Ashleylister

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2178 )

• The Family

  

  I was born in 1952, 21 months after my brother, and not long after the end of WW2, although I don’t think that registered till I was at least in my teens,... Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Family - Ties That Bind Us

  

  I am fortunate to have been born into a medium-sized, close-knit family. My early childhood was filled with love and joy. For seven years I was the only... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Know Your Onions

  

  This might turn out to be more interesting than I first thought. To know your onions is an idiom which means to be knowledgeable about a subject (not necessaril... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Summer Solstice

  

  It falls to me to blog about superstitions on this, the longest day of the year, so what else would I regale you with but tales of summer solstice folklore and... Read more

  Posted on 21 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Superstition - Good Afternoon, Mr Magpie

  

  It was here again the other day. I heard it before I saw it, that horrible noise, like a distorted football rattle, then it swooped down from next door’s tree t... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• 1-2-3-4

  

  Are we rolling? The given theme is Playing In The Band. Okay, I've done that, still have the t-shirts with the DeadBeats emblazoned across the front, and I'll... Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Playing in the Band - Let's Rock

  

  I wish I had a talent for music. A proper talent, not just the piano grades that my father’s expense and my reluctance to learn got me. That piano teacher was... Read more

  Posted on 09 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• I Can't Breathe

  

  These themes, although set six months in advance, seem to have had an uncanny knack recently of falling in step with topical news, this week's - oxygen - being... Read more

  Posted on 08 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Oxygen

  They dragged my ancestors here in chains, enslaved and oppressed from the cradle to the grave. When we stood up for our rights they would knock us down but we... Read more

  Posted on 04 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• After The Gold Rush

  

  This Digging blog has undergone more revisions in just three days than that more famous blog by the infamous Dominic Cummings (hereinafter referred to as the... Read more

  Posted on 01 June 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Digging - Gold, Gold Gold!

  

  In 1894 John Sutter, a pioneering Californian farmer, commissioned a carpenter to construct a sawmill on his land. While he was working, the man found small... Read more

  Posted on 28 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Digging - Squirrel Nutkin

  

  A Little Squirrel (Fun Poem) - Poem by David Harris All summer long he collected his nuts Burying them here and there When it came to dig them up He couldn’t... Read more

  Posted on 26 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Thirsty Work - Put the Kettle On.

  

  My parents took their first pub when was four moving from a family house to a large apartment over the public area. I well remember the first time I tasted a... Read more

  Posted on 21 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Thirsty Waters

  

  We are thirsty creatures, now more than ever. Current circumstances reveal thirsts not previously known. We spend our time trying to fill the gaps in our lives... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• What Nonsense! The Extraordinary Mr Lear.

  

  Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll and Dr Seuss are synonymous with the word ‘Nonsense’. They were the masters at turning the world on its head. However, my ultimate... Read more

  Posted on 18 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Manglewordles

  

  Nonsense is 'yang' to the 'yin' of sense, a playful antidote to an all-too-serious world, and a coded recognition that absurdity is (paradoxically perhaps) an... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Nonsense but Great Fun

  

  I have always loved nonsense poetry. One of the first books that I ever read on my own was The Cat in The Hat. attracted by the black, white, red and blue... Read more

  Posted on 15 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Nonsense - Self-Isolation

  

  I listened, properly. I was perched on the edge of the sofa, leaning forward, hanging on to his every word. It was important that I didn’t miss anything and tha... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Magnetism

  

  It's a strange journey the mind takes one on sometimes. The allotted blog theme being magnetism , I was idly musing to myself that in fact the world is just a... Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Magnetism - Hold Tight

  

  I love the way the little trains and carriages of the Brio hold on to each other, like magic. Setting it up, I’ve explained to my grandchildren that opposites... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2020 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION