Wow. Hey like…. whats up everyone? chillin. ok cool. SO I have been away for quite a while. Europe then on a farm then back down to los angeles where my laptop has been broken for the last few weeks. BUT REGARDLESS I AM HERE NOW. Lets not waste any time and we’ll get right into it. George Ivan Morrison, more commonly known as Van Morrison,brings to the table some of the most rousing, edifying sounds you will ever taste.  Hailing from Belfast Northern Ireland (I was there this summer, unbelievable) Morrison brought the celtic music that he grew up on blended it with American Soul and R&B. The music was so successful that a new genre was created —> Celtic Soul. Mixing the smooth sounds of soul and the hearty rhythms of Ireland, who woulda thunk it….

Van Morrison is on his like 40th album or something (they’re not all good) but this is the album that got Van the Man on the scene. Moondance released in 1970 was Morrison’s third album contrasted from his first two sorrowful albums (although I still dig ‘em) bringing an optimistic and sanguine kind of sound.  The album is considered one of the greatest all-time and tickles (yeah tickles) me every time I put it on.  For those of you marin-ites out there Van Morrison still resides in his hilltop hut in good ol’ Fairfax California hanging out at The Sleeping Lady getting tipsy with D.G. Smith and co. I love Marin. 

Lil’ Wayne mows my lawn. Enjoy your lives…

CLICK FOR MOONDANCE

When I first sniffed Anya’s MoonDance, warm and evocative – like tuberose absolute, I felt like I was slipping into a satiny dress and the perfect pair of shoes. But this phase was short lived and soon I felt like flinging my perfect (and imaginary) footwear, and running across a wet, muddy garden. I suspect that the earthy herbal notes were responsible for this almost unholy craving. The earthiness to me, was reminiscent of green tea and henna (though from the notes, it seems to come from chamomile and mint). This part of the perfume also reminded me of something I’ve always wanted to do: Throw clay on a potter’s wheel and shape pots.

Slowly, MoonDance quietens down allowing a beautiful, almost spiritual part of the perfume to emerge. Like a forgotten lullaby, which would rather comfort than seduce, the tuberose whispers softly here. Yet, inspite of the calming drydown, there is still something undeniably sexy about it that keeps it interesting. Whether it is the Ambergris, the Opponax or the  South African Hyrax that does this, I am in love with the drydown.

Moondance is one of the few tuberose fragrances that I have liked and probably the only one , that has allowed me to enjoy the progression of notes without comparing it to, or craving, the actual flower. The more number of times I ‘test’ this fragrance the less I can break it down into its component parts. It becomes more and more  seamless with every sniff, till it transforms from a luminous flower to the memory of a dance.

You can buy this natural perfume in various concentrations at anyasgarden.com. I have reviewed the Eau de Parfum.

From Anya’s website, the list of notes are:

Top notes: American Violet Flower Isolate, Indian Water Mint

Middle notes: French Process Tuberose, Chinese Jasmine Sambac, French Rose de Mai, American Apple-scented Chamomile

Base notes: African Opoponax absolute, Carolina Ambergris, Haitian Sandalwood, Sustainable White Sandalwood, South African Hyrax

“L’etoile”, Painting by Edgar Degas: Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/3210104203/via Creative Commons

Running Feet: Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgw/2450009759/ via Creative Commons

Disclosure: I received a sample of Moondance from Anya, to review. However, I am under no obligation to like this perfume or write a favorable review.

The next Moondance meeting is

Monday October 5th at 3pm

Dunbar School Library

There are plenty of opportunities and ways to help make this fundraiser a success. Every little bit helps!

MOONDANCE!

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

 Atwood Ranch in Glen Ellen

 5:30 until 11:00.

For donations or sponsorships:

Please contact Nanette Names at 707-996-2845 or nanettenames@yahoo.com.  

Tickets:

Tickets for the event are $35 per person. For tickets, please contact Patti Flaherty at 707-935-3995 (snpflaherty@earthlink.net). 

