(please click image to enlarge )
These two trees in a nearby field endure the different weathers of winter, spring, summer and autumn, year after year, often for hundreds of years. You have to admire their strength.
Sunrise in West Midlands, UK
I have been wanting to get up and take a photograph of the sunrise this week, but the weather has not been playing ball. Each morning that I have struggled to be awake this early (and those of you who have read my previous post for this project will understand that I am so NOT a morning person) it has been misty and the sky a total white-out. Not even a glimmer of colour in the east.
As we are coming to the end of this time-frame, and I am already awake, I’m going to show you a bit of the area behind my house as well as the usual glimpse of in front. I live in a very quiet area in the old town of Ludlow and surrounded by quite a few holiday homes, so a lot of the time the houses nearby are empty.
Until a year ago there was a fully functioning pub to the left of me which was run by the Royal British Legion and the home of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes‘ Lodge and things weren’t always quite as quiet then what with live music and noisy punters; talking (why do people talk so much louder when drinking alcohol? An interesting correlation between the volume of liquid consumed and volume of speech), arguing and sometimes screaming, who were outside in the smoking zone that was practically beneath my bedroom window – that wasn’t great. But there was also a well-tended allotment with runner beans, cabbages, onions etc. and a sweet little home-made lean-to potting shed against the red-brick wall which was rather nice. Sadly this year with the closure of the pub the allotment has been unused and nature has taken over. This has meant poppies have flourished and all matter of weeds wild-flowers have grown.
When I started entering this project it was May and the blossom was just beginning and it was the time of the Spring Fair, now it is autumn and colours are fading and we have just had the Autumn Food Festival – where has the summer gone?
Lisa of the blog NorthWest Frame of Mind has decided to run a different project over the next 24 weeks. To try to show what is happening in different parts of the world (if you all join in) at a particular time of day. If you would like to participate you have until next Saturday midnight to post a photo or write about what is happening in your part of the world. This week is between 07:00 – 08:00. I hope you’ll join in! See links for more details.
Only a few more hours left!
It’s that time of the year again…
…when people from miles around converge on this beautiful little Medieval market town for the Ludlow Food Festival. They come to attend numerous workshops and tastings, visit local producers, hit the sausage trail or try the pudding tastings, listen to top chefs deliver talks and demonstrations in the castle grounds or learn knife skills and attend Egyptian Masterclasses. This town of 10,000 people will double its population over the coming weekend.
On Sunday there will be a Local Producers’ Market with over 40 small, local food and drink exhibitors on the Market Square.
And, as usual, there is a Window Dressing Competition. So I took the camera around the town today (before the hoards arrive) to see what merchandise I could find.
Last Sunday OH and I headed off to listen to some music in one of the pubs taking part in the Ludlow Fringe Festival. The pub was so packed, we listened from outside for a while, then decided to head home via a stroll around the water-meadow and the castle walls. It was the last performance of “As You Like It” in the castle grounds and we could hear singing at the end of the play as we passed by.
What did make us stop though was the sight of the sun disappearing through a cloud and creating that well-known ‘silver-lining’.
We waited until it reappeared at the bottom of the cloud to capture the warm glow of a sun setting. Though it probably had another hour or so to go before it did.
Lisa of the blog NorthWest Frame of Mind has decided to run a different project over the next 24 weeks. To try to show what is happening in different parts of the world (if you all join in) at a particular time of day. If you would like to participate you have until next Saturday midnight to post a photo or write about what is happening in your part of the world between 20:00 – 21:00 this week. I hope you’ll join in! See links for more details.
The Parish Church of Ludlow is crammed behind surrounding buildings so that although you can see the impressive tower from miles around, the actual church is quite hidden.
Inside it is full of history, a perpendicular Gothic delight with medieval stained glass, choir stalls and misericords, chapels and tombs and even the burial-place of Prince Arthur’s heart, who died in Ludlow and altered the course of history.
The West Window, showing the Lords of Ludlow Castle and ending with the unfortunate Prince Arthur.
The Palmers Window in St John’s Chapel shows a version of the legend of King Edward the Confessor and St John the Evangelist. The story is told in eight panels and centres round the Ludlow Palmers making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land
Detail from the Jesse Window (restored to the original colours and design) in Lady Chapel
The Annunciation or Golden Window with St Catherine and her wheel (L) and St Christopher (R)
Window in St Catherine’s Chapel
And finally a window in the unusual octagonal porch
This weekly challenge is hosted by Dawn from ‘The Day After’ who invites participants to post pictures of any windows that they find curious, inviting, photogenic, or in some way tell a story. Visit her blog to see more windows and/or to join in with the challenge.
TRAVEL WORDS 