Pottery & Poetry & Life
Writing 2026
Arrived at the Manjushri Meditation Centre in Cumbria, near Ulverston.
I’m here for a New Year’s Eve event which includes a talk and some chanting sessions.
Lydia is in kennels for a couple of nights, so she’ll be seeing in the New Year in a different way too.
Writing 2026
I decided this year to make a white chocolate Christmas cake instead of a traditional fruit one, that I’ve made in previous years.
I’m glad that I did as it turned out very well, with a fruit compote filling and icing that included cream and ground almonds – delicious😋. I had some for my breakfast this morning, as I did on Christmas Day.
Lydia enjoyed her usual breakfast ball after our walk and I did a bit of tidying up in the lounge before heading out to visit a friend who now lives in a care home.
I had a bit of a chat with my friend and a couple of the other residents who were in the lounge with her, staying for about an hour before heading for home.
Our lounge is now looking a lot clearer, with Trev having done a tip run the other day and I had a good run round with the vacuum cleaner.
As I write, Lydia is crunching her way through a raw lamb rib – quite a chunky one – and I can relax as Trev’s cooking the tea tonight.
Although I’m still a bit tired, I feel that I’ve had quite a constructive day, which has included some meditation and also some chanting of prayers. The prayers do, I think, help a lot, and I find them very beautiful.
Writing 2026
Lydia has not yet fully accepted the Halti collar that I started using with her a few weeks ago, but we’re getting there.
As usual, we work it out between us, even if it takes a while.
There was no yoga or Qigong class today but after doing the woodland walk with Lydia this morning, I got ready to meet up with my friend Judi, who I have known for many years, since she was a friend of my Mum when I was a teenager.
Now 85, Judi’s resilience and zest for life is an inspiration, and we resolved to meet up more often going forward.
On the way back to the car park I called in at B&M Bargains where I had earlier seen a dog bed that looked perfect for Lydia. Pleased with my purchase I returned home and am now in reflective mood.
My confidence levels have been low over the last few weeks which I know is at least in part because I’m tired. Keeping up a combination of resting, meditating and constructive, focused activity will help. As will tickling Lydia’s tummy. Of course, ‘the tickling of the tummy’ is a constructive, focused activity in itself. In fact I don’t think you can get more constructive and focused than that😊.
I’m struggling a lot with fear at the moment. Fear of the future; fear of uncertainty; fear of not being able to cope with whatever life challenges lie ahead.
I’ve coped with a lot of life challenges in the past but I was younger then! I used to put my head down, put my back into it, prioritise and push through. Now, in my 69th year, I know I can no longer do what I used to do. I have to do things differently; see things differently; find an approach to working through my fear that is in tune with my more mature status and circumstances.
I know that I have to believe that everything will be – is – OK. I also know that a lot of what I fear is in my head. I don’t live in a war zone or on the streets.
But when you’ve had to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and start again, and again, and again, it’s hard to believe that the pattern isn’t on repeat.
I’ve been working hard to learn my lessons, to change how I see and do things and to live in the here and now. The important thing is not to let the fear take over. This can be easier said than done, but I’m working on it!
The featured ceramic piece includes some Kintsugi repair work. This is a Japanese method for making a feature of a repair instead of trying to hide it. The idea is that the piece is even more beautiful than it was before.
Publishing 05 June 2025:
Writing again
I woke up to a different – and rather wonderful – view this morning, after staying overnight with friends.
Their dog – Faith – slept most of the night on my bed. Lydia hasn’t yet ever slept on my bed and if that’s her choice that’s fine, but I would like to think that she knows she can if she wants to.
Back home, I made some vegan and some meat sausage rolls for the Qigong fuddle we’re having tomorrow evening.
I found the vegan recipes online:
https://ucalorie.com/vegan-sausage-rolls/
https://plantbasedfolk.com/vegan-sausage-rolls/#recipe
They’ve turned out well, and are tasty.
I’m beginning to feel reasonably well organised for Christmas, partly because I’m not cooking a Christmas dinner this year so there’s less for me to organise, and partly because I’ve now bought all the presents I wanted to buy, have posted all the cards I need to post and written most of the others. It’s good to feel that I can just enjoy what I’m doing every day which tomorrow will start with picking Lydia up from the boarding kennels. It’s just not the same here without her.
