the crone

opening the door to ideas

When did magic die for you? I always believed in magic. I mean, really believed in it. Aged 9 I thought if I wished hard enough my cat would talk to me. That he was only hiding his secret self behind his impassive cat face because he could not trust a human. Could never trust a human, not even …

Continue reading

I used to think that the clouds went to bed at night When I saw them softly wandering towards the horizon at sunset I imagined they gathered together In a heap On the horizon Resting Bedded down  Until morning came When it was time to stretch and pull away For another day wandering the open …

Continue reading

Whales. Poor whales. Poor dead sperm whales, to be specific. Six of them have beached themselves on the east shores of the UK over the last few weeks. I don’t have any theories as to why they washed up. They were still alive (well, at first) so it wasn’t something as basic as their mighty …

Continue reading

What if we could treat each day as arriving on a new planet. What if each dawn was a new beginning on our own fresh, clean world. What if the grass or stone we walked on this morning had never been walked on before. How pure and clean life would feel. Just standing, looking up into …

Continue reading

Sir Nicholas Winton died this week. If you want to know who he was and what he did, read a bit about him at The Power of Good. He rescued around 669 children from the Nazi death camps. It was only when his attic was being cleared that the story of what he had done became …

Continue reading

So, I went for a walk, and I stood to watch the river as it slid past. The sunshine made the water’s surface a mass of glinting white lines and triangles of light. Moving. Animated. Shining gulls over smooth green glass. I stared, mesmerised by the changing surface. Then I got the sudden vivid impression, the absolute …

Continue reading

I saw the birds perched in a tree at the end of the road. Black bird shapes on black branches, settled in silhouette against the cold white winter sky. I count 10. I think there are 10. What is in their minds? I know birds cannot be said to have consciousness of self in the …

Continue reading

I was about 11-12 years old, on summer holiday in the Norfolk Broads with my mum, dad, 2 sisters and a cousin. I was one of the youngest children. It was early afternoon on a clear and sunny late summer’s day. We’d moored our hired long boat in a very quiet area next to fields and …

Continue reading

We were asked to donate a nearly-new cuddly toy to my boy’s school to raise funds in the Christmas raffle. My son decided to give away one of his precious teddies. The teddies of all shapes and sizes (and species) jumble together in a seemingly random heap, next to his pillow in bed. However, they apparently have a strict ranking and …

Continue reading