“A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbour—such is my idea of happiness.” —Leo Tolstoy,
“I think about this, not like someone thinking, but like someone breathing, And I look at flowers and I smile… I don’t know if they understand me Or if I understand them, But I know the truth is in them and in me And in our common divinity Of letting ourselves go and live on the Earth And carrying us in our arms through the contented Seasons And letting the wind sing us to sleep And not have dreams in our sleep.” ― Alberto Caeiro
“If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” —Vincent Van Gogh.
Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God. Euclid
I’ve enjoyed sharing some of my favourite quotes about nature and some of my recent photos of our garden. My own thoughts on nature are also reflected in the quotes that I picked. When I am in nature, on my own or together with my grandchildren, my daughter or with Ian, I feel totally at ease, calm and joyful, yes especially joyful. And I can but join in the sentiments of Sylvia Plath when she said that she felt her lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. and she thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.”‘
Looking for signs of life whether in the past or in the now. This is what currently interests me in my photography. I’ve always been shy of taking photos of people, I have felt that it would be too intrusive, and because of my interest in nature I mostly take photos of plants, landscape or insects. This I enjoy. But recently it has come to my attention that I am always searching for signs of human habitation or activity, signs that the land has been worked, of structures having been used by humans; bridges, stone walls, gate posts, ruins, ancient pathways, old churches or houses or other structures. All these are interesting and give pleasure, not only from trying to find out more about them locally, from the internet or from books, but also from the sheer beauty of them.
My attention has been drawn by my friends and followers that you like to see this variety too in my blogs, and I find this very helpful and realise that by blogging and interaction with my other blogger friends I get to know myself better, and I define what I really want to record. I am grateful to everyone.
And so yes also on this walk last Saturday I did come across a broken old iron gate, rusty and fallen down, it has had its use in the past of that I am sure. And then I saw an iron gate post which is quite an unusual find around this area and I wonder how long it has been supporting this newish galvanised gate. Was this always a gatepost? Or did it start its life as something different on a farm in the area?
It is always lovely to see acres of crops, stretches of land that change colour according to the seasons and to what is grown on them, also fields or meadows sometimes with cattle. There is something so soothing and reassuring about a pastural landscape, I think that it goes very deep in a person, to see the land being used and crops being grown, it gives a deep feeling of safety and that all is still well with our earth despite all the environmental problems.
And then I spotted a red ribbon in this tree and it reminded me of an old tradition, not only in Ireland as I have seen it in South India too. People tie ribbons usually on hawthorn trees as a gift for spirits or fairies and as a symbol of a prayer or a wish granted, usually someone with an illness or unhappiness. This is done mainly during May around the feast of Bealtaine. I was quite surprised to spot this ribbon and it does add to the interest.
But here are also some of the wild flowers along my path, as always such a delight.
Field Scabious
flower of bramble
Sheep’s bit ?
Ferns in the distance
Silverweed
Meadowsweet
Rose-Bay willow herb
Hogweed
Some type of sorrel
It has been another glorious day today after a real thunderstorm yesterday with a heavy rain shower, but it is this rain that makes the countryside in Ireland so green, lush and beautiful. We very seldom get thunder here usually only one clap and done, but this one took half an hour with brilliant skies and fantastic lightning and afterwards when the sky cleared and the rain stopped all was still, and then a blackbird started to sing!
These tulips have been flowering for well over a week and are still doing great, and very beautiful.
This year I decided to grow some more potatoes as last season it was such fun to harvest them with my grandchildren, and besides my inner child wants to dig them up too 🙂 We have had some lovely days and then it is our delight to have our lunch in the garden, very healthy too now that we need extra vitamin D for our immune system. We are both under strict total lockdown which means that we cannot leave the front door at all, so our garden is the only place where we can get fresh air and sunshine, and we are grateful to have such.
Two year old cut and come back celery, and a fine feverfew plant
Broad beans
Broad bean flowers
Already the herbs and some of the broad beans are doing great. And there are lots of little seedlings that are almost ready to go into the raised beds.
Bumblebee nest hole
Bumblebee rescue
So I accidentally came across a bumblebee crawling into a hole in the decaying timber that surrounds the raised beds. I’ll keep my eye on that, exciting, I read recently that the first bumblebees that fly around early in spring are the queens which are looking to make a nest which can give home to up to 500 bumblebees. I have seen perhaps more than usual number of bumblebees in our garden this spring. Perhaps it is because last summer I let the whole garden grow wild with lots of flowers. This season I will be growing more vegetables again.
Flower of life
Meanwhile and on the less pleasant weather days I am enjoying a bit of mandala drawing and painting, a work that is relaxing and enjoyable.
