DERELICT SUNDAY AND THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE

We still haven’t gone back to Church as we don’t feel comfortable about it, so tried to join via Zoom, but sadly the sound was very distorted, so we decided to leave and join Birmingham Vineyard Church for their service, which we enjoyed.  

We had a quick lunch and then went out for a drive and thankfully, the sun was shining.  There are so many roadworks around Swindon that it limited our way out of the town, but we ended up on the Devizes road and from there meandered around several villages.  When we got to Keevil, we found a gateway where we could pull off the road and this just happened to be next to a Byway, so we decided to go for a walk and it was beautiful.  It was so peaceful that we could hear the insects buzzing, birds singing, the wind rustling the leaves in the trees and the odd cow mooing from a couple of fields over - what a joy to be out and enjoying the beauties of nature!

I never thought I would find any dereliction along this path, but we saw this old, dilapidated barn, so I managed to zoom in and take a half-decent shot, so I have put this in the middle of my collage today.

From the top left, going clockwise - we spotted a beautiful Speckled Wood butterfly on some hawthorn berries, which stayed long enough for me to take several shots - then having remembered my selfie stick, I thought I should take a selfie of the two of us!  I rather liked the shot of Mr. HCB wandering along - hands in pockets and wearing one of his new Tilley hats.  We came across the plaque on a tree and wondered if those who had put it there still walked along the route that Doug loved.  I then saw another butterfly, which Mr. HCB identified as a Painted Lady, and which again, stayed still long enough for me to take a photograph.  

The skies were so beautiful today, with wonderful clouds - what a difference from yesterday when it rained for most of the day.  We met a lady walking towards us with her dog named Nugget, who was on her way to the village to post some letters.  She said that Nugget wasn’t keen on going that way, but she needed to, so had to persuade him, but you can see he is hanging back.  My last shot in the collage is a bee on a Comfrey flower;  Mr. HCB knew they were Comfrey because he had seen them on Gardeners’ World when Monty Don had used the flowers steeped in water to improve his soil - although anyone who watches will know his soil looks wonderful anyway - maybe we should have picked some to bring home to help our soil!

What a lovely afternoon - and doesn’t everything look so much better when the sun is shining?  Hope you all have a great week.

"Those who contemplate 
     the beauty of the earth 
          find reserves of strength 
               that will endure as long 
                    as life lasts."
Rachel Carson