The Mothership

Hello lovelies!

I hope you are having a splendid summer and managing to fit some adventures into the pockets of sunshine.

2016 has been throwing all sorts of horribleness at us (collectively and personally), but I'm beginning to feel more myself again after a quick succession of bad news including losing my dear Nan Sylvia while I was away in Istanbul in May followed by all the awfulness of Brexit. 

Recently I've been finding more occasions... or more need, perhaps... for joy with picnics (with my excellent new birthday gifts of a picnic basket and blanket) and time in green spaces and Ikea purchases to cosy up the not-so-new-now house.

The snails may have eaten all our edible plants in the not-so-new-now garden but weeding has been achieved. From my office window I can admire the thistles, and the parade of cats from the other terraced houses that box in our little plots. Still, I don't think we'll be returning from Greece this year to a bumper crop of courgettes and beans. 

Greece? Yes Greece. The ever-delightful T and I are heading back to Greece for the much-needed holiday we were partially robbed of last year. (Somebody lost their passport on the way). (It wasn't me!). All of you please pretty please cross your fingers for us so that nothing goes wrong this time! 

The Greece trip takes place over a week in September, and prior to that I'm really pleased that I will be on The MOTHERSHIP Residency in Dorset, writing for a week. Anna Best was kind enough to accept my application. My work in the past has focused on a very urban space and quirky, lonely characters but I am becoming more and more preoccupied with edge lands and place, with the village-living of my Cornish childhood, and with the weather... so this residency felt like a perfect fit for me. The week as a writer-in-residence will offer me the opportunity to further develop some of my new poems and stories away from capital city living. It will also allow for time to walk and reflect on other germinating creative projects. And afterwards I'm hoping to visit Chesil Beach.

Today, though, will see German practise (33% fluent on Duolingo now) and then the gym calleth, and later still I'm off to Swansea to see three of elysiumgallery's excellent exhibitions: the group shows Painting Parallels and The Painter's Studio, both in the Arts Wing of Swansea Grand Theatre, followed by the official opening of BEEP 2016: This must be the place I never wanted to leave… where the winner of the Beep Wales International Painting Prize will be announced.  Exciting! 

I hope to see many of you there or somewhere,

Susie Q x