Introduction, it's a series, not sure how long for ... It's a difficult time for all of us right now, some people in particular, my heart goes to those who are struggling. For everyone, it is a time of change, for the moment and perhaps for a while? I am going to put some ideas out there for you to stay sane and well and even try to make it feel positive, if just for a moment. This series is all inspired by Tamay, our Mien half of Tamay & Me. She is a hero, she has always made her own clothes covered in tiny embroidery, she has always grown her own food and she has had it pretty hard...
So for all these years I have been describing Tamay's cultural identity as Dzao because that is what she said she was, but it's time to use the true name which is Mien.
It was magical – the complexity of what Tamay & Me symbolised for both of us had been shared. What we had both been dreaming of became a reality. And there was an enormous sense of lightness that we had achieved something big.
hannah asked me to write about growing. the calendar that i have been born into tells me it is ‘spring equinox’ today. my fingers - raw cracked and remembering tell me that last week i was planting beans, broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce. i suppose with some sort of faith that they would grow. and, also, knowing that this was not inevitable. learning, in fact, that it was not inevitable those fingers who planted them would be the fingers who ate them. and so – with things being put in the soil my mind turns to ground. to earth. to bedrock. from the south west of these celtic isles, i wonder about the land we find ourselves on and discover...
Last week Tamay rang me. She rang to say how sorry she was for everyone about the fire at Grenfell Tower, London. She said, it is so, so sad and that she was thinking about everyone who had been affected. "I am so sorry for everybody". I was so touched by this. I had to share it with you all. Tamay and I speak regularly. It is amazing that despite her not being able to read and write we have always been able to speak on the phone. Sometimes we don't always understand exactly, but we both listen and try other ways to say things and then we get it. It is truly satisfying, for both of us. (That's how we...
