It'll be quiet for the next few days..well one week to be exact as I am off to the Canaries for some sunshine. But i'll take lots of photos and bore you senseless with it all when I get back.

Have a wonderfiul week

For the echo of a wind stirs a memory within the flesh that waits for your touch as slowly unfurls the great map of the heavens when night falls upon the Earth. Like some cosmic jigsaw puzzle, little pieces of a greater purpose are revealed. Some nights the pieces shall never fit and we may grow frustrated with the vision yet within all remains the memory keeping us true to all we aspired and became. Vessels of eternity filling fast with all the love we may safely bear, and still live, never to overrun, for within our heavenly touches all is everlasting and infinite. Come soon my love and take a look at the stars with me, for they belong to us, we both belong to the ages that take us to tomorrow and always to each other. We are birthed in love and honour and truth, for hearts and minds will always find a way through the time and space, to give joy and comfort to those who would see the beauty and peace within the soul that somehow slipped away in ages past from the other and at last returns through the lonely fog of aeons. Never to be lost again for the map of the heavens shall never now slip my grasp. You are here and my world is complete and I shall never let go for love is ours

For it is the words that are not said
That grows about us rising taller than trees
So if I think it, I must then say it
Whether the world should listen or turn away
Tonight drags me down fast to the safe
Needed repair of deepest sleep and yet,
The heart claws and hungers still
For the last, sweet, gasp of air remaining
So that with my last thoughts and actions
I hurl the words I need you to hear,
Toward you, that you may as your eyes close
Know how I love you tomorrow
So come the day and release me from sleep
That I may know my heart is waiting
To give all of its sweetness to the one
I call my own for the hours shall rush by
Like the raging tides that flood inland
And then disappear back to the sea

I had the strangest dream last night but I think it was because I was watching a programme on the sun before going to be on the history channel. Apparently the photons that emanate from the sun’s core and reach us as light take thousands of years to pass to the surface of the sun and then only minutes to reach the earth once they are in the vacuum of space. The sunlight I shall be bathing in next week is older than I am.

It all really seems to be so perfect the way life has originated and our understanding of the universe. We tend to think we are big players in the cosmos but what if we’re among the smallest of all life. A small life form on a small planet that can never develop the potential to expand and understand what is beyond the edge of the known universe. We are mapping the genome, constructing theories on astral physics and searching for dark matter. But what if...we were designed to do that? Unknowing participants in a huge interstellar process. Masters of a destiny that can never come to pass, because we were not given the intellect and capacity to ever get beyond a certain point in our existence. Make you think! I’ll go bake some more bread.

Worlds in a grain of sand

Spread through the cosmos

Watched by those that

Manipulate our destiny

Ok so I didn't make the jam or butter....but one day!

19th Nov 2007

It’s the week of birthdays with 2 just gone and one more to come. All the special people have birthdays in November....I’ll try to prove it. (Nope, got that wrong but here is what I managed to find out.)

November 18th in History1626: In Rome, St Peter's Church is consecrated1963: The Bell telephone company introduces the first push button telephones in the United States.

November 22nd in History1963: Lyndon B Johnson sworn in as 35th President of America just hours after the assassination of President Kennedy1975: King Juan Carlos II was sworn in as head of state just two days after the death of Spanish dictator General Franco

Still that’s Monday out of the way now and soon be off to sunnier climes for 1 week. Then that’s it till next year. Mike turns 60 next year and wants to go to Las Vegas. Then in the early part of 2009 Nick and I are going to go to Australia and New Zealand for 3 weeks. So definitely I have a few very good things to look forward to. Tonight I have been looking over my 70’s wardrobe and muttering “what was I thinking!” Also baked some bread which I am going to photograph and post it so you can imagine a nice thick, crusty slice with butter and cheese or perhaps a bramble jelly...yummy very nice.

