Writing on the hoof

I was trying to decide how to describe what I did yesterday… I was going to say writing en plein air, or writing out of doors, or écrire en plein air or writing on foot… but nothing seemed to quite fit what I did. I was inspired by the idea of painting or drawing outside and wondered how it would be to write outside – but not sitting down on the grass (a bit chilly at this time of year) nor at a picnic table or on a rock or a style or a wall, but to be walking and jot some thoughts as inspired.

The one difficulty I foresaw was that my handwriting is terrible and virtually indecipherable, even to me. I wondered if the rambling flowing trails of thought I usually have would be suitable for interrupting and recording, would what I write seem trivial, obvious, or awkward? The only way to find out was to do it, so yesterday when we went to Fyne Court I popped a small notepad which Father Christmas had brought me into my pocket, along with a pen.

I’m a little hesitant to share my few jottings because although I enjoyed making my observations I got the feeling that when I’d done this a few more times my mind would be more receptive and I’d feel the way to do it better and produce better results.

I don’t claim these to be finished, or even any good at all, but here are some of the things I noted down:

*

Behind a fence
a common garden
common or garden fence

A broken flight of steps
steps leading to
a gone mansion
long gone

Vanished, leaving
only walls.

**

Please do not try and
and explore the walled
garden this way.
It is not safe to enter.

***

A silent stream descends
to an empty pool
Only the whisper of water.

****

When the tree was hacked
the branches lopped,
the stumps are ochre against
the ivy green.

I don’t know now whether to work on these and change what I’ve written, use the images to write something else, leave them as they are… or whether to do all three! I would like to go back to Fyne Court and write some more, but I’m also keen to go elsewhere and try more of this type of creativity. I will have to try even harder to write clearly, I struggled to interpret some of my scrawls!

My featured image is from Benvarden Garden in County Antrim – I didn’t have my camera with me yesterday!