Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes . Don't resist them - let reality be reality . My saying of the morning ended with the words Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. Quite an interesting thought from Lao Tzu. One of the favourites churned out in my calendar at least half a dozen times a year . Lao Tzu not the saying . I guess driving to Whitchurch I must have churned up that saying , digested it , wondered if it were true and changed it slightly here and there to something I could relate to . The journey to Whitchurch was as always fairly uneventful apart from forgetting that in England I can still drive in residential areas at 30mph. That felt strangely exhilerating after the snail like ... read more

After eating our lunch and venturing into the garden it was time to take the walk up to the Hesketh church . The walk took us down an avenue of extremely large oak and beech trees . Look out for the carving in the trees. That was the message from a couple we met walking the same path. They told us that over the years people had carved their names into the oak tree trunks. Not easy to find but some were quite ancient . We never found the ancient ones but did find Harry loves Sue and many others dated from the 1960's onwards . I don' t think we did find Harry and Sue but it felt like all the young men and girls of the village had sworn their love to each other ... read more

We are just a couple of weeks from the clocks going back and Autumn will definately feel upon us . The mornings are getting increasingly darker . It is now no longer light even to see the time on the alarm clock . The lights are being left on some mornings until after 9am. The blinds and curtains are being drawn ever earlier as darkness comes upon us. Autumn is one of those times when the countryside looks stunning with the changing colours of the leaves . The bright colours of summer are long gone and are replaced with the muted Autumnal browns, coppers , golds and russets . The apple trees are heavy with their fruits . There is a chill in the air but on good days with a fair wind and an Indian ... read more

Gifts Days . As I parked up on Station Road - the station long gone in the Beeching cuts of the 1960's - only the name remains I pondered on Gift Days . I cannot say I knew anything about Gift Days when I was living in England . They seemed though to be popular here in Wales . Gift Days - the day chosen by the local church for the inhabitants of a village to support their local church . It did not matter what religion you were or even if you had none Gift Day was deemed to be the day that you could support the church with a gift of money if you felt so inclined. Times had changed . Perhaps there was no need for a Gift Day in the past . ... read more

What was on my mind this morning as I walked the riverbank along the fairly fast flowing Dee . It had been a wet night with heavy rain which meant that the grass was dripping and my shoes would be wet by the end of the walk . A misty, moisty day. The sort that comes along mid to late September. The mornings are taking a longer time to lighten up. The sun no longer streams through the bedroom windows. It feels colder . A slight chill that ripples through your clothes as you walk . To wear a coat or not to wear a coat is the question that first has to be addressed . The temperature last week was up in the muggy high 30's. T-shirt and shorts weather . The sort of weather ... read more