Autumn Cottage Diarist

Leading Myself Astray Again

I'm supposed to be saving the pennies to enable a return to Venice some time next year. But I have to do the recycling, and the Antiques Arcade is only two minutes walk from the recycling depot.

So. Ahem. Books, I'm afraid. Seven of them, bought for a pittance, (from the same dealer who sold me the 1906 Ladies Diary and started that ball rolling). Bibliophilia - It's an addiction that I am completely hooked by - and as far as I know, there is no known treatment. Here are the proceeds of my addiction that came home with me today......

A 1911 edition of "The Connoisseur" Arts Magazine - bound volume
"A Viceroy's India" - Leaves from Lord Curzon's Notebooks" - to feed my
fascination with India
"Collecting Kitchenware" - Christina Bishop
"An Album of Curious Houses" - Photographed and Described by an even
more curious - and deeply entertaining woman, Lucinda Lambton
"Angels of Albion - the women of the Indian Mutiny - Jane Robinson
(Who "after graduating in English from Somerville college, Oxford,
joined a firm of antiquarian book dealers specialising in travel" - oh,
bliss!)
Sotheby's catalogue for a "Sale of Venetian Glass, 1910-1960" - from an
"Important collection"
Oakfield Plays" by Margaret Steen, with wonderful stage costume
illustrations by the author
And an illustrated copy of "Venice Observed" by Mary McCarthy

I also purchased a number of delightful costume dolls, picked out from a huge trunk full - the sale of a big collection - most of which were mediocre. But my selection includes a hand carved wooden German doll, and, methinks, possibly a Shallowpool fisherman. A characterful little group, that will add to the array of interesting figures that I already have.

That's enough fun for one day - better get around to housework. Not. :-)

Who Could Be More Fortunate Than Me?

Just over two weeks ago, I was experiencing Venice - still an
effervescent marketplace of the western world, surrounded by art,
architecture, merchandise, activity. This weekend in contrast, I spent
three days surrounded by  glorious autumnal colours and the wild natural
scenery of the Peak District of Derbyshire - mountains, open fields
bounded by dry stone walls, sheep, few people....and peace.

Staying at the Sir William Hotel in the little village of Grindleford
(with the most comfortable hotel bed I have ever slept in!), I was
there to attend a Writer's Workshop on the theme of "Writing Bridges" -
using our own writing in the exploration of conflict and conciliation -
in which we were both challenged and encouraged by Miriam and Kate, our
two facilitators.

Both Kate and Miriam are ex-chairpersons of Lapidus, the organisation I
belong to which promotes the use of writing for health and self
development - and both of them brought great experience of their own
fields to the workshop. Therapist and writer Kate introduced exercises
using the therapeutic journaling tool of "Dialogues" - conversations
between parts of our selves, in order to explore conflicts within our
own roles - and possible ways of resolving them, whilst poet, writer and educator
Miriam introduced ideas and explorations of creatively writing dialogues
that we may use in our own poetry and prose.

After a morning of these exercises in the unusual and tranquil setting
of St Helen's Church, with the glorious colours of the hills all around
us and light filtering through the stained glass window at the east end,
we walked to the Village Pavilion to eat our lunch and spend the
afternoon in longer sessions of writing, during which we were each given
a valuable tutorial session with either Kate or Miriam.

I have experienced Dialoguing in my journal before - it is included in
the "Journal to the Self" workshops that I run, (for which both Kate and I are
registered facilitators in the UK) - but it was the first time that I
had attempted any fictional dialogue writing - at least since I was in
school! I was encouraged to "move outside my comfort zone" - which I did
with trepidation - especially as there were other writers in the group
who were long term creative authors. Daunting!

"Encouragement" was the word that really applied during the day - encouraged to be brave enough to read out my attempt at dialogue, encouraged to think about adjustments that could possibly be made to my writing, but most of all, encouragement to keep doing it!

Thank you, Miriam and Kate - and the other participants of the group - for creating and fostering, within a short space of time, that sense of community, experimentation, respect and safety which existed on Saturday.

As for what I wrote? Well, the 1906 Ladies came with me again - I played with their words as expressed in the journal, I played with their characters, I played with their possible thoughts, beliefs and ways of being, giving me ideas for a book, a play, a film? I notice that the word that appears three times in the previous sentence is "play" - and  that's what I did - and it was both nourishing and fun.

I left with a notebook full of ideas and thoughts for further developments in many different directions, but also memories of an extremely enjoyable and satisfying day in the company of interesting and stimulating women.

Who could be more fortunate than me?