Autumn Cottage Diarist

Do Death Online at Winchester!

Ceramic cross in the graveyard at Pons, Charente-Maritime, France

Many of you have mentioned on occasion that you find the Masters degree course that I have been following at the University of Winchester very interesting. You may be even more interested to know that you can now take the course yourself, from any location in the world, as the whole MA  in "The Rhetoric and Rituals of Death" (in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies) is now fully available as a distance learning course, leading to exactly the same postgraduate degree as attendees on site.

There's a YouTube introduction to the course by the Course Leader, Dr. Christina Welch - (turn up your speakers - the soundtrack is - er - not very good :-)) and if you want to know anything about the course not detailed, feel very free to contact her at the address shown on the video, (she is totally User-Friendly!) or the course page at the University... or ask me and I'll help if I can.

Come on you readers out there in the States, Canada, Hong Kong, Norway, Australia - and anywhere else... come and join us - you'll not regret it!

Are You Looking Closely?

Snails keeping cool under an old bucket

How often do we look, really closely, at our everyday surroundings? Do we take it all for granted, thinking that we have seen it all, and that there is nothing to surprise us unless it is in a new place? Today I discovered that there is an infinite variety of life to be discovered right here within the boundaries of Autumn Cottage. This is what I saw when I decided to go on a Backyard Safari, to get down on my hands and knees, and look with the eyes of a child...

Incy-wincy spider

Lychnis seed heads - see the seeds packed inside, ready to be scattered about?

Oooh, lovely wiggly worms! - brandlings under the cover of the compost heap...

A towering forest of new seed heads on the pampas grass by the pond...

Prehistoric woodlice - inside the compost bin lid

Who lives in here? Iviy climbing up the back of the old outside lavatory

Ant City-scape under the old door mat

A late last waterlily, down in the pond

The amazing mechanism for ensuring fertilisation of the acanthus ova...(notice the hairy stamens) and an already formed, glistening green seedhead - click on this image particularly to see the detail in higher resolution.

A Dead Thing (frequently catches - and fascinates, the eye of a child... OK - *This* (inner) child! - deceased beetle in an old pot in the greenhouse. Funeral, anyone?

An Hour a Day

Clematis tangutica seed-head

I've never done anything like this before...but today I committed an hour a day to work though an on line course in enhancing one's spiritual connection with Nature. I was first directed to the course through the postings I sometimes receive from the non-profit  Gratefulness.org (worthwhile exploring in itself) - and from there to another site, Spirituality & Practice (run by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat), initially giving details of a course on "Living the Hours" - mindful living through following the medieval day-pattern of the Monastic Hours. But for now, Spirituality & Nature seemed to be more appropriate for me, as this time of the year is particularly conducive to a heightened awareness of the natural world for me. (So much to learn - so little time - "The Hours" will come later !)

I'm doing this study for several reasons - but mainly as a personal discipline and also to introduce myself in a more ordered way to more  of the writings on the connection between the natural world and ourselves, for
future incorporation into my own writing courses, run here at Autumn Cottage.

The e-course costs hardly anything - around $19.00 US dollars, and for that I will receive 40 daily prompts and direction to further writings. I like the fact that prompts and suggestions are given out once-a-day, instead of all together, forcing me to pace myself and take time to go deeper into each piece of work.

I'll post some of the images here as more photo-essays...unfortunately, part of my commitment is that I do not re-post the original prompts - a fair enough request, (you could perhaps have fun trying to guess what the original question was!. I will, however, give some feedback at the end of the course, for those of you who may be interested in looking into one yourselves. Definitely no affiliation - just an enquiring mind who wants to know...more...and more...and more....:-)

Explore Gratefulness.org - there is much of value, and look here at Spirituality and Practice if you would like to investigate any of the e-courses further.

Now - the results of my first day's exploration and enquiry.

Bergenia leaves ("Elephant ears")

Water lily leaves

Milk-thistle

Hosta leaf

Crocosmia seed-head

Sempervivum

Leycesteria

Eryngium

Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem sage) seed head

An unidentified - but beautiful - moth, trying to merge with the pale yellow wall of the house

The vine..still green

....but turning

 

As is the rest of existence...

A Hampshire Coastal Jaunt

Boats down in Lymington Harbour

Today a photo-essay of a delightful visit, last Saturday, to two of my resident county's coastal towns. Glorious weather, the sea, and even a town market day..what an excellent combination!

