Coffee with Clover

Save the date

This note is winging its way to you a day earlier than usual because I wanted to shout about my next Instalive interview. Tomorrow, at a rather brisk 930am, I shall be chatting with the sublime author and journalist, Clover Stroud over on Instagram and we would love you to join us if you can bunk off for half an hour.

I first met Clover almost thirty years ago when we briefly both worked at the same talent agency. Fast forward through relationships, children, loss, grief, books and career spins and here we are – she near the Ridgeway and me further down the same ancient trading route, on the Jurassic coast. Both of us in kitchens strung with laundry, distracted by work and chaotic with kids, except I don’t have a pony wandering in to the house to say hello. I must do something about that.

Clover writes about how life feels, evident in her debut book The Wild Other, recounting her mother’s horse riding accident and eventual death. Followed by her own experiences of motherhood in My Wild and Sleepless Nights and then, most recently, The Red of My Blood which unflinchingly faces the death of her sister, Nell Gifford. Not only are they beautifully written with a raw and, at times, painful honesty, but they also give the reader the insight and tools to help them traverse their own challenges. Clover is an incredibly generous writer and fellow Instagrammer, who shares her life in a warm and frank way.

As well as talking about Clover’s work and writing process, I want to delve deeper into our mutual interest for celebrating the wheel of the year and commemorating significant dates, through food, decorations, landscape and pilgrimage. I have been working on a project which incorporates these elements and looks at how we weave them into our lives in small yet important ways. As Clover says, she craves these connections to add layers of meaning to the day and make better sense of her life. Maybe you look for this too? Whether it is a place you like to visit, rituals you uphold, a family recipe you return to, or a bunch of seasonal flowers on the kitchen table, there are many ways to mark the shifting of time. Why wait for the headlining days of the calendar, like Easter and Christmas, when there is joy to be found every month?

If you have a question you would like me to ask Clover, please add your comment below. I would also love to know if you make a little fuss of seasonal dates – an equinox or solstice maybe – and how you embrace them. Very much hope to see you this Wednesday at 930am. Bring coffee.