working in oxford, busy week, mst, hollybush

Working in Oxford today and it was lovely to walk into town from Wolvercote and Godstow via Port Meadow in the early morning sunshine. Here's hoping for some drier days!

A hugely busy week, what with the TABS Relocation and the Master of Studies in Creative Writing Guided Retreat to prepare for.

A splendid late lunch at the Hollybush, Witney.

first fruits, relaxing, oerc10, ugdip readings, lac summer party

First fruits!

A relaxing time spent on the allotment earlier, followed by a bike ride to Mount Owen.

A lovely start to the weekend after an exhausting project-focused week.

Though there were some fun times too! Loved the OeRC tenth anniversary celebrations on Tuesday at Keble Road and the Ashmolean. Terrific end of course readings at Rewley on Wednesday - high standard of work from the Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing finalists. Yesterday, I rushed from the Taylor to the Latin American Centre summer party and got there just in time to enjoy a glass of wine and chat to friends.

sultry oxford, bridges, two little boxes

A sultry Oxford day with at times, including when I walked to work along the canal, Port Meadow and the Thames, a diaphanous yet clammy rain.

Clearer in Bampton, thankfully.

Took the photo above after I had crossed the bridges from the Meadow.

Too much to do tomorrow to allow staying up to hear the referendum results but for those that stay the course I dare say it will be an odd night. The ballot paper looked, with its two little boxes, too insubstantial for such a momentous decision.

last new york photos, non-stop rain, now stopped, tree peony, oerc and mod langs parties, remain!

Last New York photos.

In west Oxfordshire, it's been pretty much non-stop rain and no allotmenting has been done. Though I am planning to head up there later this afternoon.

In the garden all the petals have been pelted off. The rain has been good for the frog pond, though, which is fuller and clearer. Two water lily flowers are open today too.

I'm pleased that the tree peony has survived the downpours and is in flower. I thought somehow that it was late this year but looking back at previous years' posts (20th June 2015, for example) it is in fact early!

Looking forward to the OeRC tenth anniversary celebrations next week and to the Mod Langs summer party, which ironically happens on the same day as the referendum. Which way will I be voting? As the Ops Manager of the Bodleian's Western and Eastern European Languages libraries that does not remain to be seen. Remain!

new york public library, funding petition, bodleian tie, end of academic year but much to do, allotment tranquillity, facing the strange by sb sweeney

Loved seeing the New York Public Library. In many ways some reading rooms seemed more Oxford than Oxford - at least as seen through their glass doors. I was saddened to learn, though, that the library is having to petition City Hall for funding increases - current levels are below those of 2008, while demand for services is growing.  Why won't governments invest in libraries?

Nice to see a Bodleian tie on sale in the gift shop.

Although the Oxford academic year is ending - for undergraduates, at least - there is much to do at work.

Hooray for the tranquillity of the allotment!

Looking forward to publishing the excellent Facing the Strange by SB Sweeney!

nyc, lasa 50th, tiffany's, grand plaza, central park, the allotment

Back from New York and the LASA 50th anniversary congress. What an event - the best LASA I've been to. What a city!

Even though I only saw a fraction of the place, it was amazing to wander from the conference to my hotel, passing Tiffany's, strolling through Grand Plaza and Central Park.

Not that I wasn't pleased to be working on the allotment today. That was wonderful!

potato dibber's annual outing, thames-side roots, lasa nyc, 70,000th pageview

The potato dibber had its annual outing this week - a few days earlier than last year. Ten and a half rows of Desiree, Estima and Kestrel are now sown and ridged up. About the only thing that has been sown so far - late year. Brought back some spinach that had overwintered, though, for Sunday lunch earlier.

Saw the roots growing through the wall yesterday when I was walking to work through St Thomas's. They are reaching into one of the Thames streams that flow through the city. This one passes the remains of Oxford castle just down from where the photo was taken.

Off to my third LASA congress mid-week. This time it's in NYC. Can't wait.

Meantime jtns had its 70,000th pageview the other day.

warm and beautiful day, trust: a family story finished!, logic of the season, sabina murray, valiant gentlemen, cotswolds, kirby hall

A surprisingly warm and beautiful day, after the warnings of precipitous drops in temperature earlier in the week. There is summer-seeming sun and real warmth out of the breeze (at the top of the garden, for example).

Finished editing Trust: A family story this morning. Yes, finished! I can't quite believe that but it's true! While 10k was written back in 1998, I've been working on the other 60k since Easter 2012. And now it's done.

After finishing, I went to the allotment and did some more strimming and ‎forking through. So late to be prepping the ground but I tell myself that I am going with the logic of the season and in places the earth is still sopping.

On Thursday I attended a talk by Sabina Murray at the Kellogg College Centre for Creative Writing. She has written a novel (Valiant Gentlemen) about the humanitarian Sir Roger Casement, who was hanged by the British Government for gun-running for the Irish Nationalists in 1916. It was a wonderful talk - quite mesmerising, in fact - which was followed by a terrific guest dinner at the college and the chance to chat with Sabina and creative writing colleagues.

Took the top two photos in the Cotswolds this afternoon‎. The bottom one is of a tiny watercolour done by a relative in the early twentieth century. It shows Kirby Hall lake with the house in the background. The house, an ancestral home in Yorkshire, was pulled down after the First World War. Only the stable block, a couple of lodges and the mausoleum remain. My parents are buried in the family plot by the mausoleum.

swan's nest, allotments, horrendously late, eucalyptus, trust: a family story

Came across this swan's nest - as hundreds of people must do each day - when I was walking round the pond in the University Parks in Oxford.

The nest is really close to the path but the swan seems oblivious to passers by.

(It's often difficult to photograph white images in direct sunlight using a phone camera - the detail gets bleached out.)

This morning I cycled to the allotments early to start forking through what is to be the potato area. Horrendously late to be doing this but the clay was sodden till recently and then there's been work to do at home... I don't think this year's harvest is going to be that great!

The other photo shows the eucalyptus tree that overshadows a corner of our allotment. It's a landmark that I can see from quite far away when I'm cycling along Mount Owen Road. It's nice to have the tree there to look at but eucalyptuses are said to put a stop to things growing near them. That certainly seems to be the case here.

Reading some MSt work this morning then completing the rewriting and editing of Trust: A family story. I've cut about 10,000 words, so it'll come in at 70k.