I’ve never met a person who has not suffered from what we call the blues.  The happiest, most centered person I know, a guy who mimics Eastern philosophies without trying to, has been completely defeated by the harsher realities of our existence.  Of course, so have I. 

Then again, every once and a while, it seems that there are things out there that bring a smile to the coldest of stares – maybe it’s a puppy running, with ears flying like spastic kites and the grin of sunrise burning into an otherwise indifferent mood.  Or, maybe it’s being in love and how, regardless of the circumstances, it just makes you want to believe in something better, something higher. 

If there is a song to capture both of these experiences, I would like to put forth Van Morrison’s “Brand New Day,” the song that closes his 1970 sophomore album, Moondance.  Closing an album with a song revolving around sunrise is a cool enough idea that itches with plenty of irony, but the song, still, works perfectly ending an album as well as allowing the listener to consider what beginnings are now at hand.

As a teenager, when sunrise ends the long summer nights’ wild misadventures, I remember turning to this song often.  There were others (most notably the second side of The Beatles’ Abbey Road), but this song managed to continuously find its way into both the lower and higher moments of my twenties – the years we’re programmed to forget rock and roll dreams and sweat the games screaming for more players (more people boxed into cubes, ties and pencil skirts).  Then, I turned thirty and, as this third decade of breathing rolls on like the lyrics of “Ramblin’ Man,” Van Morrison’s song is still finding a place on the soundtrack of my experiences.  I wear a tie to work.  I am married.  I have kids.  I live in a nice suburban development.  But (thankfully), I do not feel contained, restrained, or obtained by any of those things.  I still feel moved by music, and few songs move me like “Brand New Day.”

Now, song for song, I think I still prefer Morrison’s Astral Weeks album to Moondance, but what matters, here, is one single song.  In an America where pay-cuts are a blessing because they’re not a lay-off and the scientific advancements responsible for traveling to work are in the hands of irresponsible businesses and government agencies that clearly put dollars over people (not because they’re evil for its own sake, but because they have to for their own “success” as it is defined by the society we all have agreed to be a part of), it seems like there’s not a whole lot of things to smile about.  Many people aren’t exactly psyched to go to work (I am – I’m not bragging; I just lucked out with things), as the only reason many of us work is to earn enough money for free time to smile.  An odd paradox that is much more complex than that simplification, but still odd, right?  If “Brand New Day” does anything – if it has done anything for me over the years – it finds the miraculous in rock bottom, offering a sunrise to a long, dark night.  This is to say, then, that hope is possible.

You don’t have to be down and out to enjoy “Brand New Day.”  The flipside is what do you listen to when life seems to offer you so much you think you might explode?  What happens when life is so good and then it gets better?  I just found out that an old friend of mine has started to receive national attention for a teaching method he came up with (this follows extraordinary popularity and success – that’s “success” as in “valuable to students” – in a 2000-plus student public high school).  I wasn’t surprised, but I was satisfied that good things do happen to good people.  Think about babies and what a magic experience they are – how much they offer not only the world they’ll inherit but the parents who get to raise them.  It goes on and on – maybe a hobby that you’d given up on all of a sudden takes a turn, reenters your life, and you’re right back into the thrill of creation that maybe you felt as a kid with a pile of Legos.  “Brand New Day” offers a contemplative appreciation for these moments, like an adult watching sunrise over the Atlantic for the first time in years, petting his dog because he feels he actually needs to touch something truly alive. 

Few people I’ve met would trade in their emotions for completely stoic existences; in other words, most people will deal with the extreme lows life offers because of the highs that seem to also be available.  Wherever you’re at, Morrison, an artist focused on the ethereal to begin with, really nailed something with “Brand New Day,” and I’ve been able to understand the moments of life that language isn’t good enough for a little bit better because of this song. 

I couldn’t find a version of this song on youtube, so you’ll have to find it on iTunes or Pandora.  Hope you like it.

