{Soulfood Friday}

 It has been a busy and blustery week so today I have some quiet and gentle finds for you from around the inter-webs that have fed my soul over the last few days.

"waldeinsamkeit [vald-ahy-n-zam-kahyt]" 

(noun) A feeling of solitude, being alone in the woods and a connectedness to nature.

 Waldeinsamkeit consists of two words: “Wald” meaning forest, and “Einsamkeit” meaning loneliness or solitude. 

It is the feeling of being alone in the woods, but it also hints at a connectedness to nature.

  

A beautiful semblance of words I stumbled upon today over at the magical blog Myth and Moor:

Veritas sequitur ...

In the small beauty of the forest
The wild deer bedding down—
That they are there!

Their eyes

Effortless, the soft lips
Nuzzle and the alien small teeth
Tear at the grass

The roots of it
Dangle from their mouths
Scattering earth in the strange woods.
They who are there.

Their paths
Nibbled thru the fields, the leaves that shade them
Hang in the distances
Of sun

The small nouns
Crying faith
In this in which the wild deer
Startle, and stare out.

"Psalm" by George Oppen

  
The spellbinding photography of Folkloric blog.


And finally a starkly simple and beautiful rendition of a favourite song of mine.

  Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Soulfood Friday

While all the garden lies like tumbleweed and knotted nest, and hedgerow berries sour to prickle and thorn and the lanes mulch with wet rotting leaf, quiet, unnoticed corners somehow blossom still...

 

 Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

While groping for a light in the darkness.

I gaze at my little ones asleep and safe in their warm beds. They are so innocent, tender and new to this earth. This achingly beautiful, fragile home we humans share.
Before I close my eyes for sleep I whisper a prayer for all those who have died as a result of war and violence over the last year.

Paris
Lebanon
Nigeria
Palestine
Afghanistan
Syria
Iraq

 "Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee to we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary."
 Salve Regina 



I hear voices of fear and confusion from all sides. My Facebook feed is lit up with the political.
Those who support military action and those who don't. Those who welcome refugees and those who don't.

 There is a part  of me that looks at the suffering of homeless families and veterans, the failing healthcare systems, the crumbling public services and the rampant poverty at home and wonders how we can possibly open our arms to ever more desperate humans.
Yet I want to be a part of a humanity that thinks globally not nationally. I want my children to be a part of a world that calls every child its own, no matter what their skin tone, creed, belief system, language or country of birth. I want love to cast out fear. I want love to win.
 After all the problem is less one of adequate resources than the distribution of them.

I think of the old man carrying his only surviving grandchild across a hostile border, or a boy helping a pregnant woman off a petrol sodden boat and think of the children who fall asleep to the sound of bombs and guns, their parents not knowing if they will wake to see another day.

There is a part of me that just wants the evil that causes such pain to evaporate from the earth whatever the means. I want the answer to be simple and the delivery swift. Yet there is another part of me that understands the complexity. That knows how violence can only reap violence. There is a part of me that knows that whenever a civilization or sovereign nation depends upon the death of even one little child in an act of war or oppression it undermines it's own civility and integrity.

Due to corporate, military and economic intervention by elite groups over many years, many countries across the world have been destabilized, in terms of their agricultural systems, their environment, their culture, traditions and infrastructure. Coups have been initiated puppet leaders installed and then non corrupt autonomy has expected to follow.

The kind of unfathomable horror that  is isis has been perpetuated throughout history in different forms. From nazi concentration camps, to the slave ships of Africa and the ethnic cleansing of Native Tribes around the world. From the barbarianism of genghis khan to the gladiator spectacles of ancient rome. All these things were generated and initiated by elites but carried out by ordinary people, just following orders.
 
I pray for the oppressed no matter what their religion, race or color.
I don't know what the answers are and it seems like there is so little we can do but if ordinary people stand together and refuse to hate or be suspicious of one another then the pattern might slowly begin to change and peace might be possible again.

Cogglesford Mill tradtional crafts open day

A few weeks ago we visited one of the oldest flour mills in the country during one of their open days. Although the mill went out of business in 1882 it still works and volunteers open the mill once a month to grind a small amount of flour for sale. We bought a bag of wholemeal for bread making. The Mill hosted a number of country craft stalls and activities and the children got to make their own corn dollies.

It was fascinating to watch a traditional spoon maker at work.
Besides making and selling beautifully carved wooden spoons he runs traditional craft and forestry courses for young adults aged between 16 and 18 years old.  I think this kind of vocational training is wonderful and wish their were more opportunities for kids to learn traditional crafts before the knowledge of them disappears altogether.
Beside the spoon display I noticed some leaflets for Woodland Burials. I've always said that I want to be buried beneath a tree wrapped in a natural cloth that will biodegrade easily.  I find the idea of a tree marking my time here on this earth to be something beautiful, hopeful and living.  A peaceful spot for family to visit whenever they wish. Far better than a tomb stone and much less expensive.

The girls enjoyed trying their hands at hand milling the grain using a quern. We were all  surprised how heavy and tiring the work was. This work is where the saying "hand to the grindstone" comes from. It really is a grind. The people of long ago must have had incredibly well developed arm muscles.

There are beautiful views over the Mill of the river below.

It was interesting to learn how mills changed over time.

The woman who helped the children with their corn dollies was very patient. We spent ages admiring her incredible work.

I love the millers hat!

After our visit the children played by the river before having a lovely lunch at the cafe.

Sharing with a Spirit of Simplicity

{52 Project}

I think these might be the very last pictures I'll capture of Autumn's glory. The winds this weekend have scattered leaves to drifts against the lanes, roadsides, hedgerows and garden walls.Yet as I write and hear the gathering, rustle and bustle of wind outside I feel cosy and warm at my desk. There is beauty in every season when we seek it.

The Darkling Thrush 

Thomas Hardy

 I leant upon a coppice gate

      When Frost was spectre-grey,

And Winter's dregs made desolate

      The weakening eye of day.

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky

      Like strings of broken lyres,

And all mankind that haunted nigh

      Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to be

      The Century's corpse outleant,

His crypt the cloudy canopy,

      The wind his death-lament.

The ancient pulse of germ and birth

      Was shrunken hard and dry,

And every spirit upon earth

      Seemed fervourless as I.

At once a voice arose among

      The bleak twigs overhead

In a full-hearted evensong

      Of joy illimited;

An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,

      In blast-beruffled plume,

Had chosen thus to fling his soul

      Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings

      Of such ecstatic sound

Was written on terrestrial things

      Afar or nigh around,

That I could think there trembled through

     His happy good-night air

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

      And I was unaware. 

Joining Practicing Simplicity.

Soulfood Friday

The skies may be blue but Winter's chill whispers on the breeze. Copper dyed green and rose gold leaves flicker and quiver upon bough and bush. Birds dart like startled fish and the sky ripples with drifts of cirrus.

This time of year, gardening can seem like outdoor housework. There are shrubs to prune, saplings to move to preferable locations and the debris of Summer's abundance to clear along with falling leaves.

Yet there is one job I really look forward to every Autumn. Planting bulbs.

A couple of weeks ago Matilda chose to spend some pocket money on a selection of Spring bulbs from our local Garden Nursery.

This afternoon I planted two thirds of them. Some soft pink Double Headed Tulips which I prefer to the bright, brassy red and yellow ones and a few handfuls of Glory in the Snow. Matilda will help me pot up the last of them, some single headed Magenta Tulips, over this coming weekend.

We already have a little cluster of Snowdrops and Grape Hyacinth in the far bed and around the mossy tree stump along with plenty of traditional egg yolk yellow Daffodils by the front of the house. However, there is always space enough for more flowers isn't there?

I love the idea that something is germinating and sending forth tender green shoot beneath the frosted Winter earth. I love to watch and wait. It is a beautiful symbol of hope within the bleak, dark, seemingly barren days of December and January/ Waiting, waiting for those first flickers of life uncurl in fronds of white and green. The tinkling bells of the snow drops first, gamely followed by Crocus, Star of Bethlehem, Hyacinth, Daffodil and finally, regal crowns of Tulip.

Wallflowers in my favourite muted tones

 Every Friday I'll be pausing to notice something from the week that has nourished my soul. 
* 
A special, sacred-everyday moment captured on camera, or perhaps a snippet from a book, a recipe still warm from the kitchen or something whimsical that simply made me smile.
 * 
Here are a few simple things that have fed my soul this week. 

What has inspired/fed/nourished your soul this week friends? 
*
 Feel free to link up to your own soulful spaces either at the bottom of this post or in the comments.

 
   

    An InLinkz Link-up