What an amazing place! I love the poem 'Mothership'.

Aw, thank, Natty. That is really kind of you.

Thank you so much 💚

Thank you, Jenevieve. Jo's book is full of beautiful writing and turns of phrase. I am sure you will love it!

It is maddening. I use it a fair bit too. It has been part of our 'toolbox' for centuries. Just how literate are these people who make such sweeping judgements? Don't they read any literature? If AI has picked it up, it is because it is useful and readers understand its function.

Finding Erica (On choosing a boat) There’s a warm welcome aboard the Erica tonight. But why the Erica? Why not any of the other boats we viewed and discussed? What was it about the Erica that made he…

What was it about NB Erica that helped us decide that she was the boat for us, especially as there were many other possible contenders? Join us tonight as @jobellwriter.bsky.social brilliant book 'Boater' helps us to find some answers.
#podcast #nature #ukcanals
www.noswpod.com/finding-erica/

Aw, thank you so much, Natty

We're crouching down at the very edge of the canal. Put out your hand to the right. You can feel the night-cold metal of armco, that lines the bank here. Gently reach out. Feel the delicate brush of bell shaped flowers dripping like suspended rain drops from perfectly arched stems. Listen. The sound of pigeon and magpie lifted by blackbird, robin and thrush. Breath deeply. The scent of still water, wet earth and, if your sense of smell is acute, the hint of honeyed wine of hawthorn blossom that is just bursting around us.

Canal-side Plants

Bluebell

And along the towpath
The bells are peeling,
Ringing in a new day
That hangs breathless
On the still and waiting air.
A carillon of old music
And even older hope.

#naturepoetry #ukcanals #plants #spring #naturewriting

YES!!! Absolute truth (beautiful photograph too)!

Oooooh, now that looks a very beckoning path!

Thank you so much, Natty

It's so lovely. I have noticed you mention them in some of your posts before. A rather wonderfully enigmatic presence.

Wonderful! This has taken me back to my childhood. Had some wonderful camping holidays up there on a friend of the family's farm. It was just before the reservoir was built. We watched the machinery being brought in. My mum, a botanist, did last minute surveys of the land about to be flooded.

This has really touched me deeply this morning.
Thank you @marlinhoister.bsky.social

So beautiful

Perfectly formed tiny violet and mauve trumpets of ground ivy cluster on a carpet of deep green leaves. Each flower would sit easily on the tip of your little finger, without any weight, but what rich music they bring to each desolate space.

First light.
The sky unfathomable
As elusive as memory
Heralded by ground ivy's
Tiny trumpets.
Rain drips from eyebrows
It's a royal morning.
What rich music they bring

#naturepoetry #plants #naturewriting

Thank you!

Yay!!! Respect to you!

Lime green and butter yellow of a young cowslip nestles among leaves dusted silver with frost. The air tastes clean and the canal lies silent wrapped in fading mist. Warm sun massages the knots out of your shoulders and mind. Listen the rooks are calling!

Canal-side plants

Cowslip

Under the assault
Of a confident sun
Mist clings to the water
As a young cowslip
Shakes off its silvered
Eiderdown of spring frost

#naturewriting #ukcanals #plants #spring #naturepoetry

That's awful and totally unacceptable. I am so sorry that this has happened to you.

Standing in April light
Watching a storm
Brew over the vale.
There's a taste of
Stirred water, permanence,
And tested iron on the wind.
Two ducks forage
The under-bank.
I like it here.
First tea of the day awaits.

#naturewriting #naturepoetry

A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY from Maggie and all of us aboard the Erica.
Thank you for the gift of your wonderful words. Very few can write so beautifully and deeply as you. Have a great day.

Thank you!😃🙏

Aw, thank you so much, Christine. I am so pleased you like it.

Kindle is actually perfect. Living on a boat means our days of huge well stocked book shelves is sadly limited.

Wonderful! You capture it's spirit beautifully

Such an important topic. My wife was a palliative nurse. Her experience was inspiring and depressing (from an institutional perspective) in equal measure. I am now starting to teach this as part of a theol/philosophy degree as it is so ignored. Definitely hunt out a copy!

From Bridge 55

Children and old men
Lean on sun warmed iron
And gaze in silence
Into the waters below.

One sees time,
Like slow waters
Drifting past,
The other the wonder
Of a world unfurling.

Maggie plunges her head
Under calm waters
Retrieves a stick
And I thought I saw
A smile in her eye.

Aw, thank you so much, Jen. Glad you enjoyed it and it was my pleasure. I know many listeners would really enjoy your Water Book Club interviews.

Haha, yes 4am is impressive, but glad it's not me. For awhile, one of my former students told me she listened to it to keep her calm and sane through the sleepless nights while nursing her newborn baby 😀