My lovely Mum is poorly at the moment, stuck in the house nursing Shingles, not nice at all. So I thought I would take her on a walk through our paddock. Breathe in the fresh air Mum and walk through the lush green grass with me.
No sheep can come to munch on our grass yet as we need to put up a couple of fences and some gates, so in the meantime it is growing long and luscious for them. When they do come they will be well fed.
At the top of the hill the ferns are starting to unfurl their wonderful fronds. Lovely Hubby is zapping them with the strimmer whenever he has it out, but I love ferns and in between his assaults on their tender stems I love to watch them, it's a shame these are choosing to grow in the wrong place but there are lots in the woods for me to lavish my ferny love on.
Buttercups peek out bravely from the grass, all around them are tiny blue flowers but when I took these photos early in the morning they were yet to show their delicate beauty to the world.
Bluebells, escapees from the woodland are dotted here and there amongst the grass. Tiny blue beacons adding color to the field with their daintiness.
And as we walk in a full circle, with the dogs dashing here and there to sniff at things I cannot see, we come back to the trees we recently planted, the top picture is one of the apple trees still in full blossom. A sign of hope for a few fruits later this year. This is one of the Cherry trees, it's blossoms have gone now ....
... replaced instead by the fruits, slowly developing in the rain and sunshine of the past week.
As Suky leads the way back to the house, carefully bypassing the bare earth of the proposed roadway she takes us past the Whitebeam and Rowan trees dotted in front of the Laurel hedging, everything has taken well and is growing strongly.
We should pause a moment by the Magnolia, it too seems happy in it's position with the smaller plants around it. Maybe we'll get some flowers by next year.
Crossing the driveway we need to stop to admire the strong beauty of the Auricular, nestled in the pile of rocks that form the temporary wall to our entrance. Given to me by Mum and Dad a few years ago and bravely flowering each and every year throughout our moves, no matter where I put them and how much I neglect them. Simply gorgeous.
And a lone fern peeking through the retaining wall, waves goodbye as I check round the back of the house before going in with the dogs.
I hope the stroll was good for you Mum, it was lovely to share the promise of Summer to come with you and to record what we have here at the moment.
Little by little we are starting to make this slice of Welsh hillside our own and it's partly due to the things we have learnt from you and Dad, to nurture the earth, to take our time with choices, to move forward slowly and steadily, but to remember to stop every now and then and savour the moments and the achievements.
I hope you're soon feeling better, see you soon.
Sue xx
