The Changing of the Seasons

November 1, 2026 sareenmclayLeave a comment

Today is the first of November and the start of winter here. Yes, there is a chill in the air but the sun glinting through the trees and the stunning reds and yellows of the leaves make me feel we are still in the midst of autumn.

Or perhaps I am not ready to move on?

It’s been a while since I posted on here and looking back today I discovered the post below which I wrote but hadn’t published. As I read it through, it brought back lovely memories of spring and summer and perhaps having now had the chance to look backwards, I feel more ready to move forward and welcome winter.

Added to this was a wonderful visit to Harrogate where I popped in to The Remnant House Ltd – what an Aladdin’s cave! I could have stayed in there all day amidst the fabulous range of fabrics and haberdashery items. I was, much to my amazement, restrained and bought only what I need to make my next sewing project. What a treat! (I may have also popped into Books for All, a second hand bookshop across the street but that is another story …)

So, armed with a new project, I’m ready for winter!

(And I’m taking advice from the Nan in the post below!)

Here’s my unpublished post – I hope it gives you a chance to think back and then move forward too.

A Spring in my Step

Sometimes serendipity sends you up a steep road.

A chance read of a post about a hidden library on the island of Arran on Scotland’s west coast found me walking up a beautiful, if hilly, path on the lookout for a Hidden Library in the woods.

The wooden cabin we discovered held not only shelves of books but a plethora of messages from former visitors too.

I loved it.

Books, nature, messages filled with positivity and encouragement. Have to say, a favourite was one from a Nan in Glasgow – ‘Just book the trip.’ Fabulous, no messing about, get on with it and, most importantly, don’t overthink it.

The books in the library are free to take, the only proviso is the wish that once you are finished with them, you gift them on to someone else. It’s also possible to donate books on the theme of nature.

I felt so lucky. We had arrived on the island when the wildflowers were blooming, and the path felt magical. I couldn’t resist taking photos and have loved being able to look back on them all. I’ve shared them here.

The trip brought back wonderful memories of our time in Orkney and visit to Betty’s Reading Room.

The island of Arran is yet another of Scotland’s gems. So much to do, so little time.

(Have you tried Isle of Arran ice-cream? Just saying.)

Of course, there had to be trees in my blogpost, and this one is a stunner. Spotted by my family as they made the climb up to the top of Goatfell, they knew I wouldn’t be able to resist going for a look. What a stunner. A real ‘hug a tree’ moment.

To be in the presence of such greatness, was the true meaning of ‘awesome’.

As ever, I love it when a book lands in my hands which just hits the nail on the head and as part of my reading for reviews for the My Book Corner website, I recently read Trix’s Tree House by Ewa Jozefkowicz, Illustrated by Gillian Flint and it was all about the importance of wildflowers and bees, particularly solitary ones.

As I may have said before, I do love a recommendation. Recently I’ve updated my book list on the Notes app so now I write down who has recommended the book/film/tv programme to me as well as the title.

Maybe it’s a memory thing! This way I can thank that person (hopefully!) and at the very least have a discussion with them about their recommendation.

In ‘Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop’ the author, Alba Donati wrote about how she loved a book which had recommendations for others within it. If there was ever a book to inspire you to read more and discover authors, then surely this must be it.

The wonderful Gallovidia Books in Kirkcudbright.

I’ve decided to keep it on my bookshelf and if I am ever in need of inspiration for a book choice, I will know exactly where to go first.

So what with having a story recently published in The People’s Friend magazine, spending time with family and friends, spotting red squirrels in Arran and in our back garden, bird watching at Fowlsheugh, hugging trees, reviewing books and one or two book purchases at independent bookshops, I’ve been so lucky – I’ve had a ball this spring! Let summer begin!

Recommendations!

BBC Secret life of bees

Trix’s Tree House by Ewa Jozefkowicz, illustrated by Gillian Flint – read my review in www.mybookcorner.co.uk

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Free by Lea Ypi

It would be lovely if you would like to pop over to www.mybookcorner.co.uk where you can read my reviews of the latest books for children. There is the opportunity to sign up for the newsletter as well providing you with great recommendations sent straight to your inbox!

Garden · Happy · Hope · Knitting · Nature · Photography · Writing

Changes

October 25, 2025 sareenmclayLeave a comment

Education, salvation and *damnation.* Aberdeen with the beautiful gardens below.
(Central Library, St Mark’s Church and His Majesty’s Theatre.)

