Category Archives: Nature

Honesty – Seed of Memory

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I tried taking photos of our Honesty plants some weeks ago but was not happy with the results – the evening light gave a colour cast that, when seen in the images, did not look natural. Now the plants have been moved to a more suitable spot in the garden and the dry seed heads were laid out on a table.

Why Seed of Memory? Because Honesty is a plant that always brings back memories for me of our garden in Northern Ireland when I was young. My mother must have talked about it and the name, being an easy one to remember, has stuck in my mind and is now associated with a time in my life when it was not only in the garden, but also in the house as decorative dry seed heads.

Thinking of this association with memory, I immediately think of one of my all time favourite albums – Seed of Memory by Terry Reid. This too, brings back some strong memories of people and places for me. I’m not sure what the copyright restrictions are for the file below but it is on YouTube and available to buy on that web page.

Seed of Memory by Terry Reid

Honesty seeds 1

Honesty seeds 2

Identifying the Monster

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I found this beast in the studio the other morning and immediately got my camera out. Not knowing what it was, I posted it on Facebook and was subsequently pointed to iSpot where it was identified as a horse fly!

You have to click on the images to zoom in and fully appreciate the sunglasses. It was about 2 – 2.5 cms in length and had a low, loud buzz like a large bumble bee. I had always thought of horse flies as vicious little expletives, not monsters like this appeared to be. It may just have been a matter of seeing it in detail and out of context, i.e. in my studio and not in the field (where it should have been).

what-is-this 1

what-is-this 2

End of a French Evening Walk

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My French evening walk took me so far along the road to St Christophe and then I did an about turn and headed back to Faye la Vineuse the way I had come.

It was getting quite late by this time and the light was going fast but what an evening! And the sounds I recorded . . . you will just have to wait for me to complete the StillWalk.

St Christophe Road

St Christophe Road

Woodland Reflections

Woodland Reflections

Night time in the fields

Night time in the fields

Faye la Vineuse

Faye la Vineuse

Looking at the Loire – A French Evening Stroll

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This time last year we were in France, the Indre et Loire region. It is our current beautiful weather that has brought this to my mind.

On a few occasions I went for a walk along the  St Christophe road from Faye la Vineuse and on one occasion at least I took my cameras and sound kit. I have not been able to do anything with that material since then but looking at the photos again brought back memories of a great holiday.

Over the next couple of days I will be putting up a selection of these images. I have arranged the sequence of photos I want to use for a StillWalk video and now need to work through the sound recording for it. This should take me back there even more than the photos.

From Faye to St Christophe

Indre et Loire Countryside

From Faye to St Christophe

Indre et Loire Field

From Faye to St Christophe

Indre et Loire Woods

Carnival Day

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Today is Carnival Day in Hendy and Pontarddulais and I am going to try and get some photos and recording of the event.

Everyone not directly involved comes out to watch the parade go past and follow it up to Coedbach Park to enjoy the atmosphere, fancy dress and thematic floats. Come rain or shine, people support the event but it is always better if it is dry and sunny.

Project Exhibition – Some of the children of Pontarddulais Primary School took part in a StillWalks project last Autumn and there is now a full project exhibition in Pontarddulais Mechanic’s Institute (top floor) which can be seen by anyone who cares to climb the stairs or take the  lift.

The exhibition will be open throughout Carnival Day and is open Tuesday to Sunday 10 – 5.00 until 10th July.

The project involved the children doing the photography and sound recording to produce a bespoke StillWalk video of a walk through the woods in Coedbach Park. Production Day was a bit wet!

These are just a couple of the photos the children took. The project videos can be seen here.

Pontarddulais Exhibition

Pontarddulais Exhibition

Pontarddulais Exhibition

Sundown on the River Loughor

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I may say this quite often, but it never ceases to amaze me how every time I visit a place, in this case the marshes, it is different.

The other evening when I went down there through the park, I was stunned by the sun setting over the river. Though we often see beautiful sunsets, they never seem to lack impact.

Sunset

Sunset on the River Loughor

Sundown on the River Loughor