Author Archives: malcolmsmusingscom

I got up this morning creaking. It took a while to get my bits going… Musing on the friend whose brother recently had a heart attack; earlier this week her husband had a stroke… Several friends reflecting on the effects of long term Covid on those close to them… Several recent conversations with friends aboutContinue reading “Into perspective…”

On Tuesday grandson Luca came to tea, requesting ‘toad in the hole’. We googled ‘toad-in-the-hole’… Apparently putting meat in a batter has been around for centuries – it first appeared in print in 1762! Why toad-in-the-hole? I like the improbable story of a golf tournament in the town of Alnmouth in Northumberland, where the localContinue reading “Improbable and impossible”

Musing on ‘Get Set!’ The race has been planned, the competitors lined up, the starter says: ‘On your marks; Get set; Go!’ It’s about being ready. The easing of restrictions following lockdown has caused many folk to ‘Get set’ – the business that’s re-opening, the couple that have been waiting to get married, the hip-replacementContinue reading “Get Set!”

When the children were young there was an often repeated joke that went ‘Look up, look down, your trousers/pants are falling down’. It was one of those family in-jokes that was funny to them, but meant nothing to anyone else. Musing on ‘Look up… look down’ Jokes…. Many variations… The monkeys on top of theContinue reading “Look Up Look Down”

Antidote to grumpiness… Our bird-feeders hang from the apple tree in our back garden. They’re frequently my source of therapy – for musing on my mistakes, problems and grumpiness. There are the bigger birds – jays, magpies, crows that are bullies, blackbirds that are always cheerful, woodpeckers that peck wood – and peanuts, The squirrelContinue reading “Goldfinches”

O father of the fatherlessIn whom all families are blessedI love the way you father me Musing on Graham Kendrick’s song… Today’s Father’s Day. King David described his God as ‘A father to the fatherless…’ Yesterday I was talking to Rebecca, who teaches 2-5 year-olds, about the effects of children growing up without the loveContinue reading “Father of the Fatherless”

‘No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; anyContinue reading “No Man Is An Island”

Last night we went to the Seagull Theatre and watched a unique presentation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth by ‘The Handlebards’. Pedalling from venue to venue with all of their set, props and costumes on the back of their bikes, three young women acted with energy, creativity and chaotic hilarity… Tragedy in a different light Musing onContinue reading “Macbeth – The Handlebards”

The last few weeks in our garden… families of squirrels, blackbirds, great tits and goldfinches come each day. We’ve watched small become bigger, young become older, dependent become independent. After two weeks of dry sunny days this morning it’s raining hard. Birds and squirrels don’t care. They come, they share the garden, they feed together.Continue reading “Patch Adams & Dependency”

Two stories in the paper attracted my attention yesterday. The first concerns Alisha, a 15-year-old local girl who’s a promising young horse rider. ‘In December 2020 her horse lorry was trashed by a group of vandals… in Pakefield, meaning she could not travel to compete in national competitions.’ The article describes how the lorry wasContinue reading “Vandalism”