Recently...

Today was great.

This morning I made green tomato chutney using this recipe. I exchanged the shallots for onions, and added a few extra spices to the muslin bag (cardamon pods, maybe 10, cloves, again, maybe 10, a tablespoon each of black mustard seeds and coriander seeds). It was unbearably satisfying to have the pots all sealed and cooling on the worktop. Might sound odd, but it seems a shame to open them up again!

It was windy and changeable weather today, but as the sun kept making frequent appearances, I decided to chance a new walk I've been meaning to try out. It actually links up to the walk I wrote about here, but now I've managed the full circlular walk. In around 15 years of living around Ferryside village, I've never managed to figure out this walk (or never tried hard enough until now, more like). It was tough in places, scrambling over farm gates with Leela asleep in the baby sling on my front (and she's not exactly lightweight anymore) and squelching through deep mud and cow manure - all good fun! Then there were steep single-track roads to contend with and with Leela's sleeping weight, it was a good test of my fitness, which seems to be pretty good at the moment.

But there were also wonderful moments that were unexpected and curious...I managed to capture these before the batteries went poop in my Dad's camera...

This corner of the village has always fascinated me. Amongst the trees are a series of small wooden houses, brightly painted window ledges and stacks of wood for the fire outside. Today as I walked past, the sounds of sawing and hammering could be heard which made me even more keen to meet the people who live there. Who knows... sometime soon.

And then we turned onto the track that has always asked me to walk down it. We went over a gushing stream, carving deep into the rock and under old green trees. Leela had fallen asleep moments before, so I strode on down this unknown path. All I knew was that I thought it might link up to the road I visited before. I felt compelled to find out how and where it did.

Soon we came towards the Red Mansion (that's what we all call it at least). It can be seen from far away. Most of it is ruined, which only adds to the intrigue. I took this picture, a little cautiously (the gate had a sign reading "Private Property. Do Not Enter. You are Being Watched." Gotcha. I walked a little further and met a rather large guard dog barking through the fence. Clearly nobody had told him that the gate was open. I still made friends and managed a "i'mnotreallyyourfriend but I'll wag my tail" (reluctantly).

And then, just arond the bend, I was cast back to my childhood.

Ruins... just dying to be climbed into and explored. I suddenly remembered that lurching excited feeling in my tummy that I got reading The Rockingdown Mystery at school. That... "We shouldn't be here... what happened here? Why is this place ruined? Who lived here? What was this place?..." feeling... and the whole mystery of what a mansion would be like (having grown up in a small council house it was something I couldn't really imagine). I also remembered how as young teenagers, my friends and I would frequent an old farmhouse ruin in the fields beyond our village. We had dreams of restoring it, making it our home (or at least a den). There were always rumours that so-and-so had stayed the night there ("oh yeah? really?" but secretly admiring their bravery if they actually had). I remember sweeping out the old kitchen and finding a tiled floor and scrambling up to the upstairs through old window holes and worrying if the floorboards would hold us (they did, only just). Ok, in hindsight, dangerous, but wonderfully rich times.

Just down the road and the batteries ran out, just after I caught a glimpse of Llanstephan Castle through the trees. I've seen it so many times from different places, but not here. It had a strange, new look about it... hard to explain... it was as though I was seeing it again for the first time. I couldn't manage to pick it up well on Dad's camera, but this picture captured something of the moment.

And then we carried on through the trees, through farms, meeting cows coming home for milking and feasting on huge blackberries. Leela was asleep, so I stored a stash of berries in her hood to suprise her with later (big hit, like I was magically retrieving them from behind her ear). We walked all the way around to the beach and sat there watching the sun go down. I had the good forture to meet the local honey farmer on the beach too, who was collecting his strayed Welsh Black cattle. We talked about honey, bees, cows and sheep dowgs with mis-matched eye colours (common, aparently). Leela splashed in the stream. I found the stone on which I first enjoyed meditating. We ate the hidden blackberries. We went home, tired legs, but deeply satisfied and uplifted.

I had also learnt during the journey that we've managed to get into the local Steiner School playgroup, starting this Friday, which is super exciting. I'll write more about it soon.

And just to finish off, here's some moments from yesterday.

First painting session (and also a new word - 'paint' - for her vocabulary)

...and I couldn't resist this picture from last night in bed. What I love about it (in addition to the sweet chunky toes) is that you can just about see the stain the paint from earlier made on the soles of her feet. Perfect.