New Housewife in the South

And so a brand new record begins...

Late July, a new family is born and must live together - happily, together, and in peace.

Thirty-one, twenty-nine and nine. 

Each one with their own character, their own mind and their own experience of the world.

Routines established, a home set up, work routines to follow, higher purposes to achieve and oh - of course - time to write.  Then there is the rest of the world - the world that is in need of something else and is at war in some significant parts. 

Yet I'll be in the kitchen, using the hand mixer that matches the other kitchen appliances all dressed in creme, mixing in the cupcake bowl and staring out the window into an idyllically set garden - hopefully not wondering 'where have the roses gone?'

June Tunes

This was it, Ava was set to marry.

The weeks sped by and every day something was crossed off the list. For there was an exhaustive list of things to do and to accomplish all within a relatively short frame of time.

January to June had come and gone like winter to spring and then summer.

The time knew no constraints and no-one had control over it.

It would wind its own way around the months of the year and direct the calendar.

Who would have thought there were that many details to consider for a wedding?

One by one, she ticked them off slowly:-

Date, Venue, Theme, Layout, Booking, Invitations, Time, Guest List, Menu, Music, Photography, The Blessing, The Schedule, Dress, Hair, Car, Bridal Team, Kitchen Tea and on and on it seemed to go.

Just as it seemed to calm down, it would result in revealing itself as the calm before the storm...

where there was always something else to still do.

Rainbows

The month of May had passed on by and it would soon be the 1st of June.

It had been a learned path so far as the year continued at a pace and new elements of life beckoned Ava to branch out and alter many ways.

A myriad of colours spread across the rainbows that loomed on the horizon of what seemed to be a very new life. From one season to the next, and in fact, from one day to the next, the colours changed and so did purpose. The purpose of existence and the purpose of life.

One day a student.

Another day a tutor.

Things would certainly evolve and in their perfect timing, blossom to full potential.

Ava laughed as the mannequin in the study caught her attention - there was one way to go and she knew which way it was. She would know that the only way would be to 'write' and 'dance' her way through it all ...

Spring

Spring had arrived and everything began to bloom.
Agapanthus, Cherry Blossom, Dahlia, Hyacinth, Peony and Zinnia... all revelled in the new season and that is was their time to blossom.
The colours dazzled after the long, wintry season of grey and black.

SPRING
Today the sun shines for you
Tomorrow it may not
Look out the window pane
See, look, wait and watch
Does it rain?
One day the grass grows,
on another, it withers.
What will today bring?
Something better, as it's Spring.

Him

He smiled at her every time she glanced his way...

His muscles moved slowly up and down in his arm when he used them. It was the embrace that sat there, not going anywhere, like a question mark set forever at the end of a sentence. It was one she knew she wished to spend the rest of her life answering.

She was silent as her memories recollected fragments from each day - and each day a perfect day to recollect such valuable fragments. Alert, she knew in that moment of precision in her imgaination, that her heart was right. He was the most interesting person she had ever known.

Together, they sat, and looked into the other - as if heavy with wine - and drank uncontrollably of what was eternally nourishing.

Ava looked and she saw.

The way he used his notebooks, his scraps of paper abandoned everywhere... and this means, anywhere and everywhere. Sainsbury's packets would do the filing!

He had his ways, his artful ways, his moments of expression - even on his own face - and all of it... was utterly endearing.

Hermanus

Today the wind blew so that every leaf shook and the sky hung as it did every day.

There was nothing in particular that stood out on this day. The forest was quiet, there were not many walkers around nor dogs... the trees stood, the earth was there, the sky invisible in parts and the usual routes led her feet forward and through the hills.

It was that time of year when everyone anticipated a change in the seasons and the excitement of Easter loomed. It had been an extraordinary year already.

Hermanus had stepped in front of her, like an exquisite new horizon, and captivated Ava's world. He managed to walk multiple tight ropes at the same time, with artful skill, he unravelled the intricacies of yesterday.

Nobody walked like he did.

Nobody had his voice.

Nobody stared forward in his way, eyes clear and thoughtful.

Nobody had his mouth.

Hermanus loved to dance and Ava loved to laugh. Together, they emerged into that new season when the sky would lighten and the flowers try their best to emerge. It was only spring that would follow, and then the fullness of summer would be next.

Continuation of excerpt... It was time for war

Now, no matter how neighbouring parents tried to hide their children from the growing tensions, they could not. The children knew, they listened carefully to the messages within the conversations of parents talking to neighbours in hushed and strained tones. The children perceived the danger correctly and talked amongst themselves of what might be.

'War,' one small girl mouthed slowly to another as if an acidic taste grew in her mouth.

'What will it be like?' another asked knowing she would not get an answer.

'I don't want war,' the first girl stammered.

'I don't think it will be very nice,' the other said to her.

'No, we have no idea what this will mean Shea,' she said with downcast eyes as she accidentally dropped her floppy doll into a pool of mud.

She reached down and grabbed hold of her arm, snatching her back to rest again on her own chest. Across the way, the rowdy boys played together and roughed each other up. How long would they continue to play in the same way, was the thought that ran through every glance.

For now, the day went on as it always had done and the usual routines did not cease. It would not be long until a new dawn would break and something ferocious and ugly would step through the door, place a heavy-footed step into their territory like an intruder in the back yard - your yard. After all, it was not their yard, it was not their land, it was not their territory, it was not their home and it was not their children. For a child, the nightmares and ideas of war could not compensate for the understanding of why and how such a thing should or could ever develop out of the night.

From the night shadows, these events would emerge that would change the life of a child forever. They would be led away, with or without their toys and games that they knew so well and held dear. The ones they played every day of the week - on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and even Sundays. Board games, ball games, floppy dolls, hard dolls, dolls with big eyes and teddies with small eyes. Boys and their games, the ones they invented even - even these - they may not play any longer. Not where they were going, not with what they would be doing, not where they would be led. From one world to another, the children would be led away and not by a flute and a dance. It was by a soldier and a weapon that they would solemnly follow without a word, or melody or toy.