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Tuesday 8 April 2014

Colours of the Day.....

Yellow gorse, daffodils and cloud dappled sky - suitable for runners
      It was a bit of a lean week last week. Three days of thick fog meant it never came properly daylight so that I'd to have lights on in the house, all day. With visibility down to 30 metres I couldn't even see across the field so felt pretty much marooned in my little cottage that peered out into grey nothingness. Mind you, encroaching cataracts don't help either. It was all very depressing.  Not that I know what depression is though someone said I'd certainly recognize it if I had it. So far as I'm concerned it's the state you get into when you can't run.  
       On the opposite side of the coin, when the sun
Flowering currant brightening my garden...
comes out to highlight all the colours of the day my sense of well-being can border on euphoria, as it did for a little while at the beginning of last week, before the days of doom and gloom.  Spring was everywhere, hawthorn hedges bursting into leaf, blackthorn and wood anemones forming a white haze, flowering currant red against the vivid blue sky, splashes of yellow from daffodils, gorse, forsythia and a myriad celandines worshipping the sun beneath waving catkins. Ducks dabbled, spindly legged lambs were being born even as we ran past whilst back in the village a happy thrush sang his morning matins from the topmost branch of the tallest tree.
      


Forsythia at Low Common....
  And I got to singing too last week. I recall flinging the bedclothes back and springing out of bed one
morning singing Land of Hope and Glory. It's not often I do that. Especially if there's anyone around!  But it isn't just me.  Spring invokes this marvellous, uplifting and life-giving phenomena in the whole of creation, birds, beasts, flowers and trees. As a runner flowing through this rich landscape I'm acutely aware of the pageant that unfolds all around me, from the flowers around my feet to the skylark's notes showering from above.
      
Blackthorn by the Wharfe....
 
Somewhere on my wild travels, and I hope someone will tell me where, I recall seeing a plaque tacked to a boulder and inscribed with words from Psalm 150: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord".  Surrounded by such beauty in the flush of Spring I hear Earth's Amens in a thousand different voices, mingling with my own as I run in ceaseless wonder through all the marvels of His wonderful creation...

11 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more when you say "Spring invokes this marvellous, uplifting and life-giving phenomena in the whole of creation, birds, beasts, flowers and trees."

    It's truly a wonderful season and your glorious pictures are so nice to see.

    To phrase another song "Englands green and pleasant land" perhaps I should say Britains !

    Lovely post .....wishing you

    All the best Jan

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    1. But it distracts me from running Jan, only did a pathetic 11 miles last week....
      And as for "England's green and pleasant land" - I'll leave that one for the WI... but having said that, my wonderful partner is a staunch member of WI and I never hear her singing it when she gets out of bed!

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  2. A wonderful season indeed! Enjoy every beautiful minute.

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    1. I'll try my best Karien - and I reckon the best is yet to come...

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  3. It might be Autumn here, but while the days are getting shorter, the sun is still out and without the summer wind it's been perfect for running... While I want the nice days to last forever, I own I can have the best of both worlds, so I must let the summer go so you can enjoy it....

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    1. Spring, summer, autumn - they're all wonderful times for running. It's the cold, wet winters I can't stand. Thanks CD for sending the sun northwards, I felt a bit of its warmth on yesterday's run.....

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  4. Beautiful photos! I want to jump into the top picture and run on that little road.

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    1. Aye, there are daffodils lining that road all the way to the cottages at the end. Then, when the daffodils die back, red hot pokers take their place... I run along there nearly every week because it's a nice flat bit on the climb up Castle Hill.

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  5. Those are breathtakingly beautiful pics, Gordon!

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    1. Thanks Barbara, it's nice to see some color again after a black and white winter.....

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