French Fun

Trudi and her lovely man, Goeff,  fetched us from Perpignan airport.

and we went to the square in Ceret for a pizza that evening.

The next day,  after spinning, knitting and carving we went to the lake.

Trudi and companions unknown feeding the ducks.

We met this creature.

Mr and Mrs Gumby - both very happy souls.

The next morning we had breakfast in Collioure with this view. Coffee and Croissants. mmm

and this view the other way......

Afterwards we walked around looking at the shops and the town.

 A quizzy pusscat

and the last avenue before returning back home to drink wine, eat, spin, knit and carve.

Saturday is Ceret market day.

The boy and the girl coveting things...

On the high street we discovered a gathering of lace makers bobbining .

Then it was home again for lunch, wine, knitting, spinning and carving. We passed this hotel entrance on the way.

Sunday was marathon day with lots of eye candy - none photographed unfortunately. Plenty of funny costumes too but I was knitting instead of photographing.

We sat at a cafe drinking coffee and knitting under these umbrellas in the centre of town, applauding the runners as they finished.

Then, guess what, we went home to - wine, food, spinning, knitting and yet more carving.

Monday was back for another walk in Collioure with crepes for lunch.

The view from the parking lot....

It rains in France and we were mad enough to catch the bus to Perpignan after a morning of the usual crafts.

The worst yarn shop I have ever been into.  If you touched anything the owner stood behind you complaining. Complete chaos. It was tipping as we left and Trudi informed the owner that we had condoms to put on our heads - French pronunciation error. Being Fran ce, the unbelievable happened and we saw a guy with one on his head a little later.

This in the window of the best "hot chocolate" cafe in the world where recovery from the above was sorely needed.

On the way back to the bus station we stumbled upon bliss and were thus late for the next bus.  Even Grant was enthralled by all the colours and all the fibres.

And then home again for the usual............

Wednesday brought a drive through the mountains into Spain

with a monastery tucked below us in the hills

and lunch in a civilised place where we had to pretend to be posh.

 A walk through the quaint Spanish town 

and then home to bray at the full moon with Jupiter hanging next to it in the sky. More knitting and spinning but not much carving done. Lovely red wine........

More spinning, knitting, carving - just assume now that it happened lots in-between.

We did still life photography

then Trudi cooked it all as a wonderful meal and we ate it.

Friday brought a second trip into Spain to the trading post ruins at Empuries and tapas in a town nearby, both seen in the photo here.

There was even a picture of a loom in the museum.

and some of the most beautiful mosaic floors I have ever seen. They are still uncovering them on site.

Saturday is market day in Ceret. You have heard that one before.

Grant buying sausage to bring home and braai which he did on Sunday. French sausage apparently rocks.

We discovered a music exhibition with weird stuff.

You did not believe me did you......

Yes, the man is playing a pig....

Afterwards we had coffee and Churros with an uninvited guest who begged so beautifully.

It was time to leave. We came home with beautiful memories and I received the most beautiful gift a girl could ask for. Grant carved this for me while we were there.

Winchester Walk

This morning I was able to walk part of  the early morning walk that I used to walk around town. I started walking up the hill and onto the arbor. 

I love coming up here in the mornings as each day greats me with a new view out over the town and into the hills beyond that mark the seasons as they pass. The Hampshire Hog weather cock at the top of the clock tower always makes me smile. I have yet to capture a good photograph of it. Here it is just a dot in the sky.

I walked across the arbor, over the railway bridge and into The Barracks. I love the colours of these gracious buildings.

This is the view across the gardens. The trees stand like sentinels guarding the fountains which are being repaired or cleaned at the moment so they are not working. Usually the sound of the water echos across the square.

I walked down behind the courthouse and out past the gatehouse. Across the road, just past one of the solicitor's buildings, a wisteria bush is about to burst into bloom. The flowers are still tight buds.

At the bottom of the road is Mulberry House which looks quite posh. I love the door with the tiny windows and boot cleaners on either side.

As I continued down the road alongside Mulberry House, the Cathedral comes into sight. It is one of those beautiful buildings that lifts your heart each time you see it. I walked through the cloisters. It always makes me wonder how many monks and nuns have walked this same path. Now it has disabled access to the building and many towns folk walk through them as an access to town or the college.

