We will walk 500 miles: 239 miles completed

Thank you to my daughter for taking the photo of Miss M and me.

What a glorious day.

Sunrise

One morning last week I took Master R and Miss M to catch the school bus. They have to be there for 7.15am, when there is just a glimmer of light on the horizon at this time of year.

After waving them goodbye, I wanted to climb up high and watch the sunrise, so I drove to Maiden Castle, a hill fort and climbed the ramparts and was rewarded with this beauty

As I turned I spied my shadow – nice!

Still Waters

Silent Sunday

 

Mapperton Manor

On Wednesday I went to Mappeton Manor with a friend.

It was the first dry, warm sunny day we’ve had in weeks

I had not heard of Mapperton before but now I have discovered there have been TV programes about it and there are several you Tube clips, like this one which gives some history of the house and the films it has featured in.

We went round the garden which hs a mass of interesting features.

like this outdoor swimming pool.

and charming sunken garden

I do hope there have been fabulous family gatherings there

The views overlooking the garden and the valley beyond are wonderful,as is that acer.

Glorious Yorkshire!

Pendle Hill

Thank you to my d-i-l for taking this photo of Son Number 1, Little Bro, Big Bro, Haggis, the Border Terrier and me, starting our descent of Pendle Hill. I wondered how my knees would cope. I took it slowly going up whilst the family bounded on ahead.  Although there were a couple of moments when I went a bit lightheaded, I got to the top with a huge feeling of elationeven though my expression in the photo is the one I always seem to have when trying to take a selfie! Must practice a selfie smile.

Going down was much easier than I thought it would be and the knees were absolutely fine!

We had the most wonderful week away in N.Yorkshire, dipping in and out of Lancashire. I drove back last Sunday and it is taking me a while to adjust.

I dropped in to see Nanacathy on the way back and I can’t believe I forgot to take a photo of us together –  Grrrr!

It was delighful to sit in her Fettled (not so) Forlorn Patch under her lovely wooden gazebo and chat over tea and her delicious homemade cake. Thank you Cathy, such a welcome break and so good to see you.

Another photo of me, taken by D-i-l, which I really like as it conveys how I feel a lot of the time (and will remind me when I don’t) – optimistically striding out ahead, with a sense of purpose, energy and achievement into a wide blue yonder – with a flash of bright pink!

Wordless Wednesday:Bolton Abbey

Wild and Weedy Wednesday

Cathy at Words and Herbs has been running a lovely series called Wild and Weedy Wednesday – so interesting – I’ve learnt a lot.

So many weeds are allowed to flourish in my garden, both intentionally and otherwise and this year seems to be a bumper year for them.

Am I too late to link this to another Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday? I’ll sneak in anyway! 😉

This is a quick weedy posy I gathered from my garden to take to a friend yesterday. I save jam jars for this purpose so that I can take the flowers in water and leave the jar and flowers which can immediately sit on a table or windowsill, without having to be arranged by the recipient.

The cowparsley and red campions are particularly beautiful this year

These photos were taken on an early morning walk from my house, it’s a steep climb to get there, but oh so worth itglorious to get up high and see for miles when this part of the world is just waking up.

I hope you are enjoying some beautiful weather in your part of the world – it has been a long time coming here, so I’m enjoying every ray of sunshine!

 

Silent Sunday: Full Moon Rising

as the sun was setting

at 5pm today

Camouflage

My daughter took this of me whilst we were on a walk on Monday.

We have had a lot of rain recently. The roads were so flooded that Miss M could not get to school so we were able to add a couple of miles to our target of walking 500 miles (cue the Proclaimers).

Our rate of clocking up the miles, which when we started was about 48 per year, was first hit by the pandemic and some very busy Summers on the farm. Now Miss M’s very full social life and list of sporting commitments means we have to grab any chance we can get.

We only managed 18 miles in 2020 and last year.

Current total: 185.4 miles.

 

Black Feathers, White Flowers

Continuing my account of the Land Art Course with Dan Lobb at West Dean College:

The walk from the bench, to gather the cut grass, took just over 5 minutes each way. The walking and the raking became a beautifully satisfying daily practice, allowing my body to be well exercised and fully part of the installation.