Helleborus
Camellia
Forget-me-nots
As well as all that I noted in my nature diary that the garden is full of brightly flowering dandelions and white three-cornered leeks flowers. Even the kaffir lilies have started to flower as well as the many primroses and pink oxalis flowers. I have a trailing rosemary bush that is bursting with pale blue and purple flowers, it is brilliant. The forsythia and the tulips have been giving us much joy too as do the forget-me-nots and the camellias. The hellebores and grape hyacinths are now almost finished and ready for a rest until next spring. This year I planted gladiola, that’s something new for me. I am also hoping that the irises, freesia’s and the agapanthus which I planted last season are going to flower again. Every year I like to grow something new, it is interesting. As far as birds are concerned this spring there is something to tell ~ also from our garden ~ we have a resident wren that sings his heart out day after day and it’s such a joy to listen to his song. There are a black bird pair that are building a nest in the uncut hedge, the song of the blackbird has travelled with me right through my life and I can say that it has been a constant joy. Robin and black cap males also give us regular sessions of song, and to top it all I have heard the cuckoo a few days ago from our front garden, something I did not experience for many years. Finally and to end this blog on my experiences in the garden during the lockdown and on this fine Easter day while I miss my daughter, son-in-law and my grandchildren I can only wish you all to stay safe and keep well. Happy Easter!
I woke up early this morning. I found it very quiet, not a sound to be heard, not a car passing, nor a person, nor a dog… even the birds are not singing… Skibbereen seems to be asleep still. I am thinking… what will I do with my day. Suddenly I know what is different, there is not a blade of grass stirring, it is wind-still… quite unusual lately and nice.
I look around my room and I ponder, there are lots of things I could start doing, I have re-decorating ideas. Perhaps I could make a mood-board with colours, new shades for the room, and I plan to re-sew a curtain that covers the hotpress opening. There is an old chair, a delicate one that would look good in a pastel paint and there is the old secondhand desk that I am planning to paint too… I love my room, it is peaceful and looking at things from up here in my high bed this morning everthing looks fine.
The pale cream curtains that I found last year in our fantatic charity shops are just starting to become illuminated with bright rays of sunshine.
It is time to get up and get me a nice cup of coffee.
The lavender is really at its best right now, after the bit of heat the last few days, and one solid day of refreshing rain last Sunday.
I love growing feverfew, it is not only a great herb, it also looks beautiful in the garden among the lavender and the marigolds.
Blue hydrangea, my favourite in colours
A bit of tansy growing among the other plants, in late summer it will give splendid yellow flowers.
And still the comfrey flowers, and it is visited constantly by the bumblebees. I noticed three different types of bumble bee today, this one a beauty, very light colouring, very fluffy, and large. As far as I know it is a carder bee, Bombus muscorum. The other two, a tiny type, and a regular one with two yellow bands, probably Bombus lucorum.
Among all the wild and garden flowers this summer I am still also growing some vegetables, and many herbs too of course. The large garlic was a succes this time, and the garden peas are doing real well.
This is the tall mullein plant of which I am growing a few this summer. The leaves are medicinal, but I have not used them so far.
Not the red poppy of which the garden has been so full, but a lovely specimen all the same.
And more lavender, beautifully scented.
This is just a little update at the end of this month of June, midsummer has just passed and I love the very early bright mornings, awaking at 4 o’clock very often while the first light appears in the Eastern sky, and the birds are singing, wonderful! And while the countries of continental Europe are scorching hot, we had a mellow feel to the day this afternoon with summer scents wafting up from the damp but warm earth, such a delight.
Henry James knew about these happy feelings when he said ““Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
My walking routine is so much more than an exercise regime ordered by my doctor. It is one of many things. It is an hankering after times past – times we spent in Gozo where it felt so good to walk everywhere and everyday, taking in the delightful scents and stunning sights of a Mediterranean land- or townscape. So my current walks here are a looking back in a sense, and a remembering of very positive energy which in itself is energising my today.
But it is more than that; it is a grounding of myself in this Irish West Cork landscape. For years I had felt restless here, discontented even, I wanted to travel and I did not feel as if I even belonged here, this landscape, this town and people – however beautiful and friendly, had totally lost its appeal for me and I often felt a stranger. And this despite there being a thriving Art Centre here and my contentedness about all my travels to India.
So when we returned from Gozo in spring 2018 I decided to do something about this, I could not continue the way I was. I started to look at this place with fresh eyes. Discovering new aspects of this town and area, nature and vernacular architecture, people, and I studied the map carefully to know all the hills, the rivers and the surrounding area, keeping in mind the four cardinal directions to orientate me precisely. And I walk, I walk everywhere and my body is feeling so grateful, I feel fitter for it in my every movement. My mind smiles and I’m constantly making plans to explore even more places in the vicinity, little walks and big walks. I have plans to visit and explore surrounding villages too, just as I did in Gozo.
And all this is giving me a sense of belonging and of feeling good in this space on earth, many is the time when I have felt very isolated here in West Cork, cut off from the rest of Europe and the world. I did not like this feeling and then I would hanker to go back, to return to Belgium, even after all these years. But I know that I am here to stay, and so I need to ground myself as much as I can, and I think that I now have found the way to do this – finally – after many years I am beginning to find a sense of place, a sense of belonging.
