My poet friend, Kim, posted this evocative poem today and has given me permission to share it with you, dear Readers. I remember that longing for the Cornish sea when we lived far away from home. Also, the last verse rings particularly true as today I walked by the sea with a lovely friend where I felt, ‘Blessed by the sea and its motion,’ as well as by the warmth of a special friendship.
Godrevy Lighthouse
As we left the allotment this afternoon, the sky was peachy and beautiful.
What a long flight that was, 10 hours 40 mins, but we were well looked after with juices brought every hour or so and choc ices on a stick twice! It is 100F here, sweltering indeed. Arriving at 3pm, 11pm at home, we tried really hard to stay up and managed until almost 9pm helped by the free food and wine on offer and the lovely sunset.
What a joy! I have had a proper camera in my hands today thanks to a dear friend who has lent me her Nikon Coolpix until my faulty Canon is mended or I have bought a new Nikon, my preferred make, having been let down by three, yes, three (!) Canons which have all had a ‘lens error’, two outside warranty. Thank you so much. M.
So, here goes, photos from today when the lovely Mr S took me out to straighten out my wires and for us to spend our Garden token Christmas present. We found several air cleaning house plants as on NASA’s list and are very happy with them.Thanks L, T and B.
Plants from Trevenna Cross Nursery
From there we went first to Pentreath where the surfers were enjoying the waves and thence to Mount’s Bay, a perennial favourite, and watched the sunset.
In the rich dew of this Autumn morning I found a bee on one of the Crinodendron flowers and loved how the sunlight caught the little drops of dew on all his tiny hairs and collected in bigger drops on his wings.
Down the lane today we came upon a new crop of fungi.
Sunset was at 5.45 this evening and the clouds all turned peachy in the setting glow.
We arrived in Flagstaff in time for a delicious lunch and a tour of their enchanting ‘yard’ and didn’t stop talking and catching up until after 6pm when we left our friends whom we hadn’t seen for 35 years! J gave us a wonderful afternoon tour of the Wupatki Ruins sharing his love and knowledge of the history and archaeology of the area.
As we drove to Sedona the sun was setting on the red rocks and yet again I was moved to tears by the beauty, already emotional as I was leaving our friends and not knowing when we might meet again. We had no idea when we planned this trip that P lived near enough for us to visit – beautiful serendipity!
We had hoped to go out to Carn Brea to watch the sunset (see the photos at the end of the post) tonight and to watch the full moon, the Strawberry Moon, rise, but sadly it is very cloudy. I hope some of you have managed to see this event which last happened in the Summer of Love, 1967, the year we were married and which will not happen again until I am long gone in 2094!
A very good friend at choir gave me the following poem tonight, handwritten for me, such a lovely thing to do.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to break free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-torn to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
This is from The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus and is on a bronze plaque on the Statue of Liberty.
I baked 100 Spicy Oat Cookies this afternoon.
I just looked up while writing this and the sky had turned to fire! The moon isn’t up yet.
This month, I am accompanying each post with a poem to acknowledge National Poetry Month. As this photo is of the sun, here I give you another favourite, this one being by John Donne – a love song,
The Sun Rising
Busy old fool, unruly Sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows and through curtains call on us? Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run? Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide Late schoolboys and sour ‘prentices, Go tell court huntsmen that the King will ride, Call country ants to harvest offices; Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams, so reverend and strong Why shoulds’t thou think? I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, But that I would not lose her sight so long; If her eyes have not blinded thine, Look, and tomorrow late, tell me, Whether both th’Indias of spice and mine Be where thou left’st them, or lie here with me? Ask for those kings whom thou saw’st yesterday, And thou shalt hear, ‘All here in one bed lay.’
She’s all states, and all princes, I; Nothing else is. Princes do but play us; compared to this, All honour’s mimic, all wealth alchemy. Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we, In that the world’s contracted thus; Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be To warm the world, that’s done in warming us. Shine here, to us, and thou art everywhere; This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere.
My next post will be in honour of Shakespeare whose birthday it is today. It is also 400 years since his death, on the day that he became 52.