Si alternano

Lune

in cielo

Immutate

restan

stelle

che lo vivon

A te,

brillante astro,

sopra ogn’altro

mio pensiero

sospirante

va

adla

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Karen M. Black

Welcome to the first installment of my “Introducing…” blog series, featuring indie authors, their craft, their struggles and achievements and, of course, their adventures in Social Media. This week we meet Karen M. Black, author of the evocative novel, Moondance.

Karen received her MBA in marketing from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and has worked as a communication consultant in the Canadian pension and benefit industry since 1992.

She’s also a practicing karmic astrologer, associated with Linda Brady, author of Discovering Your Soul Mission.

Karen lives in Toronto and is currently writing her second novel, which picks up where Moondance leaves off. After self-publishing Moondance and winning more than five awards for Moondance in 2008 and 2009, she has also recently launched her book consulting business which assists aspiring authors in the creation and publication of their work. 

Tell us about your book, Moondance.

Moondance is a freethinking, emotionally charged, highly addictive coming-of-age, exploring life, love and the nature of reality. It’s part psychological thriller, part paranormal romance, and part magical realism.

What drove you to base the novel on such a unique and evocative subject?

Moondance explores questions (and arguments) that I had about life in my mid- to late thirties. It’s the result of being bounced around in the corporate world, having some painful relationship experiences, and wondering why my life didn’t turn out as I had planned.

I wrote the first 120 pages of Moondance in 1996 after a relationship ended. In a state of heartbreak, the words gushed out of me in a curious, unstructured wave (the first page I ever wrote was page 271). What I wrote scared me. What I had created wasn’t aligned with who I thought I was, which was logical, tough, steady and calm. I was creating scenes and dialogue I didn’t understand with my logical mind. So I rejected it and finished my MBA instead.

Five years later, still single, with questions about my life mounting, I participated in a five-day retreat called the Trust Program. Trust was a turning point, a powerful experience which helped me understand who I am, what I believe and what’s important to me. After Trust, I embraced my sincere belief in reincarnation and began to study karmic astrology while working full-time as a benefit communication consultant, something I never could have imagined before.

Who would you recommend read your book?

I wrote Moondance for me. I published Moondance for anyone who’s had their heart broken by life or by love, and has had the curiosity and the courage to ask why (plus anyone who likes thought-provoking, addictive page-turners)

You self-published your book. How was that experience?

Well, self-publishing was something I came to slowly.

First I researched the publishing process. I created synopses, a log line, even query letters and sent them out to agents and then publishers. During this phase, I didn’t like what I was learning. I don’t like how little money the author actually sees, plus the control they give up creatively and on the marketing side. I also learned that signed authors often have to invest their own money and time in promotion and marketing anyway, yet there isn’t much flexibility in the contract in recognition of this effort. After giving away complete control and profits, the vast majority of debut novels lose money-making the prospects of publishing a second novel with the same publisher grim.

Self-publishing non-fiction is commonplace. Self-publishing commercial fiction is not. Yet the more I weighed the pros and cons, the more self-publishing made sense for me.

I know myself – when it comes to business, I really like control. With my business background, I am accustomed to creating strategy and with my communication consulting background, I understand the publishing and production process. I knew I wanted input on the cover and layout design. I knew I’d want to be involved in the marketing. I began to wonder if the traditional route was the best way to go for me.

During this time, I met Arnold Gosewich, former President of MacMillan Canada, now an agent and publication consultant. After some discussions, he confirmed my suspicions. As the publisher – which is different from vanity publishing and print on demand publishing like lulu or Trafford by the way – I control the entire process. Economically, I get to keep all of the profits, and have to sell fewer copies to break even. I also take all the risk. Yet early readers responded well to Moondance – I knew I had a great product. With the internet, I have global reach.

In 2008 and 2009, Moondance won a number of awards (details on my site). It’s been great fuel for Arnold who’s now my agent for U.S., international, television and film rights. I now share what I’ve learned with my book consulting clients.

