Catkin

 Given everything that I have been through over the past twenty years it is not surprising that I have bottomed and feel like the man with the ten swords plunged into his back. The Ten of Swords...

Today I drove over to the kennels and picked my precious dogs up after leaving them for three nights.  It was my elderly Cavalier that I was most worried about but as I approached I could see he was...

When I joined DS one of the goals that I set was to break the umbilical cord and seperate from my animals for at least short periods. My elderly King Charles Cavalier has been one constant over the...

Over recent weeks I have spent dark days Lethargically slumped over my writing desk I have been feeling dispirited and dull My concentration has gone and I am now prone To frequent, unpredictable...

This past week, despite my best efforts  I have been experiencing a very dark night of the soul.  At this moment in time everything seems utterly pointless.  I am approaching Midnight, journeying...

 Legend hath it that Cerridwen had two children. Creiwy was the most beautiful girl in all the world. Afagddu, her son, was the ugliest boy. They lived on an island in the middle of Lake Tegid. To...

Pythons are large and muscular, boas who kill their prey by squeezing, or constricting, until it suffocates. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, right now it feels like my mother's grief is...

The mosquito-borne parasite Plasmodium falciparum A veiled ladyDances slow measured tango stepsOn a ballroom of red blood cellsDisguising herselfShe skilfullyPlays, A genetic game Of hide-and-seekThe...

 It seems I was born with a mark emblazoned on my forehead to mark me as 'the one' who would have to be there to bear witness to loss and grief, to be there when loved ones draw their final...

If the world is a stage and I am a player would the director of this ruddy melodrama in which I have taken a lead role for five long years please find a replacement. If the world is a stage and I am...

  The weight of his coffin is bearing down on me This morning I did not want to get out of bed Did not want to face the world alone. I have to put the coffin down Stretch Shift the weight Hoping...

  An eye for an eye A tooth for a tooth Within the field of rushes Lies the heart of one Father, husband, son, friend, Whose time in this realm is done? Within the field of rushes Lies the heart...

The truth is that it is at least five years since I filled a Christmas stocking for the children. I kept them going for a long time, gave them the money they needed to get what it was they really...

I need to begin by saying I have never been a New Year reveller. For more  years than I can count on my fingers I have been tucked up in bed well before the New Year begins. I have not been one to...

If I could write I would write aboutwhen the war endedI would record howwe threw our ration cards into the airand danced into the nighthugging one another I would marvelusing superlatives to...