Silent Sunday

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Gentle

Photos taken in July at Dr. Beynon’s Bug Farm, St. Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales

We went there for Little Miss M’s 5th birthday treat. After a delicious lunch

of cooked bugs

and a fabulous birthday cake

we all went to the bughandling session

when everyone had to hold the bugs VERY gently

We all loved it! Master R was particularly delighted when one of the insects climbed up his face.

The food in Grub Kitchen is truly delicious. There are non-bug options too.

If you are looking for an unusual Christmas gift you can order some Cricket Cookies and other goodies from Bug Farm Foods.

You can keep up to date with what they are up to on their Facebook Page.

~

Joining Cathy in our One-a-Week Photo Challenge.

Leave a link to your ‘Gentle’ photo in the comments to join us and be included in the Monthly Round-Up of entries.

Next year we will be meeting up monthly, on the first Tuesday of the month, with a one word photo prompt. Thank you to everyone who has sent me some suggestions for the months ahead. There are still a few months to assign a word to – any suggestions for August, September and October? I’d love to hear from you with your ideas – either leave them in the comments or Contact Me here.

See you next week for ‘WINDOW’.

Fence

caught my eye

in the fading light

treasure found

~

Our ‘One-a-Week’ Photo Challenge Prompt this week is FENCE

Ronovan’s Haiku Prompts are EYE and FADE

The mitten on the post must have been there a while as it was green with algae. Since starting to do beach cleans, I see all litter and dropped items in a new light. They are all potential art materials with a human back story. It did feel slightly weird taking it from it’s post, but I am pretty certain it’s owner is not likely to return for it. It will go with other found clothing I have and see what art work it might inspire.

The top of the fence post is a little world of its own

The photos were taken on a walk from Nine Wells towards Solva (Pembrokeshire) along the coastal path.

 

I was walking from the treehouse as the sun was going down.

There was no wind and I stood to watch the sunset before returning

to the cosiness of my nest in the trees.

What fences have you found this week?  Leave a link in the comments below, we’d love to see them.

Gate

footpath flows along

hard to tear myself away

from this special place

~

This is my entry for our ‘One-a-Week’ Photo Challenge: GATE

and

Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge: FLOW and TEAR

and

Cee’s Which Way Challenge

~

The 10 minute walk down the valley from the treehouse that I was staying in, leads to the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, which you can see making its way towards Solva, going right past that Iron Age Hill Fort. The gate is to keep the grazing ponies in, this side of the gate.

 

More tales from the Treehouse:

To get to the public footpath from the Treehouse one needs to wiggle down through Elizabeth’s garden. The footpath runs from the National Trust car park near the road, straight down to the sea.

The treehouse can be seen from the path. More agile walkers have obviously chosen a quicker route by sliding down the bank.

Soon one enters the ancient unmanaged little piece of woodland

with the music of the stream beside you turning the walk into a dance

until you get to the ‘bridge’, which is tempting to cross, to follow in the fairies’ footsteps.

Hear the sound of the stream in this post……

Creatures pop out to say hello

and there are artful lichen arrangements on nearly every branch.

After passing the serenity of the old Millpond

you pass through a gate

and catch your first sight of the sea

Each time I walked that path, I stopped here and just noticed the change of atmosphere from an enclosed cosy woodland walk to this …….. the promise of that feeling of opening up, of expansion, that the next few steps will bring …… the moment of transition, I find there is power in that moment.

And then …. ooof!

Breathe deep, what a view.

The GATE in the very first photo lies just to the left, around the curve of the hill.

People used to live in this valley, you can still see the ruins of an old mill, and then further back in time, our ancestors, maybe even my ancestors, lived on the hill fort – what a place to live.

I had the valley more or less to myself for a whole month! what a feeling! I woke each morning with a smile on my face, not quite able to believe I had given myself this wonderful treat.

~

Next week’s Photo Prompt is

HAPPY

~

I’m really looking forward to your ‘GATE’ photos, please leave a link in the comments.

 

Mini Pilgrimage

Newgale Beach is just 6 miles from the treehouse. When the tide is out you can walk for 2 – 3 miles from one end to the other – that flat clear space calms my chattering mind and restores a sense of balance.

(Click on any of the photos to see them larger.)

The first walk is always special, reconnecting with the place. I remember all those happy family times. Each little landmark holds a memory from a different year.

My senses are heightened and I see beauty in every pebble

every wave and ripple

every grain of sand

There is a rock  …. the one with the yellow arrow

with a huge rock-pool in it, in which my Grandad and I once found an eel. It inspired this poem: Journey Into Now

I make a mini-pilgrimage to it each time I visit Pembrokeshire. As I touch it and climb up to look into the pool I feel closest to my grandfather. He was a rock and a safe haven for me through a stormy childhood.

We are making new memories there  – a photo taken in August 2015 of Miss E and Master R exploring the rock pools in and around that rock.

The pool indicated by the Blue Arrow features in this post . My daughter discovered it, Miss E swam in it and we all threw in a pebble and made a wish – we call it our Wishing Pool.

I threw in a pebble this time and made a wish for my Mum.