Have a lovely evening

Coldness comes and touches the soul
To contract its warmth and reveal
What may hide in cool chambers?
I have none so dark, but if I did?
Perhaps winter is made for secrets
When drapes are fast shut at windows
Looking out on the fastness of night
Enveloping now so much of the days

A whisper that you cannot hear
Is spoken the same time each year
It enters the mind and plants a seed
That will grow so swiftly within a ...
Fertile and deep, yet innocent furrow
Growing swift and sure in a foundation
Where this world has not yet begun
To shower its discord and arrest the...
Development of such beautiful minds
That is the wonder of all of you
Happy birthday beautiful people

Found this site

http://www.padutchcountry.com/

You've probably seen it....

Tonight I am having ratatouille ‘a la Nick’ with cabbage leaves stuffed with meatballs. Ok, so its leftover meatballs and 4 cabbage leaves but it sounds good. Wednesday tomorrow again so soon and then we’ll be halfway through the week.

The Harry Potter was ok but not very exciting...methinks that they are probably getting a little old for the genre now. All square jaws and desperately being made to look like teenagers still at school. Should have stuck with Amy last night. Still this is a good site

http://www.harrypotterorderofthephoenix.com/

The growth in the estate of a man
Takes form through magical drama
It drives away the child’s eye
As the age of innocence retreats
The qualities of the man reveal

Mon 12th Nov 2007

Haven’t written anything on here for a few days, so apologies but I had a nice weekend. It’s quite cold here at the minute...in fact there was a heavy frost on the car this morning. I’ve just bought the new Harry Potter film “The Order of the Phoenix,” I always swear I won’t, but then just a kid at heart I guess. It was either that or the new Amy Winehouse DVD but I am in a chill mood really and Amy is a little hectic. I’m going to make this short and have a look at some holiday cottages in Devon for next year. So hope you’re indoors and warm and having a good evening.

Golden leaves that fell dry now crack and collapse underfoot into the damp ground. Discarded firework casings litter the path and remind me that the beauty seen in the night sky a few days ago comes at a price. The sun is up but veiled behind dense clouds and the air still and heavy with a cold, moist edge cuts through clothing. It is the time of the year when nothing ever dries till a long frost claws back all the moisture and deposits it like silver gilt on the ground

A blade of light births into the night sky and draws a crescent trail of sparks that wither in the blackness. For a moment a chill is felt and the evening air cools eager eyes looking into space. Then a rose erupts and shimmers incandescent as its red petals spread outward in symmetry of radial pyrotechnics. Before we have a chance to savour this, the whole sky becomes alive with blooms that open, flower and fall in seconds and then all stills to leave the stars scattered overhead in the clear sky like astral pollen.

A soft sun sets sail across a deep sky as an autumnal galleon to circumnavigate the northern half of the world. That is how I see it as I tread across a russet path laid down from the lack of warmth. For as this galleon of lessening light sinks into winter so the trees jettison their summer cargo. Leaves, once the sails that had unfurled and set before fair winds shred and fall, leaving the squirrels visible in the timber rigging like marauding pirates. For me the joy is always in the leaves underfoot, the clear and cool days and the sound of water. Ever it has been the same in November.

Sunday 04.11.2007

Been out taking photos this afternoon. I took a walk around all the local paths I used to follow when I walked the dogs. I’d forgotten how amazing it is so close to where I live. It has been a cool but sunny day and the smell of wood smoke is still in the air from the numerous Guy Fawkes bonfires lit last night. Bonfire night falls tomorrow so most were lit early. Last night was an explosion of sounds and colours as hundreds of fireworks lit up the night sky. I sat in the garden watching for a little while.

The first one is of a beech tree with lots of strange growths on it.

The second is of a huge tree growing straight out of a grave

The third is the sky

The fourth is another sky shot

The fifth is the thick carpet of beech leaves across all the paths.

Hope you had a good day and a relaxing weekend.

30th October 2007

Finally got the car fixed but it has been a hectic afternoon. Still it was probably more hectic for the guys at the garage, as they turned it round pretty quickly. So I’m a little more optimistic tonight; which after last night’s depressing little piece is to be warmly welcomed.

