Running on stones

31. Running on stones

The sound of him

is out of sync

with the sun speckled film

I watch through squinting eyes.

Black limbs dance

across a jittery screen.

Stick man runs on the beach.

All eyes, all ahhs

30. All eyes, all ahhs

How to turn heads in town -

walk 2 chocolate brown Labrador pups

down the High Street

in a tangle of new leads.

Garden birdwatch (+ 600 posts)

29. Garden birdwatch

All in an hour.

Blackbird, great tit, dunnock.

Three blue tits.

Two starlings.

Jay, robin, wren.

*******

AND this is my 600th post on Inkhaven. All of this would not have happened without you, dear readers, for what use is a blog unless it interacts with others? So thank you to everyone who has visited Inkhaven, be it as a regular reader, as a follower, as a lurker, as someone who has recently found me through the River of stones , or as someone who has become a blog friend. Thank you one and all for all your comments.

There will just be a couple more stones to see me to the end of January and then it will be back to usual service here, so I hope you'll be back soon.

Thanks again. Love, Ax

First thing

28. First thing

It's got me.

This story.

As soon as I wake,

it makes me start typing

while the sky turns pink.

Flock

27. Flock

I saw them swoop down,

ink splattering a basket of black branches.

Everyone shrieks at the same time

in the twittering hedge.

Record

26. Record

Record.

Play.

Listen back.

There's a magic in the first take.

You record take 2, just in case.

But in your heart, you know.

It's done.

Disappointed, that it's over so soon.

Morning dip

25. Morning dip

Painful

to

watch

him

inch

ing

in

to

the

waves.

Takes

so

long

to

be

knee

deep.

I want him to

makeadashforitand

SCREAM!!!

Discord

24. Discord

Out of key

with the piece I'm learning,

the foghorn

only plays a grey A flat.

Air dried

23. Air dried

Bringing the laundry in from the line.

The towels smell of the wind and the waves.

Bench

22. Bench

Where I sit, on the bright days

makes me believe it's not January,

makes the words run.

Applause

21. Applause

Bus out of town.

That spot where the view opens up.

Forest, river, estuary, cliffs, sea.

All under a huge sky.

It makes the tourists go quiet.

Then some of them burst into applause.

When you're 6

20. When you're 6

It just has to be done.

You stop to read out all the numbers on the currency exchange sign.

Then you read them all out again.

The first snowdrop

19. The first snowdrop

One thin white petal emerges from shy green.

I check every day,

want proof of a new season coming closer,

but it still looks the same.

Country pub

18. Country pub

The sign says - LEAVE BOOTS HERE.

Huge muddy footprints

lead to an old bench

and a row of clods.

Teasels

17. Teasels

Last Summer's teasels scrape the breeze.

Their shadows are as cracked as their stems.

Rabbits

16. Rabbits

Low sun.

My giant shadow strides downhill,

chases rabbits across the valley.

Botanic

15. Botanic

Like a wild party.

Invitation only.

Colour rave at the florist's.

I'm outside, looking in.

Theme for the day

14. Theme for the day

Dawn roaring into colour.

What we needed after the grey.

Everyone talking about the sky.

Watching gridlock

13. Watching gridlock

Back, due to huge public interest.

Circle the London orbital

on our M25 sightseeing coach tour.

Wonder if it will be clockwise or anti-clockwise?

(The M25 is a massive motorway that encircles London, often grinding to a complete standstill.)

On the sixth day

12. On the sixth day

Five days in a row,

walking the same way home,

you notice that pink-veined stone,

so unlike those that crowd the beach.

You stroll by, wondering how it came to be here.

On the sixth day you pick it up.

Sea glass

11. Sea glass

Rare treasure in my hand.

Salt-frosted, stone-etched, wave-dulled, thrown to shore.

Ten green bottles ground back into sand.

Big wheel

10. Big wheel

I liked it better in pieces,

in progress,

Meccano girders hauled from flat-bed trucks,

liked wondering how straights

could make a curve.

Now it watches every beach walk,

makes empty circles until the weekend.

Dig

9. Dig

I dig up parsnips,

watch busy worms,

go home with dirty nails.

Palace roof

8. Palace roof

Shadow of minaret

across onion dome.

Checkmate.

Pristine

7. Pristine

Between each wave,

the silence is complete,

the foam, pristine,

lingering.

I want to tiptoe out,

believe this is new snow.

Late dawn

6. Late dawn

Only this time of year,

you open the curtains

7.30 am

and look into the dark.

What my dream told me

5. What my dream told me

It made sense in the night,

eyes still shut to hold the spell.

What my dream told me has flown,

except for strange words

only the darkness can understand.

How can you resist?

4. How can you resist?

Just arrived.

2011 hatchlings.

Boa constrictor £99.99.

Sea rage

3. Sea rage

Listening to the storm, the sea rage,

I'm remembering dark days like these,

all of us blown into school assembly,

sombre prayers for fathers at sea.

Another language

2. Another language

In last night's puddles,

another language

has something to say.

Spruce up

1. Spruce up

New year's day.

Time for a spruce up on the crazy golf course.

He hoovers away old leaves.

Gives those greens a good sweep.