Strange, but True

 Hello Friends!

I just remembered something, which makes me want to sing "It's A Small World After All" and I apologise for giving you today's earworm.  However, strange as this story is, it's perfectly true and so, today's blog is short and sweet, but I really do want to share it with you.

In 1983 I moved to the most picturesque village in northern California called Ferndale.  You can visit it virtually here, for I don't have many photos as it predates digital, and most of what I have is too faded to share, or not that good.  It has changed a lot since I lived there, but I tell you it was one of the happiest times in my life.

I digress.  On Main Street there was an old fashioned artisan butcher's shop where I bought all my meat {they did the most amazing smoked turkey crown to order at Christmas} and on a Saturday there was a young local lad, a cheeky chap, full of energy and enthusiasm, working in the back of the shop.

Time passes, I moved away, life rolled on as it does, and my time in Ferndale became compartmentalised in the region of my brain devoted to Happy Memories.

At some point along the way, I discovered a wonderful magazine, which I know many of you enjoy, called Victoria Bliss {stay with me on this} but once I moved back to the UK, I had to give it up as overseas postage was prohibitive and my copies arrived damaged and months late.

Many years later, in 2007, I finally got internet and a computer at home, and started to explore this wonderful world of the t'interweb.  One of the first things I Googled was Victoria magazine, whereupon I discovered a forum of like minded kindreds.

Stay with me, if you are still here, it will become clear.

I joined the forum and made many good friends, some of whom comment and read my blog.  {Waving}

Now, here's where it gets a little complicated.  One of the forum ladies, let's call her L1, joined Facebook and persuaded me to join, which I did.  Somewhere along the way, L1 made a new friend, let's call her L2, with whom I quickly became good friends.  

Moving on, L2 introduce me to L3 {all these different ladies' names begin with L, by the way} and through L2 and L3, I met B1 and B2.  All these ladies know each other personally.  Eventually, I became friends with the sister of B1, M.  

Time passed, and as I got to know M, a strange, but true, story began to unfold.  Her son is a cameraman working on the film set of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives which I used to watch occasionally.  Turns out the cheeky, cheerful, and energetic young lad working in the back room of the butcher's shop in Ferndale California was none other than Guy Fieri, host of Triple D!

Who would ever have guessed that the young lad in California would be the start of a thread connecting me to a friend on Facebook all those years later, and the connections and friendships made along the way.

Strange but True.

Until next time

Stay safe and well

Deborah xoxo

When The Rains Stopped

Hello Friends!

Well, it rained; and it rained; and it rained; and it rained. Then it rained some more, but this morning after what seemed a monsoon season long wet weather system, and certainly not anything like June is supposed to be, I awoke to glorious sunshine peeping through my curtains from a bright world rejoicing as the sun glinted and danced around the pristine, freshly washed land.

Today is so beautiful; the temperature is pleasantly warm; the breeze is as gentle as a butterfly's wings beating; the sky is oh! so blue behind the cotton puffed sky; the sea is calm and gently laps the shore.

I had to get out of my cottage. After days of being stuck indoors while the deluge deluged down from above Cabin Fever was setting in. Off I set, turning left at the bottom of the road, and off into the byways and country paths that surround my cottage I strode.

Like Bilbo Baggins, I went out of my front door on an adventure.

A Hobbit walking song is a good idea!

Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate,

And though we pass them by today,

Tomorrow we may come this way

And take the hidden paths that run

Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

taken from one of JRR Tolkien's poems.

I have not been out on the coast path for a few years, and this morning when I set out it was not my intention to do so as I went walking past horses and cows in the meadows 

with the music of the wild to accompany me as I sought out butterflies and bees going about their business, making honey while the sun shines brightly

Fox Moth

Painted Lady

I have tried to correctly identify, but if you know better, please leave a note in the comments!

On I wandered, following the road as it meandered through the fields, as it narrowed, and passing by some tempting little paths that I mark to return another day

So on and on I went, eventually arriving at the coast. Oh! how magnificent it looked this morning in the pre midday rising sun!

