Even
on a wet winter’s day, nature’s beauty can still astonish me. Here’s a pond I’ve
walked past countless times, but it was only yesterday that I suddenly realised how picturesque it was and was inspired to take a
photograph of it. Perhaps it was the season revealing the bones of the corner.
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| Pond. (I wanted Ellie in the view but she raced off to bark at something at the critical time.) |
I
love tree skeletons, and here is a row of them that caught my eye as I sat in a
soggy field a few days ago having my quiet moment.
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| Tree skeletons |
I’ve
now been on my retreat (mentioned in the previous post - I lied about the timing) and it was a
wonderful experience. Beautiful warm house, fabulous setting, excellent
teaching and lovely people. Here are some pictures.
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| The view from my room. That's the River Dart you can see below. |
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| The house was built in the eighteenth century, and here is its marble staircase - lethal if you're not wearing proper shoes |
As
a result of the retreat, I’m trying to meditate regularly - currently short
sessions three times a day. The explanations make it sound so simple but the
practice is anything but, and the more I try to meditate the more questions I
have about it. Maybe I need to go on another retreat, such as Mindfulness for
Beginners – another Sharpham event that’s caught my eye.
I
do feel different though, so I perhaps I did have the ‘reset’ I wanted.
Here are some more of the pictures I took at Sharpham.
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| A sunrise from my room |
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| A strange henge in some reedbeds down by the Dart |
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| Pristine mudflats and reedbeds stretching back upriver towards Totnes. I spotted herons, geese and seagulls, but I know such habitats are of international importance and I'm sure there was a lot more that I didn't spot. (It's drizzle, not my technique, that's misting the picture.) |
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| Sharpham is rewilding a chunk of land leading down to the reedbeds, but I didn't have time to get much further than this information board |
