After a long winter the sun makes a sudden brief appearance and the trees cast shadows which move quickly across the hills.
Up on monkey island near the withered hand the bluebells are coming out again. There are many different apects of the woods around the hills here but only some small stretches of proper woodland remain, the rest having been replaced with conifers and suchlike. Monkey Island is only a few hundred yards long but seems bigger as the terrain is steep and boggy or tangled so it can be slow going up here, but slowing down is good and stopping is even better sometimes.
The walk is up and out of town and the fuss and busyness of it all drop away so all that remains are the birds singing and the other natural sounds. The town feels a long way away from here but it isn't really. Up here it is good to see the spring sun doing its work.
These particular shadows are quite a rare event as usually the sun is only this strong when the leaves are already fully open, so these bare branch shadows would not normally be seen.
Here are the first bluebells. There are not too many flowers yet but in a week or two they will all be there to see.
6 comments:
These are magnificent scenes. Thanks! If I lived there, it would be nonstop painting. All of it somehow aches to go into the sketchbook or on watercolor papers. But you know that already.
We're not having a spring here, perhaps because the pollinators are missing to make it unfold. Flowering Orientals didn't flower. There was winter, a day or two of summer and now winter again. Meanwhile the cheatgrasses have burst forth anyway and will soon dry out to hazy beige and rusts. I have heard more than a few times the Golden State was once green all year round.
I love the trail that leads into a... what is that? Anyway it's marvellous, a road that goes nowhere. Very Mythago Wood, ha ha.
Speaking of 'over the hills', did you ever watch Sharpe? It was worth it just for John Tam's singing.
Beautiful.
As the pics were appearing a song by Uria Heep came to mind.
"let me walk awhile alone amongst
the sacred rocks and stones,
let me gaze in disbelief upon the beauty of this world".
Cheers nina and thanks. It would be good to stop and sketch and paint here as there are some lovely subjects and things have just become more colourful again.
The seasons do seem out of joint these days, last year we just had rain and floods instead of a summer. I think the GM crops have disturbed the pollinators. Those companies are up to some bad business, but I can't blame them for the weather. It's nice to hear from you nina.
Hi nobody
The trail leads to the remains of old paths and roads, the old shapes and structures are still found around here and at the end of the road you find yourself, unless somebody else has got there first.
I haven't watched Sharpe.I like the sound of John Tam's singing, I'll have to have a look for that. No tv for years here though so I have no idea what's been happening with all that. I see a bit on the internet and a bit at friends.
Nice one susana, Yes, the song seems right to me, gazing in disbelief at the beauty of this world. There is plenty of ugliness as I expect there always will be but these trees and flowers are a nice reminder of the other possibilities, thanks.
There are more bluebells coming soon but photographed on a different hill.
nice pics again.
Thanks Silverfish, I will have some more to put up soon, more bluebells I think as that is the main event in the woods at the moment though they are just about done now and are starting to fade.
Foxgloves soon I think.
The thorn trees are in full bloom now so I need to get out and find some good ones to photograph.
Cheers for now.
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