six writers writing

Somehow, in the chaos, tools and debris got cleaned up, the house was tidied, the garden readied, the food cooked, and Sunday morning, six writers arrived to spend the day. The weather could not have been more perfect, nor the ambiance, nor the company. I managed not to photograph the piles of roofing materials on the path and sheets of lumber leaning against the ivy.

This is what MJ emailed afterwards:

Thanks for a fantastic day writing in your garden. The setting, the retreat from daily life, and your inspirational exercises work together to create a perfect storm for creativity. I wrote pieces that I did not plan, from angles that I did not foresee, and generated material that came as a delight and a surprise! My next project is off to a roaring start, thanks to you and your workshop.

And Sherry wrote:

Thank again Beth for a wonderful day in your garden ... you are, as always, a supportive and inspirational guide to me in my writing. 

Happy to help, writers. It's a pleasure for me too. And now - back to hammering and chaos. An article in the "Globe" last week said that there are "10 quintillion insects of Earth." That means that there are 1,428,571,428 - or 1.4 billion - insects for every person on earth.

Most of my 1.4 billion are in my walls, right now. DYING, I HOPE!

PS. Wept this morning, reading an article in the "Star" about seven Canadian veterans of the nightmare of Dieppe - Aug. 19, 1942. They're in their nineties and they've travelled back to France to pay homage to fallen colleagues and to remember. The streets of the town were lined with thousands of people to greet and thank them. 900 killed immediately on the beach, nearly 2500 wounded or taken prisoner. Lest We Forget.