I can’t believe it is Halloween tomorrow. I shall switch on the TV and I will not be answering the door to anyone. I sound like a right old moan don’t I? But I can’t be doing with this entire trick or treating shebang. It always strikes me that we shouldn’t take all this stuff so lightly. I’ll have a hunt around for a suitable Halloween picture.

I might write some prose later but if not have a happy Halloween and see you in November.

Had a good day...in a good mood...dont read this...

Sometimes life sweeps away all our notions of infallibility. Events arise unlooked for and a cold world enters so swiftly. Like the icy touch of the first frost on a leafy banana plant; that taken from the tropics to the arctic feels the kiss of autumn burns away its hope and dreams without warning. For it cannot endure and nor can we. Perhaps we could, but we may not and so make each journey home become a new magical adventure. An exploration of paradise in familiarity, comfort and the goal of a sanctuary against the ills of the world. For if you can just make it back there once more when all is lost and you are far from home then you shall truly have lived. For the heart is the home in which it has bled and yet been slowly shaped in joy into the instrument you know it to be now?

We can find love under the sun so easily

On the long beaches and sandy shorelines

Under shady olives, in whitewashed alleys

The sounds of lovers merge into the night

Caressed by cool breezes from the Adriatic

For in Greece we know the gods understand

Take your loves fill through a long summer

But think in the autumn a chill will arrive

The sun retreats and the nights grow long

The world moves indoors, waits for spring

Remember my friends to hold onto love

For it will keep you warm through winter.

Had a scenic drive with Nick this morning around some of the beautiful Trough of Bowland. We went via Clitheroe to Bashall Eaves (sounds like somewhere a hobbit would live,) Whitwwell, Slaidburn, Waddington and Dunsop Bridge. The light was excellent and it picked up the gold’s and oranges of the trees framed on the blue-grey sky. I didn’t have my camera but trust me when I tell you it is breathtaking. Have a look at the following sites and see if you don’t agree. I shall be back soon and this time I won’t forget my camera.

http://www.forestofbowland.com/visit_villages.asp

http://www.countryside.gov.uk/Images/JCA34_tcm2-21084.pdf

So please accept these photos I took in the garden this afternoon. All show the onset of autumn.
My high spot of the week was being told my blood pressure is 150/100 (quite high) so it’s a low sodium diet from here on in. But as I told the nurse if it is so high you’d think it could make it to the most important bit a bit more often...hope you had a good weekend.

Raw words and raw emotion seek to flesh away care

Your heart is steady and true and always you are there

I am perhaps not so soul dependable, but I may wish

That you can understand and still would so love me

For now autumn arrives at our open doors and sighs

We must enjoy what we have and watch time as it flies

Think I posted too many videos last night but I like them all. You Tube is an amazing phenomenon. What is not on there? (Poulenc’s Organ Concerto notwithstanding) is not worth watching. I guess one day they’ll have better quality videos and I guess then TV could be obsolete. By the way click the menu button for more of the same. I actually just found that out too....!

It soon got to Thursday evening again. Been a very busy day at work, but thankfully it is Friday tomorrow. Still haven’t fixed the car but hopefully I shall attempt it myself on Saturday morning...oh dear! Call the wreckers because by the time I’m finished! I remember Scott telling me a few months back that he needed to go to a garage and was going to have to put on a deep voice...that made me laugh so much. By the way thanks for your telephone message the other day. Thinking of you and your mum and wishing you both the best.

somewhere over the rainbow

Amy Winehouse=Rehab

Mark Ronson Valerie New Video

Mark Ronson 'Valerie' making of the video

The trees are all coppery hues and everywhere one looks the landscape is opening up as the thick layer of leaves fall allowing a view through the branches. The wind this afternoon shook the trees detaching whole branches of their golden cargo to descend in equilibrium with the raindrops.

Just been reading my old diary from 2000.....

