Autumn Miscellany

Hello Friends!

Autumn weather with all it's many changeable moods and unreliability is well and truly upon us.  If you don't like it, wait a few minutes and it will surely change!  One day it is raining and blowing, the next it is calm, the sun shines in a blue sky and those are the days when housework can wait!  If the weather is good I will abandon the cleaning and get myself wrapped up and outside, camera in hand, and off I go.  I can only manage shorter walks of a couple of miles, and not too many hills, for this virus lingers and has knocked me sideways; after two months I have to do what I can to regain my stamina for longer walks with hills.

Steel grey stems with silvery spider webs strewn across a skeletal seed head sitting, shimmering in the afternoon sunshine

Happily I wander, following my feet, one step after another is all it takes, as I meander along the old and ancient pilgrim path that follows a twisting river valley floor.  Autumn sun shines from a clear, pale blue sky and gimmers through the shady trees so tall

Meanwhile, in my cottage garden rose hips and Cotoneaster berries, richly ripe and ruby red, provide a forage feast for birds, as they bring a last firework burst of colour to the borders.

Tread lightly, go carefully, for around our feet lie the homes of fairy folk!

A muted morning Autumn light, a quality that softens the landscape all around

High in the tree tops by a babbling brook the pinecones hang and droop. Tempting morsels for the squirrels to feast upon as they nimbly climb and scurry to the topmost branches.

Along a mossy topped wall hide tiny leaves of penny wort

In the high street, delightful Autumn pumpkins sit outside the local vegetable shop.  Who will buy?

Until next time
Deborah xo

Tea and This n That

Hello Friends!

I could scarce believe, when I looked this morning, that it is a month since I last wrote here.  I have been unwell since the last week of August, and cannot fathom how the last six weeks have flown by.  I am thankful to say I am now, as my doctor puts it, convalescing, and feeling much more myself.  Enough said!

In the middle of being poorly, my gas boiler bit the bullet and needed to be replaced, and I don't want to discuss the mess, the upheaval, and especially the expense of that evolution, not to mention that they have already had to visit to repair a brand new boiler!! Again, enough said, and moving on!

I am grateful that, despite having lost weeks off work, I am now able to get out and about for walks.  We have had some quite nasty weather, so right now I am making the most of the few and far between gentle Autumn days before the gales and late Autumn weather come upon us for the duration.

As you know, I love to write short passages of descriptive narrative, so while I sit and sip on my new favourite tea, Orange Gingerbread from Whittards of Chelsea, I shall draw upon some of the words I have written on my Twitter account in the past month, with the accompanying photos.  Due to not having the Twitter constraints of 280 characters, the words may be a little reworked from there.

This sweet card accompanied my recent purchase.

In an effort to help minimise plastic waste, I have just purchased boxes of loose leaf tea and a new, sweet little individual infuser.  So much bad publicity surrounding even premium tea bags, I feel I must stop using them.

Weave cobwebs fine when the moon is full and strew them with the silvery midnight dew, then will they shimmer; then will they shine, and by the coming light of dawn a gossamer fine fairy shawl of sparkling crystal raiment drapes; beware! within such beauty hides the thorny stems of roses fair, and somewhere waits to pounce a spider from this fairest lair. 

An Autumn morning rises silently over the sleepy village nesting on a hill, slowly wakened by a pale and mellow sun. A soft light, an early morning mist, a world painted with the subtle hues of Autumn, and a feeling in the air that words cannot describe, but it touches your heart and you know it is there.  The wind and rain have gone, leaving everything sparkling and fresh; the sky is blue; the sun shines. It's a beautiful, perfect Autumn day in the Shire, my friends.

A wild wind whistles across Whitesands Beach, watching the wide horizon while white ocean waves from the cold, deep grey sea crash upon the sandy, rock strewn shore. Cotton puff clouds scud and billow quickly in a soft blue sky and a lone swimmer braves the surf. It's an Autumn day in wutheringly wonderful west Wales, so wrap up warmly.

These were taken on the tail end of Hurricane Lorenzo, which was thankfully downgraded substantially by the time it arrived on the western shores of Great Britain.

The bounty of blackberries, shiny jewels of the hedgerows continued to give of their best for weeks and weeks, swollen by the plentiful rain, and ripened to sweet perfection by the gentle Autumn sunshine 

Beautiful Kaffir Lilies, also called Hesperantha, arrived unexpectedly in my garden in an abandoned pot, a gift from a passing bird, no doubt.

As I started to feel better, I managed to put up a few small Autumn themed decorations on my mantel

and I love how it looks in the evening, all by candle light aglow

and a final photo from my porch 

Until next time
Deborah xo

Campanology and Vestments

Hello Friends!

Today was the Annual Open Day at St Davids Cathedral and I was lucky enough to not be in work so I was able to go, at least for part of it having the best part of my days off usurped by a broken boiler {we won't go there} so, armed with my camera I set off in earnest to pack in as much as I could in the short time I had available to me.

First I visited the Cathedral Library which is the only Cathedral Library in situ in the whole of Wales.  It is a very special place with over 7,000 books dating from the 16th century onwards, the Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II granting St Davids official City Status, and the atmosphere of such antiquity and accumulation of learning in an ecclesiastic setting has to be experienced first hand. The building itself is older than the oldest book contained therein.  Sadly, photography is not permitted, but it was a good point to begin the morning as a visit to this library always lifts my spirits with a sense of belonging. Of course, the climb up the circular stone staircase is an adventure in itself and it is a good idea to hold on to the ropes on either side!

I moved around the Cathedral, which by now was swarming with visitors from cruise ships which dock in nearby Fishguard Harbour and Pembroke Dock. Unfortunately, this hampered securing good photos, but it is easy enough for me to return. The main object of my day was to see the vestments which had been placed in a special display at the High Altar with the mediaeval encaustic tiled floor. I did my best, fighting elbow to elbow with the crowds, to secure photos of the beautiful, rich embroidered garments.  It was regrettable that, due to my broken boiler, I had to miss what would have been a most excellent talk to accompany the display, given by Archdeacon Dorrien Davies.

I wandered around, managing to avoid temptation at the home made cake stand, and made my way up the hill to Porth y Twr, or what is today the Bell Tower, built in the late thirteenth century as one of the four main gate ways into the Cathedral Close.  In the 1970's I was a campanologist, or bell ringer. The bell I rang was Treble, which I understand is now Bell Two.  I remember well calling out "Look Two, Treble's going; she's gone!" every time we rang a peal that began with Treble.

The main bell ringing chamber with the ropes secured

I then climbed a very steep, spiral, very narrow ancient stone steps all the way up in near darkness, ever upwards and narrowing constantly, until the bell chamber was reached. Reminding me of the steps to Cirith Ungol, it makes the Cathedral Library look like a walk in the park! I did not feel happy enough to stop to take a photo.  Here is the sight that greeted me and the other intrepid climbers as we emerged into the half light.

Here is the bell I used to ring. I believe this is now the Second Bell and is named Saint Caradog

It's hard to think such a thin piece of rope pulls and controls such a huge and heavy bell!

One last view from a higher platform before I followed everyone out and began the tricksy and slow stepping down into the ground floor and daylight once more

I shall leave you with the view from the Tower door. Stunning in any weather.

Until next time
Deborah