Bottom-line, self-publishing hasn’t made me rich (yet), but it has been gratifying. I’ve produced a high quality product, got some good recognition in the form of awards (and reader response), and have maintained control. Also, I’ll be able to continue to promote it for years to come and still have the option of approaching big publishers. I have no regrets.

How are you going about promoting Moondance?

 I started out using my existing network, and then created a list and a monthly newsletter called IDEAS that PROVOKE and INSPIRE. I’m also active on social networks LinkedIn and Twitter.

 I’ve been interviewed on a number of radio shows online, and in traditional media, and have generated a bit of print and online publicity on my own. Most of my sales, though, have come through word of mouth. I’ve also attended some book clubs.

 I’m going into a new phase now, where I want to do more speaking engagements on self-publishing and karmic astrology, possibly collaborating with other authors with complementary books and skill sets. I’d also like to work with more book clubs – the ones I’ve attended have been a lot of fun.

What is your favourite place to write?

 At my cottage in Georgian Bay, with the window open so I can hear the waves.

 What advice can you give other writers?

 On writing

• Write for yourself first. If what you’re writing scares you, that’s perfect
• Read The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes (he says the same thing, above)
• DON’T write with your marketing hat on. Heart comes first. Marketing comes later.
• Hire a good editor, or (at least) proof reader before sharing your finished manuscript widely
• Hire a good book consultant / publication consultant to help with the process.

 On research/publishing

• Read Stephen King’s On Writing to get really good advice on how to get feedback from your nearest and dearest (or whether or not you should)
• Before sending out queries, do your research! I suggest using www.absolutewrite.com and Jeff Herman’s Guide as starting point
• Take some time to create your marketing positioning and query materials: Who (and where) is your audience? Why is your work different? What’s your elevator pitch? What’s your log line?
• If you’re considering self-publishing, signup for Dan Poynter’s free newsletter (even if you’re a fiction writer) and consider buying his book.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I’m part socialized introvert, and big part nester. So I see friends, generally in small groups or one-on-on. I cook with and for friends and love sampling ethnic foods. I listen to music (I’m an eclectic music lover who’s passionate about www.radioparadise.com – the best mix anywhere).

I read mostly thrillers and philosophical/spiritual stuff. I enjoy the outdoors, especially boating, and time on the water. And oh yeah – I meditate, continue to study astrology and look for ways to promote Moondance.

Where can people get a copy of Moondance?

Folks can get a hard copy or a PDF online at www.karenmblack.com. If you’re in Toronto, there are also a couple of other ways you can get it – see ‘Buy Moondance’ on my site.

What can we expect next from you?

 I’ve created a few hooks in Moondance, and a number of characters who will come back, and grapple with new issues in their lives. So what I’ll be working on next is the sequel, and my promise to readers is that it’ll be as intense and as hard to put down as Moondance is.

My aim in life is to have as many people ticked off at me for keeping them up late as possible…

Thanks to Karen for sharing her story with us. Check out her website at www.karenmblack.com.

Richard S. Todd is the author of the critically-praised Raincloud: A Novel and holds talks on the self-publishing experience. He spends his time blogging and working on his next novel, The Orphans of the Creek.

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It is so lovely outside today that I almost don’t want to be indoors writing to you, however, I would be a terrible blogger if I failed to inform you of some of the wonderful events the Big Apple has to offer this weekend.

First, an addition to tonight’s lineup; a new exhibit is opening at Mixed Greens- X 10th Anniversary Exhibition:

With X, we present a large selection of the many amazing artists with whom we’ve been privileged to work. Their techniques and subject matter vary widely, but all of these artists captured our attention either by their extraordinary use of materials or through their deep examination and investigation of their subjects. There is no theme uniting the 84 participating artists—the only common denominator is Mixed Greens. Some might call it narcissistic. Others nostalgic. We consider it to be a celebration of some of the best artists working today.

I’ve heard tell that the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck will also be there!

If you’ve never been to a Contra Dance event you should experience the madness Friday night at the LGBT Community Center; this event will have the added twist of being “gender neutral.” There are a lot of twists in contra already, that one makes this a true ‘only-in-New-York’ event.

