A halloween walk in the woods!!!

Today I walked in the autumn woods as usual.....jet black dog at my heels and the faint breezes of westerly winds caressing the golden leaves from the branches.....gradually the sky darkened...we headed home....a path usually taken looked less familiar.....past the ancient hawthorn..usually cheery..bright with ripening berries looked tangled and tortured...
and in the distance a cottage appeared that we hadn't noticed before....
dark mossy roof houses creepy dormer windows.....










..walking around the birds ceased to call...the natural noises of the woods silenced...

''looking through the windows..the cottage was empty...a few dusty papers discarded on the floor....the doors of the kitchen dresser hanging off....a scurry of leaves in the corner of the porch....a wooden staircase....thin steps ascending into the catslide roof.....

....shivering in the darkening afternoon we turned from the abandoned place and crunched across the stoney path away from this newly found place....

but we couldn't help but feel someone was watching us as we walked away....turning we saw who it was.......

Mothers Love...

Time for a proud Mum......my lovely daughter started her business,Vintage
Magpie, a few years ago and she has stuck with her original idea and fabulous concept....true to herself....people have tried to copy her and quite frankly do not come close....she has the passion and love which she pours into her custom made bridal bouquets.....that belief shines through.....she has been in national magazines and is about to have something featured in 'you and your wedding' Christmas edition.....I can't tell you how her ideas and concepts and mostly the finished article make me proud....words can't say it...she knows..... but I thought I'd tell you!!!!

Find the beauty

.......in feathers......

The light through the window

I just love the light on this photo...it reminds me of an old oil painting.....on the windowsill of an inn....while outside the horses to the carriage are being watered and by the fire blazing in the inglenook fireplace....the passengers take a glass of maderia in hand blown glasses to revive themselves before their onward journey to take the waters in Bath Spa......

Watching the boats go by....

When we where at the beach yesterday, we were very close to the very,very narrow channel into Poole Harbour...as I sat and ate my lunch the french ferry came into view.....it was so big...it was so close....at times it looked as if it was going to crash into the shore......it dwarfed the chain link ferry from Shell Bay to Sandbanks which trundles to and fro all day.....every ten minutes....if only you could view this like a flicker book and it would appear to move for you .......

....... i also love the fact that the dogs are running...the kites are flying....and as always...we are all waving as this monster goes by.......to France.

follow your nose!!

Sometimes you wake up and just know that you have to go to the seaside.....

........to let your feet feel the sand beneath them.....

.......to hear the crashing of the waves on the shore........

..........to feel the wind blasting through your hair.........

......to see whats going on over there!!!!

......to look in the distance and see a familiar horizon.........

.....to sit in the sand and just be.........

.......to see the beauty.....always.

Autumn Textures

Just can't get enough of the nature that surrounds me ..no words required.

Snail Mail

I love getting letters.....as times change they get less and less...but is there anything more personal than a handwritten note...

Create Tuesday

Today's theme is 'Joie de Vivre'...

This is a painting of a house I used to live in....it was little more than a large beach hut.....clapboarded about a hundred yards from a fantastic mile long beach..all sand....it was the first place I moved to when I was single again and boy did I feel free there......

..it was a simple place just a few rooms and a kitchen.......a big garden with lots of apple and damson trees......I found peace here.....time for myself....

Louis and I used to go at daybreak and walk along the beach....past the fields where the beach donkeys grazed.....over the dunes.....to a magnificent seascape.....if the tide wasn't to far out Louis would swim..he loved the sea......always trying to catch the waves....sometimes we would find a few people who had spent the night there....decks set up and dance music still blasting out...when this happened Louis and I would dance in the sand ... much to the amusement of the few awake people watching us....but hey...I was free....I was alive .....I had survived...i had rediscovered my 'joie de vivre'

For my next trick!!

Here you see a fabulous clump of autumn mushrooms....basking in the sunshine....then

.....abracadabra.....

.....a handsome scottie dog appears........wow!!!

Colour

Silent leaf of Autumn

dropping from the bough

what a tender teacher

of the truth art thou

Upon thee is written

wisdom deep and true

more than many sages

ever taught or knew

John Monsell

......damp...long...walk...leaves...fallen.....red...orange...yellow....crumpled...
moss..bright...emerald....nut...shells...crunch...chestnut...brown..shining......

mushroom...emerging....sulphur...spores...bark...tactile....ridged...lichen....evening

...approaches....

through the Dark Sod

(photo of Honey Fungus---photographer has wet knees and a scottie dog trying to bite her ear....if you lie on the floor in our house you are fair games to doggies!!!)

'Through the dark sod - as education-

The lily passes for sure-

Feels her white foot- no trepidation-

Her faith - no fear -

Afterward -in the meadow -

Swinging her Beryl Bell -

The Mold-life - all forgotten - now -

In ecstasy - and Dell -'

Emily Dickinson 1892

Poor Dog Days!!!

Stars are still visable as I walk in the morning light....wrapped up in hat scarf and boots....the air is chill and the dew heavy on the ground......The Lodger is love sick.....he demands walks morning noon and night in his quest to find this doggy damsel....when he's not walking he's whining.....or howling.....or sulking.....
My patience grows as thin as tissue.......




.

We walk and walk....i see hares and deer....hear the pheasants waking and the owls crying their last adieus.....

The lodger sees nothing by smells lots.....he races on like a firecracker..darting every which way...and as we finally head for home he senses the change in direction and puts the brakes on....he finds smells that cannot possibly be left until thoroughly sniffed...there are annoying bits of twig caught in his coat which must be removed before we can progress the torturous walk back to his cell....where there will be no hope of escape for .....oh, at least two hours.......his frustration is palpable..........

out of sorts

Today i woke up out of sorts..like i was slightly out of line with the worlds turn...out of kilter...out of step .....slightly spinning to another tune.......definitely off key!!!!!

..things were hazy....blurred......the world seemed distant...like i was watching me watching ....

..the little things seemed to big and the big things didn't matter....there was no sense......

The wind had risen

and the tree

branch raised

waved

the scent of autumn filled

the air

musty decay blown around

feral and dark

fungi moss and lichen

bright against rotten bark

the buzzards cried

high

mist swirled in tree tops

leaves fall.