Category: animals

autumn evenings

I was a bit ahead of myself when I said it was autumn on the 17th, as in fact the equinox didn’t happen till September 22nd. But there was an autumnal edge to the air last week, although it feels even more ‘edgy’ now the rains have started.

This limits my evenings spent writing under the vine but there will still be plenty of days ahead when it’s warm enough for an hour or two outside once I’ve finished in the studio for the day.

These three short pieces were all written under such circumstances, Continue reading “autumn evenings”

early awakening

Alarm

The neighbour’s rooster wakes
and flings his morning warning
to the hills. The echoes stretch
a string between hoarse-throated brays
and barks which tumble to the still-grey sky.

of bats, bees and bras

All this fuss in the UK free press about a the girl who found a baby bat asleep in the padding of her bra and didn’t immediately realise it. She has my sympathy.

Earlier in the year, I’d washed some jeans and hug them outside to dry. I didn’t notice anything odd when I got them in that night, nor when I gathered them up un-ironed the next morning and pulled them on after my shower. But when I’d got them on, I realised I must have left a hanky in the pocket, so put my hand in to get it out.

How quickly does the mind react?
Continue reading “of bats, bees and bras”

Archie

finds a cat-length patch of shade
whisker-wide and hidden
from curious, non-feline eyes.
He dapples into tabby grey.

pigging out

It’s Saturday, it’s a public holiday, and I was planning a a long, lazy weekend, starting with a lie-in. Instead, we were woken around 8 a.m. by the sound of a pig being slaughtered.

a cada cerdo le llega su San Martin
a cada cerdo le llega su San Martín

Actually, I’m not sure the pig itself was making the wheezy, squealing noise: it might have been the donkey disturbed by the proceedings. But whatever it was, it woke me; particularly as the general hubbub was augmented by a couple of roosters crowing, another neighbour’s elderly rottweiler baying – presumably excited by the scent of blood – and the vociferous commentary from four generations of the family who had turned out to witness the event.
Continue reading “pigging out”