Liz Williams's Blog, page 50

Saturday morning

The last few days have been a real Indian summer, although I think that is supposed to come later. But it's a perfect September so far - long, slanting golden light in the evening, clear blue skies during the day, and a slight chill in the air.

We've been frantically mowing the orchard - previous days coincided with broken mower, work, rain...all the things that stop you mowing. But we've now nearly finished it, and will start bagging up the windfall apples this week. I also need to go and ha...

Latest instalment of the Rumour Mill

I am startled to discover that all the time I have been sitting at home, posting on FB and LJ about tomatoes and the dog, I have actually been running a wife swapping club. Who knew? This is the latest instalment of the Glastonbury Rumour Mill, courtesy of a disgruntled, bitter and profoundly stupid fired employee. Trevor has decided to call it 'MeareKatz', like LOLcats, after the name of our village. Simples! Please send your car keys via our website.

We will be charging for this...

Oxfam and bookshops

Via <lj user="pkmorrison>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/boo... Harrison is a friend of ours and one of the good guys. Nor is he a publicity hound. I've heard enough about Oxfam's policies from other sources to make me deeply uneasy about buying books from them in future - including a leak from a 'motivational' meeting in which someone from Oxfam basically said that they would not be happy until every other second hand bookseller had been driven out of business. If that's thei

The Planets

We have just come back from a very good open air concert just south of Glastonbury, conducted by the BBC's Charles Hazlewood (in his back field, basically) - an orchestra doing Holst's Planet Suite. In between planets, he had a subsidiary group as a response orchestra, improvising 'replies' to each movement. I gather this group includes members of Goldfrapp and Portishead, so they're used to innovative material, and what they did was interesting.

As they played, Jupiter rose like a lamp in the so

Weekend

There's a lot to like about life in the country and small towns - we went to a Blues gig last night, but before we did so, picked tomatoes, courgettes, runner beans and crab apples and took them in to the band. Who grew most of them in the first place - the band are our co-gardeners.

Z Z Birmingham did a great set and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Sartorial kudos to the young lady with pink dreadlocks, an enormous skirt and a utility belt with everything one might need in all the little pocke

Journey home

It was extremely wet this morning and quite cold, but has now cleared into blazing sunshine. As related on Facebook, I took the back roads home through Godney - lovely pale fields of wheat stubble and all the hedgerows were heavy with ripening berries. I was not, however, whelmed by the old gypsy lady driving a Vardo, for whom I had to back into a ditch, receiving a mouthful of abuse as I did so, and no thanks when I had done so. She could have been the model for Granny Weatherwax, but was even

Exmoor

We have spent the day down on Exmoor with Lily - a long walk across the heathery moors to Dunkery Beacon, and then we drove down to the coast and Porlock Weir via Horner Woods. Exmoor is very atmospheric in this rainy light. Lots of bilberries!

The authoritarian mindset

I was going to post something this morning on johncwright's comments about homosexuality - and of course Mr Duncan has got there before us all in great style - but when I logged on, saw that annafdd has posted an exceptionally thoughtful and well reasoned set of comments on the authoritarian mindset, so I refer you to her instead. I'm still going to comment, though. John and I are in the same anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, and it pains me to fall out with a fellow contributor (though it do

Writing Workshop

A number of people have asked me about doing writing workshops with me - this is something that I've run regularly for one of the universities, as well as other organisations.

I'm scheduling a 2 day workshop in November, 21-22nd (weekend), 10 - a.m to 4 p.m, in Glastonbury The cost -excluding accommodation, will be £120 (we can arrange reasonably priced B&B accommodation for you if necessary). This particular workshop is directed at people who are aiming at publication and covers the basics of:

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August

As you know, I am not a huge fan of this month but it is rather lovely at the moment - shorn wheat fields on the university road studded with oak trees, the mown hay fields covered in flocks of terns and rooks, hanging baskets tumbling with flowers in all the little villages. Here, the hawthorn berries are turning red and the rowan trees this year on either side of our gate have produced enormous bunches of scarlet berries, too.

Weather is up and down like a yoyo, though - yesterday was cool and