It’s a fortnight since I’ve posted anything on this blog, and even longer since I’ve added any herbs. Blogposts are piling up – southernwood, oregano and marigolds, and reviews of Niall Campbell’s Moontide and Richie McCaffery’s Cairnare all owing, as well as updates on poems from the new collection which will be out in the word before too long. Itb will take a while to catch up with it all, but here’s a start.

The older grand-daughter is back at school, and the younger is at nursery. I hope the world is ready for them! During the holidays we have had a lot of family time, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, and welcoming family from the south. The big thing that has caused this long hiatus was the saga of the bath.

We have had the previous bath for many years, and, thanks to the hurly urly of family life, it was a bit scratched and rusty. So we thought we’d replace it. Two days, it was going to take, with a bit of fancy footwork to add a fixed shower screen (rather than the insecure and frankly inadequate curtain we had). Well. It turns out that the original bath had not been installed by the best workmen you’ve ever seen, as it wasn’t flush to the wall, or even level, resulting in some very dodgy silicone filling, which had leaked. So we had to replace plaster board, and the tiles stuck to it, and have supporting framework built in to square off and level up the floor and walls. And the electrics for the shower hadn’t been properly isolated—

So it took three weeks, and the house was full of plasterdust and the sound of drilling and hammering, and we were all camping out in places where we could get showers. It’s done now, and it looks really good (barring a bit of painting to touch up some of the alterations) and it works well.

Writing hasn’t quite gone by the wall. The Territory of Rain is coming together, and I’m collecting notes and ideas for the herb (and related) poetry. It may include folk music. And blues. And, possibly, flamenco. It’s going to be an adventure!