Contra Dancers

If you’re looking for a nice way to enjoy the evening outdoors you can enjoy a childhood favorite on the shore of the Hudson River; The Wizard of Oz will be screening on Pier 46!

Inside, and a bit further north, The Raspberry Brothers will be tearing apart the 80s classic Pretty in Pink! This is a must see if you’re going to attend the Pretty in Pink Prom Saturday night (keep reading for details). I guarantee their antics will give you excellent cocktail conversation.

So, The Prom, well, Pretty in Pink Prom Night is happening Saturday night at The Bell House (where else?). It’s going to be an epic nostalgia trip complete with a “totally radical giant 80s prom backdrop,” in front of which you can have your prom pictures professionally shot, a “50 foot balloon drop” AND “bathrooms stocked with Aqua Net for heavy primping.” Not to mention one of the best 80s cover bands available- The Engagements! Get out there and have the prom you always dreamed of!

Also on Saturday it’s Bronx Gridlock vs. Brooklyn Bombshells at the Hunter College Sportsplex! If you haven’t made it out to a Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout this year, this is a great time to go!

ALSO on Saturday Rooftop Films is screening a movie at The Old American Can Factory- 45365 won Best Documentary at SXSW 2009:

45365 captures the plain pathos of a single place like few other films ever do. It is amusing and informative, exciting and realistic, tragic and eternal. But as I said, this synopsis is inadequate. To get at these emotions and ideas, you could live all your life in Sidney, Ohio, or you could see this film.

The Oberlin band Like Bells will perform before the screening; my little sister is currently an Oberlin student so all things Oberlin have a special place in my heart.

Of course I’m also a tremendous francophile so I may have to celebrate Bastille Day on Saturday. There are a number of celebrations in the city; my pick is the Petanque Tournament at Cornichon. Petanque is sort of like frenchified bocce ball; there will also be lots of wine and good cheer!

Libertie! Egalitie! Fraternitie!

On Sunday you can continue to embrace your inner francophile at Le Poisson Rouge, where they will be screening one of the most influential French films of the French New Wave- The 400 Blows. François Truffaut’s masterpiece gives you an intimate look into the Paris of the 1950s.

Also on Sunday you can swing under the stars with George Gee’s Big Band at Moondance on Pier 54!

Monday is the start of the Metropolitan Opera’s Summer Series; Paulo Szot, Lisette Oropesa, Alek Shrader, and Vlad Iftinca will be performing on Central Park’s Summerstage. If you can’t get any of the free tickets for this event check out the performances in the outer boroughs throughout the week.

Also on Monday, Wilco will be performing in Keyspan Park; Yo La Tengo will open. Check out this video:

Have a marvelous weekend and stay tuned for additions!

Surprinzator, am trecut destul de usor peste tentatia de a pune un clip cu muzica lui Michael Jackson si asta pentru ca vreau sa-l mai tin o perioada doar pentru mine.
Am ales in schimb, unul dintre cele mai bune AMV-uri pe care le-am vazut in foarte mult timp. Desfid pe oricine sa ma contrazica (asta pentru ca stiu persoane care au ceva de comentat atunci cand vine vorba de folosirea melodiilor foarte cunoscute pentru a crea astfel de AMV-uri).

Nightwish / Moondance / Sailor Moon

ps: sa mai spun ca, in ziua in care l-am descoperit, l-am ascultat/privit de cel putin 10 ori….asta vorbind de obsesie . Sunt curioasa daca veti face si voi ceva asemanator.

In het UCLA Medical Center is vannacht op 50 jarige leeftijd overleden.
Zo talentvol en zo ongelukkig.
Iedereen hier kan zijn necrologie aanvullen en zijn mooiste clips plempen.

So this is blogging, huh? Wow, you really have to put some effort in to get it up and running. Kudos millions of people eager to overshare with others!

