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Just a few jottings - - Random ramblings, occasional crafty creations & nature notes included. Trying to "Design a life I love" - succeeding I think -----.

Friday 22 June 2007

Keele etc.

Midsummer Day
A truly beautiful evening – walking along the path to Bradda I found myself reflecting on the fact that whenever I am near the sea the sky suddenly seems to be twice as big as usual. I really noticed it travelling back from my conference in Keele University in the north Midlands – the closer we got to Liverpool and the coast the wider the sky. I am not sure why – perhaps it is only my imagination – or maybe there is a reason – could be that the water reflects the light back up at the sky and creates the illusion of a bigger sky?? I only know that I always can tell from the sky when I am nearing the coast.
Keele is a beautiful campus – and it was a good conference – the campus is filled with birdsong, and must be a haven for wild life. Keele Hall is in the centre of the campus and has a “Capability Brown” garden/landscape and a beautiful restored Knot Garden – at least that is what I would call it, a lake and terrace, and pre dinner Pimms was served here on the lawns. Middle England is so leafy and green – with her gently rolling fields and wonderful – no magnificent – trees, some must be of really great age to be the size they are, there is such different feel to each of England’s counties. The Potteries area has an ambience totally missing in on the flat Cheshire plain, yet Cheshire is another beautiful county. Sometimes I think that the English do not appreciate the beauties and differences of these beautiful islands that make up the British Isles. I am so glad I made the effort to really LOOK.

Friday
The headland is blossom strewn – with white and pink campion, cushions of pale pink stars of stonecrop, clusters of thrift (sea pinks), the vivid blue of the viper’s bugloss, pale golden tormentil peeping through the undergrowth and the shocking pink flowers of ragged robin bobbing their heads as I pass - even the heather is beginning to turn purple. The grasses are in full blossom too, their heads dancing and swaying gently in the breeze. The sea sparkles as shafts of sunlight skip lightly over the waves and the gulls wheel and soar - effortlessly it seems to me – dipping and rising on the thermals in a graceful ballet whilst just behind me - over my left shoulder I can hear the skylarks as they sing as if there is no tomorrow. Ripples of sound pour from the sky like liquid gold – filling the air with a warmth to replace that of the sun as it fades and moves to the west.

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