Savage Garden: A Flightless Friend.

 FEEDING THE FLOCK.

One momentary lapse of attention and a heart-breaking discovery.

Since the tail-end of 2024's Winter I began buying suet pellets, seed and dried mealworms in order to feed my garden bird visitors. My main aim was to help them prepare for the nesting season to follow in early 2025.

Like most people who live in an urban setting, garden birds are acknowledged but not really focused upon. They come, they go, they sometimes crap on your washing line full of clean clothes. Aside from that, they fill a silence with the musicality of nature. Some more than others.

The feeding 'table' of choice I decided would be the garage roof - low enough for me to place food adequately, but tall enough to give the birds confidence in feeding without the risk of predators from the ground.

Working with Dementia.

Copyright © Mark Kelly 2025

Yesterday - that being Thursday 28th August, 2025 - I worked an Early shift at my local Accident & Emergency department. My role there is what's termed as a Bank Nurse, though I'm an Auxiliary, not a Qualified Nurse.

On the floor by 0700hrs after the hand-over, and was informed I'd be covering two areas. Nothing unusual there, but this day the department was short-staffed. I flitted about making sure things were in order, stock levels and the such, before things began getting busy as patients who had been there overnight would start waking and the buzzers start buzzing.

It was just after my return from break I encountered an elderly lady looking lost. My initial impression was she could be a relative seeking the way out. Not unusual, and happens frequently. People get easily disorientated. 

I asked if I could help in any way. She smiled, and told me she was looking for her dog. Okay, I replied, and gently steered her towards the main desk, to find out 'where her dog was'. 

Why Do I Write?

 

Copyright © M.Kelly 2025

Why do I write? 

A question I've pondered many, many times, with equally many, many answers.

When distilled, its core reason: self-indulgence.

Such a simple premise, yet so loaded, that if it were a car the tyres would have blown from the immense weight. 

But seriously, writing is so very self-indulgent. 

Think about it, you have absolute and total control - from the weather, the time, location, the character or characters (which in itself is potentially boundless in regards what you can create). Basically, in essence, you are the ultimate creator. Your word is 'law'. You wield the power to create, destroy, make sun, rain, laughter, tears, joy, sadness. The list could be endless.

Yet... and here's the rub, you are also at the mercy of that which you create. Believe this or not, but characters can develop in ways that are both unexpected and surprising, WITHOUT your intent. Yes. It is a thing. Many writers will tell you such. Once you are in a flow state of writing and your muse is in tune with your creative flow, the words take on a life of their own, and before you realise what's happening you may have written a page or two, maybe three, and not even thought about it. It just flowed.

Writer's Block - A Real F**king Curse.

 

Copyright © M.Kelly 2025

When I began dabbling with writing, going back to the 90's, it was as a result of my passion for the fantasy genre birthed out of my introduction to Dungeons & Dragons and the role playing game scene in general.

Undoubtedly it was a tap installed into my imagination, allowing me to turn it on to full flow and let the ideas run freely. And this they did for a very long time. During that time my role playing influences filtered through from games such as 'Traveller' (original spelling), from Games Workshop - back in the day when they were all about the games and not the money - 'Call of Cthulu', 'Warhammer Fantasy RPG', 'AD&D', 'Shadow Run', and last, but not least, my ultimate rpg love, the brilliantly simple, 'Dragon Warriors'.

I consumed books/novels in the various genres weekly, buying more and more, my imagination filling with new vistas, characters, scenarios, locations - basically everything a DM/GM needed in order to run their worlds for their rpg group. And that I did. 

"But what if I wrote a story?" I asked myself. So I did. Poorly. But I wrote another, and another. All of them crap. Though to me it was an amazing sense of freedom. I wrote for myself. No-one ever read them, nor will they. For me, writing was having my own personal cinema in my head. Putting the words to paper fired up the screen of my imagination. It was wonderful.

A Long Time Passed...

 As the title states, it has indeed been a long time passed since I last posted. I must confess, it's entirely down to me, my procrastinating mindset combined with a lacklustre imagination fuelled by a plethora of external - and some internal - conflicts, mini-dramas and distractions.

For that, I most humbly regret.

But here we are, early hours of Saturday, 23rd of August, 2025, and another epically uninspiring Summer has dragged its unimpressive arse closer to handing over the baton to a toe-tapping Autumn.

So, to catch up, let me think...