I was so pleased to chance upon your blog.
I feel affinity because I too pine for the dramatic landscapes of childhood. We had a smallholding on the Cape Flats. Self and best friend(Where is Johan now? Hope luck and his sense of humour got him where he deserved) used to roam the scrubby dunes looking for adventure. All gone now under urban sprawl.
I’ve lived in England since 1975. To preserve sanity I’ve forced myself to notice cloudscapes, textured granite walls, patchwork fields, summer meadows, sombre winter light, bare trees, racing clouds, smoke from cottage chimneys, rows of snuggling houses. Not to see obese, tattooed bodies, junk-food dulled eyes, cheap and nasty architecture.
Your life sounds idyllic. The Overberg – that name resonates.
Actually, it wasn’t pure chance that led me to your blog. I have a Google alert posted for any mention of Alice Munro – my writing hero.
I too serve at the shrine of fiction – where offerings with the merest whiff of mendacity get rejected(emotional truth?)
Do you write short stories or novels? I see you mention Susan Hill’s blog. Have you seen what she says about short stories? – that they are hardest of all to get right, and anyway there’s no market. (Are you doing her creative writing course? ) But I love short stories. Even the best novels have padding. Alice Munro, it seems to me, gets it right by writing condensed novels – poems in a way. Apparently she takes 6-8 months per story. (She’s put down her pen now, sadly, says she can’t perform at that level anymore.)
Would love to hear from you.
Tim
Hello, I just wanted to say that I really like your writing. It’s very poetic, and descriptive. Oh, God, those are such crappy adjectives, but I’m tired and I can’t think of any better ones.
I wish you would get “out and about” a bit more in the blogosphere. You write so beautifully, yet you keep yourself hidden away. It’s a shame, as more people should be exposed to you. I only found your blog because I noticed you’d linked to me.
I happened upon your blog by accident and as with some things – good can come from that – your writing is really very lovely, I feel as if I am there with you as you describe your ridgeback or the mountains. I agree with McWhore – others need to discover you, I will be back to visit. Cat
I love your blog! Although some of the writing fonts are very tiny and hard to read without squinting. I believe I recognize you from SC I love your writing style.
Thankyou for calling into my blog, I have heard that the sleep disturbances can be prolonged, I look forward to a normal sleep pattern, its worth waiting! I have read a little of yours and look forward to reading more!
Love your blog and post for the day. Emotional Archaeology. I love that and will use it on my blog soon I know. Full credits of course. Oceans of Sober Dreams to you!
Thank you for stopping by my blog and introducing yourself. I have been spending a little bit of time reading yours and “getting to know you”. Welcome to sobriety my friend.
Love and Kindness,
~A
I’ve been following along at FB but am sick to death of FB so have created a bookmark to follow along daily. Thanks for being such an inspirational part of my recovery…my life.
Hi Mary
One of our friends is from down near Durban, she was just at the house to visit my wife. As I sat reading your blog I received a letter inviting me to be be a member of a professional delegation to Johannesburg next February. Small world.
I get nostalgic every fall. “…and the days dwindle down or so the song goes.
love your web site.
I’ve found your blog via about.com/alcoholism and other steps. The full moon was beautiful here in Australia, too. Love your writing and will keep posted.
Love Always
Mike
found your blog doing a search on google reader and I really like it. yes, your writing is beautiful, but there’s something about the way you describe ordinary things, food, interiors, and people, while gently tying your perspective back to recovery, that really speaks to me.
I am completely enamored with the pomegranate picture on your blog page. Is it protected by copyright, or may I have permission to use it on the cover of a cookbook I am writing? You see, the pomegranate is synonymous with my Armenian heritage and would make a lovely statement.
I hope to hear from you very soon
PS – Each day is a new challenge. It sound like you are committed to succeed.
This is a wonderful place to find. Thanks for making it.
I am new to sobriety but deeply grateful.
All my love and prayers goes out to all of those recovering. It’s a new life!
I love your writing and am wondering if we could repost the occasional piece from your blog in our alumni e-newsletter and blog, http://www.renascent.ca/blog/tgif. Renascent is a non-profit treatment centre located in Toronto, Canada, and I really think our alumni would identify greatly with your writing. We’d of course give a linkbank to your blog.
Thanks, and all best wishes to you in your recovery,
Dale Heckman
Editor, TGIF Weekly Recovery News
Renascent Foundation
You’ve really honed in on your own writing style and it’s lovely. I coordinate the Addiction Guest Blog for Pat Moore Foundation, a drug detox and treatment center in CA. I’d love to get in touch with you about guest blogging about your recovery. Sharing the knowledge so to speak.
If that sounds like something that interests you then please email me at dawn@patmoorefoundation.com for more details.
Hello,
I’ve been reading your blog throughout the month of July. It has been so helpful and has given me the courage to begin my own journey with not drinking. Any strategies you can offer are greatly appreciated.