Tuesday 24.10.2000

Autumn arrives

How shall I know its autumn? In the gilded leaves that fall groundward to soften footsteps. The air that hangs still, clear and enhances distant vistas whilst cooling fingertips and noses. Or the rain that falls icily and swift from swollen, bruised clouds to run down collars and faces. Or is it the early close of the day in a western sky of cerise and scarlet hues. It’s all of these things and I know it’s autumn, but just for a little while longer my heart wishes to beat summer,

Stars

Looking upward into the night sky a hundred stars sweep unordered across the surface like snowflakes on ebony water. I feel I should believe each point of light a beacon of hope and joy within my life from the past or in the future. My life, the great sum of blackness above, that is just daily routine.

The span of a life; a journey through familiarity that must touch the special and precious at least once to show us the world lives in spite of us and every second is precious. My only unknown is how many stars are left to me? How many more times shall the monotony be corrupted into pure joy? Ponder awhile the thought and realise that all is worthwhile and waste nothing.

It’s going to be a chilly night but I managed to take a photo of the moon this evening up in the garden and also the bark on the tree fern. Hope you like them

Managed to take this photo of my record player's stylus last night. I thought it was pretty clean but no.....I’m pretty pleased with that. Now I can check on them regularly and replace them if they get too damaged.

Here’s an extract for October from the book “A Country Year” by Teresa Hooley published in 1925 or in Roman numerals MCMXXV. If I haven’t written it I think it’s very important to give recognition to those who did.

‘When in a flaming and rain-washed October, the orange and scarlet of the dying leaves is stabbed through by the sunlight, and tinged to a deeper purple and crimson by the lustre of the underlying boughs, it is the supreme moment of all autumn’s splendour.’

Today’s entry is;-

Rooks plundering acorns. White frost and a delicate rime underfoot –

The leaves unsodden
Where infant frost has trodden
With his morning-winged feet
Whose bright print is gleaming yet.

For my attempt I shall say;-

A feisty dowager in gold arrives
The weather has failed and autumn comes
Robes that rustled across her gravel drive
Become melody, softened under fallen leaves
She passes by and the front door closes
The fire is lit and the curtains drawn
She will not now leave again till spring’s dawn

Hopefully below are the sunsets I promised to post last week.

22nd Oct 2007

Been busy for a few days but now the nights are dark and time should be on my side (whether I like it or not!) It had been a good weekend, but you know how an argument starts then develops like a thunderstorm into a brooding, black beast that finally roars and thunders scattering everyone in its wake. So when you have 2 people of the same persuasion it can only wreak devastation till the weather turns to clear skies once again.

Getting to be quite cold now at night, as last week the neighbouring gardeners recorded -3 on their greenhouse thermometer temperature scale. I’m trying to think if that is cold for this time of year but like a morning mist my brain is a little hazy. This proves the value of notes (or a blog). Next year I can just look back on here and see. Just bought a little microscope which I can hook up to the computer so I’ll have a look at that soon and see if i can get some interesting pictures...it’s primarily to look at stylus (gramophone needles) for the record player but it may have other uses.

Gladiator soundtrack

Just posted Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams...enjoy. What a find as it's a breathtaking piece and this is a live video. Thanks to cheetomoskeeto for putting this on. Off to look for Poulenc Organ Concerto. No can't find it...if you feel like exploring and finding it i'd be grateful. Still enjoy the Gladiator track with Lisa Gerrard's vocals. She is so special she desrves a post all to herself.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia

Here is the sunset tonight from the back step. (When Blogger starts to work again. Hopefully it is a good omen for tomorrow. I’m listening to the Crusader’s track “street life” on vinyl of course from the album of the same name. It’s a great extended version on the album. I love Randy Crawford’s vocals on this track...have a listen here. I added it through YouTube.

A sunset is the last kiss of day
Orange lips envelop horizons
Shade blue sky in dimming fire
Engorge hearts and calm minds
In a tranquillity of closure

The Crusaders - Street Life (1979)

Real life seeps into the cracks of the armour I try to wrap myself in. I am sure if I am honest that I don’t like it very much for it has tinnitus and pain that emphasis the waning years of a life lived in some vigour that are now passing. Though perhaps we become less in physicality we move to be greater in thought and memory. I am perhaps a shadow of who I was but still greater than I ever thought it would be possible to become. That is one secret that may be laid to the world that is real.

