| Hi again,
It rained like hell as I ran to my shed today. It was one of those downpours that floods gutters and turns roads into rivers, that sends people scurrying for shelter in doorways, clutching at each other and exclaiming with strangers, that drives small kids wild and shoots them running out into the rain, faces upturned and mouths opened, laughing and shouting. But now the rain has passed, washed the world clean, and jewels of water hang from each shining chestnut leaf and the pavements gleam and windows shine like quicksilver in the sunshine. I love autumn!
Here are some things I’d like to share with you today:
“Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man*. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the grey, and the land and trees of him dark and sombre. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then -the glory- so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished. And I guess a man’s importance in the world can be measured by the quality and number of his glories. It is a lonely thing but it relates us to the world. It is the mother of all creativeness, and it sets each man separate from all other men.”
― John Steinbeck
(* man = person in this context, for sure!)
- Agoraphobia & anxiety limit Jacqui’s ability to travel, so she’s found another way to see the world – ‘travelling’ and ‘photographing’ on Google Street View. (Also an interesting New Yorker article here.)
- Aaron has grazed his sheep and lived off the land as a traveling shepherd for 12 years. He calls it guerrilla grazing and he lets his sheep graze – with permission – on public parks and side lots. Homeless by choice, he offers his services to small farms in exchange for food or a place to stay.
- Meet ATM, the artist painting street murals of wildlife all around the British Isles, particularly in urban areas.
- There are some fabulous takes on ‘The 5 Best Travel Books’ here. Lots of reading to get stuck into!
- I’ve been enjoying using Moodify to pick music that suits my mood when I write.
- If you buy a second copy of The Girl Who Rowed the Ocean to donate to a school, just use the checkout code ‘Teacher’ to get a £5 discount on my website.
Can I help you?
Let me know if you have a relevant project that my readers would appreciate. Here’s what you guys have been up to recently:
 Fran has founded Kitsquad, which assists low-income people in getting out into the great outdoors and having awesome adventures. Kitsquad is the only UK-based scheme that provides donated secondhand adventure gear to low-income individuals. Send them all your old gear!- Reka’s film is a travel, adventure, inspirational mental health recovery and love story about her and her street dog.
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Fran has founded