My first dog was a lurcher a Whippet Bedlington terrier cross, called Blue - I still miss her, she was a beautiful and intelligent dog, and the best thief of cake ever!
Wonderful mystical story that challenged my distant French as well as my English vocabulary. One of those stories that lingers in the mind, deserving another read and to wonder about life and the significance of symbols and humanity.
Lewis, thank you so much for reading, the fact it is worthy of a second has made my day.. French never stops being a challenge IMHO, even after living here for 20 years I am far from fluent!
I have feeling, though we dont often see it, that everything we experience has significance, sometimes we know it immediately, others it might take months or years... 🙏🏼
The perfect ending to a harried week of my own - reading of yours!! I have realized a couple other similarities between us: we both love nature way more than the average person, we see beauty everywhere, we love the early morning, and we could both do well if ever we wanted to change professions and become detectives. I love the picture of the bend in the road with the hare! That is perfection, right there. All your pics and videos are lovely. Deep sigh. One more week down!! Hugs, my long lost twin!! XO
Hello my lovely soul sister... as has become normal (and always is in spring and the ending of the school year) I haven't had a second to myself since writing, I snatch a few minutes here and there thinking, I'll sit and write a while, then I hear birdsong, or a bee, or catch the scent of the elderflowers on the breezes and those few minutes are gone... yes I think we have much in common! Detectives? I love the sound of that! Nature detectives of course.... that would be a dream, especially after the last tricky ten days with my students!, no answering back, no tantrums, not disappointment - I could live with that...♥️ Ive seven weeks to go before the summer break... Im counting days already - much love dear Danielle , I hope your week is beautiful xoxox
Yes, detectives...you breaking down what might be in the bag of the man you encountered. I do much the same thing, with all kinds of things. I personally think I would be a really amazing detective because I am more observant than most...I get that sense about you, as well! But nature detectives sounds awesome, too!! Although when faced with nature, I can guess I would never get anything done.
I don't really count, so I don't know how long until school. I DO know the first words out of any other staff member's mouth, when I get two seconds to talk, is how many days we have left, but I can't even pay attention long enough to remember because I'm watching my kiddo, who has walked ahead of me and wondering what his next trick is :-O. Have an amazing week, love!! XO
Danielle, I have six in one school, most are relatively well behaved if a little lacking in the concentration department but one, Oh my goodness, I need eyes in every part of my body.. his is a whirlwind of energy and curiosity, can sit for no more than ten seconds at any one point! A days work in ten minutes…
Haha, yes, we all leave on a Friday evening, each of us breathless, each of us exhaustedly holding up fingers to count weeks left before rest - no words are needed - we just know!
Happy Sunday lovely one - I hope you’re resting and the day day is kind to you xox
Many thanks Louise, I have seen the hare many times since, and others too, I would probably see them daily if I didn't have an excitable terrier in tow when I walk!
The wild boar are a rare sighting thank goodness, I know where they've passed, by their 'laissée' and the holes they snuffle up and honestly that is quite sufficient!
Ahh, blue little mouse, I glad you both enjoyed the video. x
A beautiful encounter between kindred spirits perhaps, both poaching in the quiet of early morning, blossom strewn lanes. One poacher with a bag filled with mystery objects and accompanied by hounds to keep his secrets and the other with a mind filled with words and accompanied by glittering faeries to share her secrets with. Always such a joy to accompany you on your adventures, dear Susie 💛
I've been filming those fairies again this evening, I think they have sprinkled fairy dust over me, I heard one of the owls in the woodland and wandered off in search, just to be sure it wasn't in danger or injured and was immediately distracted by swarms of beautiful wings - I seem to have some strange unshakeable addiction, even my husband came wandering out to see where I was this evening!