Recently I was asked to take a photo which would represent Aberdeen. Where to start, the imposing tower of the Marischal College, the miles of beach, the bandstand at Duthie Park? (Not to mention Old Aberdeen, Footdee/Fittie, I could go on …)

The photo is for a writing group.

I have been the local volunteer co-ordinator of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI – or Scooby as it is known!) these past few years.

Our group encompasses Aberdeen and the Northeast but truly, it has members from around Scotland. It is a wonderful group of writers who support one another and provide insightful and helpful critiques as well as a whole host of encouragement and bookish advice.

Recently we made the decision to open the group to all, so you no longer have to be a member of the SCBWI to belong. Scooby has also been going through a lot of changes recently, hence the need for a photo of Aberdeen so our group can be mentioned on the website. I hope this photo does Aberdeen justice.

New members are very welcome and if you would like to join, please feel free to DM me on my Instagram or Facebook page.

The same morning I took the photo of Aberdeen, I nearly missed my bus. I was distracted, taking pictures of the clouds because, why not? I am always trying to remember the names of the different types of clouds, not very successfully, I admit, but it is fun trying.

Standing at the bus stop cloud spotting seems a good use of time, craning my neck to look up rather than down at my phone. The other day, when I began to think about what I would write in this post, I knew I had to include these two photos.

Today, I am on the train writing this up, trying not to be too distracted by the sheer variety of white puffs in the sky (one looks like a giant zeppelin!).

By chance, I bought a magazine for my journey. This time it was Prima and inside, guess what, you’ve got it, there is a whole article about skygazing. Gotta love a coincidence.

Positive psychologist, Paul Conway has coined the phrase ‘Skychology’ for the ‘practice of intentionally looking up at the sky for a few minutes a day to improve your mental health’. Love it. I didn’t really need a name for it, but it is clever and apparently the science behind it proves my sky gazing instincts were worth acting upon. I’ll need to do more!

Those of you who have seen my few and far between posts on Instagram, FB or Bluesky, may have seen these pictures.

For a few years there, I wasn’t too keen on the arrival of Autumn. Not that I could do anything about it, perhaps I just wasn’t looking forward to the colder days.

This year, I am embracing it. How lucky to be able to watch the trees and plants change colour.

The thought of time spent inside as well, being cosy with the opportunity to carry on with (yet another) crochet blanket, fills me with joy. Bring it on!

Wishing you all a very Happy Autumn.

I am reading ‘All Adults Here’ by Emma Straub (although by the time I post this, I will guarantee I will have finished it. It’s compulsive reading!) I bought it in my brother and sister-in-law’s fabulous bookshop, Book Moon in Easthampton, MA.

I am watching ‘Oak Tree: Nature’s Greatest Survivor’ on BBC 4 with Gavin McGavin.

bees · Birds · Books · butterflies · Flowers · Garden · Happy · Inspiration · Wildflowers · wildlife

Flowers

June 23, 2025 sareenmclay

I grew up watching Beechgrove Garden and Gardeners’ World on the telly. The arrival of seed catalogues through the letterbox meant I could pour over stunning pictures of flowers, loving their colours, variety and beauty.

Only when I look back now do I realise how much of an impact these, and many other, influences from my childhood have shaped me.

I do love a flower!

Over the years I have continued to watch these long-running television programmes, admittedly not every week. Having suffered from migraines, I find the calm and beauty of them help me when I am at the stage of beginning to get going again.

During the summer I often sit down to watch and then think, I should be outside in the garden, not watching television! A few weeks ago, however, I ended up needing to recuperate from a bit of a fall and had the perfect excuse to sit down and watch the coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. My what an absolute treat!

*Brightly coloured flowers were much in evidence at RHS Chelsea.*

The knowledge, creativity, obvious joy and laughter on display were so inspiring. I learnt a huge amount and took copious notes – of course! The weather played its part and I was inspired to pot on the seedlings I have; teasels, sunflowers, zinnias, nasturtiums and sweet peas. A job I always put off as I never think I have enough patience to do but then, as ever, one that fully absorbs me and forces me to take my time. Every year I think I will grow flowers to bring in to the house but then I find it too hard to cut them; they look so beautiful where they are!

It does make me laugh though, there I am busy sowing seeds, potting on, watering and trying to nurture the plants when Nature has her own way of deciding exactly what she wants to do. When I was in the greenhouse I must have dropped some of the foxglove seeds I collected one year and the number of plants that have popped up through the stones is hilarious.

I am particularly proud of this poppy which, again, I probably dropped the seed and it has survived and flowered really well since last autumn in a pot in the corner of the greenhouse. It looks so happy there, I am just going to leave it.

