Yikes! Bikes!

Dear friends,

Finally writing to you with news. A slow spring meant that we still feel the chill in the air, and the longest lasting rainy April has, as they say, put a damper on things. Still, you can’t stop the turning of the earth giving us lighter, brighter days, and so much green flourishing around us — growing as it will, without paying any attention to the weather, only to the light.

Perfume arrives lightly from the wildflowers, not a heavy scent carried on a warm breeze, but a whiff here and there, like a spark of scent. This is something the bees recognize easily; it is only our less sensitive human senses that need a larger group of warm molecules to arrest our attention. In a cooler spring we develop subtlety to find the small signs of this season. The scent of petrichor after a dry cool day when the sunshower starts.

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"Velocipede race in Paris – Sunday afternoon", Harper's Weekly: December 1868

Something New and Fast

James and I now have electric bikes! Wow, what a thrill!

The island is hilly, I’m not as strong as I used to be, and it had been years since I’d ridden my old cream and red cruiser bike. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the foam inside my helmet had begun to dematerialize.) But now….drum roll… I’m slowly getting the old groove back.

I’m taking very baby steps on this one. First, just getting used to this shiny e-bike on the driveway. Then experimenting with riding on the little road to our place. Up and down the nearby hills on a quiet road by home, learning the power set (eco, sport and turbo) and gears. Yesterday for the first time out on a main highway for a brief bit, then along a charming quiet road of hills and curves.

Straight ahead is fun, uphill’s easy and a bit of a thrill, but I’m still daunted going downhill, sorting out the brakes and gears and all. Yes, I confess I walked the bike once on the way down. I’m letting myself learn a bit at a time, and not pushing anything. There is always another day, another try, and each time it gets better. Wonderful exercise, and great pedal assist on hills, and so fun riding in general. And, yes, I did get a new helmet, too.

Do you have an e-bike? Tell me all about it:

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Mums are Inside Us

My mum, Georgie Colebrook

Thinking about last weekend’s Mother’s Day, an understanding peeked in, not quite articulated yet but here goes... When our mothers are still living here on the planet, we don’t necessarily feel the multi-dimensional pattern of maternal interconnection. After your mother has passed on, people may say: your mother is always with you, or perhaps you might have a glimpse in memory, vision, or dream. Maybe feel a presence.

What I glimpsed was a different take on that sort of spirit/astral thing - and I’m definitely not thinking psychologically either: that is a whole other circuit system. It’s not even memory. It’s mind-blowingly simpler. For 9 months, my mother carried me in her body, nurtured the growth and development of my body. After I was born on earth as a human being, for a time we both lived as if we were autonomous beings. But when mum passed on, and her separate life is no longer on earth, cellular aspects of her being are still carried in mine. I think this happens for everyone, and mums are also distributed through all her children. Like it or not, whether we are sons or daughters, we take our turn to carry our mothers throughout our lives. My mum carried me, and in return I now carry her. That’s the deal. It isn’t complicated. Just another unfoldment.

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Fact or Fiction?

My Personal Papers newsletter is in the Fictionistas list of “Fiction Substacks to Follow” because the Insider Issues (paid subscription) are partially fictional - sent out from different liminal locations each month. This month of May it’s sent to you from the Natural Garden. I’ll also be adding a serialized reading series starting soon, so stay tuned for that.

Thanks to the Fictionistas for a recommendation, and I’m returning the favour here - Link through for a great list of serialized fiction Substacks that you might enjoy checking out, and perhaps look into their Great Substack Story Challenge.

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Telly Time

Evenings are so much lighter now but this month is still chilly, so there’s time to sit back for a bit of telly. The screen reflects the trees outside, a sure sign of summer hours, even if the light’s diffused by cloud cover.

Now watching (and cringing with) I Love That For You, and finished both series Julia, and Slow Horses.

Are you watching anything good these days? What do you recommend?

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Cornwall interlude

First there was this:

Tom Cox @cox_tom

Something quite unexpected and fantastic happens when you scroll through the photos of this listing for two derelict cottages in Cornwall: rightmove.co.uk/properties/123…

In case you don’t follow the twitter link - here you go.

And that led over to this sweet short film

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This month of May is a great time to subscribe to the Insider Issues - you’ll receive access to all past archive issues from Moy Mell Cottage, and the Liminal Shamcher Institute, and get going with the Natural Garden series.

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