From the cloisters I walked along to the mayor's garden. It is one of my first memories of our first visit to Winchester when we came here for Borneo's interview. It was a fantastic sight, beautifully in bloom in September and a riot of colour. It is like that most of the year I have since discovered. At lunch time it is filled with people who come out to enjoy it but 7am in the morning is a bit early for most people.

The tree to the left is called a handkerchief tree and comes from China. It is also called a dove tree. It has just started to bloom and the flowers hand down looking like paper handkerchiefs. I watch for it to flower every year. When it is fully in bloom the tree is white and you can hardly see the leaves.

It is still magical for me to live in a place where it is so easy to walk around. I do love it.

Morning walk

This morning I managed a walk along the Itchen River. It was early as I left at the same time that Borneo did for his commute to London. I had forgotten how much I love being out at this time of day and how much I enjoy that walk.

Although the sky was dull as there is thin cloud cover, the sun did break through occasionally. There was the full dawn chorus of birds stating their daily business.

I was surprised that there were reflections in the the river as the water is flowing quite strongly. It is always relaxes me when I am able to connect with nature in this way. It was always the way that I have practiced my daily meditation, this walk in nature and I have walked this path often watching the changing of the seasons.

A light mist hung over St Catherine's Hill, obscuring her crown and holding an energy of peace and tranquility. As I walked back towards town, I came across a family of squirrels having their breakfast. They ran away and then when they realised I meant no harm, came back to eat happily while I watched!

The little one on the left is the baby and it's tail is like a bottle brush plant, all spiky as it has not yet grown full. This one came closer to me. It was quite curious.

The gardens are looking so beautiful and everything is green.

The last section of the walk, is close to where I sat knitting yesterday. The trees are all in bloom and it is beautiful, a lovely hour spent next to the water. 

Now it is back to house sorting in preparation for the move and I really don't mind. My soul has been nourished for the day.

Moving

This weekend we spent some time attending to things that one clears before you move. It brought both sadness and a release. In the garden, stacked behind the shed are all the pots and crates that I used to grow vegetables for the family for a couple of years before we moved here. I felt quite sad letting them go even though I know I cannot possibly plant and grow anything at the moment.

When we moved here the furniture removal company brought a second truck along to transport my potted vegetable garden. The men were gentle and moved everything so carefully, respectful of the blooming and blossoming plants that were entrusted to them. They were grateful to go home with some of the abundance that it was producing.

The disastrous summer that year and the aspect of the garden soon put an end to it all and I only managed to produce lettuce the following summer so the pots have been stored until we move again. Now, I probably will not be able to do this physically for a a while and now it seems foolish to move everything when space may well be an issue.

I did find a home for some of it. It made the release less wasteful.  A friend is a member of a town group who are starting a farm garden and will use all the bits and pieces that go to them. Soon all these will be filled with plants again, blossoming and blooming, ready to feed people who have tended them lovingly. The thought of that gladdens my heart.

Making vessels.

I was listening to a craft podcast earlier in the week about a metal craftsman who makes small metal vessels. At the moment he is making the biggest one he has ever created which will be about four feet when it is complete. People kept commenting that they really felt like they wanted to crawl inside these vessels.

These images in my brain have brought all kinds of connections together. When I was in the changing rooms at the pool last week, I watched some toddlers climbing into the lockers. Outside a crystal stockist in South Africa where two enormous amethyst geodes that one could sit inside.

There was some thing there about filling the empty space or perhaps finding a haven of safety and security.

It seems such a strong part of our tradition that we must not have any empty space. To be busy and filling all the spaces is valued far above sitting being part of the world with no need to fill or complete anything. Open spaces in conversation can leave people feeling awkward and uncomfortable. We are just not shown how to let space be.

When we moved to this country, we wanted to change our lifestyle from being constantly busy, to one of having more space to explore the immediate world around us when we chose to. It is a joy to be without the pressures of big city life, learning at the same time to do things differently.

It has not been easy and it is still a work in progress. It has meant changing our value system and understanding what is truly important in life, our family and friends and living a slower life. It is understanding where happiness really comes from and having one's needs met not necessarily one's wants.

It has been a letting go of all the competing and pressures to keep up with what society expects. We have had to hammer this out of our psyches like the metal smith hammers the metal to form his empty vessel. Slowly, we are forming our own new vessels with emptiness. We are moulding our metal to ring with the sounds that we want to be now. It is a very magical process.