Serenity

I can't stay away from the bluebell wood, or stop photographing it. This is the wood on Monday morning, in overcast light with slightly fading bluebells, but still a wonderfully peaceful place for contemplation and calm. I stomped out of the house full of crossness, mainly with myself, but the short walk up the hill and into this wonderful space was, as always, instantly settling. I find it impossible not to be quietly mindful here, totally absorbed in observation of my surroundings, the trees, the flowers, the shifting light and the sounds of the wood, the rustlings, trills and cracklings caused by wind, birds and the occasional dog walker. The extra shows a tall pink campion stem surrounded by bluebells and stitchwort: as the bluebells fade, campion, stitchwort and yellow archangel are bringing more varied colours to the woodland floor.

Back at home, the glowing sense of calm didn't even last ten minutes. This makes me all the more glad to have experienced it. I've already forgotten most of the reasons for the day's anxieties and frustrations; my memory of the day is of how it felt to be in the wood, and of that shimmering blue beneath the trees.