A veggie stall at Lymington Market

Lymington Church

The Silver-plate stall, Lymington market

The market stalls set out in front of the Georgian houses in the main street, Lymington

A side-street corner

Down by the lobster pots

The river up from Christchurch harbour

11th century Christchurch Priory 

14th century reredos carving of the Tree of Jesse. Jesse - as always - looking mightily bored by the whole process of having a tree growing out of his side :-)

The superb - and un-iconoclasted - carvings of the Nativity of Christ on the upper part of the Tree of Jesse

Striking modern (2007) oil painting of Jesus in his last days, by Chris Dancer

15th century misericorde carved on an upturned seat in the choir stalls. (there for weary monks to lean against when standing through lengthy services). Click to enlarge, turn your head to your left, to see the lady wearing a long, pointy, medieval head-dress

A squawking demon

Memorial to percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of "Frankenstein"

The peaceful view on exiting the Priory...I hope you have enjoyed your visit...

Something Venetian - and Exquisite - for a Friday Afternoon

Editing some photographs from my last visit to Venice today, I had a sudden urge to share these three images of exquisite beauty with you. Items from the Glass Museum on Murano...examples of the stunning mastery of a craft, working with extreme fragility and yet extraordinary strength. Just enjoy...and be sure to visit the Museum if you are ever there. (Click on any of the images for a bigger, clearer view).

 

Can you see the dolphins?

Plants for Free - Happy Me!

Those of you not "into" gardening will probably think this post very sad,...but I had to share the discovery I made on the gravel drive this afternoon - loads and loads of seedlings in the gravel, just waiting for me to
dig them out and pot them up. These are some of the "treasures for free"...

Buddleia

Lots of "weenie" little holly plants

Cotoneaster and Bowles Golden grass

Everywhere there are seed heads forming - which I am, of course, also collecting...more free plants!

Fennel seed heads in the herb garden

Below, a sedum (ice-plant) is just opening...one of the plants that gives some of the most reliably gorgeous, deep colour in the garden...together with a worker bee, just testing out this particular plant to check if the florets have fully opened yet...(a day or two longer, I think).

And all through this glorious, Indian Summer afternoon, Pip has kept me company while I cut back and clean up the pelargoniums from the patio, before I bring them all under cover to overwinter in the conservatory. What a happy, golden afternoon, pleasantly pottering in the garden. Lucky me.

Taking it Easy

It concerns the back - and the malfunctioning of same....Well, that is how I find myself sat here, at the screen, composing an all too rare blog post. It was the making of the flowerbed that did it, you see... Seven hours of concentrated gardening - sieving earth, digging in compost, selecting plants grown in my own nursery (oh, how satisfying!) and planting them. Deciding they were in the wrong place, and moving several around...again,and again, and again....

My Hero, stripping turf from around the hideous septic-tank manhole cover...(being made in sections, the bed will finally extend around to the trellised area)

Does anyone else get such a bee in their bonnets about gardening? When I am doing it, I am really DOING it, and nothing can take me away from the focus upon it, especially when the day is balmy and I am all too conscious of the precious nature of the last days of summer.

Pallet - rescued from a skip! - as cover for manhole

But, well, I guess I just have to accept that these bones (the bones of the crunching knees and back) and this body (the sore and aching, under-exercised muscles) are just not as young as they used to be, and sudden bursts of over-activity like that tend to have results like this...ooh, ouch!

  "Of course this is helping!!"

"Have had enuff of helping!"

Pallet stained with wood preservative from shed - no need to buy more = satisfaction

Planted up, with wood chippings down...not bad for a few hours!

But something good can come from it - it has brought me to a standstill and demanded of me that I should Take It Easy for today. Take it easy to sit here and work on academic pursuits...but also take it easy to return to this blog. Take it easy also to think, uninterruptedly, about time management, and priorities for the future months, so that I can work on all the projects that I need to and want to, without one being sacrificed for another. Anyone with any suggestions for books on time management is more than welcome to leave their comments here!

Now I hang my head in shame, for in my last post, I offered a bag full of lace pieces - and then promptly forgot that I had done so. (Anyone with book suggestions on how to knock a rubbish, middle aged memory back into shape...please leave comments :-)). I have now remembered again...and will be happy to send the little giveaway to Sue Krekorian if she will email her snail address to me privately. (I hope the Poetry Postcards have arrived at their destinations by now!)

Now where was I? Hmm - wondering just where have the months of THIS summer gone - that it is already 09-09-09? Well, the dissertation was the over-arching project for the summer, of course. It became more of a project than I had intended and more of a mystery than I had expected...focus was not laser sharp, but has been rather more the enveloping "cloud of unknowing", through which I have been clearing a path and making wondrous discoveries.

