ANNOUNCED BY ROSES

Dear friends,

Summer is officially here and actually feels like it for once, sun for Wimbledon week, sun to chase away the freezing weather we had just before.  I have determined to enjoy the summer this year.  Some years it holds too many expectations and it can never measure up.  This year I will take it as it comes.

I am interested in the way external events and seasons reflect our inner world.  This summer feels different and it is not to do with the weather.  One of the things I trip up on so often is perfectionism so I am consciously cultivating gratitude as an antidote.  Very Pollyanna!

ANNOUNCED BY ROSES

Last night was the solstice but this year I stayed inside, living my life, attending to ordinary matters.  I am going to enjoy it as the official beginning of summer not the start of the longer nights, and sure enough the sun has chosen this week to warm us whereas the day before it was cold enough for autumn. 

To read the rest go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/words

I have two summer pieces for my website http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/ written this June, the other one from the beginning when we were away at the Isle of White for half term and it was so hot we got sunburnt (the sun took a holiday in between!).

SUMMER HAS COME IN NOW

The summer has come in now, rolled in with the start of June in sunshine banners of bright and blue and heat and golden air, filling the green fields with sparkling wine and the tight spot in my chest with smiles of arriving.

To read the rest go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/words

Lastly a piece on maps and on God.  I love maps, especially ordinance survey ones with contours, or relief maps of the continents or of the ocean floor.  My mum came in and caught me crying once as I sat looking at a map of the world and rushed over to ask what was wrong, to which I blubbered ‘I just love the planet so much’!

MAPS

I love maps.  I love the colour and shape of them, and the codes that make brown lines into mountains and black boxes into stations.  I love looking at the whole of an area laid out before me as if I was in space, as if it was my domain and I had secret information about every part of it.  I love the feeling of order they give me, and the excitement of understanding the land, and of seeing how everything relates together. 

To read the rest go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/words

Enjoy the start of your summer.  I love to hear from you – use the Contact Jane form on the website (you can’t reply to this email), or write a comment on one of the pieces.  If you want to see photos of my roses and my new summer garden I have just posted them on facebook.

Love Jane