Thank you dear Emily, I hope your weekend is filled with wonder - much love. 💛xx
I have been encountering them in the woods too Susie, and every time I do, I think of you. They used to dance in my childhood garden, in the place where the swing would reach its highest forward point, before arcing back and I would swing higher and higher, enveloped in them, glittering in the setting sunlight. Truly magical. Sending all my love for a beautiful weekend xx
I have discovered the morning moths here in the last days Emily (those in my last letter) I am not certain what they are called but they are so utterly captivating… so much so I keep being late for class! xx
That you value magic more than promptness, is perfect. I doubt that wishing to have been more on time will be a regret, I am sure that not soaking up every moment of sparkling magic that this world has to offer most certainly would xx
Thank goodness for those unmowed verges and your fellow gypsy vagabond to welcome you home. I am smitten with your hill from afar through your language. Those pre-dawn birds and sudden flowers are worth waking up for every time. 🌷
Thank you so much Tara, my welcome home was a very much needed and soothing balm to shattered nerves and body… just in time, on returning from classes today, all the verges, all the spring flowers, all the grasses leaning into the road so elegantly are gone and the lane is littered with wilting debris but the fields are still glowing golden as yet untouched and birds are still singing their little heads off for which I am eternally thankful…🎶
I sat a while with my friend this morning, though half a world away, seeing the world through her gypsy eyes, hovering gratefully in that magical space where the sounds of her early morning world intertwine seamlessly with the acoustical patter of raindrops on the thin roof above me and glimpses of China roses in their first flush, just across the garden. Stepping back into a stream that has been ceaselessly gurgling along all the while that you were away, familiar and yet, just a little bit strange and new; we return to our old familiars, changed, all that we have seen and felt, endured. And our old familiars, though still right where we left them, they've changed, too. Thank you for the care you've taken, first to notice all of these small wonders and then to knead them and shape them, and share them with we story-hungry guests who gather at your table.
Dearest David, Thank you, my relief in having returned relatively unscathed, shattered nerves not included, amongst friends in both forest and field near and far is incalculable, it appears I am less and less enamoured by travelling as I age, unless of course it is a solitary affair to wildernesses holding promise of the extraordinary. Trailing 167 primary children with the wrong attire, most in-habitual walkers, Uh-Uh, never again, not in what I have left of this life anyway!
There are certain guests that bring infinite pleasure to a persons table. Be it as it may they are distant, not present in body but kindred spirits that send their messages far and wide to all who have the good sense to pay close attention, what an honour it is to think you are one of those people sat vicariously while I drink a cup of good strong tea, the heady scent of a David Austin climbing rose wafting in on warm sunshine, you are cherished addition and very welcome - thank you, it is a delight to be home with friends.
So much magic in this! I love the ease in this meeting. Sometimes seeing someone else on your morning walk can feel like an intrusion, but this sounded perfect.
It all felt a little surreal Deirdre, I so rarely - want to - meet anyone while I am walking, it does feel like an intrusion when it happens but this was far removed from anything even close… I’m still thinking about it, wondering if I dreamed the whole thing!
It was the strangest most surreal few minutes Jan… I am still wondering about that stranger, where he came from and so suddenly disappeared to… thank you so much for reading to the end. X
This could sound a little abstract, which is not how it felt reading this remarkable post. We picked up a little of the school trip in your previous post, and something of your commitment to bring natural experience into their lives. I have been thinking since and with the benefit of a brief exchange of comments, of so many lives bereft of 'primary experience', how different, strangely vulnerable they seem.
Your memorable account this time of your timely 'follow-up' conversation with the old man is particularly striking for the lack of circumlocution between you. I suppose you might have some small local reputation, who knows, but that has no apparent relevance; you met a mind that deals promptly in the world he observes, in that amazing place we call recognition.
Dear Philip, it is possible that a word such as abstract incorporates rather well the entire experience of this particular school trip. If I think back now, I felt separated, not through any lack of attention to responsibility but through realising the harsh lines that are drawn between differences in upbringing and understanding of this world we live on. Indifference and an inability to listen, is becoming a genetic normal and with that, yes, certain vulnerability.
You produced a smile... I am perhaps not well known, but certainly known of in these valleys, more for being of foreign origins than anything more exciting. However, on enquiring locally of the origins of the stranger with sparkly eyes and two lurchers, it appears I am the only person who doesn't know him, His reputation, not altogether of the finest repute, walks before him, how strange it is that this was my only encounter in twenty years. A story for another day I hope.
