Happy New Year and all the very best for 2025 I know, it's been a while, but I have been busy with other things both creative and strenuous, but maybe 2025 will be the year that I get back to some regular blogging.  There is one called Seminal Personal Places that might be hitting your screens ere long!

Skeletons

I’ve just read an old article from the Guardian, by Anna Pavord, where she eloquently talks about the splendour of trees stripped bare in the winter.  Yes, she also declared the splendour of trees wearing their full summer plumage, but quite rightly points out that the blob of green you see really covers the amazing “skeleton” framework beneath, and although in autumn they turn majestic colours and in the breeze cause flurries of multicoloured “snow”, their true beauty lives beneath.  In winter unclothed, in front of a wintery sky, their true majesty unfolds and provides the inspiration for many an atmospheric picture, something perhaps less easy to capture with fully clothed trees and harsh summer light.

That’s not to say that summer trees aren’t beautiful, billowing vibrant shades of green, and other colours besides, against the brilliant blue sky of summer.  Which reminds me of a conversation had periodically with my wife, when out in the countryside I spy a particularly fine specimen and exclaim excitedly; “Wow, just look at that fantastic noble oak / beech / ash,” or whatever it might be.  She usually concurs with the sentiment, but often asks “How do you know what it is?”  Thinking about this it’s a fair question, particularly from someone bought up in a town, where there were trees, but incidental rather than part of the amazing landscapes rolled out before you when in the depths of the countryside.  I guess my love of trees and flowers came from my parents, both of whom as youngsters spent much time in the great wilds of our “emerald island.”  This love of the natural world blossomed, and love is not too strong a word in this case, as for me emotions run high when out in the countryside, in whatever the weather, although walking in the rain unfortunately happens much less since we lost our dog.  A dog gave me a reason to go out, even if the roaring fire was inviting me to sit comfortably in front of it!  Now on the odd occasions that I do walk in the rain, I realise what I have been missing and think I must do this more often, particularly when I have a roaring fire to return too.  It’s down to willpower, and indeed earlier today we were going to go out for a walk, but it rained and we ended up staying in, despite knowing all the well documented health benefits of walking in the countryside or Forest Bathing in the woodland: “Strengthening the immune system, Reducing blood pressure, Increasing energy, Boosting mood, Improving focus, Reducing psychological stress and depressive symptoms, Enhancing sleep, Increasing vigor and vitality, Lowering stress hormones, Decreasing heart rate” as well as the exercise and overall feeling of well-being that walking gives you.

I was reminded of this article when earlier tonight looking through my folder simply marked “Writing ideas”, trying to find inspiration and come out of a malaise of writer’s block, and saw a scribbled note saying: “River Adventure – from a tiny drop to a mighty ocean.”  Many of these writing ideas have been around collecting dust for many years, and this may well harp back to a time when paddling a canoe down (up against the current seemed too much like hard work!) The Orinoco, all 2250 km or 1400 miles was on the to do list!  Incidentally, the nearest I came to this was swimming 1450 km or 900 miles up the Amazon, near Manaus, but I had flown into Manaus and taken a boat to our Amazon Eco-lodge, altogether less energetic, albeit fulfilling a lifelong ambition to swim in the Amazon!

Whereas a tree, at least above ground and the bit we are most familiar with goes from a massive trunk to the tiniest outermost twigs, a river is more like the roots of a tree and the reverse of tree’s tremendous crown, going from a tiny drop to the massive estuarine outpourings into the mighty ocean – microscopic root hairs to the colossal trunk.

In both cases, the tree crown and the river system they are very much skeletal, both supporting amazing and varied ecosystems, comprising many different habitats, and in the case of the former, supporting the tree and allowing it to grow high up into the surrounding atmosphere and the latter part of that immense water cycle, without which life as we know it wouldn’t exist.  Two great parts of our wonderful world, supported with skeletal frameworks, which if one part fails can have a disastrous effect on the whole and as with much of nature, are heavily interdependent on one another – the trees, and other plants, to release water into the atmosphere, as well as helping to “clean” the air, and the river systems to distribute this water, often given an helping hand by humankind, and flowing into the seas and oceans to further fuel the cycle.  Wow, what an amazing and fragile earth we inhabit, and need so much to look after.

Since starting this piece, I have purchased Anna Pavord’s book and just finished reading it, it gives an interesting narrative on how, through the ages the landscape of the British Isles has been viewed and indeed modified over time by humankind.  It’s well worth a read.