if you go down to the woods today...

the surprise is... summer magic!
I love this picture.
Luce was happy to pose with Lucky - but it wasn't till we got home that we could see the unexpected lighting and reflections in the background... Kind of a metaphor for the gift of our evening and day together. So much unexpected depth...

Our intention today was a long, gentle ramble in Longleat Forest. After an hour and a half of the gentle stuff, life became somewhat trickier...

The last time I tackled a cross-country adventure like today's was with Mr Super-hero and the tribe of three about ten years ago - so Luce and I probably had to trailblaze through ten years of rhodedendron growth! Strangely, it didn't seem to put her off the idea of a few days walking in Scotland... so we've set a provisional date...
Wonderfully tasty baguettes at the Bath Arms in Crockerton... deliciously decadent (although I passed on the spritzer), followed by a swift pilgrimage to Siegfried's grave. Drove Luce and Lucks back to Bristol; my turn to crow over a book collection and read selected poems seized on with delight - Siegfried's mate Wilf, Liz Jennings, TS Eliot...

approximately four weeks since I last had TIME for a blog post. I've been writing, walking, working and healing... tinkering with and workshopping a new story, working on a 'live n'lippy' set with Crysse. Several 'boogie nights' - John's RAOB investiture, karaoke at Croyde, Barton Hill Settlement's Community Jam last night... Ath went to Sri Lanka to be his dad's best man (took some cracking pix AND wrote while he was there!). The chakra healing group have met again, and I've done some long overdue 'spring cleaning' of my living space and my psyche.
My initial PCR came back negative!!!!! Fingers, toes, arms, legs and ankles crossed for the one in six months...
I made 'green soup' from leaves gathered on a walk with Crysse and Peter (I can't recall the name of the plant, but the soup was scrumptious).
I managed (somehow) to prepare the funder's report for work before the training weekend...
and then there was the training weekend.
Exhausting yet exhiliarating... battles with the surf such an amazing buzz (Gar, Sar, Dave Mac and me), yet fabulous de-stressor. Taking the karaoke mike without alcohol (there's novel...)
Home again, salads, fruit and good grub galore, long light nights, flying high as the proverbial kite - it sure is summer all right... (unbelievably trite, but rather fun all the same).
Watched the slow flight of an owl as I drove home from Bristol tonight...