The Gift of Stillness

I’ve had a tough summer, forced indoors and into inactivity by allergies and asthma. I’ve learned to take advantage of early mornings when it’s cool and the air is clear. If I wake early and feel good, I write, or work in the garden. One morning I was turning compost at 6 am, forgetting that people were sleeping nearby with open windows. Oops.

I take time for breakfast outside. I bring flowers in when I need to shut the doors and windows and turn on air filters. From inside, I watch baby robins and sparrows learn to fly and forage, and rejoice when crows visit.

As frustrating as it is to not play in the summer, this has its own benefits. It makes me think of writers who had serious illnesses as children, pushing them into their own imaginations. This has been a mini-retreat for me, deeply quiet, restful, and healing in spite of the health issues.

When I feel well enough to write – when I have enough brain clarity and energy and bounce – the stories flow. That’s what I’m gaining – more flow. More flow for story, more intuition, more flow in my life. That is a miraculous gift, and a promise of what’s to come.

Maureen

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf

Stuck in bed on a sick day, lungs overloaded by heat and pollen and smoke, I fell into a story and inhaled the book in a day – The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, by Ambelin Kwaymullina.

First cool thing: the author is aboriginal Australian (Palyku, to be precise), and I’m delighted to read voices I don’t usually hear from.

Second cool thing: it’s ecofiction, which I also haven’t read enough of.

Third cool thing: an aboriginal influence to the powers that was intriguing and convincing.

This is YA dystopian fiction, in a world somewhat reminiscent of The Hunger Games, although taken in an entirely different direction. I fell into the story and didn’t emerge until I was finished, and find myself still returning. Now I just need to convince the library to buy the rest of the

series.

Maureen

June Glory

Allergies and asthma fell me in hot weather – I stay inside, with filters running, being quiet. But I sneak out early, to enjoy the day while I can. I’ve been eating breakfast outside, watering the garden, seeing what’s in bloom. The garden is in its glory moment, deliciously over the top with huge peonies in the starring role. Flowers peek through the picket fence, showing off for the neighbours. It’ll quiet down in July, green and sedate. Right now it’s all Look at me, Look at me!

Maureen