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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Come into the garden, Maud!

26/7/2020

10 Comments

 
When Charli invited her followers to write a story to show what it is to protect nature around us, I thought I’d tag mine onto a recent post addressing that theme. But both of those that sprang to mind – see below for links – already had a 99-word story or two attached. I could have used the prompt to develop my skills in nature writing – I certainly need the practice – but more pressing projects – again, linked below – meant I didn’t have the time or headspace. Although nature cues my creativity, I’m more adept articulating human nature than weather, animals and plants. So I’ve gone for a predominantly pictorial post, based on my garden, leading to my flash fiction contribution about distanced dating, a prompt from the early days of lockdown, and clashing concepts of what protecting nature actually means.
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Click on an image for “Amazing what you find on the fringes” or “Early morning walks in the age of covid” in words and pictures:

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What I should be working on rather than farting about uploading images:

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A glimpse of my garden in April


A bigger glimpse of my garden in June


A glimpse at my garden in July


I hope you get a message that, although there are several cultivated plants, especially those for food, we’re trying to protect nature in the process, with lots of wild areas (including my vegetable plots) and flowers attractive to insects. But let’s get to the words!
 
My story jumped out at me when I noticed a couple of wine corks on the kitchen counter by the backdoor as I set out to patrol my vegetable garden early this morning. After heavy rain last night, I was expecting to slaughter a few slugs, which got me thinking about how we pick and choose about nature conservation. A particular bugbear of mine is the war against the plastic carriers at supermarkets (which are actually quite useful), while we continue to purchase food double-wrapped in cling-film and throwaway bags for dog shit and lining bins. All of which I’ve thrown into the word-salad of my flash. Why not listen to the song while you read?

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Come into the garden, Maud!

 
He showed her his outdoor Jacuzzi. She showed him her wildlife pond. She gave him a tour of her birdfeeders. He commended the pellets that kept his hostas slug free. He presented his PVC decking. She volleyed with her woodpile, a haven for hedgehogs, she hoped. The advantage of lockdown dating: exploring his habitat safely online.
 
She made a tisane from her herb garden. He poured wine from his well-stocked cellar. Where was his commitment to conservation? Was his profile a lie? “I never buy wine with a plastic stopper. Preserve the cork forests to save eagles and linx.”

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Click on the image to the left for more about wine, cork and wildlife. Click on the image to the right to listen to CB Droege reading my short story “Plastic”.
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Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
10 Comments
Lydia link
27/7/2020 01:33:40 pm

What a lovely garden you have.

Reply
Anne
28/7/2020 10:09:11 am

Thanks, Lydia, it's a bit wild but we like it.

Reply
D. Avery link
30/7/2020 01:46:51 am

Your flash points out so much that is ridiculous and yet available to people to feel better about themselves and their habits. Paper or plastic? Flannel or fleece? But really what I got form this post is you are less disciplined than I imagined, for surely all those uploaded photos show a procrastinator, an avoider of the other work. Let me distract you further with a question and a comment... how do you define "nature writing"? And I was stymied by this prompt (or maybe I just got distracted by nature and my puttering about within it), but I also got sidetracked and stymied because of "clashing concepts of what protecting nature actually means". The couple in your flash will not become a Couple. But sometimes even people and groups that have the same basic values and interests can't communicate that to one another, or they are hell bent on having an adversary instead of seeing an ally. If you were by my fire (Ah! I'm needlessly polluting the air, wasting carbon!) (wait, I did cook at that fire) anyway if you were sitting out here in nature with me I'd tell you a funny story about when the redneck girl from the woods went to the hippy crunchy granola graduate school. It ends well, but bias works in multi directions and there are cultural barriers that you don't read about. Yet.

Reply
Anne
3/8/2020 01:04:34 pm

Thanks for the distraction – although you'll see that I didn't let it distract me immediately as I'm rather tardy with my reply! I look forward to hearing your funny story – I'm sure it will crop up around a virtual fire.

A further question for you: how do we agree on which differences matter and which don't? Some might claim a certain behaviour is a matter of personal preference – whether or not to wear a mask in public spaces for example – while others insist we're not free to choose when something impacts on the public good. So complicated, if only there was a way of managing these issues! Oh yes, there is, it's called government, except that's turned into lining the pockets of the rich …

Reply
D/ Avery
3/8/2020 01:26:25 pm

I'll maybe mull your questions but I am going to the lumber yard just now, masked, that I might build more raised beds for growing vegetables, something I did not have the time for in my double life past. The yard is dichotomous; there is the treed side populated by numerous species of birds and also squirrels, etc and then the untreed part where the cultivated plants will be. I think both areas will be good for me.

Anne
3/8/2020 02:15:27 pm

Seems like a good balance, especially not trying to grow food with tree roots threading through the soil as is the case with some of my raised beds. Hope you're handy with a hammer – I remember the slog constructing ours but worth it.

Charli Mills
30/7/2020 07:19:14 am

I love the color and wild spaces of your gardens, Anne! I live next door to a gardener who plants everything in rows. I mix it all up. Your oriental poppies are beautiful. That's one of my favorite flowers. I'm trying to track down a story of a Nevada woman who taught school in a remote ranching and defunct mining town called Tuscarora, Nevada. She planted tulips and oriental poppies. Tuscarora is now a ghost town and her flowers have overrun what's left of buildings. I found her granddaughter who is willing to give me an interview next month. So I have poppies on the brain and I digress.

I think a dating structure was a clever way to tell this story of two opposing conservationists. I like the contracts. It won't work long term, but maybe online.

Good luck slug killer! We seem to be having a low slug year although out at my daughter's place we found a pile of them in the woods. We left them there!

Reply
Anne
3/8/2020 01:16:08 pm

My husband complains that I don't plant out vegetables in neat rows, as it's much easier to hoe between rows. But it does make sense, I sort of try, but I'd hate that for flowers. Plants that seed themselves are often more robust – wonderful when you're happy with the place they've colonised but a real pain when you aren't. We have three patches of buddleia but the best is one that sprang up a little too close to the back door. But it's such a handy place for sitting watching butterflies – very therapeutic if you're feeling tired.

Reply
Norah Colvin
2/8/2020 10:55:35 am

I love your garden, Anne, in every month and season. It's more extensive than I expected it to be. I tend to think of small garden spaces when I think UK, but both you and Geoff have shown me otherwise, in quite contrasting ways.
I enjoyed your flash. Maybe these two can combine their different conservation habits to make each better together than alone (synergy, I think they call it).
I found the cork information interesting. I wonder is the cork situation affected by cork flooring too. We have cork flooring in some parts of the house at the moment and I love it. It's very forgiving on joints and when things are dropped. But it's old and needs to be replaced. Hub definitely doesn't want to replace it with cork. He's looking at artifical wood. :(

Reply
Anne
3/8/2020 01:22:17 pm

Our garden is unusually large for the UK but I wonder how you can tell that from the photos, as we could have a lot of variety in a smaller space.
I think cork floors would be lovely. We have mostly carpets, which suits are cooler climate, tile and – yes – some artificial wood. I imagine the conservation issues would be the same for cork floor as for bottle stoppers. Would that sway your husband?

Reply



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