Dan remarked that seeing me raking and trundling backwards and forwards with my wheelbarrow, reminded him of people raking in Japanese gardens. I realised that the same thought had been at the back of my mind and I was so pleased that he had brought it to the forefront.

As you may know, I love most things Japanese and was lucky enough to spend 15 glorious days on a textile tour in 2015. This photograph from that trip came to mind. (If you type ‘Japan’ into the SEARCH box you can see lots of posts about my trip, but here is a link to the first post about it. )

I found I would take one route to the hay and a different route back. Each day and each time of day, offering new things to notice in the garden

There seemed to be an unusual amount of feathers on the ground.

Were the birds moulting in the heat, or were the feathers more noticeable because the grass was so parched, yellow and short? A couple of us began collecting them.

Walking back past this clump of Annabelle Hydrangeas, I couldn’t resist popping a black feather into a few of the white frothy balls.

A little breeze was blowing and the birds who had gifted the feathers were calling in the trees above:

At the time, this was my favourite ‘installation’, if installation it was.

It felt very Japanese – Dan had pressed the Japan button, and I was off!

The video feels to me like a visual haiku. I went to Google translate.

Seeing the words written and hearing how they are spoken,  the title

‘Black Feathers, White Flowers’

seems like poetry to me

A Bench of Gratitude

Working with this bench at West Dean College on a Land Art Course, became a very meaningful process for me. It also led me to make other pieces of Land Art in different locations around the garden.

This is the third post about it, you can see the first here and the second here.

The bench is, under a Lime Tree, in the front of the college and therefore seen by all the garden visitors and college students. Not the sort of place I thought I would have chosen at all – but it chose me.

After weaving in the first bunch of grasses, I walked back to the tulip tree to gather more. I counted my steps as I went. It took 150 steps to get from bench to tree.

As I counted out loud, I was reminded of my Welsh maternal Grandfather.

I did not get to sleep easily as a child and he used to pat me whilst counting out loud, very quietly, to help me get to sleep. I could choose how many pats 100, 150 or 200. We had a very close relationship – I had not remembered the patting for years and years. I felt very close to him as I was walking and a feeling of gratitude that I had him in my life, washed over me.

I picked just what I could hold in one hand, walked back and wove the dry grass through the back of the bench. Back for another handful and this time I placed it as a bunch to the left. This referenced sheafs of corn and also flowers left on benches and other places, in memorium.

My intention was to gather more grass to bulk up the sheaf, but after a walk around the garden, I saw some cut grass and decided to gather this to create some sort of spiral or other path, leading to the bench.

As I raked up the cut grass, I made a meandering path, which became my second piece of Land Art.

I came to like the spin off pieces more than what happened around the bench, but if I had not started with the bench the others would not have been created.

Silly Saturday Shadows

I had such a wonderful week at West Dean and will share more of the process with the bench in another post, but today is Saturday and time for a bit of silliness!

Does my bum look big in this?

I had fun on the last morning (yesterday) walking around the grounds of West Dean College playing with the shadows in the early morning sun.

If you would like to see more of what I got up to you can visit my @rustnfound Instagram page.

Have you had an opportunity to be silly this week?

Scrap Happy Wild Wool

I spent a few days in Seaton, Devon, near the wetlands, last month.

There are some beautiful walks and tranquil places to sit and ponder

When I saw all that wool on the fence, I just had to gather some

I washed it and then decided to felt some

by making layers of vertical and horizontal strands – about 7 layers

Then adding soapy water, I put the layers between bubble wrap and rolled it this way and that with a rolling pin.

Now to add some rusty bits

using some rust dyed thread

and framing the result in a acrylic box frame

And another one with old rusty sheep wire

I rubbed acrylic wax into the rusty wire to halt the rusting process, but have left these nails to continue to rust into the wool

Felting takes ages and is physical work so I started just to make soft little balls, just rolling them lightly in my hands – this is a work in progresson some corrugated iron. Not sure where it is going yet.

Joining Kate for Scrap Happy July

Silent Sunday at Sculpture by the Lakes

Sculpture by the Lakes

Silent Sunday at Minterne Gardens

Minterne House Gardens

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday: A walk on the heath.

Silent Sunday: West Dean