Here is my favourite photo from that first walk, I have just ordered it to be printed on a large  30″ x 20″ canvas.

I feel like the figure represents me – it was a man with a child in a carrier on his back, walking with a dog. I don’t have a dog but when I walk I am never alone.

~

On the way back to the treehouse I called into Number 35, a great little cafe/restaurant in Solva, for a scrumptious lunch of smoked salmon salad with garlic bread.

Yummmmm!

 

Treehouse Retreat

On 15th December 2016 I set off, car bulging with craft materials, for 31 days of blissful solitude in a treehouse near the Pembrokeshire sea.

Click here for the AirBnB link to the Treehouse, where you can see photos and my review.

I was returning to the ‘Land of My Fathers’ – Wales. My Mum was born in Pembrokeshire and she took us there for a week or two every August. When I was old enough, I used to go on my own, to stay with my beloved Grandfather and wonderfully homely step-Grandmother, whom I called Dabbity. They were both teachers and my brother and I used to go and stay with them as teenagers when we were studying for school exams. Although a five-and-a-half hour car journey away from where I live now, the Solva area feels like home. As soon as I cross the Severn Bridge, I get a huge buzz of excitement and sense of belonging.

Every other year I don’t ‘do’ Christmas and this was my year off – sometimes I batten down the hatches at home, but mostly I go off on an adventure, to a place where Christmas doesn’t exist – not always easy to find!

I set off early, so that I would arrive in daylight.

My first impressions of the treehouse were that is was much bigger than I had expected and very warm and cosy. It had radiators in every room and views of trees and fields from every window.

I got there in time to trek backwards and forwards from the car several times unpacking a huge amount of drawing material, sewing and crochet. As the light was fading I walked across the field from the decking and caught my first glimpse of the sea. (this photo was not taken on the first night, but here’s the view that greeted me)

Deep breath!

~

My journal entry:

I stood and drank in the sights and sounds. I can see for miles up there. I could hear the sea. There was a star twinkling in the darkening pink and blue sky – Venus possibly, and a raven circled slowly towards me and over my head calling a mellow, two note ‘hello’. The lights on a vessel far out to sea twinkled on the horizon.

I was filled with a supreme sense of connection, peace and joy.

I felt at home and welcomed by the land.

The month stretches ahead and I know it will whizz by, but for now I am luxuriating in a great sense of space and time. It is hard to find the words to describe how wonderfully uplifting and nurturing it feels. It feels like heaven!

~

Day One

Setting up a jigsaw – a sensual experience.

I have brought with me a 2000 piece jigsaw (bought in a charity shop). Whilst sorting the pieces (one of my favourite bits) I was enjoying lifting up double handfuls of pieces and letting them fall through my fingers – the sound and sensation – delicious!

Then a walk as the drizzle was clearing along the path to the cliff, to be greeted once more by the friendly raven and nearer the sea I was met by an agitated chough.

Looping back I followed the lower path, through mossy, swampy woodland where fairies and elves are sure to hang out. Next comes the millpond which spills out into a narrow stream in full spate, wriggling its way to the sea.

Back for more jigsaw sorting at the kitchen table, pushed up against the west-facing window, looking out on the field, watching a magpie investigating mole hills and finding tasty morsels.

I am loving the silence.

It is fairly peaceful where I live, but there is very often the sound of neighbours, hammering or mowing. Here there is the wind, the sea and the birds.

My soul feels like it is quenching it’s thirst and enjoying great gulps of solitude in nature, drinking deep and filling its depleted reservoirs. I’m slightly fearful it will be too much of a wrench to return – but thankfully I don’t have to think about that for a long time yet.

 

Look at the view from my bedroom window …..

…. cradled in the arms of an ash tree and looking down through her branches to the woodland stream below.

The decking is bordered by trees – it feels like one is sitting right in the hedge, like a wren.

The view from the door, perched in an old apple tree, looks back at the house….

….. every morning, from the sitting-room window, I watched the sun rise  over a farm across the valley

Aaaaaah!

It is such a joy to be remembering those feelings of deep relaxation and to be sharing them with you ……….

To be continued

 

 

Yarn Along: Attic24 Cal

Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along and Attic24’s Moorland CAL.

I’m using slightly different colours to Lucy’s Moorland palette, as I really could not allow myself to buy more yarn, so am using colours from my stash. I think the result will be more hedgerow than Moorland, but I’m happy with the substitutions so far.

More details of the colours will follow in another post. They are all from the Stylecraft Special DK Acrylic yarn which I get from Wool Warehouse, but Deramores are also a very good mail order firm. You can find the fabulous Attic24 packs at Wool Warehouse.

When I was in Pembrokeshire (Wales) recently, I found the book, a wonderfully evocative tale of island life with lots of delightful black and white photos.

I’m itching to tell you all about my 31 days retreat to a gorgeous treehouse near Solva.  There is so much to tell you and hundreds of photos to sort through!

It was such a blissful time of beach walks, new friends, family history, sand circles and wild food foraging. It will take a while for me to put it together into some coherent posts but in the meantime pay a virtual visit to the treehouse via its listing on Air BnB which is how I found it – my review is there for you to read as well.