Writing Opportunity

Two ideas for aspiring writers:

Competition

A short story competition organised by Portsmouth Writers' Group
When one of their members' daughters was diagnosed with MS The Writers@Lovedean wanted to do something so they have organised a Short Story competition on the theme of movement.
Full details at http://www.thewriterslovedean.co.uk/the-writers-at-lovedean-short-story-competition/

CafeLit

As part of a creative cafe  project and in conjunction with Salford University Cafe lit produce an Ezine.
Every year the best are published in a special annual paperback and E -book
For details see http://www.cafelit.co.uk/

January

In Dublin National Gallery the Turner Watercolours are on exhibit only for the month of January.
http://www.nationalgallery.ie/en/aboutus/pressroom/Current_Press_Releases/Turner.aspx

Easier to access than Newgrange on the December Solstice, a trip to the exhibition has become an annual pilgrimage for me- to celebrate the new year.

January

Out in the woods I stoop
to pick up sticks that click
underfoot
In the distance a fire thaws
the ice river in me

In the house I see
cobwebs stretched
across rafters
In the distance- scrubbed floors
and the smell of beeswax

In the gallery Turner's water-
colours merge into scapes of sea
and cloud
and mountain slope,
all fused in a January dusk

Outside- the frozen season
canvas by canvas melts
and we stretch
once more
towards Spring

Copyright with Cathy Leonard 2017

On Meditating- sort of

Most of you are probably, like me, in the throes of breaking New Year Resolutions.
I didn't make many and I started late.
Drink more water,eat more veggies, fruit etc
Decrease sugar, caffeine, alcohol consumption....the usual type of thing.
This year I added YET again,,,,  Practise Meditation.
I have been trying to do this for a very long time and I still fail miserably
but I think the most user friendly inspiration on this subject comes from Pema Chodron.
See links.
How to Meditate

And here's a short poem on the subject.

On Meditating

I squat in half - lotus
sort of
count the out- breaths
up to ten
and then again
eye gaze-lowish
upright torso
hands relaxed
watching the thoughts
cloud by cloud
wave by wave
what's for dinner?
remember to ring Helen
back to the out- breath
one to five
fuschia boxing the wind outside
a poem in that
three stanzas in
back to the breath
label thoughts "thinking"
think about shopping and parking
and spending and saving
until
the gong...

Copyright with Cathy Leonard 2017

Winter poem

A poet friend sent this link.
Read on....
http://www.aidanandrewdun.com/

Christmas Visitor

I put it down to Planet Earth 2. 

My daughter spent the Christmas holidays watching and rewatching prowling night panthers, roaming hyena packs and baby turtles going astray; confusing the moon with city lights they end up on highways instead of the foreshore.

It was these turtles in particular that so fixated my daughter’s imagination that when she saw a minuscule creature scurrying dangerously in suburban byroads she did a U turn. The fugitive turned out to be a kitten which happily jumped into the car when she opened the door. And so we spent St Stephen’s day looking for an owner and a vet. For kitty on further observation, had damaged his/her eye.

A trawl about the internet and the neighbourhood threw up no clues as to kitty’s identity. A chance encounter in Spar yielded the name of a vet who was actually open. We whisked the fugitive off to this surgery where we were generally misinformed and told to bring kitty to the DSPCA. This charity, however, was closed until further notice and no joy on that website regarding rescue options in case of Christmas emergency.  A cat shelter in Aughrim, Co Wicklow offered to rescue kitty but asked me to check out the eye injury with a reputable vet first.

The fugitive settled in happily, dismantling Christmas tree, bullying our 4 year old setter, cracking eggs and creating general mayhem. A visit to my own vet yielded the fact that the eyeball was perforated, probably by a scratch from a sibling, that kitty was a 12 week old male, would never recover its sight, but was otherwise healthy.

 No prospective owner has darkened our door so kitty looks likely to stay. The Aughrim lady has enough cats to rescue and our setter, while looking back nostalgically to kitty free days…seems to have accepted the one-eyed visitor as a possible long term lodger.

I Highly recommend the generosity, quick response and integrity of Catriona Leahy of Aughrim Cat Rescue. See site if you want to help out or adopt a kitten.

http://www.aughrimcatrescue.org/