The evening light is warm as toast casting long terracotta shadows on the woodland grasses.
The Robin is back! The bare branches allow me to follow him along the track. But mostly he is following me, popping up ahead, appearing when least expected, and looking at me….I’m sure of it….
She is up ahead walking with her 5 dogs. Now in her late 70’s she only goes to the top of the first hill and back, very slowly. She likes to stretch her legs in the evenings glow.
We talk about sheep, dogs, cats, rats. Rats are the big topic today, we both detest them. All my fear and darkness bubbles to the surface when I see one. It can ruin my day. I tell her how I was walking through the forest and one was sunning himself BRAZENLY outside his home. Although charming in a “country rat” kind of way, I couldn’t pretend, he just made me shudder…..
You should have a dog she says, they can be great ratters……
She has no romance for this place. She saw too much misery in it. Until she married well enough to a small farmer she didn’t have the luxury of a bathroom or a stove. This whole place was full of cottages and houses once, before the Famine times, the few local children now play in the ruins.
We layer year upon year. The past doesn’t go away. We resurface it and call it a fresh start.
I’m a romantic I say to her. Look at me taking pictures of sun beams and raindrops.
She laughs. Well you might be, but I’m a doting old thing when it comes to dogs. I haven’t an ounce of sense….I have them all spoiled…..
Today I have discovered that we are a pair of romantics and we have more in common than I once thought…………isn’t that always the way…….
How lovely Catherine. The first shot of the robin is just gorgeous.
Hope you have a lovely weekend, dogs, robins and all.
Beautiful pictures. Have a great weekend and a lovely week ahead.
Lovely words and photos. I always enjoy talking with women of a certain age.
's wonderful to talk to someone local with deep roots.
Ah, the golden days of fall, of our lives, that go with the golden moments of crossed paths and conversations 🙂 Wonderful warming photos!
The wonderful encounters of those that touch our lives in ways we never expect!
Your photos are warm and beautiful. And it's always nice to talk with someone who just cross your path.
Such a beautiful post, as always. Your words nestle deep within my soul.
Ah Catherine, you could try pretending it's ratty from "The Wind in the Willows"… and probably a good friend of Robin!
Robins (violent creatures) have, to human eyes, such jauntiness.
'The past doesn't go away. We resurface it and call it a fresh start.' Will be puzzling over that and reflecting on it all week.
Hello Catherine
The image of the robin is spectacular. Your neighbour with the dogs seems very kind and understanding in how she related your love for photography to her love of animals.
Helen xx