I never thought ours would be a garden good enough for any flower show but listening to the experts at Chelsea, I do feel an extra sense of pride. The plants I have chosen have always been for wildlife, we have piles of stones and sticks, bee hotels, a butterfly house, a small pond and a water bath for the birds – with stones for the bees to land on. We began our back garden from a patch of grass, twelve years ago and now it looks so much more mature.

One of the first presents I was given for it was a bird feeding station. It has taken time to encourage the birds to come but the diversity of birds we have had this year has been fabulous. Woodpeckers, goldfinches, great tits and blue tits, blackbirds, dunnets, sparrows, doves, robins, wood pigeons, jackdaws and crows! Fantastic! There is an area which backs on to a woodland and that has been left as a ‘woodland’ garden where we even saw a large hedgehog one year. So along with my rather rag tag, ‘naturalistic’ planting, I have to laugh at myself, for once I am feeling right on trend in the gardening world!

But the greatest gift of all is the sharing. Going around the garden I can point out plants my parents, family and friends have given us. Watching the birds flitting in and around the feeders and listening to the hum of the giant bumblebees, I feel incredibly lucky. Gardening has been a gift for me in so many ways, much like the gift I was given when those catalogues came through the door all those years ago.

Like a book, I would find it incredibly difficult to choose a favourite when it comes to flowers. Is there a particular flower you love and why?

I Am Reading

The Flower Book, A Bloom for Every Day of the Year. Gardeners’ World

It would be lovely if you would like to pop over to www.mybookcorner.co.uk where you can read my reviews of the latest books for children. There is the opportunity to sign up for the newsletter there as well, providing you with great recommendations sent straight to your inbox.

Art · bees · fashion · Flowers · Inspiration · Nature

Fascinating Icons and Patterns

April 13, 2025April 13, 2025 sareenmclay

All my life I have been lucky enough to have access to the newspapers and their magazines. I am sure it is partly from these magazines that I discovered a world of fashion, music, art, beauty, photography, nature and culture really, that has fascinated and informed me over the years.

Visiting the 2022 Zandra Rhodes Exhibition.

One person from those magazines I often read about, was Zandra Rhodes. Of course it was her pink hair that caught my attention at first and I admit, I didn’t know much about her designs, but in 2022 an exhibition came to Aberdeen Art Gallery. It was a fabulously bright and colourful celebration of her fifty year career.

To then discover the (always a wonderful source of inspiration) Aberdeen Art Gallery, has an exhibition on at the moment, until the 13th of April on Textiles: Picasso to Warhol, well. I had to go. I was interested to learn that so many of the artists we still admire today, Matisse, Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall. Picasso and Warhol, designed textiles for the fashion industry.

Needless to say, I have been once, or twice, or so (!) to the exhibition. What a super piece of social history, and what’s more, the work of Zandra Rhodes was also featured.

This time, I was on the ball and managed to get tickets for my sister and I to go to the talk with curator Dennis Nothdruft and Zandra Rhodes. So, many, many years after sitting at home in a village on the West Coast of Scotland, reading about this innovative and inspiring woman, I finally got to meet her. What a powerhouse. It was an absolute treat.

Of course, it was World Book Day so I felt I had to buy her book, ‘Iconic’! Interestingly enough, to me, her dedication included her mum and her sister. My mum was a true inspiration to me, particularly when it came to creativity. She sewed, knitted and crocheted constantly, even making her own gorgeous wedding dress. Skills she handed on to all my siblings.

How blown away was I to then read the first chapter of ‘Iconic’. I’ll leave it to you to discover why.

I think it was a lucky combination for me; a dad who loved newspapers and a mum who loved textiles. Writing this I begin to see where I started on this path of loving so many differing types of creativity.

The textiles were so interesting partly because, pattern has always fascinated me. Ever since handwriting practice at school I think, and when I doodle, I return to these two. The first is like a relaxing, calming movement, the second I then fill in with a variety of dots and lines. Life has patterns too and I am always on the lookout for them.

So as the weather has warmed up this week and it is time to choose lighter, and perhaps brighter, clothes, I will be thinking about not only the dress designers but also those who have designed the textiles that will be chosen.

Nature of course has so many patterns and they have been proven to have a therapeutic effect, like gardening can!

I have been out in the garden doing a bit of tidying. Sowing teasel seeds although I am always a bit early and optimistic with seed sowing! Fingers crossed.

