POET'S CORNER; A Storm in Summer

A Storm in Summer

When nights are their shortest and days are their longest

When the rays of the sun burn at their strongest

When we listen with glee to the bumble bee's hum

And in a riot of colour the butterflies come

Then does the sky lower its brows

Then does the rain darken the clouds

A gathering breeze chases sunlight away

And we know as we watch that a storm's on the way...

When birds flutter off and take to the trees

Singing their protest from the shelter of leaves

As the raindrops start falling, pitter-pat, pitter-pat

And the thunder starts calling, scaring the cat

Then does the lightening rip through the sky

Drawing our gaze up ever so high

And some little children tremble in fear

Hiding away, for the storm is now here!

As raindrops on roses sparkle and glisten

As rumbles of thunder lessen and lessen

As the sky-snake of lightening slithers away

And shy beams of sunlight come out to play

We watch as the rain falls lighter and lighter

And the sun creeps out, brighter and brighter

And the twitter of birds seems now to say

That the Sun God has won for the Storm's passed away.

By Marie Bruce

BOOK NOOK; Queen of Camelot by Nancy McKenzie

Step  into Guinevere's enchanting world of Camelot

For the past week or so I have been totally absorbed in Queen of Camelot by Nancy McKenzie.  It is a fantastic novel, with lots of attention to detail and plenty of atmospheric world building.  When reading this book I really felt as if I were living in Camelot; a silent observer watching all the comings and goings, eavesdropping behind the arras!  The novel tells the tale of Guinevere, beginning when she is a child in Wales and following all her adventures - her first love, her first meeting with Lancelot when she is already betrothed to the High King Arthur and her subsequent  life in the beautiful palace of Camelot.

The descriptive passages are so rich, it is easy to image the royal palace, from the gardens and battlements, to the council chamber with the great Round Table, to the king's library with its roaring log fire and hunting dogs warming themselves by the hearth.  Guinevere's chambers are rich and resplendent, her ladies in waiting are respectfully courted by the Kings Companions and the legendary fellowship of Camelot is beautifully retold.

This novel is one of the best interpretations of the Arthurian sagas that I have ever read.  The author somehow manages to seamlessly draw together many different versions of the popular mythology and make them into something altogether new.  This Guinevere is no shrinking violet; she is a feisty female lead, who gallops bareback on war horses, raises Excalibur herself and goes hunting with hawks, as well as stitching tapestry and reading quietly by the fireside in the evenings.  In short, she is a woman after my own heart.

All the well known characters are portrayed here; Elaine the jealous rival, Gawain the hot-headed young knight eager for glory, Lancelot the faithful Champion, Merlin the sorcerer and so on.  What I liked most about this novel is that Mordred is not portrayed as evil - in fact it's difficult to know exactly who's side he is on, but he is by no means the villain of the piece.  All the characters are complex and well developed.  King Arthur is generous to a fault and the misunderstanding at the end of the novel makes for a tragic end to his story which put tears in my eyes.

Queen of Camelot is a door-stopper of  a book at 867 pages, making it a tome to sink into for hours at a time.  I have been having dreams about this book, the scenes are so vivid.  It's a great read for when you have some time off work and can really give yourself up to the enchanted realm of Camelot. If you enjoy Arthurian legend you will no doubt love this novel for its fantastic escapism.

IVORY TOWER; Waterhouse Home Furnishings

The latest print to grace my bedroom wall

Those of you who have read previous blog posts will be aware that I have a fondness for the artwork of John William Waterhouse.  I have lots of prints featuring his work in the main bedroom.  I love that he was inspired by the Arthurian legends, which is another one of my own interests, and that many of his paintings were based around aspects of this British branch of mythology.    

The image above is one of his versions of The Lady of Shalott and it depicts the moment when the Lady Elaine first sees Lancelot through the window of her chamber and her life is changed forever.  I like the way Waterhouse has painted Elaine so that she is staring right out of the canvas, beyond the observer, to the knight only she can see.  She is utterly dazzled by the sight of him and falls instantly in love.  This pictorial moment in her story is when the curse against her is activated, which leads to her dying of a broken heart. Laid in a boat, she floats down to Camelot, where Lancelot finds her body. 

