Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Oh blow, it's snow; chuffed, amused, tickled by blog fame; January collage









Well now, all very pretty you might say, and in normal circumstances I'd snuggle down happily and enjoy looking at it, but it's just the wrong day for it, because after a really very manageable winter, the first time it decides to chuck a load of the white stuff is the one when a very old friend I've not seen for over twenty years who has never before driven in France, his not-yet-met partner (who sensibly went out and bought European satnav a couple of weeks ago), and car-full of dogs and sausages are making a twelve hour journey to us from South Wales, and we cannot but worry about them making their wintry way down the cold backbone of the Cherbourg peninsular. But now the sun is out and the snow is melting, and when they arrive all will be rejoicing, and there will be wine and a hot meal and a wood fire and furniture the dogs will be allowed on. 

~

This was a nice surprise:



I could barely remember the poem in question, it was part of a longer post and rather done as a five-finger exercise at a time when I still worried if I wasn't writing poems on a regular basis, but looking back on it it wasn't so bad, and anyway there probably weren't too many out there about chrysopid flies, and I really am very chuffed indeed; it's the first time I've had a poem chosen for print in this way, and I didn't even submit it or anything, it was completely out of the blue.

So while I was idly and not very relevantly conducting a consequent google search on myself, I learned that I am also quoted and cited in the bibliography of a worthy tome published by Palgrave called The Cultural Politics of Austerity. In another downright inconsequential post from three years ago concerning assembling a new spice rack, a phrase where, with my arch, smart-alec tongue firmly in my self-mocking cheek, I swear, I refer to 'my make-do-and mend-anti-consumerism' is described as 'a meaningful descriptor of contemporary ethico-political practice'. Well who'd have thought it? And before I pretend to get too cynical and sneery about it, yes it did take quite a bit of effort to track down the exact reference and yes my vanity is tickled as well as my sense of the ridiculous; however at fifty-three quid print-on-demand it probably won't lead to any worldwide recognition of my talents, or indeed a free copy, but I will get one of the Buglife anthology which will be very nice indeed.

Oh, and then my old pal Charles Davies asked me for a copy of this photo from the plane trip I took with RR and VR when he was still Barrett Bonden, for the cover of an e-book he hopes to publish of a novel about Mont St Michel, and sent me a PDF of it, so in fact my cup of blog fame and its rewards runneth over, as it always did.

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And with that and since I won't probably be around for a week or so, here's a January collage, only nine pictures rather than the usual twelve because I really haven't used the camera much this month. Quite a bit of knitting.


  1. Christmas cactus, flowering after Christmas.
  2. Blue tit and chaffinch eating breadcrumbs. Let's hope we've not fed them all our bread then get snowed in.
  3. Tom's red knits.
  4. Bunch of garlic from the market.
  5. Charlie Hebdo vigil, Lamballe.
  6. A very thick pair of sofa sock, knitted very quickly from oddments.
  7. Mackerel filliets, marinading in redcurrant vinegar, lemon, rosemary, fennel and olive oil.
  8. First attempt at a top-down in the round pullover. Looking forward to wearing it.
  9. Frozen leeks, none the worse for it.
~

PS - the travellers have just called in from a lay-by somewhere south of Cherbourg, it's chilly but bright and snowless and they sound in good form, despite subsisting on a Brittany Ferries breakfast and large bars of Toblerone.




18 comments:

Nimble said...

Raising a virtual glass to your fame! Enjoy the guests.

The Crow said...

Cheers, Lucy, on your well-deserved recognition!

Maybe I can now say "I knew her when"? Well, as much as the Internet allows us to know one another. :)

Roderick Robinson said...

I'm delighted, of course, and no more than you deserve. But the pic puzzles me. The ground appears to be covered in snow - is that how you recall it? Alternatively you took the pic from an altitude of 25 miles (during a part of the flight that now escapes me) and what I take to be snow is low cloud. If either (or both) of these suppositions is correct I'll cheerfully withdraw my puzzlement since my memory is very much a sometime thing these days.

PS: Since you're so good at knitting how about a laurel wreath?

marja-leena said...

Congratulations to your much-deserved fame all around! Love the snow, of which we have had so little here this winter.

Enjoy your visitors - I'm sure they will be well-fed and wined and watered and shown around.

Catalyst said...

"Yes, I, um, have known her for years", I said. And I'm proud to say that, Lucy. Congratulations on your wealth of honors.

Also...I love the sofa sox!

Anonymous said...

That's wonderful Lucy, congratulations!

Jean said...

Yay, that's terrific! I shall buy a copy of the anthology.

Belated warmest wishes for 2015, Lucy. I still read and enjoy everything you post.

Anonymous said...

Here is the link to the celebrated and anthologized poem.

Natalie said...

Wheeee! That's all great news, Lucy! And is that THE Germaine Greer, the Aussie one, she of feminist fame? Or can there possibly be another GG?

Stella said...

Three cheers, Lucy! Cream does indeed float to the top!

Ellena said...

I'm so glad not to have stopped reading your blog and can't remain silent today.
Lucy-Dear, your entire Being deserves to be tickled by these First Times that have come to you.

tristan said...

damn that virtual glass, i'll drink it RIGHT NOW, from the bottle ! Cheers !

Avus said...

"A car full of dogs and sausages..." delightful, Lucy.

Congrats on your published poem, and all without trying, too.

the polish chick said...

hurray! i know a famous person!

redcurrant vinegar - swoon! now i need to hunt down this gorgeousness.

love the oddment socks.

your gift, unwrapped, unaddressed, it sits on the walnut sideboard, mocking my evil forgetful ways. i am telling you so that the knowledge of your knowledge of my procrastinating can hopefully cumulatively get me to do something about this.

YourFireAnt said...

Well done, my dear! ;-)

YourFireAnt said...

May I see the sonnet? ;-)

Lucy said...

Just passing through very quickly, sorry to be so neglectful, busy with our lovely visitors and other things, but thanks all for the kind and flattering words, if this were an Oscars acceptance speech I would of course mention you all by name for helping me on my way!

Yes it is the very same Germaine Greer, it seems, who has become an active supporter of bugs and wildlife in general. I am not quite so grandiose as to imagine she is a regular reader here, more likely her secretary was trawling the web to find poems about rather obscure forms of insects such as lace wing flies and happened on that one.

Elisa - thanks, I thought I'd put a link in but I see I hadn't, I shall amend that!

Theresa - there's a link to it in the post now, and elisasspot, above, has added another one, sorry, thought I'd done it!

Marly Youmans said...

Being asked is the best! Confetti (confetti of stars that are not snow!)