It has been a great time to watch wildlife and I have spotted huge bumblebees including a Tree bumblebee and a Garden bumblebee. Also, to my total excitement, goldfinches have arrived! Yay! After years of putting out niger seed with no luck, it is the sunflower hearts that has brought them in.

Wishing you all a happy, peaceful and creative time.

Is there a doodle you always do?

I am watching

Icons of Style on BBC Scotland with Kirsty Wark.

I am reading

Iconic: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects by Zandra Rhodes

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

The Lost Spells by Robert MacFarlane, illustrated by Jackie Morris

It would be lovely if you would like to pop over to www.mybookcorner.co.uk where you can read my reviews of books for children. There is the opportunity to sign up for the newsletter there as well, providing you with great recommendations sent straight to your inbox.

Flowers · Garden · Hope · Latin names · Nature · Photography · Reading · Seasons

Spring Flowers, Sunshine and a Love of Learning

March 18, 2025 sareenmclay

A quote I read recently by the late Stephen Hawking made me stop and think. Then it sent me on a spiral of thoughts.

I wondered if there is a word for a collector of quotes? So, off I headed, straight to you know where to look it up and yes, apparently I am a ‘quodophile’. There you go then, who knew. Another label to my box.

Perhaps not a box, perhaps I am, as we most probably all are, a whole index card system of labels. I can’t after all complain, as I love to learn the collective nouns for animals and birds, or the Latin names for Flowers, Plants and Trees or to discover the names of butterflies, damselflies, anything really. A name is a starting point for discovery.

I digress.

The quote from Stephen Hawking was about intelligence being the ability to adapt to change.

Change is difficult, it is exciting, it is opening a new file in your life.

As I thought about the quote, more and more, I decided I would add an extra part, for myself.

Intelligence is also the ability to create a routine thereby when changes come, you have the energy and the reserves to deal with it, knowing there is a safety net already in existence.

Spring is a time of change. The lighter days bring us hope and energy. We wait in anticipation for the first signs of flowers peeping through the dark earth like little bursts of sunshine.

Often when I am considering what to write for a blog post, coincidences occur. Such as the primroses popping up in our garden just as I have been delving into The Brief Life of Flowers by Fiona Stafford to you guessed it, learn more about flowers.

Now, here is a book for those who love to learn. One which is filled with so many information trails I have to stop and search for them. For a knowledge collector like me, a book like this is heaven.

There I was scurrying off to look up John Clare’s poem, ‘Primroses’, and John William Inchbold’s, ‘A Study in March’.

Then off I went down another rabbit hole to research women who were botanical painters.

The primroses in our garden have been returning year on year. Time and again I have split them. What began as two plants have given me many, many more. Now, all around the garden, there are bursts of small yellow flowers contrasting with the size of their large, floppy green leaves.

Is it with a gardener’s eye I look at them now? Noticing not only their beauty, but when they appear, which plants are flowering and which ones will need dividing. For of course, is that not the role of a gardener, to be constantly thinking to the future. There, another label for me, a gardener. Definitely a label I would pin to my lapel with pride.

Thoughts of the future have also drawn me to the past. It was after all, on a trip to our local garden centre with my parents that I bought the original primroses. There are many plants in our garden that were gifted to us by my parents; sedum (Hylotelephium), anemones, a tiny lilac tree. On occasion I will find myself talking to these plants, memories drifting back of my parents’ visits and although I know I have adapted as best I can for the moment, to the changes that have taken place in our lives, as I see their flowers emerge, the routine of the garden is of great comfort to me.

Being perhaps foolhardy, I have sown some seeds, teasel and sweet peas. Very early for here but, the sun is shining and there they were. Fingers crossed!

One final note:

A lovely friend sent me this article by Susie Dent. As a logophile, I love learning new words (okay, I know, I have already said, I love learning full stop) so this made my day to learn that I am a librocubicularist – I thought perhaps I was just lazy! Yet another label, and I am okay with that.

So, there we go, some random thoughts on learning and springtime. Wishing you all much joy as the spring flowers appear.

Do you have a favourite word or springtime flower?

I am reading: (so many books, you wouldn’t believe it – and yes there is a TBR pile on the bedside table!)

Wind Swept: Why Women Walk by Annabel Abbs

The Wonder by Diana Evans

The Book of Tree Poems, an anthology edited by Ana Sampson

In The Hedgerow by Nathalie Tordjman, illustrated by Sylvaine Perol

Birds · Holidays · Lighthouses · Nature · Photography · Resolutions · Seasons · walking · wildlife

Of Stonehaven, Sculptures, Stories, Snow, Squirrels, Surprises, Sunrises and …

January 24, 2025 sareenmclay

What a way to start the New Year.

