WALKING WITH CHILDREN

This virus lockdown has made us relish our one permitted walk each day, and given us time to dawdle – to stand and stare.

Because I am keeping a two-metre distance from my little granddaughter, she walks in front and sets the pace. She stops time and again to admire a pretty stone, a bug on a leaf, a strange door-knocker, crayoned rainbows in a multitude of windows – things we would miss if we were hurrying. So Jeff Arnold’s photo of a rainbow is most appropriate.

Here’s a little poem.

Walking with Children

Rainbows spread their ephemeral beauty

Overhead, or further away over

Yonder, the fabled pots of

Gold at their damp

Bases always just out of reach.

Instead, children enjoy their

Vibrant colours simply because.

.....................................................................................................

THANKS as ever to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers. After you've left a (kind) comment on my blog, you can read other writers' interpretations of this image by following the frog link from her blog   https://rochellewisoff.com/

I trust you are all keeping safe and well, and finding refuge from boredom in reading and writing. See you next week, DV.

ON YOUR FEET! The benefits of exercise.

What is it about walking that sets the creative juices flowing? I always think more clearly on the move and this morning was no exception.
I started off on my usual route, munching an apple and brooding over a rejection, but when I threw away the core for the lizards to find I gave myself a severe scold and forced the grey cells onto my latest project - re-writing my novel Helter-Skelter.
I had been reading one chapter yesterday afternoon and as I began thinking about that this morning it suddenly dawned on me that it contained a serious error in chronology. After numerous readings this is the first time it has occurred to me, which just goes to show that you can skim over your own mistakes far too easily - but even my daughter, who reads everything I write, hadn't noticed.
So I stopped at a cafe, ordered a coffee, and scribbled some notes before I could forget my flash of insight. I go for a walk most mornings - perhaps I should do so more often, and for longer.