Yesterday’s walk was not long, it was in open space on the ring road around the town. It opens up views of the town and the hills behind it and shows the river Ilen upstream going off to its source, and downstream flowing into the town. These are good views. And while a constant flow of traffic does not make this walk particularly peaceful, it is nevertheless a walk I love. Many spring blossoms grace the shrubs and many wild flowers grow along the edge of the roadside. Fine stone walls have been built along some of this road, in local rock, shale, in slate-blue colour, with the odd bit of striking white quartz here and there, beautiful.
As I look towards the town centre, my eyes casting over a wide area of marshy ground, I notice works are still ongoing, the building of flood protecting walls. Skibbereen was built on marshland which makes the town prone to flooding. The town centre lies in a long valley, open to the West and North, and protected from the Atlantic Ocean by hills to the South and South-east.
I do believe that in every place on this wonderful earth of ours there are many interesting and exciting things to discover. Finding out about the place we live does give us a sense of belonging.
I would love to hear about your experiences and feelings about your sense of place or your sense of belonging. I would find it to be most interesting.
Hawthorn flowers
Forsythia
Asplenium trichomanes growing on the stone walls
A type of Cranesbill
Along the river Ilen as it enters the town of SkibbereenRibes sanguineum in flower along the river Ilen
Love this gate
Young leaves are out now, beech.
Looking downriver as the Ilen enters the town of SkibbereenLooking upriver
A wonderful shrub – one of the first to flower in spring time.
Yesterday my sister left Gozo to return home to Lier in Belgium. We enjoyed two weeks of chat and sightseeing, though I must admit a lot of our time was spent enjoying coffee and cake in a variety of places around the island. Nevertheless we did manage to fit in walks and visits to various sights, but mainly we soaked up the spring feeling, the massive amount of wild flowers and the charm of Victoria’s historical narrow streets. As there is only one year between us we grew up quite close and shared a bedroom most of our childhood years, at night my sister would tell me stories which at the time fascinated me, they were of adventures we would find ourselves in. She still always brings me books, and much of our chats would evolve around book discussions, the love of reading we both share. We also both spent our working lives with books and people, she as an editor working for a magazine catering for libraries, and I as a branch librarian in a small town in Ireland. Both have been very rewarding and enjoyable jobs. Amazing to see the banana trees on Gozo, Josefine could not believe her eyes.
Two sisters, Josefine and myself among the Mimosa flowers which are now opening.
St.Georges square where we spent time drinking coffee and listening to the bell ringing.
Tower of St.Josephs in Qala, and an example of a roundel found on a house in Ghajnsielem.
The fig tree already showing fruit and opening its leaves, poppies are flowering now too making the meadows very colourful, and a hoverfly on a lovely sunny day.
This Gozitan lady working her lace in the doorway of her house, a lovely sight.
More wildlife, this on a narrow pathway at Mgarr.
The narrow alleyways in Ir-Rabat never fail to charm anyone. Josefine too loved them and we spent quite some time walking them, every time you do you discover more things of interests.
It’s quiet now around here, Ian and I going about our various tasks and peacefully enjoying the life. The excitement of Josefine’s visit is over, a space is now empty, but memories will stay and lots of thoughts remain of our various chats and discussions. A rewarding time it was, that is for sure.
Below follow some quotes from people I admire. I have put them among photos of our garden showing how lush it is at this moment, a moment to relish and savour, a moment to be thankful for and to enjoy to the full. Yes another summer is in full swing ~~~~~~~~
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” Thich Nhat Hanh
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” Eckhart Tolle
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” Thich Nhat Hanh
“There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, everyone of them sufficient” Marilynne Robinson
“Life is a dance. Mindfulness is witnessing that dance.” Amit Ray
“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.” Meister Eckhart
“Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.” – Ramana Maharshi
“You have a treasure within you that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.” – Eckhart Tolle
MINT
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Victor Frankl
“Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation, and healing.” Jon Kabat-Zinn
Well today we choose the path, at least we thought that we did, together with my daughter and four of my grandchildren, all of us girls we choose to take a walk in Dromillihy Forest, a walk that led us to the freshly opened bluebells which carpeted the forest landscape in between the deciduous trees. A wonderful view to behold! The girls were climbing the lower branches of the larger trees and excitedly looked for the fairy houses hiding between the ferns and mosses. The children love the forest, love the leaves in autumn and everything else in between. I’m also a tree lover, even hug them, we all do – it feels good. Here the trees are often covered in ivy and moss, also in beautiful lichens. We were touching the moss today and it was as soft as feathers, or silks with a lovely springy feeling like marshmallows. My youngest grandchild, she is only two, choose me as the darling of the day and held my hand right through the walk, we ran down the hilly paths she laughing out loud, a real nature child she is. All the children love nature. We discovered Wood anemones, violets, and other little spring flowers. The scent of the bluebells though was fine and delicate and spread itself all around.
It is the highlight of being back in Ireland, activities with my grandchildren, and chats with my daughter.
Amazing to see the banana trees on Gozo, Josefine could not believe her eyes.
