on my daughter’s birthday
My youngest child was born half an hour after midnight on the 22nd March, 2003. I had started labour pains early in the evening and I remember feeling that I really didn’t have the energy to give birth and thought if I just lay down on the sofa, the contractions might go away and I could have a baby in the morning after some much-needed sleep…
Needless to say, bubba number three had other ideas, and I went to hospital at about 10pm, and after a couple of hours of tossing around in a birthing pool like a trapped whale, my second daughter was born. I had to go back into the prenatal ward as the postnatal ward was full, so to drown out the noises of other women going through labour which, despite being in the same predicament only a short while before, left me tutting and eye-rolling in a deeply unsympathetic and frankly rather misogynistic manner.
I remember putting on the television in my room – ha! no Netflix or YouTube back then – and flicking through the channels and every single one of them was a firework display of bombs being dropped on the Middle East courtesy of the Bush Administration and our own dear Tony Blair. I remember thinking what have I done, bringing a child into this world of war. Fast forward 23 years and ooh look…
Sigh. It was Global Rewilding Day on March 20th, and I watched a fabulous documentary about some really significant projects spearheaded by committed and ambitious people to bring bison back to the American plains, elephant back to South Africa, salmon back to British Colombia, and jaguar back to Argentina. So, while the planetary impacts of the actions of these adult-yet-middle-school-mindset boys play real-life war games are of course immense, there are millions of people around the globe creating positive change, and that’s what I am choosing to focus on.
With this in mind: Spring has arrived here in Sussex, and the Chiffchaffs are singing in the newly-green treetops. Goat willow blossoms are feeding hardworking bumblebee queens, and the grape hyacinths in our garden have been tapped by the early peacock butterflies who look crisp and bright after their winter sleep. I saw a dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major) zipping around in the sunshine, waiting for an unsuspecting solitary bee to pass by no doubt. Cherry and blackthorn blossoms are out in force, and garden magnolias are looking spectacular with the recent dry, calm weather. The young pup is still too young to go for walks, but I can visit my friend who has a large field attached to his property, and yesterday the dogs were running around while I watched a Red Kite lazily shift around on the air currents above my head. Skylarks were singing in the horse paddock next-door, and Chaffinches and tits were mooching around the vegetable patch.
I have sorely neglected my poor sketchbook as I am in new-mum phase with the pup and can’t really concentrate on anything for longer than 10 seconds. While he was asleep yesterday I did manage a few sketches of spring things:
