Category: Rural Idyll
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The joy of a clever idea
One of the reasons I get quite grumpy around this time of year is that I have to deal with siting the annual Christmas tree. We’ve had so many live ones in, over the years, that there’s no more room in the garden to plant any more! So this year, with great reluctance, I agreed…
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Continuing joys of clearance
Sometimes, with the best will in the world, it’s too challenging to recycle, and yet things must be cleared. The little Fiat Panda is chock-full of stuff for the recycling centre, and the cardboard still left over from its store under the big bakery oven felt overwhelming. Another little bonfire was the only realistic solution.…
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Soft and frosty morning
Everything outside today, high in these North Pennine fellsides, is still. The frost, the real first we’ve seen this season, is a harbinger of harsher weather ahead, but just now it’s rather exquisite. Even the commonplace looks different in its white morning gauze. I lowered my eyes from the hills and cast them over the…
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A walk in the sunshine
We ambled forth this morning, delighted to be catching the sunshine. I was that pleased to walk without hamstring twinges, though I could feel the strain, just not the pain. The breeze was brisk, however, and it didn’t pay to stop too long, or the chill might have felt more onerous. The little bit of…
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Fresh water, the most crucial joy of all . . .
We tend to discount one of the most wonderful benefits of deep rural life, most of the time. Our water system has improved dramatically over the past thirty years, and today it’s really state-of-the-art for a private water supply. Requiring minimal attention, and just pumping away, our water usage is below the national average anyway,…
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Joys of sharing . . .
I reckon that folks throughout the Allen Valleys have been loving James Little’s photographs for at least the past five years, if not longer. The very first one I clocked was his drone image of the enchanted setting for the Cricket Ground, and I loved it so much that I knew I wanted him to…
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Morning in the rural idyll
The swirl of the clouds, illuminated from the east as the sun rises below the horizon, the field of sheep and the neighbour’s great beast calmly munching the soft grass behind the grand tree, the leaves turning in the garden, and the fallen branch on the ground. Every component of this scene has been etched…
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Whew! Bakery oven alight again . . .
Today we’re baking a bigger batch of bread than the usual weekly effort. I say ‘we’ but really my job is only to take care of the fire and then do the washing-up of the bowls. So when the fire has really taken hold of the hardwood logs (not nearly as fast as dry softwood…
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A morning tizz . . .
It’s been a little bit frenzied, this morning, as I had to make sure the access to the woodsheds was clear, that the woodsheds themselves were clear, and that all was ready for the dumpster truck to lift and deposit the load of hardwood within easy grasping distance for stacking. It took an hour and…
Roads to Joy 