15th Oct 2007

Thought you might enjoy these autumn pictures from the garden. I like them all but the one with the cobweb filled with large drops of water is my favourite. These misty mornings fill every shrub with thousands of silken architectural creations. One is under no illusions about how many spiders there truly are in a few feet of ground.

I spent a little time in the garden over the weekend and at this period of the year the time is taken with maintenance and getting things ready for the winter. Still it was a dry and pleasant day although the clouds came later as I finished.

Mikes’ sister and husband came for dinner Saturday. We had a lovely four course meal and watched the England and France rugby match. We won so it was all bearable in the end. Our team played well and deserved to win.

Not long now to the autumnal equinox and the clock change by one hour. Then darkness shall wrap both the mornings and the evenings. Not my favourite time of the year I have to say. Hope you had a good weekend.

If you’re reading this Scott...hope you’re ok. No had any e-mails so wondering. Take Care.

I’m having a bad car week (again). Why can’t they just run forever? Slight case of overheating makes it look like “Thomas the Tank Engine” as it travels down the street as it billows steam from under the bonnet. Other than that it has been a relatively quiet week with mainly dry weather. If i get chance i shall wrap the Gunnera up ready for the winter. I cut a heap of bracken last week and it works as a good straw substitute. In some ways it is better than straw as it keeps the crown of the plant much dryer and insects do not like it.

On a different note add this to your favourites. Johan Hari is a writer in the Independent and this is his piece from this week. I am not sure I entirely agree with some it but I do believe that maybe we need less legislation and more focus on basic right and wrong. To disseminate all societies groups and somehow enshrine their protection in law seems to be a path to madness and will ultimately fail. We need to be moving forward as one whole nation without any influence on how any others live by large groups with antiquated belief systems. However there is not much chance of that anytime soon.

http://www.johannhari.com/index.php

Rant over...time to calm down so enjoy the picture below which was taken at the Quince Honey farm in Devon a few weeks ago. Have a good weekend.

I was watching Brokeback Mountain last night. It’s probably the third time I have watched it and it is a film that reveals itself in ever deeper and sadder layers that are tempered by the uplifting hope shown despite the harshness of an ignorant world. How brutal is nature to any non-conformists to the established order of living.

It is incredibly well shot and it seems hard to believe that such scenery is still found that has the touch of unspoilt world about it. Magnificent vistas set in deep blue skies and crystal running rivers set a heart to soar. If you’ve never seen this film because of prejudice or some other reasons please watch it. It is worth it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/12/16/brokeback_mountain_2005_review.shtml

A soft night dissipates to usher in a golden morn in the soft moving October air. There is music in the air like single notes from a plucked harp that reverberate under the yellowing canopies of the trees. I am witness to autumn born

When the last firework faded
In decaying bursts of embers
From the cool midnight sky
I took your hand and smiled
For life is a huge pyrotechnic
That lights my world in bliss

Hope you enjoy these photos of the small red insect and the wasp. There are still a lot of wasps about but they remain in good spirits. While I was in the garden on Sunday saw quite a few wasp queens looking for somewhere safe to overwinter. I took lots of photos and will post then soon.

Went to Southport Saturday night to see fireworks set to music. This was my favourite music piece. It was a good evening with lots of fireworks. This is a large video file so please be patient.

Below are pictures of
1. Sidmouth harbour and the cliffs
2. Drogo castle
3. The misty dawn from the tower
4. Th house and its tower (Rower Fort)
5. A masterpiece of masterbaking
6. Tree at Bicton park
7. Exeter Cathedral organ
8. Palm leaf in palm House at Bicton

Devon 2007
The house was situated high on top of Rower Hill close to Honiton in a little village called Stockland. On all sides it overlooked the rolling Devon hills. The slopes a patchwork canvas of varying shades of green to the freshly ploughed fields with deep ochre soil. Sunrise and sunset were particularly spectacular. There was a full moon on the Wednesday and the absence of any artificial light made the surrounding countryside dazzlingly bright. Enough light to be able to see 2 red deer grazing below the tall windswept Scots Pine. The only drawback to the situation of the house being the wind, but this was at the top of a hill you must remember.