Here’s what my blog is about…I love music and listen to lots of it. I listen to as much as I can, but I don’t claim to have heard of the latest indie hipster bands, and I don’t seek out the most obscure and cowlick-haired of them all. I’m definitely not hip in any way and I’m also not worried about appearing “hip”; I just like music and seeing bands live, talking about music in detail, and now, ideally, writing about it for mass consumption (or the consumption of the 3 friends I have).

My aim is to discuss whatever I’m listening to at the moment, whether that be Moondance or a brand-spanking new album, and give my thoughts and opinions on that particular listening experience. I’ll also review concerts that I attend, which admittedly isn’t many for a music junkie. Hey, I don’t work for Rolling Stone or anything, so I actually have to pay for concerts! Unbelievable!

If you enjoy these artists a LOT – Andrew Bird, The Arcade Fire, Bjork, Coldplay, Gogol Bordello, Iron and Wine, Portishead, Radiohead, plus their counterparts, contemporaries, and predecessors – then you might enjoy my blog too. Oh…and reggae. Lots of reggae.

Just in: fine necklaces from Wasabi by Jill Pearson

Shop all Wasabi jewelry

Can I say how much I really love Pandora Internet Radio?  I have an obscenely huge music collection that I have to confess, I rarely listen to.  My in car listening is usually to audiobooks and in the house, our huge media PC (the one with the terabyte hard drive) is usually tuned, if not to TV, then to the limited mix that both DH and I agree on.  What has been really great for us about Pandora is that we can take a song or a group or a particular musician we like and design an entire radio station around it such that you pretty well only here music you love.  It’s based on the Music Genome Project, which is described on the Pandora site like this:

Since we started back in 2000, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It’s the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts has been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound – melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics … and more – close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart’s content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings – new and old, well known and completely obscure – to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.

You can create as many “stations” as you want. And you can even refine them. If it’s not quite right you can tell it so and it will get better for you.

The Music Genome Project was founded by musicians and music-lovers. We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help you connect with the music YOU like.

Since I often don’t have a particular song in mind when I want to listen to music, I enjoy Pandora because I can design stations around a mood.  For example, I absolutely love Jonathan Rhys Meyers gritty, earthy voice in his role as Louis Connelly in August Rush. Sadly, JRM doesn’t have an album (that I’m aware of anyway–dude, you should make one!  I’d so buy it!), but with Pandora I can create a whole radio station around his sound.  Through a series of thumbs up and thumbs down for various selections, I’ve tailored it to be my perfect station to evoke the mood I want for Ewan (my Irish musician werewolf in Moondance).  How great is that?  And another bonus, I get to discover all sorts of musicians I’ve never heard of and wouldn’t otherwise hear because I live in Mississippi and our radio stations leave…something to be desired.  Long live mood music, long live Pandora.

And for those of you who want a desktop ap instead of a new browswer window, I give you Pandora Desktop.

DH and I watched August Rush again the other night.  It’s one of my all time favorite movies.  The music is amazing and it’s a real feel good story.  And hey, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is pretty to look at and listen to.  Wish he’d do an album.  He’s got such a great, gritty sort of voice.  I decided on the spur of the moment that Conall’s best friend Ewan (the hero of the prequel to HiS) is an Irishman and a musician and might as well be played by JRM, because he’s far too pretty not to use for something.  And wouldn’t you know that a nice obvious title occurred to me for the novella:  Moondance.  And then I actually started to get an inkling for a plot.  What a concept.  So I want to spend a bit of time this weekend working on the GMC for Ewan and Anya in their own story to see if I can’t flesh that out a bit more.  I’m contemplating playing with the novella just to get myself into the world and find my voice again.  I’ve been working slowly on HiS this week, and it’s been kind of uninspiring.  I don’t know if it’s the scenes I’m trying to write or what.  I think it’s more that I don’t know their voices yet so everything I’ve written so far sounds stilted and kind of blah.  I suppose stilted and blah is better than no words at all.  I just need to find my rhythm again.