As I have now completed my latest cycle of writing for 28 days, I’ll be republishing earlier posts for the next couple of weeks, and then I’ll be back on the other side of Christmas.
Best wishes to All for the festive season.
A Woman, a Dog & a Blog: Writing into Life https://amzn.eu/d/fZQtr0K
Rules, Rhymes, Recovery, Recipe, Random: Glad About Life https://amzn.eu/d/6XnH3He
Writing again
It was a bit frosty and misty this morning when I took Lydia out.
We were earliesh because I was taking her into kennels and then going straight to a poetry group meeting.
After the meeting a few of us went for a festive drink, and I have another sociable event lined up for this evening, going to visit friends.
Lydia will enjoy her weekend break with friends and I’ll enjoy mine.
I’ve also been to a Christmas Tree Festival in our local church, and bought what I think will now be the last of my Christmas presents for this year while I was there.
The house isn’t the same without Lydia but I’ll be picking her up on Monday morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – and that’s just me!
Writing again
It was raining a bit this morning when Lydia and I were in the dog field, and again this afternoon when I was working outside at the Buddhist Centre.
The rain was soft and gentle and wasn’t cold, although I made sure I was well wrapped up as well.
That’s what our Mum used to do – make sure we were ‘well wrapped up’, like presents. Scarves, gloves, socks, raincoats.
Our house was cold as we didn’t have central heating – only cold fires until gas fires came along. Somehow, though, she managed to warm our gloves before we put them on. And she knitted jumpers and cardigans using a knitting machine and job lots of dark green wool that she must have bought in the market.
Today I didn’t need gloves and I didn’t feel cold, although I was a bit damp by the end of the afternoon. A cup of strong hot cocoa and another soak in a hot bath – my second this week – soon sorted me out.
I’m hoping to sleep well tonight after my fresh air and exercise today.
Lydia is steadily finishing her tea and I’m hoping that she’ll sleep well tonight too. She got to chase a few trucks and vans as they passed by the dog field this morning, so we’ve both had a reasonable amount of fresh air and exercise today.
Writing again
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I brought two finished pieces home with me from the pottery studio this afternoon.
The two pieces are very different.
One was thrown on the wheel, turned to trim off and shape, then decorated using a technique that I’ve been developing, using layers of underglaze applied with small separate brush strokes.
The other is hand-built, in a freestyle form, using coils and creating texture with various implements and materials.
The former is, I think, a vase. The latter I’m going to use as a candlestick.
On the way home from the studio I stopped off to do some shopping for groceries.
The house was dark when I got back. Trev was out but Lydia was there to greet me.
She hadn’t been on her own for long and doesn’t get separation anxiety like a lot of dogs do.
Even so, she was pleased to see me and, after putting the shopping away, it was time for her tea.
Trev brought fish and chips back for ours which I thoroughly enjoyed, complete with curry sauce, of course!
Writing again
My car was booked in for a service this morning so Trev followed me round in his car to the service centre, where I transferred Lydia from my car to his so that I could walk her on the way home.
The car was ready by early afternoon and it was a clear and mild day so I walked back to pick it up.
Later in the afternoon I had a bath – the first bath I’ve had in a long time. Showers are so much easier in so many ways but I did enjoy a good soak, with the addition of some mineral salts and an essential oil – ylang ylang.
The theme for the current Buddhist course – last week, this week and next week – is ‘love’. This week the emphasis was on ‘affectionate love’; a love that is free from delusions such as attachment and anger.
It is such a lovely theme to explore in the context of Buddha’s teachings and feels especially so at this time of the year. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to receive such wonderful words of wisdom.
Writing again
I wasn’t able to visit my friend M today as I usually do on a Tuesday as I didn’t want to take germs into the care home.
My cold isn’t yet fully developed but still lingering in the background.
I took Lydia out for a reasonable walk and since then have been taking it easy. I did put our Christmas tree up though, and made some roasted red pepper and sweet potato soup for our tea.
I’d boiled the bones and carcass from a chicken we’d had earlier in the week, making stock for the soup and providing some ‘Lydi juice’ for Lydia that she enjoyed after her tea. It had turned to jelly on cooling, so nourishing as well as flavoursome.
Glad About 
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