I've been reading your post while listening to lovely piano music on Spotify (the music went beautifully with the fairies (I mean, the insects) flitting around in the dusk!
Susie, your stories are so beautiful. I can see it all in my mind's eye! What a lovely way to start the week! Merci chère dame!
Jeannine, I am quite certain they must be fairies, they have certainly managed to bewitch me this month of May! I have just wandered back up from my little patch of woodland, on an owl hunt initially, but was diverted by sunbeams in the undergrowth and hundreds of sparkling fairy wings! It was mesmerising!
I wish you a magical weekend my dear lady, thank you always 💛x
How interesting, and odd, that you had never met this man before, as it sounds like you have similar walking habits.
My husband spent much of the weekend fretting about "lawless growth" -- I love that term -- at our little weekend place. He needs some better equipment to cut the grass back at least once; plus weather got in the way this weekend. Sun is predicted for next weekend -- yay! -- but we'll be in Paris seeing our daughter.
Jan, I have made a few enquiries since that meeting, he is apparently well known by farmers and landowners for miles! I'll say no more, he was far too gentle and knowledgeable to cast aspersions, each to their own although I fear there were certainly no mushrooms in his bag!
This weather is not helping with that particular riot is it! I understand entirely your husbands fretting, I am making a fine art of it, this weekend there will be much frantic waving of the brush-cutter, even my sheep are grumbling as they peep through too long grass at me!
Enjoy your weekend in Paris with your daughter, that sounds like a very wonderful treat! x
Ah, many are too quick to judge another, non? A sweet meeting, a short conversation…(though I may still be curious about the bag, there is no need to know what it holds), as this soft-spoken, dog-loving, handsome walker obliges the mind a wee bit of innocent daydreaming. Merci, Susie. Looking forward to your next magical, morning walk.
I will leave the judgment to others, he was a gentleman with twinkly eyes and two beautiful dogs, he was interesting, I dont need to know more than that (though I have been told much more since. I will say only that it seems I am the only person for miles who doesn't know him - curiously true...
I like the wee bit of innocent daydreaming idea Jeannine, very much ! xx
This morning I walked through the city, a little too fast to reach my destination, surrounded by busy-headed people seemingly on serious missions, their demeanor's weighty and severe. When I arrived, somewhat mentally disheveled I made a tea and sat in a chair and instead of doing what I am supposed to do I opened A Hill And I and read.
After 10 minutes I was cured, content and calm. You're like a nymph whispering sweet nothings in my head, taking me by the mind and revealing a world that envelopes me so that nothing else exists. I know that dog. I know that man. That Hare. I am becalmed and bewitched.
Thanks so much Susie. It's a fine thing to read you.
Well that is a fine comment to read after an arduous day Jonathan, I am touched beyond words.
I am sure you know the gorgeous glow of pleasure when told by someone they were calmed, or captivated or bewitched by something you've written - well I'm glowing, which is perfect because its bloody freezing for May!
Thank you for being here, you are truly appreciated especially in using the word 'nymph' in a sentence intended for me - I am smiling so much my wrinkles hurt!
Beautiful, Susie. It put me in mind of an Edward Thomas poem. And I hadn't heard the term "lurcher" for a long time. We used to have one on the farm.
Jeffrey thank you so much for reading.
My first dog was a lurcher a Whippet Bedlington terrier cross, called Blue - I still miss her, she was a beautiful and intelligent dog, and the best thief of cake ever!
Wonderful mystical story that challenged my distant French as well as my English vocabulary. One of those stories that lingers in the mind, deserving another read and to wonder about life and the significance of symbols and humanity.
Lewis, thank you so much for reading, the fact it is worthy of a second has made my day.. French never stops being a challenge IMHO, even after living here for 20 years I am far from fluent!
