Ned Hayes's Blog, page 123

"The day dies like a small child, blushed and without...

"The day dies like a small child, blushed and without complaint."

— the poet Charles Wright

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world."

““Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.””

- Voltaire (via pocket-liv)

“A bird calls, distant and wounded. The woods are still as...

“A bird calls, distant and wounded. The woods are still as death. Quick steam huffs in and out of Geoff’s open mouth. And with that, the dangerous moment seems past. We gather wood and help Tom build his fire. As I pick up spare twigs and dried bracken, I wonder how far our sounds penetrate into the black forest, and how far our shouts echo along the White Road.”

— from the novel Sinful Folk sinfulfolk.com

PHOTO: _MG_0757 by grett.tumblr.com on Flickr.

"Spring grew into summer, and the rhythm of my life now included...

"Spring grew into summer, and the rhythm of my life now included Nell. I carried Christian with me as I gathered sticks, piling branches into the bundles I carried on my back to the village that night. Nell’s secret thyme beds and her mint were deep in the woods, out by the chuckling stream that disappeared underground. She danced in the sunlight and the shade."

— from the novel Sinful Folk

"Be humble, for you are made of earth; Be noble, for you are made of stars."

“Be humble, for you are made of earth; Be noble, for you are made of stars.”

- Serbian proverb (via siriusc)

"How wonderful to read a simple and beautiful book! It was as though I were thirsty and suddenly..."

“How wonderful to read a simple and beautiful book! It was as though I were thirsty and suddenly found a deliciously cool and joyful book to refresh me.”

- Anaïs Nin  (via gnatsandmockingbirds)

"The knight still waits silent. He stands and pulls his sword in...

"The knight still waits silent. He stands and pulls his sword in scabbard from the wrapped saddlebags. He dismounts. The snowflakes swirl as he moves, like sand in an underwater stream. A pale green gaze, like a leaf caught under frost."

— from the novel Sinful Folk

"[A writer can] simply read and write joyfully during the small portion that he is allotted. There is..."

“[A writer can] simply read and write joyfully during the small portion that he is allotted. There is so much passion and wonder in today’s fiction; it is his fault, not that of the books, if he lets those things go unseen and unfelt.”

-

Against Tim Parks’s ‘Death of the Novel’

Anaïs Nin put it best in her 1947 meditation on the future of the novel.

(via explore-blog)

“I can see her now. On the day we take the forest path to the...

“I can see her now. On the day we take the forest path to the deep stream beside the alder copse. There a plover calls in the deep woodsy stillness, and then a pair of martins dart across the over-grown path. 

Through the trees can be seen the thick and fast-moving line of flowing water, a steep bank beneath our feet and flowering at the edge of the water, the purple loosestrife and meadowsweet of spring.”

— from the novel SINFUL FOLK 

 

PHOTO: Norland Moor, Halifax, England

this great picture from Best Travel Photos

“Fog lifts in the valley, rising as mist through the...

“Fog lifts in the valley, rising as mist through the bare-limbed trees. Far below lies the deeping combe with our village in the heart of it. My whole world for nearly a decade has been contained in that place—and now the village of Duns looks so small. I hold up my hand, form a circle with my fingers. The distant village, wreathed in mist, seems a child’s plaything that I can hold in my own hand.

A great fallen yew with nurslings jutting evergreen from its bro- ken body lies near our path. This is the very place at which I first saw the village ten years ago. The line of trees here on the ridge is unchanged, as if I came here only yesterday.

I waited in the quiet vale of Duns far too long.”  

— from the novel SINFUL FOLK