Bright Blessings

Flora plunged her fingers into the warm earth, rooting around with patient dedication. She turned up nothing. Rising to her feet, head slowly turning back and forth, she heard the scream again. They were always so difficult to locate, the earth muffling their cries. She spent another hour snaking her way back and forth through the forest. All the usual spots turned up nothing but worms and mulch. Head swivelling like a satellite dish, ears constantly pricked, she worked her way deeper under the canopy, back where the elders grew, Ancient oaks, once the hiding place of kings, great pines, the ancestral homes of dryads, and none sheltering the screamer amongst their sprawling roots. Pausing to drink deeply from the clear waters of a stream which flowed in tumbling delight from the mountains, she caught the scream once more. So close she felt she could reach out and touch it. Ah, of course, the willows. Long had they deserved their reputation as often playful, occasionally sp...

I saw these on a walk. I have no idea why they look this way but they inspired a new story from Cara and Snaps. Marvellous Moments 2 - Leaf “C’mon Snaps. The day’s too good to waste amongst boxes and paint fumes.” Cara shrugged out of her shirt, already decorated with enough splashes to satisfy Jackson Pollock, took a moment to admire the calming green on the fireplace wall then headed out the back door, Snaps alternately running rings around her feet, or pelting off with gleeful barks. She took note of the plants whilst heading toward the little gate which gave onto the woodland beyond her boundary fence. Aunt Grace had been an enthusiastic, if somewhat erratic, gardener, but most of the plants had been ‘set free’; Grace had been keen on the idea of one man’s weed being another man’s prized bloom. The garden sang with colour, Cara not even sure what half the riotous profusion was. ‘With all due respect to you, Aunt Grace’, Cara mused, ‘I may have to prune if I want...