I have feeling, though we dont often see it, that everything we experience has significance, sometimes we know it immediately, others it might take months or years... 🙏🏼
The perfect ending to a harried week of my own - reading of yours!! I have realized a couple other similarities between us: we both love nature way more than the average person, we see beauty everywhere, we love the early morning, and we could both do well if ever we wanted to change professions and become detectives. I love the picture of the bend in the road with the hare! That is perfection, right there. All your pics and videos are lovely. Deep sigh. One more week down!! Hugs, my long lost twin!! XO
Hello my lovely soul sister... as has become normal (and always is in spring and the ending of the school year) I haven't had a second to myself since writing, I snatch a few minutes here and there thinking, I'll sit and write a while, then I hear birdsong, or a bee, or catch the scent of the elderflowers on the breezes and those few minutes are gone... yes I think we have much in common! Detectives? I love the sound of that! Nature detectives of course.... that would be a dream, especially after the last tricky ten days with my students!, no answering back, no tantrums, not disappointment - I could live with that...♥️ Ive seven weeks to go before the summer break... Im counting days already - much love dear Danielle , I hope your week is beautiful xoxox
Yes, detectives...you breaking down what might be in the bag of the man you encountered. I do much the same thing, with all kinds of things. I personally think I would be a really amazing detective because I am more observant than most...I get that sense about you, as well! But nature detectives sounds awesome, too!! Although when faced with nature, I can guess I would never get anything done.
I don't really count, so I don't know how long until school. I DO know the first words out of any other staff member's mouth, when I get two seconds to talk, is how many days we have left, but I can't even pay attention long enough to remember because I'm watching my kiddo, who has walked ahead of me and wondering what his next trick is :-O. Have an amazing week, love!! XO
Danielle, I have six in one school, most are relatively well behaved if a little lacking in the concentration department but one, Oh my goodness, I need eyes in every part of my body.. his is a whirlwind of energy and curiosity, can sit for no more than ten seconds at any one point! A days work in ten minutes…
Haha, yes, we all leave on a Friday evening, each of us breathless, each of us exhaustedly holding up fingers to count weeks left before rest - no words are needed - we just know!
Happy Sunday lovely one - I hope you’re resting and the day day is kind to you xox
I love this, Susie! The French brings back memories. I’m glad you didn’t see the boar but sad you didn’t see the hare.
Mouse came over to hear the birds in the video more clearly. She, too, always enjoys your videos. xx
Many thanks Louise, I have seen the hare many times since, and others too, I would probably see them daily if I didn't have an excitable terrier in tow when I walk!
The wild boar are a rare sighting thank goodness, I know where they've passed, by their 'laissée' and the holes they snuffle up and honestly that is quite sufficient!
Ahh, blue little mouse, I glad you both enjoyed the video. x
Sometimes an encounter on an early morning walk is just perfect
This one was JoAnna, and I really didn't expect to ever say that!
Happy weekend lovely , thank you always xx
A beautiful encounter between kindred spirits perhaps, both poaching in the quiet of early morning, blossom strewn lanes. One poacher with a bag filled with mystery objects and accompanied by hounds to keep his secrets and the other with a mind filled with words and accompanied by glittering faeries to share her secrets with. Always such a joy to accompany you on your adventures, dear Susie 💛
I've been filming those fairies again this evening, I think they have sprinkled fairy dust over me, I heard one of the owls in the woodland and wandered off in search, just to be sure it wasn't in danger or injured and was immediately distracted by swarms of beautiful wings - I seem to have some strange unshakeable addiction, even my husband came wandering out to see where I was this evening!
Thank you dear Emily, I hope your weekend is filled with wonder - much love. 💛xx
I have been encountering them in the woods too Susie, and every time I do, I think of you. They used to dance in my childhood garden, in the place where the swing would reach its highest forward point, before arcing back and I would swing higher and higher, enveloped in them, glittering in the setting sunlight. Truly magical. Sending all my love for a beautiful weekend xx
I have discovered the morning moths here in the last days Emily (those in my last letter) I am not certain what they are called but they are so utterly captivating… so much so I keep being late for class! xx
That you value magic more than promptness, is perfect. I doubt that wishing to have been more on time will be a regret, I am sure that not soaking up every moment of sparkling magic that this world has to offer most certainly would xx
Beautiful.
