Barny

Somewhere to Bloom

The cottage on the lane had a garden of pink, blue and mauve flowers on plants she couldn’t name. They faced her in clumps and drifts. On the lane she considered the pretty cottages, each one wearing its garden like a skirt, patterned, pastel – standardised, or something. And, even more annoying, they coped with the early May…[Read more]

May

The cactus on the table, out there on the decking, it’s gone mad. Look there are four new paddle things growing off it. Mr Hoskins from next door says they’re called “cladodes”. He should know, seeing as he’s a botanist or something at the college. It’s a modified stem, apparently, which serves the function of a leaf. He came over for a cup o…[Read more]

Renewal Dance

Below a patchy canopy of leaves, sunlight falls in dusted shafts of light, highlighting small tufts of fluffy-winged seeds, spiralling and soaring in the breeze and somewhere, within the cool, dark, caverns of under-earth, the chime of rock, root and soil begins its soft, ceaseless, song of renewal.

Stirred from slumber beneath the…[Read more]

Princes Street, Edinburgh, in early May. The morning is bright, the sky opaque with a promise of blue, and there’s enough chill in the air to warrant the cardigan I left on the back of the chair in the kitchen. I’m walking on the sunny side of the street – the side across from the gardens – with measured, purposeful steps as I head to a train…[Read more]

Congratulations, J! Well deserved ☺️

Thanks to Libby for challenging my poor sluggish brain cells with an extraordinary prompt, and to Sandra for an excellent read.

Heck, I did not expect that. Thank you for such an awesome feedback, Libby, and for a competition prompt which challenged my writerly boundaries. Also well done to Sea and Sandra for their excellent stories.
I have nothing in mind for the next topic – a walk is in order to mull it over, not that I need and excuse to set out in this wonderful sunshine.

Oh BOTHER! So sorry, Libby. I confess I found the prompt a little tricky, but I was getting the start of an idea. Then I got myself involved with something and forgot all about it.

Well done to all three entrants, especially Janette. I liked the stories very much.

@sandradavies

Sandra, this is an atmospheric depiction of the personalities within a family, all so economically written. I’d never heard of furanocoumarins. What an interesting thing to discover! You built tension with all the possible problems resulting from letting children loose in the kitchen, then there was a fine twist at the end. Very e…[Read more]

Ten days left to enter the monthly competition for April!

Details here

Monthly competition April 2025

<u>Parsnip Wine

</u>

Our back-facing neighbours were the first to acknowledge our arrival. Each time I looked out, the ever-preened woman was at her bay window, dog-in-hand (at least I think the explosion of fur was of canine origin). Gerald supposed she were sun-worshipping, her glances only polite curiosity – then he always did see the good i…[Read more]

Thanks, Sea! 😃

Ooh! Congratulations! 😀

UNTITLED (357 WORDS)

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.

Scrub the parsnips thoroughly, top and tail, then cut in half lengthways.

It’s Mum’s old recipe. I’ve never used it before, but George’s parents are coming for dinner and his dad is especially fond of roast parsnips, apparently. Or so George would have me believe. Honestly? I think i…[Read more]

Thanks, Ath – as I’m sure you remember, they came to life in a short story in one of you winter writing challenges. Now I’m about to start writing book 3.