We visited the villages, towns and cities of..click the link below and pick one

Tiverton
Cullompton
Branscombe
Lyme Regis
Exeter
Sidmouth

http://www.devon-online.com/accommodation/accommodation-welcome.htm


Some National Trust properties.

Knightshayes Court

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-knightshayescourt

Drogo Castle

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-castledrogo/

Bicton Park

http://www.bictongardens.co.uk/

Other attractions were

A Donkey sanctuary (no feeding the donkeys and not many donkeys). But hey it's free

http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/site/1/home.html

Dinosaur World (bit of a rip off at £12 each)

http://www.dinosaur-park.com/

Quince Honey farms (excellent in every way)

http://www.quincehoney.co.uk/

My favourite thing was baking fresh bread in the Aga and jolly good it was too. It was a nice relaxing break. On the way home called in at Salisbury for a few hours. This has a magnificent cathedral. I’ll edit this and put links and photos in the relevant sections tonight.
Have a good day.

Evening sunlight hits the sky and the world below explodes into light. Such are October skies when the light diminishes and yet becomes strangely intensified into a soft glare. Autumn colours and sounds take a day and turn it into a painting by Monet. Everything blurs in this season and all that cannot endure must cease and venture existence on spring. We can only pause and regret the passing of the essence of summer.

Had a wonderful time in Devon and will post it soon. Got lots of great photos so watch this space.

A summer sun now in terminal decline graces the northern skies with the pale watery light of autumn. Crisp mornings and cool evening in ever shorter measure lead back into our homes to discover the pleasures of warm fireside evenings and friendship once again.

Finally watered my leeks this evening and just about everything else. Overall it’s cool but quite dry and the terracotta pots lose a lot of moisture so fast. I sat for a while inside my swinging seat safe behind the mosquito net from the insects. A little moment of reflection taken for myself to allow me to take in the cool air and the incredible calm of the evening. If I were blind still I would feel the approach of autumn.
Saw a small frog...about 50mm long. Must be one that made it through the winter and on into its second year. I haven’t seen any climb out of the ponds this summer but it should be anytime now. I love to see them as it is a hopeful omen that all shall carry on regardless of whatever we have done to the world. When I see them I can feel that I have done something amazing building the ponds

It’s 5.30pm and I have arrived home to a warm evening and I am now sitting outside with the whoosh of the traffic going past at rush hour mingling with the bird song. Despite the traffic noise it’s peaceful and now the heat has gone from the day it leaves a cooling calm. I often find that I need to just sit and unwind when I get home. Failing that I can become rather grumpy (not pleasant!) No chance of that tonight though because it is so fantastic to be outdoors. To finish reading the paper from this morning and to sit smoking as the light dims and the insects swirl around on the miniature thermals that are illuminated by the shafts of light penetrating through the dense canopy of the sycamore. The decay of the day played out in front of me till I feel the need for warmth or a respite from the kissing midges.

The news is pretty grim for the most part and mainly revolves around the couple who lost their daughter in Portugal. The story goes on and on, did they or didn’t they? Everyone seems to have forgotten that the child is still missing. We seem to have been left with two possibilities for her disappearance and both are as awful as the other. It’s all become another media frenzy of speculation and none of it seems helpful. I am beginning to wonder why I even buy a paper anymore.

So I put the paper away and revel in the scent of the neighbour’s dinner wafting over the wall. It is something with a keynote of garlic onions and peppers...a Mediterranean aroma that accentuates the evening perfectly. Why I shall pour a glass of wine soon and sit here and just chill and pretend I am some coast overlooking the Med as the sun sinks low over the horizon. I shall forget all the problems of the world for a little while. Hope you are having a good evening.