To branch

To reach, to grow, to break. To be alone. But also to belong, to hold, to partake. To be strong.

A holiday adventure

Two words rumble around my dreams all night: ferie and urlaub. Different languages, none of them mine, for the same thing. The 6am alarm dispels the words and whatever meaning they might hold. The drawn up blind reveals a greyer and more humid day outside, like the mystery of the dreams and words clouding over...

Tuesday 1 June 2021. Summer

It's that time I've been waiting for. Of bare feet and legs and arms only dressed in sun cream. Of explosive growth of plants and trees, air alive and active with scents, bugs, pollen, laughter, barbecue smoke and procreational urges. It's the time we've all waited for. It's time for my vaccination. In a way...

“Harvesting of timber” – I think you mean “deforestation”

Forestry England notice after so-called ‘harvesting of timber’ in Wendover Woods. May 2021, photo by Jessica Zarins Path where there were once trees. May 2021, photo by Jessica Zarins Timber harvest in Wendover Woods. May 2021, photo by Jessica Zarins The only way to find out how old a tree is, is to kill it....

Wandering vanishing Wendover Woods

Tracks on path in Wendover Woods. May 2021, photo by Jessica Zarins I find myself in Wendover again. For the past five years I’ve been coming a few times a year to look after a sensitive cat when his human goes away. The village, the house, and of course the cat are all close to...

Tuesday 18 May 2021. Morning

River Cam at Sheeps Green, Cambridge. Photo by Jessica Zarins, 18 May 2021 The river is full after the rains, and maybe 10 degrees. It will be the last time in a while that I swim in it, just as it’s getting addictive. Once a week isn’t quite enough anymore. It no longer makes me...

May the Fourth be with you

The late coming of spring and warmth reminds me of the even later, slower and colder springs of a Nordic childhood. The freshness prolonged, the miracle of returning life stretched out. As the days grow lighter, the load gets lighter. Even under my thick winter coat. I'm relieved at the approach of spring and the...

Writing dream

Last night I woke up around 1am from the strongest sensation of being rocketed up to the kosmos, and wanting to come back to earth to my body. I saw the circles of the universe and consciousness before and around me, twirling in patterns at light-speed, in a way that was impossible to control. Whether...

Monday 22 March 2021. Evening

A sunny morning, a grey day, an apricot-grapefruit-watermelon evening. A friend sent a link to Lana Del Rey's new album, and I listened to it three times in a row. It's hard not to feel melancholy from the retro- and introspective tracks sung in the fragile soprano of youth, but with the echoes of the...

Spring Equinox

Spring time for Cambridge. Photo by Jessica Zarins, March 2021 A day of balance in the Northern Hemisphere. Day and night, the tilt of the planet, light and dark — all in perfect harmony for one spin around the axis. Personally I’m a bit off balance after last night’s zoom drinks. I’m preparing a new...

Sunday 14 March 2021. Morning

Ship sailing in the distance. Photo by Jessica Zarins, 2019. Yesterday was my best day in ages. Finally a day where I felt like I did something new, experienced something. And all within current recommendations and rules. I got to go with my housemate to their vaccination in Bury St Edmonds, the historical Suffolk market...