Welcome to the start of 26 reflections on my garden in south west Scotland during 2024: one for each letter of the alphabet and all of which will appear as the year closes during the month of December. I’ve written before about planting trees in the rented field next to my home. It all beganContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Arboretum”
Author Archives: David Graham Clark
A great week for Cicely and David – the play
Since it was first released upon the world at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022, members of the ATLANTES palliative care group at the University of Navarra in northern Spain have been enthusiastic supporters of my play, Cicely and David. In one week this autumn however, their commitment went beyond anything I could have expected,Continue reading “A great week for Cicely and David – the play”
Picking apples
Late September brings a frost and then a blusterly gale. In between there is heavy rain. Early October sees the return of warm sunshine, and dry conditions, then a couple of nights when temperatures again plummet. I think it’s time to pick the bulk of the apples. They’ve not been at their best this year,Continue reading “Picking apples”
Six word stories
Flash fiction is popular. Very short stories. From maybe fifty to a few hundred words. But how short can a short story be? Ernest Hemingway is credited with the quintessential version. A story of just six words. Coming across it a few months back (it’s easily found on the internet) I began scribbling my ownContinue reading “Six word stories”
Fire in my Mouth: a concert performance in Edinburgh
It ended with a massive standing ovation that rang on and on, through multiple curtain calls. The atmosphere in the Usher Hall was jubilant, yet sorrowful in turns. The audience simultaneously astonished, stunned, tearful, but also joyous. It had been one of the most remarkable hours of my life, in which not a second wasContinue reading “Fire in my Mouth: a concert performance in Edinburgh”
The interplay between reading and writing
In 2023 I wrote my first novel, Epiphanies and Robberies, and serialised it here – month by month. Whilst I’m the author of quite a few academic books, I’d never before produced something like this, an extended work of fiction, with characters and a storyline totally of my own invention. Certainly, over the years IContinue reading “The interplay between reading and writing”
Music in the spirit of a novel
Last year I wrote my first novel, Epiphanies and Robberies. I was fortunate to have the encouragement of a loyal band of friends and enthusiasts, who got behind my serialised story as it appeared, chapter by chapter, one month at a time, on this blog. This year has seen the struggle to find an agentContinue reading “Music in the spirit of a novel”
Bedside vigil: from contemporary painting to palliative care
The painting is over two metres high, more than a metre wide, and from the end of the upper room, it’s radiating with bright colours and intriguing forms. I’m looking at a work by artist Gabriella Boyd, in Dumfriesshire’s Cample Line gallery. The image is unmissable, yet I seem drawn to it by contrary feelings.Continue reading “Bedside vigil: from contemporary painting to palliative care”
Emma Jane Pagan – a story that keeps blooming
I was organising a weekend festival in my local parish in 2014, when I first met Emma. The whole event was a celebration of autumn and she kindly provided the festival café with lovely seasonal arrangements to go on each table. When the programme ended, the displays were auctioned off and I found myself signingContinue reading “Emma Jane Pagan – a story that keeps blooming”
Lost and found in the Spring garden
It has been a long, hesitant, process. I look back at my diary and photographs over the two months since mid-February, bemused by the intermittent unfurling of Spring 2024, here in south west Scotland. Delayed by days and days of rain. Held up by low temperatures and with winds ‘like a whetted knife’. Hindered byContinue reading “Lost and found in the Spring garden”
Quotidian 