Summer is often a difficult time to sit and pore over a hot desk in the full pelt of the sunshine. However it can also be a time of reading and collecting ideas for Autumn inspiration. Things we can squirrel away in our minds for future use.

I have just returned from a nice, sunny week in Lyme Regis, Dorset. While there I came across this statue in the Jane Austen gardens.

with this plague beneath it…This is a meditation on Time, our Mortality, and our place in the world. The Woman will rust away over a span of time but the creature on her head, which represents Deep Time, will not. But while she is here she is indomitable and challenges all that faces her. Am I, are you indomitable? I’m not sure I can challenge all that faces me, perhaps it is better to face it and with God’s help come through it. However, it is thought provoking.

And this plague on the Cobb at Lyme there was this other meditation on time and fishing.

The Gods or God? God Almighty I believe. However, although this is just a light-hearted meditation, the words are very true. We all have an allotted span of our lives and in the book I’m reading at present – Soul’s Scribe by Kate Nicholas – she makes the point that though we spend our lives making connections with others, in effect we are solitary beings locked inside ourselves. I’m not arguing against community, I’m all in favour of it but we are born and die alone. Sobering thoughts indeed on a beautifully hot summer’s day. But these thoughts have captivated my mind and inspired me which is the main point of sharing them. We can spend our summer days when it is too hot to write, filling our minds and hearts with all kinds of images, reading and other things that will add grist to our writing in the days ahead.

Happy writing, happy reading.