The digital home of author & photographer Chris Elphick | All content, unless otherwise stated, is copyrighted © Chris Elphick

Thursday 30 July 2020

Beautiful Borage

The Borage seeds I sowed back in Spring are now coming into their own :) One of my favourite plants in the world. And they are a magnet for honey bees :)


Wednesday 29 July 2020

Bliss

Reading in the sunshine. 😎 With the most beautiful clouds floating in the sky above me. Bliss.



Tuesday 28 July 2020

Sunday 26 July 2020

Portmanteau Movies #1 and #2

Getting in the mood to continue my very own collection of portmanteau horror tales by watching my favourite portmanteau movies. Starting with these two Amicus gems 😊


Thursday 23 July 2020

Gifts From My Daughter

I received a parcel in the post this morning from my lovely daughter - a fairies/gnomes waymarker and a gnome :) They have already found a home amongst my plants :)


The magickal waymarker looks very fitting amongst the branches of my oldest Crassula ovata plant. The little pixie in the background is resting atop the stump left when I made a cutting of the plant for my daughter when she left home a couple of years ago. The plant is of sentimental significance as I grew it from a single leaf cutting taken when my daughter was born 25 years ago.

Pixie resting on the stump left from a  large cutting
I took a couple of years back 

My daughter's Crassula ova plant, grown from the
cutting taken from the mother plant
The gnome, too, seems happy sat amongst the leaves of another of my favourite house plants :)


Quiet Life

My local beaches are hectic when the sun shines, with people gathering en masse as though we weren't in the midst of a pandemic! And so, for this evening's walk, I took a more sheltered route through my local woods and park.


Wednesday 22 July 2020

Monday 20 July 2020

Distractions

Tried to do a little writing today. Until this one got involved.



Sunday 19 July 2020

Comet Neowise

Comet Neowise. Photographed from my bedroom window in the wee small hours of the morning.



Friday 17 July 2020


Forest Remains

Managed to step out of the house again today and take another stroll along my local beach. Today I headed east across the sands, passing the 10,000-year-old remains of the ancient forest that once filled this area of Swansea.



Thursday 16 July 2020

Stretching My Legs

I took a walk along my local beach this evening. This was the first visit to the coast since the Lockdown and it was a relief to finally stretch my legs across its sands for an hour plus.

I have been suffering from extremely detailed anxiety dreams of late. In these nightmares, I am walking along the beach, when suddenly I find myself in the midst of hundreds of people who swarm around me like a scene from The Walking Dead. Only they are not zombies, just possibly infected members of the public.

These nightmares clung to my mind as I strolled in a state of hyper-vigilance across the sands but I managed to keep a full-blown panic attack at bay, thanks to the company of my wife on the walk. Indeed, much of the walk was a delight. It was good the smell the salt-laden air, hear the waves lapping over the sand and feel the crunch of abandoned shells beneath my feet again. The only down part to the walk were the hordes of joggers that were clueless to the meaning of the 2-metre rule and who kept chugging up, panting furiously, along and past me without a care in the world. :(

Still, this was another successful effort at leaving the safety of my house as I try to conquer the extreme anxiety that has swamped me of late. 




This signpost was apparently invisible to joggers today 

Monday 13 July 2020

Monday 6 July 2020

Outside!

I faced a major inner battle this morning. One part of my brain wanted to comfort me and tried its damnedest to persuade me to stay in. The other part had forced me to don my Fitbit and ready myself for my first venture outside my front door in months...

I had planned to leave the house at 8am, to put an end to my burgeoning agoraphobia, but by 7.30am I could feel my willpower slipping, so to keep the upper hand, I dressed quickly and made my way out through the front door at earlier than anticipated.

My key in the front door lock
I can't say that it was an enjoyable walk, but it stopped the disappointment that would have plagued me all day had I persuaded myself out of the forced adventure. As you can see from the photographs I took, my mind was preoccupied with uncomfortable thoughts throughout the walk, even though I managed to keep socially distanced for its entire duration.





Reaching the end of my street and...


...meeting the main road

Negotiating my way into the woodland



Me in the world again

The magick was still in the countryside :)



Heading back into subrbia


Meandering onto the road to keep socially distanced
It was only a brief walk - a couple of streets and a short path through my neighbourhood woodland. My anxiety levels made me hyper-vigilant throughout, to a degree that stopped me enjoying the experience. And I can't really say that I feel any better after the walk than I did before it. I am still feeling edgy, as nervous about being in a world ridden with an invisible virus as ever. But these were just baby steps. And I WILL venture out again...

Saturday 4 July 2020

Thursday 2 July 2020

Wednesday 1 July 2020