Whitesands

Well we went for that walk to Whitesands beach but stopped in St Davids first, where I bumped into some people I knew and you know how it is.... we got chatting... and by the time we got to the beach it was getting to be late afternoon. It was bitterly cold and although it doesn't look like it here, the beach was full of dogs, their owners and even some hardy swimmers in the sea. I was too beguiled by the light and the reflections to walk too far. I was rooted to the spot watching stripes of colour, light and shade emerge. How I wish I could capture the essence of those moments in paint or words.......

Normal service resumes

 For the first weekend in what seems like ages my husband is at home with just one more week of the oil refinery shutdown to get through. He has been working so many hours that I started to ask to see his pass when he came home just to verify it was really him! When writing a couple of e mails to fellow bloggers last week it suddenly hit me how long it has been since I wrote a post of any description. My absence has not been a conscious one but I've been so busy with things that keeping up with other people's writings was about all I could manage. The garden maintainance that usually falls to the head gardener came to rest on my shoulders in his absence so I have been clearing leaves like nobody's business. First to go were the leaves on my favourite tree in the garden, the huge ash that grows right on the boundary and it didn't help that ash die back was all over the news. I spent ages checking all of the trees for things but luckily all seems OK so far. I've lost count of the number of trips I've made up the garden with a wheelbarrow full of leaves or swept my drive to remove piles of them. I think I may have developed biceps like Popeye from all that lifting and tipping.It would be putting it mildly to say I am 'knackered'. I've also been doing lots of print experiments and painting too so I'll share some of the results soon when I get back into a rhythm. I've just taken these photos this morning as we walked the garden and made notes of the outstanding jobs we have to do before winter. There is now a load of cherry tree and acer leaves to deal with and seedheads to cut down (or not)but the sun is shining, it's a glorious autumn day and I think my husband deserves a rest rather than a load more work so I think we might just get out for a good walk.... and I'll carry on with the leaf picking and tipping next week..let joy be unconfined!

Gifted

The appearance of beautiful book sculptures left anonymously in a series of Edinburgh libraries has been well documented online. Whoever the artist is, she, or he, remains unknown whilst their work now tours the country for a wider audience to enjoy these imaginatively crafted works of art. Sadly they are not coming south of the border but I came across this trailer for the event and think 'Gifted' is an absolutely perfect title for it. It makes me want to do something along similar lines. Anybody out there game to join in.......

Woodland Walking

 A couple of miles up the road are two large woodland spaces managed by the Forestry Commission and the National Park. Yesterday's glorious weather inspired us to get out for a few hours walking the trails within them. It's a huge area and we only saw three or four other people, one of whom stopped and asked me if I was doing an 'autumn' project. I was carrying broken larch twigs and cones and some fallen oak leaves. She was doing the same. She was only about five years old but the 50+ years age gap between us was immaterial as we were both inspired by the shapes of the trees and the beginnings of the autumn shades. It reminded me of a quote I found recently. Sadly I cannot remember the blog I found it on so cannot attribute it other than to say these are the words of 18th century visionary poet William Blake:

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity and some scarcely see nature at all, but to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself "

Shadow Play

Every Thursday, Fiona at Paper Ponderings shares a quote with us accompanied by her observations, ruminations and always illustrated with a wonderful photograph. This week the quote (I'm paraphrasing here) was how we are always drawn to the light, yet the shadows are far more interesting and have more to say to us. In my comment I confessed to being a serial shadow photographer, often of the ones cast in the hallway through my old front door. So, when we woke up to a glorious late summer/early autumn day when the sun has a certain sharpness to it, I was caught, yet again, by the flickering movements on the wall. Something in me wants to get into Photoshop and play with these photos but I know less is more and so I will just let them speak for themselves.

