This Writer's Diary
June 22 to June 29, 2025
Thunderstorms woke me in the early hours, long rolling grumbles interspersed with flashes of brilliant light. Rain drummed on the roof. It’s been a week of variable weather, beginning with oppressive heat and humidity, temperatures in the mid 30s (Celsius) with a humidex (realfeel to non-Canadians) in the mid 40s. Then, mid-week, a drop of 20 degrees for a day, up again, down again.
On the hottest days birds and small mammals emptied the shallow water bowl on the deck railing daily. I refilled it morning and evening. Chipmunks and squirrels drank deeply; goldfinches perched on the rim and dipped beaks genteelly. Not so the robin which waded in, drank, splashed, groomed, while mourning doves waited their turn, seemingly impatient.
In the heat, the hummingbird feeder needs emptying, cleaning, and refilling daily. I bring it in at night; otherwise raccoons raid it. When I went out to fetch it yesterday at dusk, a skunk scuttled away from the base of the seed feeders pole. Perhaps it had been after the insects that the spilled sunflower chips attract, or the water (it had rained again) that gathers in a small depression in one of the stones that keep the feeder pole stable.
It’s been a week of meetings, appointments, events — and between those and the weather, I’ve had little chance to go walking or biking, or to write. Yesterday evening, after supper, I walked down to the man-made ponds a short distance from our house. Constructed to gather run-off from roofs and streets via a series of underground pipes, and semi-naturalized (the westernmost one is almost fully so), they are a peaceful place to wander or sit.
A great blue heron stood motionless among the reeds; a kingfisher rattled as it flew up to a tree top. Concentric ripples pocked the surface of the water: fish rising, or water insects, or both. Orange day lilies brightened the sunny banks; blue wild geraniums softened the shady edges.
I’ve been wrestling with the structure of a couple of pivotal chapters of An Unwise Prince, developments that lead up to and include a life-changing event for one of the main characters. There are many questions about how to write this. Whose point of view? Do I tell it chronologically or with flashbacks? There’s a lot going on, and clarity is important, as are the internal reactions of the two point-of-view characters involved. I think I have a structure that will work. Now to write it and find out.
I found the song this week — chosen for the splashing robin, although it only shares a common name with the robin of this song — on the wonderful site Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music. The lyrics are here.
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Those run-off ponds look beautiful and well thought out for their wildlife benefit. They seem so much better than the tokenistic efforts on the big new estates that have sprung up around Norwich.
Thank you Marian, for keeping us up to date with the comings and goings in your garden and beyond. I find the similarities and differences with the UK both equally fascinating. The music was, again, a group new to me. I enjoyed that track and will be searching out more, thank you for sharing.