-Suzy
My name is LeRon and I have written an ebook called “Straight Dope, A 360 degree look into America’s new favorite past time.” It is comprised of interviews with drug users, sellers, teachers, counselors, people who are pro legalization of marijuana, and parents who answer the question, “Why is America so awash of drugs.?” Since you have a great site, I wanted to give you a copy so that you could read it and possibly post it on your site. I have pasted the Amazon link and a more detailed query below. I look forward to hearing from you.
Straight Dope is book that asks the simple question – why are drugs so entrenched in America’s society. Instead of doing the same ol’ rigamarole song and dance and interviewing talking heads and experts, Straight Dope gets to the heart of the matter and talks to the people at ground zero – the drug addicts whose life revolves around getting high; the criminals who profit of the misery of the addicts; the teachers who deal with the children in drug abused homes; the drug counselors that try and balance breaking the addicts cycle of addiction while dealing with the bureaucracy of government politics; the legal marijuana growers battle against tobacco companies and how to thrive in the growing industry; and the parents issue of how they will prepare their children to just say no.
Inspired by the late great Studs Terkel’s many works, Straight Dope is comprised of raw and uncut hard hitting interviews about the participants experiences, thoughts, opinions, and outlook on drug abuse, why or why not drugs should be legal, and how the government is handling the war on drugs.
Removing nearly all of the questions, the interviews are more like monologues, allowing the reader to feel as if the subject is just, “talking,” instead of your standard interview.
In addition to the real life accounts of people, Straight Dope also has spoken word pieces compiled of biting social commentary, as well as my own personal reflections composed of my experiences with drugs.
Hi,
Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting.
Congratulations on your 5 months!
I was so pleased to chance upon your blog.
I feel affinity because I too pine for the dramatic landscapes of childhood. We had a smallholding on the Cape Flats. Self and best friend(Where is Johan now? Hope luck and his sense of humour got him where he deserved) used to roam the scrubby dunes looking for adventure. All gone now under urban sprawl.
I’ve lived in England since 1975. To preserve sanity I’ve forced myself to notice cloudscapes, textured granite walls, patchwork fields, summer meadows, sombre winter light, bare trees, racing clouds, smoke from cottage chimneys, rows of snuggling houses. Not to see obese, tattooed bodies, junk-food dulled eyes, cheap and nasty architecture.
Your life sounds idyllic. The Overberg – that name resonates.
Actually, it wasn’t pure chance that led me to your blog. I have a Google alert posted for any mention of Alice Munro – my writing hero.
I too serve at the shrine of fiction – where offerings with the merest whiff of mendacity get rejected(emotional truth?)
Do you write short stories or novels? I see you mention Susan Hill’s blog. Have you seen what she says about short stories? – that they are hardest of all to get right, and anyway there’s no market. (Are you doing her creative writing course? ) But I love short stories. Even the best novels have padding. Alice Munro, it seems to me, gets it right by writing condensed novels – poems in a way. Apparently she takes 6-8 months per story. (She’s put down her pen now, sadly, says she can’t perform at that level anymore.)
Would love to hear from you.
Tim
Hello, I just wanted to say that I really like your writing. It’s very poetic, and descriptive. Oh, God, those are such crappy adjectives, but I’m tired and I can’t think of any better ones.
I wish you would get “out and about” a bit more in the blogosphere. You write so beautifully, yet you keep yourself hidden away. It’s a shame, as more people should be exposed to you. I only found your blog because I noticed you’d linked to me.
I happened upon your blog by accident and as with some things – good can come from that – your writing is really very lovely, I feel as if I am there with you as you describe your ridgeback or the mountains. I agree with McWhore – others need to discover you, I will be back to visit. Cat
I am enjoying your Blog all the way from Massachesetts, USA. I have a google alert for Roberto Bolano- that’s how i came across your blog.
L
I love your blog! Although some of the writing fonts are very tiny and hard to read without squinting. I believe I recognize you from SC
I love your writing style.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I enjoy your writing style and am always happy to find people that are winning the battle against alcohol. Ann
Thankyou for calling into my blog, I have heard that the sleep disturbances can be prolonged, I look forward to a normal sleep pattern, its worth waiting! I have read a little of yours and look forward to reading more!
Keep the Faith.
Rich
Love your blog and post for the day. Emotional Archaeology. I love that and will use it on my blog soon I know. Full credits of course. Oceans of Sober Dreams to you!
So it’s six months now, but I wasn’t a math major.
Good! Hurray! Doing the Happy dance. Keep on doing this, one day at a time, you are a remarkable woman.
Thank you for stopping by my blog and introducing yourself. I have been spending a little bit of time reading yours and “getting to know you”. Welcome to sobriety my friend.
Love and Kindness,
~A
I did a search for “Leave it all behind again” and found your blog. Bolano is a personal hero of mine as well.
Thanks for your blog,
Kindest Regards,
Ashley Dean
Love it!
Your writing is beautifully inspiring. I am so glad I stumbled upon your blog. Blessings to you!
Just starting my blog,will be following yours.
I’ve been following along at FB but am sick to death of FB so have created a bookmark to follow along daily. Thanks for being such an inspirational part of my recovery…my life.
