Satellites, flames and the aroma of art materials

Ah, the whiff of paper and charcoal

Some surprising things this week - the excitement of watching Starlink Satellites moving through the sky over our house one night, the aroma of new art materials, and finding a spark has ignited the flame in writing.

Yes, this is the week when we were to see meteor showers in the night sky. Well, never saw those (though a friend north of London says she saw them on Monday night), but the experience of seeing the Satellites was wired and awesome. They came over our roof top in a line, a tiny light each like high flying planes. They were spaced out in equal distance, and there were masses of them coming one by one moving at a steady pace. It was fascinating. My son tells me these are to do with the internet. I wonder if our signal was stronger as they came over our house! As for the meteor showers, I did spend a good deal of time looking for them to no avail, but Venus has been so bright these nights and seems closer. I'm no astronomer, so I have no idea if it is any closer.

Venus (taken with my mobile)

This morning my art supplies have arrived. Now that is exciting too. I had not noticed before (or have forgotten) the aroma of art material. Books, yes. I am a sniffer of books, a toucher of books. Books are seductive. But paper and charcoal? Well, yes. Mmm. With the good weather holding it might be a few days before I get down to any real art. My attempts at watercolour last week were laughable. Now with the right paper....well I'm not holding my breath. I seem to either produce something good or very, very bad. We shall have to see.

I made tentative connections with my novella and everything was painfully slow and painful to write. I felt nothing in particular. I tried working out next scenes in my head and lost a lot of sleep one night over it, but in the morning I reeled off over 2,000 words. When I read it back I was surprised to find I quite liked it, despite having changed the tense a few times and even the POV. But I could rectify that straightaway. I seem to have found a way forward, though no ending as such - I hope that will sort itself out in the same way as this part of the story unravels. But I noticed that I was excited by what I was writing and I've written something for the last three mornings. I am back to my mulling between writes. When that works and the ideas come then I can't get the words down fast enough. I'm trying not to think far ahead and writing for myself. This began as a dystopian story and I thought it was for adult readers, but now I'm wondering if it falls in with young adult as the main character is a thirteen year old boy. I do read young adult myself sometimes if the story appeals, like Seeker by William Nicholson and Half Bad by Sally Green. For now I just want to finish it and then maybe I'll be able to finish the other novella I started several years ago.

One sad thing happened at the weekend. The tree in the alleyway was butchered by the guys from the garage because the branches hung over their garage roof. Technically the tree probably doesn't belong to anyone, though my neighbour had a tree surgeon in a few years ago to cut it back as it was overhanging her garden and house so much. But she lives in South Korea and only comes home once a year. The garage guys just used a hacksaw and made a terrible job of it. I felt bereft as that tree, which I consider 'my tree' because its the first thing I see from my lounge window, brings me so much joy as I watch it change through the seasons. All kinds of birds visit it too. I thought they were going to cut the whole thing down but they have left some of it and I am grateful for that, though it looks how I feel.

What's left of 'my' tree

In my own garden I have installed a tiny fountain in my tiny pond. This pond is only an old pet carrier which arrived without a lid. The company just sent a complete one and never asked for the bottom bit back. I found a use for it. The pond became stagnant in my little wildlife garden. So I bought the fountain, cleaned the whole pond out and installed it. The only thing is that because the wind has been so strong the water gets blown over the grass and I filled it three times yesterday. The fountain is solar powdered and I have to move the panel around to catch the sun as where the pond is is rather shady. I moved the panel away from the sun yesterday while the wind remains strong and will try again.

So, that my week.