In other news, I’m reading Kelley Armstrong’s Stolen and Christine Feehan’s Dark Prince. The latter is an audiobook from the library, so it’s my in the car “reading”.  The narrator is not outstanding, but I find myself interested nonetheless, so that’s good.  And maybe I’ll do something radical and dip back into Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer this weekend.   It’s rainy, so a good excuse to stay in and do a bit of cleaning out.

Tonight there will be a full moon – at 02.38am to be precise.  Traditionally known as the Worm Moon, when earthworms resume working and throwing up casts after the winter, but also referred to as the Sugar Moon or Sap Moon, it’s the first full moon of the spring.  Since living by the sea full time, I have become much more aware of and attuned to the moon’s cycles.  In London, even walking home late at night from a party, it is quite possible to miss seeing the moon, hidden behind high buildings.  But here on the beach, with wide open skies and an absence of artificial street lighting, we are much more aware of its presence, and of the quality of its light.  Full moons are phenomenal. To see a fat full moon rise out of the sea is an incredible thrill; or to catch it heaving itself, large low and heavy, over the sea wall to hang, precariously low in the sky and often glowing yellow, before making its slow steep ascent. These pictures were taken in August last year, when the sky was still quite light at 9pm.

When we were mainly based in London, I used to get very excited when our weekend visits coincided with the full moon. Before Mary was born, I’d pack up a rug and a Thermos (or something stronger) and go and sit for an hour or so on the beach, feeling the silvery glow on my skin and watching the reflections on the water. Later, when she was a baby, I’d steal her out of her cot, bundled in blankets, and take her down to the water’s edge. Here we are on one such nocturnal expedition, back in 2006 – picture a little blurry, I’m afraid…. She has developed a love of the moon as passionate as my own, and is often the first to spot it, pale and ghostly in the sky on a grey afternoon.

All too often, however, I’d be stuck in London for the full moon, watching it cast magical shadows on the bare boards of the bathroom floor but imagining it calm and cold above the sea, casting showers of silver shards on the surface of the water.  Even if my visits did coincide, all too often it turned out cloudy – as it was last July, on the occasion I’d arranged a nighttime visit to Sissinghurst to see the famous White Garden as Vita Sackville-West had conceived it to be seen, in the moonlight. (A thrill deferred, I hope – and it was still an amazing experience to be in that extraordinary place, alone, after dusk.) So last month, when I arrived back from a long car journey from Berkshire to find a full yellow moon on the rise, there was nothing for it but to pop Mary’s red coat on over her pyjamas, roll up a  rug, grab a flask of hot chocolate and head for the sea. We were not disappointed.

Some people say that a wish made in the right spirit, on the night of a full moon, will be granted – and Mary and I each made a secret wish that night.  (She has since told me hers was to have her birthday in October (it is in May – the best birthday month in my book) and a pair of  spangly Leli Kelly shoes. Mine’s not for the telling – until it comes true…)

Some of my favourite songs are about the moon – a reggae cover of ‘Moonriver’ was the first single I ever bought, and the version that appears in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ can make me cry. Then there’s Patsy Cline singing ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’, Nancy Griffiths’s ‘Once in a very Blue Moon’ and, of course, Van Morrison’s mesmerising ‘Moondance’. I’ll leave you with a picture of Mary performing a moondance of her own devising.

Tonight, if the sky is clear, try to get out and spend some time in the full moon’s magic. Sit, dance, make a wish. Photographs just can’t do it justice; the beauty really is out of this world.

PS  Back at the house, exciting things are going on in the garden. We are still at the stage where things are looking worse before they get better, but I’ll be posting pictures soon.  I have just realized, by the way, that it is a whole year since I started this blog – here.  What a journey it has been!  Many thanks to all those of you who have shared some of it with me – the ups and the downs – and especially those who have stuck with us since the beginning. Now it is time to move outside.  If last year was the year of the house, this year is the year of the garden. It’s been a long time coming, and I just can’t wait.

For background information on our efforts to transform a pair of dilapidated railway carriages into an eco-home, more photographs and info on my books and other writing, please visit my website.