Nov 22 2006
winter arrives
Bleak November anesthetises the landscape. Icy rain, falling from a slate grey sky, born sideways on the east wind, stings my face as I walk over the hill with dogs. The sun breaks through for an instant so low now it seems to struggle over the horizon.
Oct 14 2006
Floating in a mist of time……
This year really is a season of “mist and mellow fruitfulness”. Early morning mist shrouds the valley, spider’s webs glint in the sharp early morning light. The whole landscape has an ethereal, floaty- ness. Trees and shrubs seem to drift, disembodied down the hills. The dove cot has no earthly anchor.
Sep 14 2006
Food Food Family Friends
Summer seems to have tumbled over itself in a hurly burly holiday extravaganza. We revelled in a July heat wave and sailed in Bahamian sunshine to the white sand of Bryher on the Isles of Scilly. We walked on deserted beaches, sat silently on hilltops gazing out to sea. We were buffeted by wind and tide, spray soaked, searching for puffins and seals. We followed the sensational Island Gig race shouting encouragement, egged on by the locals. We swam in crystal clear water watching tiny fishes scud beneath our toes. All was relaxation, warmth and wine, wonderful.
Jul 26 2006
Rabbits have been on my mind rather a lot recently; grey furry rabbits, large and fat, small and sweet. Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, and my childhood favourite, Alison Uttley’s Little Grey Rabbit: all of them, sisters and brothers, children and cousins, aunties, uncles, old ones, young ones, suddenly here they are invading this valley.
Jun 20 2006
It’s been the busiest of springs, no time to turn. We don’t seem to have caught our breath since lambing. Three ewes slipped through the net and, just when we’d taken our eye off the ball, decided to give us five more lambs thus successfully throwing all post-lambing-plans in the air. Paul went for a wonderful sail on Jolie Brise. Late lambs meant I stayed behind to man the fort. I prayed I wouldn’t need complicated midwifery skills in his absence. He had a wonderful time, ten knots in a force nine but, alas, returned in agony with strained back, not so surprising…. and was unable to move for days, hm ……Next it was my turn, an unscheduled trip to Torbay Hospital with an asthma attack; oxygen, ambulance lost in the lanes in the dark.
May 12 2006
The seasons role around again; the valley springs back to life. Cold weather held us all to ransom for weeks, then suddenly everything happened all at once. It was as if a cloak of leaves and flowers unfurled itself across the whole landscape over night. Cornus Nuttallie threw out her white handkerchiefs almost as I watched.
Apr 13 2006
Spring 2006
Rain at last; that sweet veil of soft weather glides sideways past my window and enfolds the valley. The wind has suddenly swung round to the welcome, familiar south west, so much kinder than the swingeing north easterly we’ve suffered for months. It brings with it the soft, salty, earthy smell of spring… I had forgotten how much I love it. Suddenly the daffodils, in limbo for so long, glow in the dampness, drinking in the welcome wetness softly landing on their upturned petals. Raindrops hang like skeins of tiny pearls on the roses by the back door. At last, at last the air is damp, the earth turns dark chocolate again and the birds shout out for joy.
