Christina Hollis: Evening Magic

Pic by Wal_172619, via Pixabay.

Each year, my daughter and I book up to go on one of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' Nightingale walks. These are held during May in a local bird reserve. This year, of course, they were cancelled because of Covid 19. That means we'll be missing out on our evening magic this year.

Although the ancient coppice and tangled understory of brambles surrounding our house was once alive with the sound of nightingales, thy haven't visited her for many years.  At least we still have sheets of beautiful wild bluebells running through the sweet chestnut trees like blue mist, despite the wild boar regularly digging up the bulbs.

The news about the virus is so depressing, I ration myself to one news broadcast per day. Both my husband and son suffer from asthma, and my son has a fragile immune system. I brought him home from university on 18th March, and until yesterday we've been stuck inside, except for three daily dog-walks. We've been taking it in turns to get our exercise. Apart from that, the only time I'd been out of the house since March was to post a birthday card, last week.

The spicy fragrance from these has been really strong in this week's  warm sunshine

On Monday, the garden centres in Wales opened. As we live only a few miles from the border, OH and I crossed it to visit our favourite garden store. Only one shopper per family was allowed, so he stayed in the car while I stocked up on the bare necessities of gardening life. It's a small, family run business of the sort that will be hit hard by the economic downturn this lockdown has caused. We went there partly to give them some support, but also because I truly believe gardening is the best kind of therapy for low spirits.  It never fails, and now I've got plenty of seeds of wallflowers, sweet williams and stocks to sow for flowers next spring. That's optimism!

I've even been able to find a substitute for our annual nightingale walk. Three hours of uninterrupted birdsong, thanks to the wonders of YouTube! 

Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women. She has written more than twenty novels, sold nearly three million books, and her work has been translated into twenty different languages. When she isn’t writing, Christina is cooking, walking her dog, or gardening.

You can catch up with her at https://christinahollisbooks.online, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com