Wednesday, March 07, 2012

the woods in winter/spring

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Up on the misty hill the small plants and flowers are beginning to stir; they have noticed that the sun is getting higher and is now warming up again. The sun is warm when it's out but the air and the wind are still cold with winter and all is cold in the shadows. The woods are quite empty. Apart from the evergreens there are no leaves on the trees and only the earliest signs of bud. Many of the leaves from last year are still on the beech and will remain hanging on, waiting to be pushed off by the formation of the new. The woods are quiet and there is not much about in the way of animal life. Many of the birds have not yet returned from their southern migration so it is quiet of their song here. The mist and fog passes and leaves a trace of water upon all the bare branches, the grass is now wet and the spider webs visible.

In the last photo are many snowdrops, appearing on both sides of the fence. The snowdrop is of the first flowers to appear here every year and are a very welcome sight after a long winter. They are soon followed by the primrose and the daffodils, all songs of hope and renewal. The flowers do not recognise the false and arbitrary division of our humanly placed fence and rightly ignore it for the folly it is. They seem to say; "You put your futile and silly fence up and pretend to own this place but you will soon pass, and with your passing will also go the thoughts you have of ownership of anything in the world, as such thoughts are a delusion" There, the flower has spoken, spring is coming, and we must get on.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

2nd top one particularly evocative and romantic.

- Aangirfan

nobody said...

It's the spookiest thing John. I look at your photos and I can smell the woods. Weird, huh? And isn't that arse-about? Oughtn't I to catch a scent and have images flood my head? Sure enough this only works because we lived there for a while (the Southwest but whatever) and my route to and from school involved a tramp through the woods. Had I not I doubt I would get any sort of similar reaction. But regardless it's curious isn't it?

Otherwise I got to the final pic and thought that l'd pop into the comments and wax lyrical about the perfect disregard of those flowers for man's arbitrary division and blow me down you'd beaten me to the punch. And in superior prose with it!

What an inconsiderate bastard - never a thought for unoriginal, jumped up johnny-come-latelies, noooo. Ha ha, me as John Cleese wishing he was a mason.

One more thing I like here: each of these photes has a point that belies the obvious. Not a single one of them is just a 'snap'. Very good.

Off I go now.

john said...

Cheers aangirfan and thanks. There is romance on the hills. I'm glad you stop by to see the photos and hope all is good where you are.

john said...

Cheers nobody. Your tramp through the woods to and from school must have been lovely and is such a great way to start and finish a school day. Early morning is a very beautiful time of the day to be out walking, especially in the woods. I always feel that it seems the world is made afresh every morning, like a continuous creation. The afternoon would be the time to run around and use some of the pent up energy of the schoolday.

It is odd to bring scent from pictures but it's good too as these places have so many great smells so a nice evocation.

I've just seen that you have a new haiku picture up, so I will pop over and see what that might be. cheers for now.

A13 said...

Hi John, the first one gets me..evocative of a brisk morning horse ride..cold wet air on face in in lungs, breathing, the sound of the horse breathing, the smell of nature..the feeling of oneness with animal and natures spirit..alike..ancient land and hillside to explore and conquer..ancient battlefield..and the second last one as well..the baby trees growing out of the parent tree..a process of renewal and everlasting replacement..
wonderful images..
Cheers A

john said...

Hi A13 and thanks. It's a good place to ride horses if you've got them. The lanes have no cars on them and they meander round the countryside here in a seemingly endless way.

There is an old iron age fort just along from here, only half of it is left as the other half has fallen into the sea now. If you can stomach it you can stand on the very top of the cliff there and stare up the coast. Personally it gives me the willies, it's such a big drop, about 515 feet. The place has an odd atmosphere, at least I think it has. cheers A13

Anonymous said...

nice photos

Anonymous said...

Hi John ,i'm Reem ,there's a problem to write my comment ,i don't know the reason anyway ...very nice photos John i like the first one ,it seems foggy morning ,is it ? alsoo the second ,the lonly naked tree appears slightly cold ,i think it's waiting for the warm spring ,it's not so far i guess .

Much wood ,much mess i can say woody mess in this forest John ,who cares about the organization now ,it's boring sometimes .

White snowdrop flowers ,so interesting name and beautiful shap too ,like it .

In Syria the weather is warm now ,and it was good season ,rainy snowy days so i guess the spring will be great ,much green grass ,anemones ,alive land ,it will be colored one ,hope that for my town .

All the best for you John and thanks for your nice photos ,i enjoyed them .

john said...

Galactic greetings to the person in Greece who found this blog by searching for the phrase 'Welcome to the future - it's broken' Apparently this blog is #1 on google for the phrase 'welcome to the future - it's broken'

If you were searching for this phrase from Greece there is a fair chance that you might consider the future to have arrived and for it to be broken on arrival. If it's broken in your country don't worry, they will get round to breaking all of our countries at some point soon. Rest assured, our time will come and it's only a matter of when by the look of it.

So learn to barter, learn to play the guitar, write that novel, spend some precious time with your loved ones or your family or just stay in bed, it makes no difference in the long run and remember, yes it's broken and things might seem hopeless now but the sun still shines, pretty girls are still pretty, that guy down the road still has a cheeky smile and dogs noses are still cute too. Enjoy!

P2P said...

I love that comment of yours from yesterday john. it nearly brought a tear to my eye, a happy one. in amongst people who are driving things to the negative ends, it's good to read words that glimmer with beauty - the kind that surrounds us all constantly. I hope this would not be the case, but maybe us who photograph are a bit more aware of the inherent beauty in everything than the average bloke.

I'll stay in bed today for that, open the curtains and let the spring sun shine in. kind thoughts will ensue.

Anonymous said...

Hi John ,i'm Reem ,actually i've got a problem to write my comment , it's the third time that i try to leave it here .Anyway nice photos John ,i like the first one it seems foggy morning ,was it cold ?? i guess yes , the second one is beautifull too ,that naked tree is standing alone waiting for warm spring ...

Snowdrop ,it's very interesting name for small nice flowers ,the shape is not very clear behind the fence but i think it's cute .

It was snowy rainy winter in Syria so i expect wonderfull spring this year ,much green grass ,colorfull anemone ,hope it quiet too ....

Woody mess ,it's good word for the other photos ,who cares about organization here inside the forest ,it's boring sometimes ??

Have good time ....

john said...

Cheers P2P. It's good to take the time to appreciate the beauty of the world - it costs us no money but just the time and vision to see and hear. I hope you're having a good day there and enjoying the welcome spring sunlight. We had a week of fog and greyness but sun today and lots of rain last night. It's so good to hear the sound of rain again as it's been so dry here lately and it's such a good sound as well. Cheers for now.