3BT – Page 184 – Louisa Parry

3BT – surrounded, distracted, rewarded

1. I wake up just before dawn to the sound of some low half-barks – Lily getting excited in her sleep. She’s still in her bed so I go to her to soothe her. Next time I wake up, perhaps an hour or so later, she’s lying in between us, on her back with her paws in the air, Carla is sat on my chest purring and Boron is fast asleep on my head. The best way to wake up.

2. On the bus, my ears and brain are distracted by a lecture on human pre-history, my hands and eyes by granny squares.

3. After a difficult rehearsal, I need cake. Lots of cake. Then I spot it – a fancy, expensive cake reduced to clear for just 99p.

Four beautiful things from the weekend

28/3/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

Saturday:

1. We walk further into West Wood that we’ve done before and come across high cliffs of rock with dangling ivy floating in the breeze; a dead tree snapped in half; a precarious overhang.

2. The garage at the end of the road (which, strangely, sells some of the best samosas I’ve ever eaten) has installed a slushie machine – two flavours: raspberry and strawberry. I text John to tell him and he replies: “we’ll look back on this as our diabetic summer.”

Sunday:

3. We sit on the balcony in the sun, waiting. I don’t hear the doorbell but the dog does and we all race to welcome John home.

4. There isn’t quite enough room but I join them on the sofa anyway and watch the film from underneath his arm.

3BT – the view, the smell, the silliness

26/3/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. We pick the wrong path around the Chevin and end up on a path just a bit too muddy, bumpy and hilly for the pushchair. We battle through though and are rewarded with a fantastic view of the hills to the north of Otley and the pools of Pool. We stop to catch our breath and take it all in.

2. The steeping rosemary fills the kitchen with its perfume.

3. The frequent silly text messages stop me missing him quite so much. One sleep down, two sleeps to go.

3BT – in the woods

25/3/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

(From my lunchtime walk with Lily in the woods at the back of our house. We took a slightly extended version of our usual route, which goes along the main path and back alongside the beck. I walked about a mile; Lily ran considerably further.)

1. In the forest of birch, oak and rocks, the trees are evenly spaced without crowding or saplings in between. The weighty trunks grow tall and true but their still-naked limbs twist and gnarl. Underfoot is still golden from last year’s leaf fall. In just a few weeks, this scene will be transformed.

2. There is a glade in the woods just off the path above the other path, which looks like it’s from Fable. Two rings of stone, probably a century old, adorned by just one young tree each in the centre – like unactivated cullis gates to other worlds. Nearby, a stream has cut its way under a stone ledge and a set of steps leads excitingly off into the distance.

3. The sides of the beck, from here to the canal and river at Apperley Bridge, are covered with glorious green wild garlic (Ramsoms). The smell is divine. I collect a handful of leaves for my lunch.

3BT – maybe one day they won’t all be about animals…

22/3/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. We hug and feel paws stretching out against our waists, the hound trying to join in.

2. We go into the hills to the south, following the tributaries leading from our beck. One stream opens out into a quagmire and John stomps up it, the proud owner of wellies for the first time in nearly two decades. Lily – who is now allowed off lead in the woods and runs at top speed EVERYWHERE – creates muddy waves as she bounds back towards from her distant travels and we take that as cue to return to dry land.

3. Bums touch as they curl up next to me on the sofa.

4. The dog likes on her back, feet twitching in dreams, as the intruder (John) enters the house. She wakes – finally – when he calls her (“Crap guard dog! Crap guard dog, where are you?”) and runs at him, ball in mouth, ready to play.

3BT – happy hug, fungal find, pleasing polish

18/3/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. Carla purrs loudly: an early morning hug on the bed and in the sun. She doesn’t even care that the dog is on the other side of the bed: hugs, bed, sun – it’s all good.

2. I can’t remember what drew my attention first – the vivid orange of the rotting wood or the sight of a giant fungus growing on the dead stump – but I call Lily to go cross country (downhill between the two main paths) so we can check it out. The orange wood easily pulls away in chunks and is spongy to the touch. The giant fungus is hard – last year’s growth. Then out of the corner of my eye, I spot something more interesting – a twig dangling down, caught on two small branches, covered with coral-crested fungus. From a distance, it looks as tactile and solid as actual coral but it’s more delicate than that – each branch is flat, 2-D like it’s papercraft art.

3. The plasterers have gone but their dust remains throughout the house. It’s so thick and pervasive that I sometimes forget it’s there: assuming the whole world is just matte and dulled. Then I polish the shelves, the soon-to-be-fitted alcove units, and the grey turns into glossy conker brown. Colour and shine will return.

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