New year, new me? Well, perhaps not, but my family and I certainly started 2025 with a new experience!

This was the year. We had talked about it so many times but now, here we were in Stonehaven, on Hogmanay, to watch the fireball swingers at midnight.

My jaw actually dropped as I watched the fifty swingers marching by. Each had a ball weighing between 3 and 5 kg. As they swung it up and around their heads, the flames licked the air sending sparks scattering. The crowd cheered, whistled and clapped. The swingers shouted ‘Happy New Year’ to hearty replies. Any thoughts of the cold, or why we had ventured out into a winter’s night disappeared as we were caught up in the display.

To the skirl of the pipes, the fireballs lit up the street and we could feel the warmth from them as they passed us by.

According to the Stonehaven Fireballs Association, the ‘idea behind the ceremony is to burn off the bad spirits left from the old years so that the spirits of the New Year can come in clean and fresh.’ In years gone by it was also a way to burn old fishing gear so perhaps it was an early way to get some spring cleaning in too!

In an amazing atmosphere, the finale was a superb firework display. Amidst a sea of upturned faces, bobbing pom pom hats, phones held aloft, I joined in with the oohs, aahs and cheers. I kept my phone firmly in my pocket; it’s not often I go to see a fireworks display, and I wanted to enjoy every minute.

Thank you to the Stonehaven Fireballs Association, the police, council, ambulance crews and all the many volunteers and others, without whom this event would not be possible.

Our New Year’s Day walk was a bit different. Along the Stonehaven seafront, we joined dog walkers, families and those clutching coffee cups against the newly arrived freezing temperatures. The slate grey sea hurtled towards us, waves crashing in before thundering off as they receded through the piles of pebbles on the beach. We stopped to watch three majestic shags, or were they cormorants I always have to check, dipping into the icy sea.

Author in front of a lighthouse sculpture. Two sculptures, one a boat and the other a metal love heart with thistles inside and two fish on the top.

And, yet another highlight, I saw my first lighthouse of the year. The sculptures along the bay have been placed there by Stonehaven’s mystery sculptor.

We returned home just in time, as snowflakes began to fall and for nearly a fortnight we lived in a snow covered world.

So it was perfect timing to discover I had a story, ‘Helping Hyacinths’, published in The People’s Friend special winter, cosy fiction magazine!

To the songs of robins, bluetits and blackbirds, I watched as our garden was filled with visitors. A lovely surprise was the woodpecker who became braver each day, hanging onto the fatballs for a good feed. Wood pigeons, chaffinches, great tits, blackbirds, magpies all popped in and, our day would not be complete without the three crows, not sitting on the walll, but strutting across the snow like mini sergeant majors. New to our garden, as far as I know, a volery of long-tailed tits descended, darted around the garden as if it was their playground and tucked into the food.

A thrush had a great feed on the holly berries, glad I hadn’t brought them inside for a Christmas display!

The chattering of the bluetits near the nest box alerted me to their presence there and I saw one disappearing inside so, fingers crossed!

A bluetit chick needs one hundred insects a day. So ten chicks will need one thousand per day and it takes them thirty days to fledge. That will mean thirty thousand insects. Hopefully our log piles and bug hotels will help!

Keeping the bird feeders filled, I also put out squirrel food as there is a resident couple of reds who live nearby and we had, on occasion, seen them darting along the fences. So to see this wee visitor was a real treat and he or she, seemed very happy feasting in the relative safety of the bird table. as I watched, the squirrel waved it’s tail at times, investigating further I discovered this is to warn off others from their patch.

Once or twice I saw a crow move towards the squirrel threateningly but, once the squirrel built their confidence up, they didn’t seem to hesitate in retaliating.

Today is the start of the yearly RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. I have my binoculars ready!

So, onwards into 2025. I am still to set my goals, perhaps it is more, SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) I need to think of. Whatever they are, I have had a look back through some of my previous posts and this one ‘Balancing Life‘ and the five ways to better wellbeing, always resonates with me.

Listening as the Pink-footed geese fly by and watching a stunning sunrise to start the year.

Happy New Year, wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2025.

… Space!

I have just finished reading: Orbital by Samantha Harvey

I loved watching The New Year’s Day Concert From Vienna, available on BBC iPlayer – with a space themed film by Barbara Weissenbeck during the interval, it fitted in well with my reading.

A Spring in my Step

Recommendations!

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