It is one of the most poignant tales of the Arthurian sagas, which might be why Waterhouse revisited it time and again as the subject for his art, and why Tennyson wrote his moving poem The Lady of Shalott.

The tragic boat scene

I've had the print at the top of this post for some time, rolled up in a poster tube to keep it safe and with the arrival of spring I decided to dig it out and use it to give my bedroom a bit of a fresh spring lift.  I plan to get it framed and hung this week. In addition, it was with great delight that I recently came across a small range of Waterhouse themed home ware and I bought some cushion covers; the boat scene cushion is sat in my leather executive chair in my study, while the Destiny one sits on the chaise lounge in the bedroom.  I have also got a Lady of Shalott locket,  which again depicts Waterhouse's famous boat scene and which has an antique finish.  I love it and it feels like such a lovely find.

Destiny

Waterhouse was a prolific artist and there are lots of prints out there.  He had a fondness for romanticism which is probably why I appreciate his work so much.  I have been a fan since my late teens and I have gradually collected prints of all my favourite Waterhouse images.  My bedroom is like a small art gallery! These recent additions will brighten my home, make me smile and are sure to become talking points. 

Sometimes you just stumble across something that is so perfect for your house, you simply have to have it - this small shopping spree was just such a moment for me. It was a very lucky find.

AT HOME WITH MARIE BRUCE; Wanna see my house? Check out the May2014 issue of Spirit&Destiny magazine; out now!

FINISHING SCHOOL; Penmanship

The art of self-study can be mastered by anyone

I have my final lecture in college coming up, until the new academic year begins in September.  As I reach the end of my course thus far, I have been thinking about how I can prepare for next term.  One aspect of my Psychotherapy training is that of Personal Development - students are asked to become more analytically aware of their strengths, limits and shortfalls.  With this in mind I have decided that my handwriting and note-taking could use some improvement, particularly as we must keep a scholar's journal as part of the course.  I am a naturally tidy person and my handwriting has never been messy but it could benefit from being a touch neater. It hasn't changed much at all since my school days, so I need to put a greater level of maturity into my script. 

I am intrigued by the practice of Graphology where experts can analyse someones handwriting and divine their personality traits. It makes me wonder what my handwriting is saying about me. Does it portray a flattering image? I would hate to think that anyone is disappointed by my penmanship, or that they struggle to make it out. I want my writing to be in keeping with who I am, not a jarring contradiction. My main problem is that I think much faster than I write, which can lead to the lazy formation of letters. When I am in a rush to take something down, I do tend to scribble and I cannot for the life of me, write in a straight line on an unlined page.  The overall effect is that of immature presentation - Scribbling School Girl is not the image I want to put across!

When I think of elegance in handwriting, I think of thick sheets of notepaper covered in a flowing, cursive script. I think of Jane Austen heroines writing love notes and diaries at a writing slope.  I think of the great poet Robert Browning falling in love with Elizabeth Barrett's penmanship, long before he had actually met her in person.  Alas, as it stands, I am doubtful that anyone would fall in love with me due to my penmanship alone!

So, in true finishing school style, I have decided to work on developing a more sophisticated penmanship.  I like the idea of Calligraphy and italic lettering and I have gone through all my pens and notebooks to find suitable tools to use in the practice of refining my handwriting, so that I can incorporate a few elegant touches and flourishes where appropriate.  It will take some time to get out of bad writing habits, but practice makes perfect and Calligraphy is such a beautiful art form in its own right, that it will be a pleasure to learn more about it.  Of course I don't plan on writing class notes in italics, but a refined formation of lettering and a flowing script should make note-taking much faster and still legible. That's the plan anyway.

By the time the next academic years starts I am hoping to have developed an elegant, sophisticated cursive hand instead of a neat, but rather naive print.  There is always room for improvement. 