And so it has transpired that I will not be submitting my dissertation for the autumn 09 cut off point, but will submit instead in the early part of next year, 2010. More time for more discoveries is so right for me - and the extra learning that I am gaining is going right back into the up-coming writing courses that I am creating right now for a number of old and new clients. What a pleasure it is to know that I am not career driven, and can take a little more time to truly relish both the gathering and the deepening of knowledge - and from that, maybe even a little wisdom?

Like my online friend  Britt-Arnhild, I long for Southern European skies, under which, for me, are memories of  terracotta roof tiles, food and wine in the shade of an awning in a little French market place, swooping swallows, remote and wondrous church interiors, scuttling lizards. I have other adventures planned, closer to home, in the next few months, but will return to "the cottage near Bordeaux" next year with my son and my almost-daughter-in-law...so I will have to contain my longings until then. But oh, how precious it is to have these delights to look forward to.

And for now? Autumn Cottage and garden - which has been neglected for far too long, is regaining my attentions and my care. But for today, the attention is all in the mind, or on the pages of those oh, so enticing magazines that my mind likes to browse, while my body Takes it Easy!

Where I "took it easy" - plenty of cups of tea between planting...

Taking it Easy

It concerns the back - and the malfunctioning of same....Well, that is how I find myself sat here, at the screen, composing an all too rare blog post. It was the making of the flowerbed that did it, you see... Seven hours of concentrated gardening - sieving earth, digging in compost, selecting plants grown in my own nursery (oh, how satisfying!) and planting them. Deciding they were in the wrong place, and moving several around...again,and again, and again....

My Hero, stripping turf from around the hideous septic-tank manhole cover...(being made in sections, the bed will finally extend around to the trellised area)

Does anyone else get such a bee in their bonnets about gardening? When I am doing it, I am really DOING it, and nothing can take me away from the focus upon it, especially when the day is balmy and I am all too conscious of the precious nature of the last days of summer.

Pallet - rescued from a skip! - as cover for manhole

But, well, I guess I just have to accept that these bones (the bones of the crunching knees and back) and this body (the sore and aching, under-exercised muscles) are just not as young as they used to be, and sudden bursts of over-activity like that tend to have results like this...ooh, ouch!

  "Of course this is helping!!"

"Have had enuff of helping!"

Pallet stained with wood preservative from shed - no need to buy more = satisfaction

Planted up, with wood chippings down...not bad for a few hours!

But something good can come from it - it has brought me to a standstill and demanded of me that I should Take It Easy for today. Take it easy to sit here and work on academic pursuits...but also take it easy to return to this blog. Take it easy also to think, uninterruptedly, about time management, and priorities for the future months, so that I can work on all the projects that I need to and want to, without one being sacrificed for another. Anyone with any suggestions for books on time management is more than welcome to leave their comments here!

Now I hang my head in shame, for in my last post, I offered a bag full of lace pieces - and then promptly forgot that I had done so. (Anyone with book suggestions on how to knock a rubbish, middle aged memory back into shape...please leave comments :-)). I have now remembered again...and will be happy to send the little giveaway to Sue Krekorian if she will email her snail address to me privately. (I hope the Poetry Postcards have arrived at their destinations by now!)

Now where was I? Hmm - wondering just where have the months of THIS summer gone - that it is already 09-09-09? Well, the dissertation was the over-arching project for the summer, of course. It became more of a project than I had intended and more of a mystery than I had expected...focus was not laser sharp, but has been rather more the enveloping "cloud of unknowing", through which I have been clearing a path and making wondrous discoveries.

And so it has transpired that I will not be submitting my dissertation for the autumn 09 cut off point, but will submit instead in the early part of next year, 2010. More time for more discoveries is so right for me - and the extra learning that I am gaining is going right back into the up-coming writing courses that I am creating right now for a number of old and new clients. What a pleasure it is to know that I am not career driven, and can take a little more time to truly relish both the gathering and the deepening of knowledge - and from that, maybe even a little wisdom?

Like my online friend  Britt-Arnhild, I long for Southern European skies, under which, for me, are memories of  terracotta roof tiles, food and wine in the shade of an awning in a little French market place, swooping swallows, remote and wondrous church interiors, scuttling lizards. I have other adventures planned, closer to home, in the next few months, but will return to "the cottage near Bordeaux" next year with my son and my almost-daughter-in-law...so I will have to contain my longings until then. But oh, how precious it is to have these delights to look forward to.

And for now? Autumn Cottage and garden - which has been neglected for far too long, is regaining my attentions and my care. But for today, the attention is all in the mind, or on the pages of those oh, so enticing magazines that my mind likes to browse, while my body Takes it Easy!

Where I "took it easy" - plenty of cups of tea between planting...