And here is the stone ship in the rain

It rained all day Saturday, but I dragged the boys out anyway

to watch the stone ship sailing quietly

through all the flowers.

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Boats and clouds and rainbows

Last week we went sailing. Over water that lapped and trembled, all the colours of the sky.

Past clouds stacked like tower-blocks, through a sunset that lasted an hour.

I got to steer. I loved it.

Michael looked rather dashing in his lifejacket.

I looked like a cloud myself.

We had cakes and coffee in the hull. It was great. [...]

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Days and Years

It will never be today again. Never. He would not, in all his life, make another discovery more shattering.
Randolph Stow, The Merry-go-round in the Sea
In the last few hours of being 29, the loss of my twenties felt like some kind of a death. When you are in your twenties you believe you will be [...]

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More flyings

That’s me.

And there are the gliders zooming around the cliffs.

The view into Monaco.

The view towards the landing beach. The beach is long, but there are hazards. Picnicking families. Recently landed gliders. The sea. The cliffs. And, er, a small and thankfully very clean stream right in the middle of the beach. I landed right next [...]

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An eventful journey

Today we explored a windy Monaco. (I mean windy as in lots of wind – but I guess the streets are windy as in curvy too.) There are extremely posh Christmas decorations. The buildings are a strange mix of extravagant and tumble-down. A miniature apartment will cost you two million euros.

There are steps and elevators [...]

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Colours

I wish I could pick them all up and put them in my pocket.

The white and the green.

The yellow and the red.

The patchwork and the orange.

The grey and the rainbow-blue.

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The view from the sky

Here are some photos of our two gorgeous flights last Sunday. (Yes, I realise not everyone is as obsessed with this as I am, but bear with me.) That’s the launch site. It’s covered in carpet and is smooth and beautiful. (You don’t want too many stones and twigs and things, as they get caught [...]

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Sea Song

Walking by the sea in the strong air
you think of girls who lie pebbling
the small rocks
who wait the echoing nights
by the hard sea’s moan.
You’ve seen them often
at the edges of sleep –
the girls with wind tangling
their hair and their skirts, waiting

not for war or love
or the tall ships battering
their grey stone coasts
or lonely [...]

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Easter

We hired a car over Easter and did two trips down the Swedish coast, one trip to the islands near Fredrikstad, and one trip on the ferry across the fjord into central Norway. Halden is right in the south east corner of Norway, next to Sweden. It was good to finally explore the area further [...]

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