The sea so blue, so calm; the sky so big, so bold, so blue, so puffy cloud strewn and bright! The land in countless shades of green and cliffs in many hues of richest brown.  Clear as the eye can see to the wide, adventurous horizon.

Does it matter which way you turn, which way you look? I don't think it does, do you? It is all majestic in it's splendour.  I stood, I turned, I drank deep draughts of salt sea air, fresh and cool, refreshing, restoring, traveling deep into my being.

The tide is low, far out, and rock pools and caves exposed, for we are on a big Spring Tide cycle right now. How fun to explore the shallows and the nooks and crannies along the rocky shore?

I have seen many repurposing uses for the old GPO red telephone boxes, but this one is a new use to me! A doggie comfort station! How quaint; how sweet; how thoughtful indeed!

Returning to the village, I see yet another view to make me gasp, out across the Cross Square, over the rolling meadows where sheep do safely graze, and away to the vast and distant ocean.

Oh, I took many, many more photos, but they are keeping for another day!

Until next time
Deborah xo

Flowers on the Beach

Hello Friends!

What could possibly be more happy making than discovering flowers on the beach? I know!

On a gloriously sunshiny, blue skied afternoon I was strolling along Whitesands.  The gentle ocean breeze took the edge off the heat of the springtime sun, so it was very pleasant indeed.

The big Spring tide was out, so there was a grand expanse of golden sand on which to walk, and it looked peaceful and quiet away on the far end, so off I set. Up near the car park and Porthmawr Surf Lifesavers Hut people milled about on the sand, enjoying their afternoon.

A few intrepid swimmers braved the cold; some young surfing dudes received instruction in a group; and sunburn in the making was observed as people sat and enjoyed an ice cream, or strolled along the beach, or built castles of sand and fortresses of stone.

I like the far corners of the beach best of all; they are quiet and more contemplative, with interesting finds to interest and enlighten.  Here, in the peaceful space suspended somewhere between the soaring cloud puffed skies and  the fathomless blue ocean, as the life giving sun warms my face, I feel an overwhelming sense of calm, of being, and deeply connected to Gaia, nature, spirit, whatever you call that peaceful feeling of oneness with the Universe, or with your God.

As I walked down the beach, I took a path close to the sea which gently lapped. I thought of the surfer wannabes, not much surf for them to enjoy today, poor things.

I reached the far end and stopped, sat and listened, closing my eyes and letting the energy of the Universe flow into my consciousness before letting it steep deeper into my being.  I felt a complete oneness with my surroundings and let my spirit meditate on all the energy of nature that was flooding in.

The random raucous call of a lonely gull lifted me into a different state of awareness.

Unknown time had passed and I knew I had to return from the place of bliss my spirit had found back into the present, so I returned to the now, and turned to begin my walk back up to the distant car park.

I decided to take a path closer to the cliffs that edge this beautiful beach in the wild west of our country, and found many things to delight me.

A silver white crab shell caught my eye, an empty shell of a life once lived at sea.

on I walked until a dry and withering heap of the most delightfully red, inspiring seaweed on the high water mark caught my eye. Such colour, such vibrancy, such texture.

And then something truly magical ~ flowers on the beach!  Some, slightly higher up on the cliffs, but some right down on the stones that edge the golden sand. What an unexpected treat this was to find.

How gorgeous, how glorious they look as they scatter and tumble, falling in drifts down the craggy cliffs to the sandy shore below.

How tenacious life is, in even the most treacherous of places, lashed by stormy seas and scorched by summer sun, it finds as nook or cranny and takes a precarious, precious hold, learning not only to survive, but to thrive and bring such beauty in an unexpected place into the world.

Until next time
Deborah xo

Daisy Chains and Sunshine

Hello Friends ~~~

I hope it is as sunny and springlike where you are today ~ although still a little chilly, it is a beautiful day here with a lemon curd dollop of buttery yellow sun in a pale, blueberry~kissed sky, with silky smooth wisps of whipped cream. Next door's Copper Beech dances and prances with a glistening glimmer and shimmer of beaten bronze, a perfect match for the blue sky above, and with temperatures in the high 50's I shall be very happy to be doing even the simplest of chores outside today.  Here are a few photographs from the coast path taken recently ~~~

One of the sweetest flowers of spring and summer has to be the innocent daisy that are daintily sprinkled across our lawns ~~~

Won't you join me on the lawn this afternoon? There will be tea and cake, and we shall sit on the grass and make Daisy Chains. My lawn, not yet mowed, is a green sky full of sparkling, silver stars in their own green firmament, kissed with the glistening dew of an early morning sunrise ~~~

Until next time ~~~

Deborah xo

The Raspberry Patch of Shame

Hello Friends!

