“She lifted her head like the sun raised up the sky, everything moved, glowed, just shone.How long had they known that life was for changing, they’d known long before they met.Ron, Veronica, was a ‘blaze’ red head, that’s how her friend saw her..so red the copper in lit highlights flashed as hot as the looks [...]

It had started to rain. Grey lonely rain that stirred up the earth below the garden and coated Mercy’s old boots. Each step muttered something about the past; promises, feuds, diluted loves. Mercy had never fallen in love. She had never found a glance returned. She walked slowly along the edge of the field, measuring one [...]

 Willow felt alone, apart but always and forever part of something bigger, older, much wiser than herself.  Strange thing for a twelve year old girl she knew, the very idea of otherliness but it had always lived within her and gave her the reassuring sense that she was special.  Standing outside of everything freed her [...]

Mercy stirred her tea. Outside her grandma was talking on their only phone, throwing her tiny left  hand in the air and gesturing towards the hill. More worries about the Taylors. Again. More cold tears.three years since they arrived. Even the sunshine had betrayed her that day. Jacob Taylor’s ready smile. His casual betrayals.  Mercy sipped her drink and closed [...]

It had started to rain. Grey lonely rain that stirred up the earth below the garden and coated Mercy’s old boots. Each step muttered something about the past; promises, feuds, diluted loves. Mercy had never fallen in love. She had never found a glance returned. She walked slowly along the edge of the field, measuring one [...]

Sharing thoughts and words is as good as fanning a great warming blaze. Wonderful.  Looking back, thinking about ’my’ blond haired boy in long shorts with seemingly permanently tanned skin brings fleeting thoughts of the Koala’s eucalyptus emblazoned outback, the witchety grub, Skippy and the wonders of virtual teaching; way back in the 60′s and way ahead of [...]

Mercy watched the sea from her room.  Brine and seagulls.  Her hands moved over the damp coldness of the ancient sill, drawing her name.  She was aware of the secret weight of time.Mercy Jones. 12 years old, wearing an old tartan wool dress waiting for her grandma to come back from the funeral.  Mercy was used to waiting. Golden [...]

Mud calmed her these days. And she had also pledged to read the Fall of the Roman Empire before he came back from Gaul. Everyone at school seemed to think she had something going on with the OU and her weekends were spent visiting museums where dusty clay soldiers stood around wearing tunics that never [...]

She first saw him one Sunday afternoon when she was remembering those magnolias. She had finished with the paper and was sitting as neatly as she could(angles were important to her) in the corner of the garden where all the pets were buried in rows. Each Sunday she would remember each pet and the plants [...]