It is full midsummer now, the time of the roses. Everything else is at its peak too, but somehow nothing else really matters. All the roses are out, and in the current heat, they are unspoilt by rain. The Maidens’ Blush is, for once, not eaten by some sort of grubs and its soft fondant pink is a delight, but the full whole-hearted crimson of the Tuscany Superb is the queen of the garden - at least this week. The old roses have a short flowering time, but it is magnificent.

Elsewhere, the bird class of 26 has graduated. The sparrows were, of course, the first, raising a racket while the trees were barely in leaf, and then the starlings, who flocked together on the lawn eating all the grass seeds and invertebrates they could find like kids in a playground, experimenting with longer and more adventurous hops from one branch to the next. Then the blue tits, eating all the aphids on the gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes, much to my satisfaction, the wrens who are incredibly noisy right from the start,the robins, who appeared to be even rowdier and more rambunctious than the starlings, especially when they got into the greenhouse,and finally this week, the blackbirds. Only last week the cock bird was taking enormous beakfuls of worms to the nest somewhere in the hazels behind the house, and this week the young ones are out on their own.

And so, at last, is the book

I had a wonderful time launching it, in Stirling, Cambuslang and in the centre of Glasgow. It seems to be selling well, which is an enormous boost to my confidence, and I’m looking forward to the next reading, which will be in

Uddingston Library on the 6th July, when I’ll be meeting and chatting to the Writers Group at 2-4pm.

Please keep an eye on my website and blog for news of more events as they happen!

If you would like a copy please go to my shop, or to the publisher, Red Squirrel Press, where you can see all the other wonderful poets - and some rather fine short story writers, that this wonderful press has published over its twenty year history.

In reading news, have been reading some lovely poetry lately - Cathy Galvin’s Ethnology, and Stewart Sanderson’s Weathershaker. Both deal with the links between language, tradition and landscape in new and thought-provoking ways. And I have caught up with Rox Madeira’s Sage’s Cabin podcast, which deals with the issues around decolonising herbal medicine. I notice the academic discipline of Ethnobotany has caught up with this in recent years, and I’m hoping that July, which I plan to spend largely dealing with harvesting and propagating the herbs in my garden, will be dedicated to finding out a bit more about this. I have a book, published by Greenfinch (an imprint of Quercus) which promises to go into the traditions of Africa and Australia as well as the more familiar western or Mediterranean ones, and I expect to have my eyes opened to a lot of new perspectives.

There is a tendency to look at indigenous cultures, and return to the land which can topple too easily into nativist and exclusive attitudes, but I’m particularly interested in looking at a diaspora-based reclaiming of tradition, since so many people have had no choice but to leave their original lands. I believe that belonging is a matter of allegiance, rather than birthright, and I am increasingly aware that including migrants, with all their languages, faith traditions, cultures and cooking is not a concession we make out of kindness, but an enhancement we should receive with gratitude.

There is new work beginning to grow along these lines, and my newsletter readers will be the first to hear about it!

Have a very happy, and not too hot, summer!