Seasonal Splash (5): Deck the Halls . . .

Christmas preparations: mince pie-making, 2009

Sadly the scene above is one from last year!

I wonder if you have read 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' by Dylan Thomas. I love the illustrations by Edward Ardizzone in my copy. The descriptions are extraordinary: Dylan speaks of 'slap-dashing home' through the 'gravy smell of the dinners of others', with 'the pudding and the mince, coiling up' to his nostrils!

P.S. Steven of The Golden Fish posted a wonderful James Joyce description last year of the rich and regimented fare of Christmas Past: do take a look, and keep an eye open for the seasonal painting at the end of the post while you are there. Enjoy!

... Oh, and in case you are wondering why there is no holly here (after my title), please click this link! 

You might also like:

• Christmas decorations at The Lost Fort

Publications (4): Poem of the Month - and others

A dram, used in the coalfields of South Wales

I was surprised and delighted last night to receive an email, informing me that my poem, 'Elegy for Idris Davies', has been voted Poem of the Month by Anne Stewart on the SecondLightLive web page. This poem was published by Peter Thabit Jones in The Seventh Quarry. You can read it here.

More locally, three of my poems have just appeared in our Poetry Group's Christmas anthology, 'Tuesday Poetry', produced by Jean Salkilld. My poems are about (1) Christmas, (2) the rose-red city of Petra and (3) winter at the Westonbirt Arboretum.

Further reading

• Biography: Idris Davies
• Westonbirt Arboretum