Many thanks Anna!
Thank goodness for those unmowed verges and your fellow gypsy vagabond to welcome you home. I am smitten with your hill from afar through your language. Those pre-dawn birds and sudden flowers are worth waking up for every time. 🌷
Whew! You had just enough time to make word-photos.
Serendipitous timing!
Thank you so much Tara, my welcome home was a very much needed and soothing balm to shattered nerves and body… just in time, on returning from classes today, all the verges, all the spring flowers, all the grasses leaning into the road so elegantly are gone and the lane is littered with wilting debris but the fields are still glowing golden as yet untouched and birds are still singing their little heads off for which I am eternally thankful…🎶
I sat a while with my friend this morning, though half a world away, seeing the world through her gypsy eyes, hovering gratefully in that magical space where the sounds of her early morning world intertwine seamlessly with the acoustical patter of raindrops on the thin roof above me and glimpses of China roses in their first flush, just across the garden. Stepping back into a stream that has been ceaselessly gurgling along all the while that you were away, familiar and yet, just a little bit strange and new; we return to our old familiars, changed, all that we have seen and felt, endured. And our old familiars, though still right where we left them, they've changed, too. Thank you for the care you've taken, first to notice all of these small wonders and then to knead them and shape them, and share them with we story-hungry guests who gather at your table.
Welcome home, Susie.
Dearest David, Thank you, my relief in having returned relatively unscathed, shattered nerves not included, amongst friends in both forest and field near and far is incalculable, it appears I am less and less enamoured by travelling as I age, unless of course it is a solitary affair to wildernesses holding promise of the extraordinary. Trailing 167 primary children with the wrong attire, most in-habitual walkers, Uh-Uh, never again, not in what I have left of this life anyway!
There are certain guests that bring infinite pleasure to a persons table. Be it as it may they are distant, not present in body but kindred spirits that send their messages far and wide to all who have the good sense to pay close attention, what an honour it is to think you are one of those people sat vicariously while I drink a cup of good strong tea, the heady scent of a David Austin climbing rose wafting in on warm sunshine, you are cherished addition and very welcome - thank you, it is a delight to be home with friends.
So much magic in this! I love the ease in this meeting. Sometimes seeing someone else on your morning walk can feel like an intrusion, but this sounded perfect.
It all felt a little surreal Deirdre, I so rarely - want to - meet anyone while I am walking, it does feel like an intrusion when it happens but this was far removed from anything even close… I’m still thinking about it, wondering if I dreamed the whole thing!
This is exquisite, Susie. The encounter felt out of time and hope you come across that hare making love one morning as you walk on the hill. xx
It was the strangest most surreal few minutes Jan… I am still wondering about that stranger, where he came from and so suddenly disappeared to… thank you so much for reading to the end. X
Such a pleasure to read -- it was mesmerising x
Huge thanks Jan - that means the world! xx
A wonderful moment of serendipity with the country gentleman. Love n hugs.
Thank you sweetie, I hope your week is filled with outrageous joy and spring gorgeousness! 😘
This could sound a little abstract, which is not how it felt reading this remarkable post. We picked up a little of the school trip in your previous post, and something of your commitment to bring natural experience into their lives. I have been thinking since and with the benefit of a brief exchange of comments, of so many lives bereft of 'primary experience', how different, strangely vulnerable they seem.
Your memorable account this time of your timely 'follow-up' conversation with the old man is particularly striking for the lack of circumlocution between you. I suppose you might have some small local reputation, who knows, but that has no apparent relevance; you met a mind that deals promptly in the world he observes, in that amazing place we call recognition.
Dear Philip, it is possible that a word such as abstract incorporates rather well the entire experience of this particular school trip. If I think back now, I felt separated, not through any lack of attention to responsibility but through realising the harsh lines that are drawn between differences in upbringing and understanding of this world we live on. Indifference and an inability to listen, is becoming a genetic normal and with that, yes, certain vulnerability.
