Author Archives: Grin & Tonic by Alana Kirk

Warning: this blog post may contain some chanting.  Facing Fluidity… No, I’m not talking about my wine or gin consumption… Facing my fluids of an evening are the carrots that get me through the day.  Nor am I referring to … Continue reading →

I have a problem when I go to Donegal.  The sky is so vast, the colours so complex, the sea so mesmeric, and the landscape so wilder than I will ever be, that my camera just will not take the … Continue reading →

I’ve just laid out some new clothes on my eldest daughter’s bed.  Despite there being a threat of summer in the air, they are black; a black jacket, a black cardigan and black sandals. She is 10. It seems 10 … Continue reading →

Grief has moved in with me and follows me around the house like the dog.   He is a sullen shadow who drapes his arm around my shoulder and snuggles up to me at night. But he isn’t aggressive or … Continue reading →

Life is full of surprises.  I won’t say it’s like a box of chocolates because then I’d eat them all so quickly I’d have no chocolates left, and that can only mean one thing in that particular metaphor.   And … Continue reading →

I am pretty open in this blog. I was open in my book.  But there is still a gap between openness and honesty. I share a lot, but I don’t share it all, and nor should I.   (Although sometimes … Continue reading →

It’s been a while since i’ve been able to write.   Literally. I have not written a word since this last post. Not a diary entry. Not a blog post. Not a morning page. Not a line of my book. … Continue reading →

Hers were the arms that first held me, and mine were the arms that last held her, and in between those two embraces, there has been a lifetime of love. I have said so much about my mum over the course … Continue reading →

I am about to embark on an experience I have always dreaded. All my life, losing my mum was was vista I imagined to be full of horror and devastation. But now that it is here, it is a strangely … Continue reading →

I have spent most of my sandwich years being pushed and pulled between one need and another, thrust about between joy and grief. Pushed and pulled between the needs of my children, career and parents. The joy of a baby … Continue reading →