well-being

Postcard from a Seaside Garden in November

/ Annie Graham / 1 Comment

Almost the end of the year and a time for reflection as the winter’s storm-laden winds approach. On the odd day, spills of thin sunlight illuminate the vacant beaches, too chilly to linger for long. The gaudy coloured canoes that scream summer and the little rowboats and lobster pots are now neatly stowed until warmer days return. And it’s sepulchral quiet – nothing is stirring. Just the rolling rhythmical sea lapping on the shore.

This is a good time to be holed up in my writer’s lodge reworking draft chapters to create layers in the story of a whistleblower caught up in the byzantine maze of medical politics. To most of my former colleagues, this is about the everyday push and shove of doing clinical business, but to others, not schooled in how such things work, it is a revelation. It still chills me as I recall some of the individuals whose behaviours were so dire, and cruel. The view and sounds of the sea give great comfort in such moments.

Over in the veggie terraces, the last of the leeks have been pulled and for me, they too easily form a distraction when awful memories intrude. My displacement activity of choice is making soups and pickles using my fabulous 10 litre Italian pot. Much leek and potato soup will be the product of this week’s anxiousness. What a balm for the sore mind of a fretting writer.

So it’s farewell to the year with the dogwood’s show of its seasonal red stems. And, as a portent of things to come, an early hello to next year’s daffodils and poppies. I’m not sure why they have bloomed about three months early, but they are a welcome sight in the coming stygian gloom of winter.

An intense period of writing follows… the sociopaths have been let loose, and they are running around my chapters out of control causing mayhem everywhere they go. Just got to reign them in and weave their stories into my story.

By the time I write again, the winter solstice and Christmas will have been and gone. Enjoy the festivities and peace that will descend. And come back next time for more news as the story of everyday sociopaths unravelling before your eyes takes shape.

Postcard from a Seaside Garden in October

/ Annie Graham / 1 Comment

Storm season has arrived with Amy and Benjy blasting in off the ocean and dumping a ton of rain on my very parched seaside garden. Relaxing in the sofa chill zone is the order of the day now. And on productive days, I get some writing and research done for my new book. It’s about the God Complex and how it works when whistleblowers blow.

We still get the occasional bright day but it’s increasingly cold as you stroll along the beach trying to catch the last of the thin afternoon sunshine. Storms rise quickly here so watching the state of the sea is important so you’re not caught out. Sadly, the combination of this year’s prolonged drought and fierce onshore winds have taken their toll with landslips appearing everywhere. Those pesky pampas grass, which grow wild in these parts, at least try to stabilise the banks for a bit longer.

The last of the beets and radishes have been harvested and eaten, and the veggie terraces have now been left to their winter’s rest. But the carpet rose has burst into another prolific late showstopper of barbie pink flowers. It stands in great contrast to the muted autumnal colours of the fading hydrangeas.

So it’s farewell to a lovely hot summer and welcome to the autumnal football season, and Pilgrim Pete, the local team’s mascot. A total fun distraction from the serious business of writing.

An intense period of work follows to show how the ‘firm’ plotted the fate of those its members didn’t like and what happened to them all as a result. Can there be justice for the protagonists? I think it’s going to be a page-turner, but let’s wait for the reading panel’s verdict.

Come back next time for more news as the story of the plots unfolds.