  

ONCE UPON A DREAM; Kylie Tickets!!!

I'm going to see Kylie! 

It has been a very Kylie-ish week.  On Tuesday I bought her new album which is fantastic.  I've been listening to it all week.  It's very upbeat, sexy and cheerful.  Then on Thursday I was thrilled that I managed to get tickets to see Kylie live, when her Kiss Me Once Tour comes to my home town this autumn!

I'm so excited and I know I'll be fizzing over by the time the concert is in town. I'm going with my mum and we have seen Kylie before so we know we're in for a great night.  In 2002 we went to see her Fever Tour and in 1991 I went to see her Let's Get To It Tour for my 18th birthday.  It goes without saying that I have been a huge Kylie fan for years and years, ever since I was a school girl and Kylie and Jason were the super couple of the moment.

I feel very lucky that I have seen my idol just once, let alone three times!  This is one of the things I love about living on the edge of a large city, with an arena - I get to see some fantastic shows and it's not just Kylie; I've seen A-HA Ending On A High Note and Britney Spears Femme Fatale too.  I would love to see Evanescence at some point in the future.

I'm still trying to contain my excitement over scoring the concert tickets but I'm trying not to count down the weeks as I have a lovely short break in Strathpeffer in the Scottish Highlands to look forward to as well.  It's going to be a busy and exciting autumn for me.

If you are planning to see Kylie on tour this year I hope you enjoy it as much as I know I am going to!

BB Marie 

ONCE UPON A DREAM; Scholar Edit

In my study; a quiet retreat, away from the world...

It is a dull and foggy evening as I settle into my study to write this post.  The daylight is giving way to dusk and I can hear the wind whistling down the chimney, mournful and melancholy.  For the past few weeks I've been lost in my writing and studying.  The psychotherapy course I am doing has gathered pace and as we head towards the end of another term, I am working hard to put together an interesting and informative Presentation, which I have to deliver to fellow students in a couple of weeks.

It is a nerve-wracking time.  Public speaking is far outside my comfort zone so it is not something that I am looking forward to -  I'm much better with book work.  I tell myself that I should be able to do this quite easily - I've done lots of media interviews and gone live on the BBC, so a night school presentation really shouldn't be a big deal. But the shy-girl nerves rattle me nonetheless.  I have approached this task as I would a journalistic assignment, so there has been lots of research and note-taking involved.  I have also conducted an interview with a leading therapy organisation, which I really enjoyed.  As an author it made a nice change for me to be the one asking the questions rather than answering them! Now all I have to do is write up the piece and practice my public speaking, ready for the presentation. 

Also it is a long time since I had to write academically, so I am a little nervous about that too.  I am a commercially published author, which means that my work is meant to be accessible.  Academic writing is meant to be far less accessible because it reinforces the aloof clique of the Educated, separating  them from the masses.   It involves the use of lots of jargon and lingo, which I do remember from my previous University days, but which I have always found to be rather pretentious and I hate that kind of snobbery so I am trying to strike a balance in my course assignments between being true to my writer-self and meeting the academic criteria.   

I wouldn't say that the course so far has been mentally taxing though...it's more my own unwillingness to conform to the ranks. I'm a Bruce, so I want to do things my way, but it doesn't really work like that and I have to abide by the rules, making myself sound like a super-smart-snob when I am anything but! I can see where people get the idea that certain professions facilitate a superiority complex - it is due to the jargon those professionals have been trained to use as normal language. I have to say though, that my vocabulary is being improved and that can only be good for my writing career!

When I haven't been writing for publishers, doing home-work or putting together the presentation I have been trying to enjoy some quiet me-time to help me relax and that's what I'm doing right now.  I have a lovely Glade Honey&Chocolate candle burning, with a Yankee Honey&Spice tart simmering away. My house smells warm, cosy and a bit like a chocolate shop! As soon as this post is up I'm going to make a cup of tea and curl up with a novel and my cat, Pyewackett, for a snug night in.

Whatever you are doing tonight I wish you a great weekend!

BB Marie