You produced a smile... I am perhaps not well known, but certainly known of in these valleys, more for being of foreign origins than anything more exciting. However, on enquiring locally of the origins of the stranger with sparkly eyes and two lurchers, it appears I am the only person who doesn't know him, His reputation, not altogether of the finest repute, walks before him, how strange it is that this was my only encounter in twenty years. A story for another day I hope.
May your weekend be blessed.
I've been reading your post while listening to lovely piano music on Spotify (the music went beautifully with the fairies (I mean, the insects) flitting around in the dusk!
Susie, your stories are so beautiful. I can see it all in my mind's eye! What a lovely way to start the week! Merci chère dame!
Jeannine, I am quite certain they must be fairies, they have certainly managed to bewitch me this month of May! I have just wandered back up from my little patch of woodland, on an owl hunt initially, but was diverted by sunbeams in the undergrowth and hundreds of sparkling fairy wings! It was mesmerising!
I wish you a magical weekend my dear lady, thank you always 💛x
That sounds glorious! Bonne fin de semaine chère dame!
A toi aussi!
How interesting, and odd, that you had never met this man before, as it sounds like you have similar walking habits.
My husband spent much of the weekend fretting about "lawless growth" -- I love that term -- at our little weekend place. He needs some better equipment to cut the grass back at least once; plus weather got in the way this weekend. Sun is predicted for next weekend -- yay! -- but we'll be in Paris seeing our daughter.
Jan, I have made a few enquiries since that meeting, he is apparently well known by farmers and landowners for miles! I'll say no more, he was far too gentle and knowledgeable to cast aspersions, each to their own although I fear there were certainly no mushrooms in his bag!
This weather is not helping with that particular riot is it! I understand entirely your husbands fretting, I am making a fine art of it, this weekend there will be much frantic waving of the brush-cutter, even my sheep are grumbling as they peep through too long grass at me!
Enjoy your weekend in Paris with your daughter, that sounds like a very wonderful treat! x
I was thinking the same thing about the mysterious man! Aren't we so romantic, though!?
Jeannine read above! I found out a few things about my stranger...
Nice to know we think along the same lines! Have a wonderful weekend, Susie!
Ah, many are too quick to judge another, non? A sweet meeting, a short conversation…(though I may still be curious about the bag, there is no need to know what it holds), as this soft-spoken, dog-loving, handsome walker obliges the mind a wee bit of innocent daydreaming. Merci, Susie. Looking forward to your next magical, morning walk.
I will leave the judgment to others, he was a gentleman with twinkly eyes and two beautiful dogs, he was interesting, I dont need to know more than that (though I have been told much more since. I will say only that it seems I am the only person for miles who doesn't know him - curiously true...
I like the wee bit of innocent daydreaming idea Jeannine, very much ! xx
Ha!
This morning I walked through the city, a little too fast to reach my destination, surrounded by busy-headed people seemingly on serious missions, their demeanor's weighty and severe. When I arrived, somewhat mentally disheveled I made a tea and sat in a chair and instead of doing what I am supposed to do I opened A Hill And I and read.
After 10 minutes I was cured, content and calm. You're like a nymph whispering sweet nothings in my head, taking me by the mind and revealing a world that envelopes me so that nothing else exists. I know that dog. I know that man. That Hare. I am becalmed and bewitched.
Thanks so much Susie. It's a fine thing to read you.
Well that is a fine comment to read after an arduous day Jonathan, I am touched beyond words.
I am sure you know the gorgeous glow of pleasure when told by someone they were calmed, or captivated or bewitched by something you've written - well I'm glowing, which is perfect because its bloody freezing for May!
Thank you for being here, you are truly appreciated especially in using the word 'nymph' in a sentence intended for me - I am smiling so much my wrinkles hurt!
Magic!!!
That's such an accurate description of the effect of Susie's writing in general, but particularly this piece of enchantment!
Liz thank you so much, I am delighted you enjoyed my rather surreal encounter!
I know, Susie's writing should be prescribed by doctors, "Take two A Hill And I's and get some rest." 😂
Agreed!!!
Thanks Jeannine 💛