Hi Mary
Nice web site.
Take Care
Bob O.
Thank you for sharing. I am in Al-anon.
Hi Mary
One of our friends is from down near Durban, she was just at the house to visit my wife. As I sat reading your blog I received a letter inviting me to be be a member of a professional delegation to Johannesburg next February. Small world.
I get nostalgic every fall. “…and the days dwindle down or so the song goes.
love your web site.
JF
Hi,
I’ve found your blog via about.com/alcoholism and other steps. The full moon was beautiful here in Australia, too. Love your writing and will keep posted.
Love Always
Mike
found your blog doing a search on google reader and I really like it. yes, your writing is beautiful, but there’s something about the way you describe ordinary things, food, interiors, and people, while gently tying your perspective back to recovery, that really speaks to me.
so glad I found your little corner of the web.
I am completely enamored with the pomegranate picture on your blog page. Is it protected by copyright, or may I have permission to use it on the cover of a cookbook I am writing? You see, the pomegranate is synonymous with my Armenian heritage and would make a lovely statement.
I hope to hear from you very soon
PS – Each day is a new challenge. It sound like you are committed to succeed.
My darling Mary…
My biggest cheerleader when I deserved no cheers.
We have walked through this journey together.
I am intrigued how us recovering alcoholics have so many talents that lay within, never exposed, albeit anxious to surface.
I remain grateful every 24/7 for your sobriety and mine, but most of all for the friendship and sincere love shared throughout the world.
You are one talented little lady and I am so grateful to have ‘met’ you.
Love you lovely lady.
xoxoxo
This is a wonderful place to find. Thanks for making it.
I am new to sobriety but deeply grateful.
All my love and prayers goes out to all of those recovering. It’s a new life!
Thank you!
Hi Louise,
I love your writing and am wondering if we could repost the occasional piece from your blog in our alumni e-newsletter and blog, http://www.renascent.ca/blog/tgif. Renascent is a non-profit treatment centre located in Toronto, Canada, and I really think our alumni would identify greatly with your writing. We’d of course give a linkbank to your blog.
Thanks, and all best wishes to you in your recovery,
Dale Heckman
Editor, TGIF Weekly Recovery News
Renascent Foundation
thank you for the words you use with so much love. a beautiful gift!
Thanks for putting our blog http://pointsadhsblog.wordpress.com/ in your blogroll. That’s an honor!
I’m honored for the link, thank you kindly.
Have a happy new year, and keep up the good work!
I am intrigued by your writing and I’ll come back for more.
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Marina!
You’ve really honed in on your own writing style and it’s lovely. I coordinate the Addiction Guest Blog for Pat Moore Foundation, a drug detox and treatment center in CA. I’d love to get in touch with you about guest blogging about your recovery. Sharing the knowledge so to speak.
If that sounds like something that interests you then please email me at dawn@patmoorefoundation.com for more details.
Best,
Dawn Jackson
Online Community Engagement
http://twitter.com/pmfoutreach
something i can finally read, follow, understand. thank you
Hello,
I’ve been reading your blog throughout the month of July. It has been so helpful and has given me the courage to begin my own journey with not drinking. Any strategies you can offer are greatly appreciated.
-Suzy
Hi, totally loving your blog. Feel better soon.
Hi,
My name is LeRon and I have written an ebook called “Straight Dope, A 360 degree look into America’s new favorite past time.” It is comprised of interviews with drug users, sellers, teachers, counselors, people who are pro legalization of marijuana, and parents who answer the question, “Why is America so awash of drugs.?” Since you have a great site, I wanted to give you a copy so that you could read it and possibly post it on your site. I have pasted the Amazon link and a more detailed query below. I look forward to hearing from you.
LeRon
Straight Dope: A 360 degree look into American drug culture
Title of book – Straight Dope:
A 360 degree look into the world of drugs
Synopsis:
Straight Dope is book that asks the simple question – why are drugs so entrenched in America’s society. Instead of doing the same ol’ rigamarole song and dance and interviewing talking heads and experts, Straight Dope gets to the heart of the matter and talks to the people at ground zero – the drug addicts whose life revolves around getting high; the criminals who profit of the misery of the addicts; the teachers who deal with the children in drug abused homes; the drug counselors that try and balance breaking the addicts cycle of addiction while dealing with the bureaucracy of government politics; the legal marijuana growers battle against tobacco companies and how to thrive in the growing industry; and the parents issue of how they will prepare their children to just say no.
Inspired by the late great Studs Terkel’s many works, Straight Dope is comprised of raw and uncut hard hitting interviews about the participants experiences, thoughts, opinions, and outlook on drug abuse, why or why not drugs should be legal, and how the government is handling the war on drugs.
Removing nearly all of the questions, the interviews are more like monologues, allowing the reader to feel as if the subject is just, “talking,” instead of your standard interview.
In addition to the real life accounts of people, Straight Dope also has spoken word pieces compiled of biting social commentary, as well as my own personal reflections composed of my experiences with drugs.