Another scorching day but after last week’s frost – still not sure whether to put the woolly hats and scarves to bed in favour of sombrero and panamas. At least the sun has made me more relaxed and I really can’t face going into the study to process the mountain of paperwork and accounts etc, so I have found a corner of the garden and settled with a notebook and pen to write more of my new monologue drama, I am writing it for theatre at the moment with the possibility of also recording for listenupnorth.com when it’s licked into shape.I have just had my first scene read by an actor as part of the Short Cuts at The Live Theatre, Newcastle which gave be really useful feedback for its development. Celia is about a middle-aged, middle class wife and mother going through the crisis of an affair (no it’s not me – honest!). Although when my friend Sue Hedworth looked over what I had done so far at our creative writing get-together, she did ask whether Wonderhubby had seen it and whether he might think it was autobiographical. 
Also found time for a trip out to Belsay Castle and the Extraordinary Measures exhibition. Despite a huge tantrum from Teen 2 on being leaned on heavily to actually spend an afternoon in the company of her parents, she really found it quite fascinating and a most enjoyable experience. It was great to see something with a completely different take on life: Ron Muecks’s resin sculptures lifelike down to the last pimple and hair in the Hall and around the grounds, Slinkachu’s miniature models in a giant landscape, Mariele Neudecker’s Giant Window in The Quarry and Ciaran Treanor’s Wild Horses. 
Of course it’s always a great tonic to wander around the grounds and at this time of year we were treated to the beautiful vibrant colours of the rhodedendrons with flowers like huge bells.
And over time some of the natural surroundings in The Quarry Garden have taken on art forms of their own.