Jolly Holli Days

 Whilst every day feels like a holiday for me, my other half is not so lucky, slaving away at the coal face week after week. Before the oil refinery where he works shuts down for it's annual spruce up (which takes months and involves lots of overtime where I rarely see him) he's having a last chance holiday and we are going to make the most of this mini Indian Summer we seem to be blessed with. We started days ago with a visit to St Davids where I've been working on a project about the cathedral for a while. I wanted to investigate something so my husband tagged along with me and we made a real day of it, catching an exhibition in the National Parks Visitor Centre of John Piper's drawings and paintings of the' Mountains of Wales' at the same time. In truth, although I am a huge John Piper fan, I found some of the drawings too dark for my liking, preferring to enjoy instead these posters that the Pembrokeshire National Park have produced this summer to celebrate their 60th anniversary.

 There are about 6 of them but these are my particular favourites, and they have been promoted quite heavily locally. They are so reminiscent of those wonderful 1930's holiday posters. After a number of requests, some very large scale versions have been sent out to the troops in Afghanistan as reminders of home.A quick visit to the website on the postcards will display all of them.

The posters are a reminder of that fact that we live in a tourist area so we've been visiting and re-visiting local places as if we were re-accquainting ourselves with them. This afternoon we went westward to Little Haven where I took loads of photos of the geological features. It is a gorgeous place, no more than a 30 minute drive from home, yet I haven't been here for about 8 or 9 years. I think I should be ashamed as I am forever bleating on to people about valuing the landscape and features on their own doorstep. There were a few visitors still around but up on the Point where we were sat, we were alone, basking in the sun and looking out to the islands listening to nothing but the sound of the sea.I was reminded of a quote about Pembrokeshire that I read recently, attributed to a well known local poet named Waldo Williams :

'..... the tiny islands of the sea are a silver web on its edge. Long singing comes there and the waves' dance on the fringes of the land.....'

We're off to the national museum at St Fagans tomorrow where I'm booked into a specialist tour of their unseen textile collections, one of those Heritage Open Days events. We're not sure whether to travel on from there to somewhere else or head back home and keep enjoying what's on our doorstep. As long as this sunshine lasts of course, anywhere looks wonderful. We shall see what we shall see.

Books for Free

About nine months ago whilst visiting the nearest largest town, Carmarthen, I happened to notice a sign saying 'Books for Free' outside an old Allied Carpets showroom. Naturally I had to investigate and found the whole space full of thousands of books on all subjects and I was allowed to take three of them away with me for nothing! Gratis. Free. No catch. Unbeknown to me this shop had been up and running locally for about three months (now a year!) and there are plenty more of them out there all over the UK taking unwanted books from the public, publishers and charity shops rather than let them go to landfill which is their fate unless someone comes along to love them. All the shops are run by the charity Healthy Planet, staffed with volunteers and so far they've saved over 2 million books from landfill. Rather than just take what I fancy, when I see a sign saying I can have a maximum of something, I tend to spend ages making sure I give three books a new home... as if I need any more!

 Whilst in town today I couldn't resist it and so came home with a musty old book on wildlife, a tatty little book about bird's eggs and where to find them (so un-pc in this day and age I know but the illustrations are great) and a truly beautiful find of a children's nature book illustrated by Paxton Chadwick. I have quite a few Puffin Picture Books that he illustrated in the 50's and 60's and in amongst the foxed pages of my final free book are three pull out colour lithographs which are stunning in their detail. What a find. Not the norm of what I pick up there usually but a real treasure.

I have found some fascinating novels in the many boxes inside the store and once I've read them I have returned them in case they are wanted by other readers. I love the whole concept of the place and have recommended it to people over and over again. In truth, I feel I should offer to volunteer but I am afraid it will be the slippery slope with my book collecting habits. The owner of the Allied Carpets showroom has to pay business rates whether he has an occupant or not so having someone using the building makes good sense even though they are on 24 hour notice to move should the building suddenly get rented out. As it's been there a year I cannot see it happening any time soon in this current climate so do take a look at the link to the website and see if there is a Books for Free near you. It really is an easy cause to support and who knows what you could find?