Missing in Action; Pink and Yellow Straw Flowers
and the final piece of sea glass on the beach.
Good morning lovelies! I hope you are enjoying a relaxing Sunday wherever you are waking up.
Firstly, I have a special offer from Interiors writer to share with all my subscribers.
Do you want to take part in a cosy Autumn Equinox online retreat this month?
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If you are just getting to know Victoria, I loved this piece;
I wrote something on opposites and regret to process the abrupt end to summer and the wind and rain whipping around the cottage. Someone on instagram said we only get 80 summers and we should live and make the most of them.
Hope you like it… it’s quite free flow…
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I didn’t grow Straw Flowers this summer.
I didn’t get to see their joyful blooms burst then crunch…
…already dry but not from heat in one of life’s true wonders.
I didn’t see all the friends I wanted to see, or go all the places I wanted to go either.
I didn’t celebrate new pops of pink Dahlia blooms or sleep over on a mountain pass in our camper van awoken by the smell of coffee on the stove.
Lots of foliage but no petals to see…not yet anyway…
Too much organising on top of an already busy schedule.
Or some excuse similar to that.
I don’t tend to sit with regret because new creative projects pull for my attention.
I gasp in the middle of the night, wide eyed and know what’s next.
In creative union with 1001 muses.
Yet the mundane shows me there are dishes to wash and children to feed, uniforms to press and bags to pack. Emotions to steady and a puppy to cuddle then walk and so it starts again.
On a summer’s day when I felt everything closing in I took my children to the local garden centre.
We chose blooms of pink, regal purple and gold and filled the trolley right up to the top.
We bumped into neighbours who told us summer wasn’t meeting their expectations. They were discussing the attributes of a small potted plant. Standing over it like giants, the plant was prodded, picked apart and commented on.
My sense is they didn’t buy it and went home empty handed. I think the plant won.
I feel like life shows me this a lot.
I felt free at the till point with all our randomly selected un inspected plants.
It’s new, not at all reckless yet I am judged often.
It reminded me of a time I was at a creativity class and someone said to me with an air of contempt;
“…if you’re a mum how do you have time to be here.”
I thought for a second about how to answer and because I’ve learnt many lessons about projection, I owned it;
Because I wanted to be here, I made the time.
The new flowers lift their heads and smile at me every morning while I drink my coffee. They don’t feel less just because I didn’t grow them myself. They are living out their life on purpose. How could you not like them?
What use is saving for a tax bill when you can have flowers in your garden right now as summer fades.
What use is saving for my children’s university fund if their mum looks out of the kitchen window glumly onto grey.
Yes, my tubas and seeds failed but instead I dug into the earth and potted up plants and made a cosy walled garden I was proud of. It cost just £60. What of it?
In place nagging doubt of the seeds I didn’t plant, the work I haven’t done, the decisions I’ve left for a rainy day.
I wrote;
Trust Yourself
On the chalk board I see from our kitchen window. Beyond that apples and plums not yet picked. A void in the way but not really.
And here and now we find ourselves dancing with the wind of September and the blooms still bloom and the sun still shines.
A heavy cloak of guilt will be burnt in the fire when the seasons change.
The last piece of green sea glass arrived...
…to fill the glass bottle…
To know it was time to move on, invite in a new chapter. Dried straw flowers (pink and gold) from last year and the year before adorn the mantlepiece on which it sits.
Everything in it’s place and also the most chaotic it’s ever been.
Now we wait.
Sending love for your September and looking forward to seeing some of you for our September workshop Soulful Micro Copy with
on 12 Sept at 1pm.Aimee is a skilled copywriter, storyteller and ambassador for a cherished life. She will offer 10 of you feedback (by lottery) which I will extend if it’s super popular like it was when she came in to do the about page workshop.
It’s a joy to pay experts to work with you here - please do sign up and join us live?
It’s just £5 to join us ⤵️ more in the post below
Replay available for paid members who can’t come (and for my Diamond Members over at Sparkle on Substack).
See you then!
Claire
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I’m just putting the finishing touches on my own cloak of guilt before throwing it into the autumn fire x
Brilliant 💝💖✨💫🚀🪽❤️🔥