardy :) 37 years later -- and I sent her the few photos I have. So few...I was able to photoshop so that the pictures looked almost new.

37 years have passed. PC's and emails were no more part of that world then I was part of theirs and yet for a brief time time I was. And now thanks to the wonders of modern technology I say encore une fois, 

'Bonjour Elisabeth.'

Food for Thought for Friday -- Vive la Mariée

Friday 24th May 2013

a very special day for our friends Sarah and John

 we are attending their wedding at 1pm

and afterwards at  
Longhirst
 (the promised menu has me drooling)

we will be helping them to celebrate their union and wishing them 

all the happiness in the world 

for many years to come.

Sarah & John

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Food for Thought for Friday -- A taste of the Upper Penninsula

All of these were made by the talented Mr. Dave Morehouse of Upper Penninsula Michigan & include:

Smoked salmon, Thimbleberry Jam, Dandelion Jelly & Maple Syrup

LUCKY ME!

Friday's food for thought -- TANDOORI MEALS & HUNGER STRIKES

Okay so I had a bus ticket that lasts all day and so, determined to make the most of it, we went to the Tandoor Mahal and nothing but Lamb Handi would do! And it did :)

BUT as we were passing the Sanderson's Arcade we noticed that the great big daffodils hanging from the ceiling were being replaced tonight by banners in purple white and green. My husband asked why. Suffragete colours! I explained.

100 years ago, (London born Oxford educated) Emily Davison walked these streets and considered this town of Morpeth her home. It was here she recovered from her injuries and hunger strikes and from here she left on her last campaign agsainst injustice. She is buried here. And today when I put my X on that ballot paper in the local elections it was for no candidate, but for Emily I did it -- as should every woman with rights who now draws breath. Emily bought our freedoms with her death.

The flower beds of Carlisle park wear her colours proudly this year. It is a privilege to be here now -- at this moment in history and to honour her memory.

Read more about Emily and this centenary