Archive | May 2020

Sun cream and hats

May4

sun hat at beachI’ve never been the best at keeping in touch with people. That’s true. It’s not due to a lack of caring about people; I think about so many people so often, but am reticent about “interrupting” their lives again. Maybe I’m just overly shy.

I’m the sort of person who comes into your life, stays a while, then fades away and just brushes past you from time to time. And that’s true not only of people from my past but people from the here and now too.

I’ve realised this enforced isolation and separation from normal life is taking its toll, and it’s showing that by the fact that I’m avoiding making contact with people who I would, under normal circumstances, be communicating with or seeing regularly. Continue reading →

What do you miss?

May3

Woodpecker and PrimrosesFollowing on from yesterday’s post regarding the Dorothy Relief Appeal I picked up a new follower from Aberdeenshire, the author Ailish Sinclair, and in browsing her blog I came across a post which reminded me so much of the house in Wales where I used to live. The relationship I was in while I lived there followed the course of all my other relationships and ended in a train wreck but, along with all the dogs, there were many things there to enjoy and be thankful for.

The (very weirdly shaped) garden with the stream along the side; the wooded bank opposite, the sound and sight of woodpeckers, and the clumps of wild primroses that decorated the bank in among the trees and holly bushes. As I’m writing this I’m also remembering the badgers that set up home there for a while, and the owls which hooted and screeched us to sleep on warm, summer nights.

Ailish’s blog post incorporates woodpeckers and primroses, two of the loveliest elements of that Welsh garden, and it got me thinking … while so many of us are sitting around with extra time on our hands, take a moment or two to think back. I don’t mean just to pre-Coronavirus time either. What is there in memories from the past that you really miss and would pick out as something you would want to live through again?

Stay safe.

The Dorothy Relief Appeal

May2

Dorothy1

(Promoting an appeal organised by Pink Saltire in Scotland, UK)

Ever heard that old queer phrase “a friend of Dorothy“?    Well listen, we saw a theme for a fundraiser and ran with it! ‍

Pick up your little basket, grab Toto and read on……

Do you want to support folk in need during this pandemic? We do.

Have you waited 5 weeks for ‘someone else’ to organise it?  Us too. Well kind of.

Pink Saltire, the Scottish LGBT community charity, are appealing for funds to support the ongoing relief effort helping those most in need during the COVID-19 pandemic or at risk of isolation.  There’s already relief efforts happening in Edinburgh, Dumfries & Galloway and Fife.  We know there is demand in other areas, especially for LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees, but we can’t hope to meet that demand without extra help.

Help from folk like you. (Ruby slippers optional!) Continue reading →