Happy Mothering Sunday

for tomorrow, March 26th.  You can read more about how we celebrate Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom here.  Although today we use the day to celebrate our mothers, you will see that it has quite different origins to what you might think.

Spring is officially here! Hip! Hip! Hurrah! For a few weeks now, she has been teasing us with quick glimpses of sunny days, but the Spring Equinox earlier this weeks heralds the official start of spring in the northern hemisphere, while our antipodean friends start their autumn.

We have been blessed now, for a few days, with sunshine and blue skies; lighter winds ~ lighter is by definition, for winds of twenty mph are light by comparison to forty mph winds, of course; birds singing to welcome in the spring; and the garden slowly waking up.

Here is a passage I wrote on my Facebook page earlier this week ~~~

The sun is shining bold and bright in a nearly cloudless blue sky, but belies the cold air that rushes in as I open the windows ~ floods of freezing fresh air to get the spirit moving ~ maybe moving towards the kettle and tea pot rather than towards the bucket and mop? The lawn is lush and verdant, speckled with innocent daisies, golden dandelions, and bountiful buttercups {sighs} ~~~ the chirrups and tweets of birdsong echoes across this Shire garden, as it has done since before 6:00 a.m. ~ the sweetest, but maybe not the most timely, alarm clock of them all ~~~

I have mowed my lawn, and the plaintive springtime mating call of lonely lawn mowers can be heard each day, echoed by the call of more and more as they waken from their winter slumber, but never shall they meet for hedges and walls stand in their way across the Shire gardens ~~~

Laundry dances on the washing lines, bobbing gaily in the gentle breeze ~~~

I love to see my white vintage table linens washed, pegged for drying later to be rolled up slightly damp ready for starching, pressing and careful folding until ready to be used again.

The thrill of the first white Pasque Flower bursting open came this very week. Soon there will be many more, and then the magical seedheads will appear to enchant me once again ~~~

Acid green and brown Euphorbia spikes jut up from the border ~~~

and the Osteospermums, which have not stopped flowering since last summer, are now bursting forth to welcome in the warmer, longer days ahead ~~~

Soon, they will be transplanted from their temporary Growbag home into a waiting border ~~~

The herb garden is waking too with rosemary full of lavender bloom, white comfrey; sweet cicely and more ~~~

Fragrant wallflowers, so freely spread themselves about the garden, with fragrant blooms, an early treat to see ~~~

and now my Raspberry Patch of Shame ~~~ it remained unloved and uncared for all last summer {thanks to two inopportune arthritic flare ups in my spine} so this year is in need of a jolly good sort out!  I've already made a start: hacking away at honeysuckle as it encroaches upon my garden from next doors unattended yard; I have cleared a mass of rampant blackberry brambles ~ which set my back off again and brought a slight halt to proceedings ~ and now am faced with all this matted couch grass!  Plenty of exercise there then, and nothing that a herd of goats couldn't manage in a week ~~~

Before ~~~

and after a few hours clearing ~~~

The once tidy rows of canes are lost, and it breaks my heart to see it in such a mess, but I am determined to clear it all without the use of chemicals!  It is a work in progress, for sure.

I shall leave you with a small puzzle.  I found this 'catkin' or 'pussy willow' on my blueberries ~ there are several of these little fuzzie wuzzies and I have never seen before.  If anyone knows about these, or has seen them before, I'd love to know!

This week I must look to my laurels, for there is much work to be done in the garden, time is marching on, and a gardener's work is never done!  Tomato, chilli, and pepper seed sowing are on the list of gardening jobs for this weekend!

Until next time ~~~
~~~ Deborah xo