Thank you so much Jan… it was quite a half term break, even by usual spring standards…! I hope you escaped the worst of the rain, it’s been the worst spring we’ve seen in 20 years here… ⛈️
Oh my Susie… from conjugations to castrations, your life overwhelms with obligation and yet a part of you is ever-tuned to the earth’s message. When I read your phrases and look at each one of your photos (gently zooming in with fingertips as if handling a delicate flower) I see/feel a luminosity similar to the quality I feel after reading, say, an Oliver or Berry poem. A grand stillness and reverence that are only possible because of your willingness to hold the darkness in your other hand. I bow to your way—so fiercely, gently honest and benevolent. 🙏
I don’t think any writer who does their best to pay attention ‘to this one wild and precious life’ could be given a higher compliment than that which you have here Kimberly…. I would be floating on a cloud if my tears of deep gratitude weren’t so heavy! A mere thank you doesn’t seem sufficient but I can think of nothing that will, except sending love with it🙏🏽♥️
May your weekend be blessed with smiles and beyond xxxx
Your inexhaustible energy amazes me. I have single pages of To Do Lists while yours are chapters of endless pages. Love all your beautiful photos and phrases created to convey each of your marvellous stories. Big hugs and much love 💕
I think that week my energy came to a complete standstill and just said NO, STOP! I was admittedly, physically and emotionally exhausted. I have made a promise to myself though… no more lists! They serve no purpose (since I never get chance to look at them) other than stress and I’ve quite enough of that already… 😂Huge thanks gorgeous- sending love and hugs always ♥️xxxx
Thanks for this lovely post Susie and stunning dreamlike photos, the honesty in terms of what you do and how much! Maybe your car’s dragging under has offset any hellish reservation. There are a few swallows around but none nesting here, and the dandelions have turned to seed but nothing compared the fairy like swathe you show - all good wishes 🌿
I do hope you’re right Mariko, I feel the weight of my culpability in carrying these painful but necessary tasks.
I still haven’t spotted a swallow here I the hill, elsewhere yes but I fear, this year, they will not return. A sadness I must accept while I wait for the oriel and nightingales, who surely will be here soon…
The dandelions have been heavenly though, beautifully abundant in fields and verges alike. Wishes for the world!
Thank you so much for you lovely comment, all good wishes back to you.. 🍃x
I love reading your words. Simply beautiful descriptions of life. I was reminded of the annual castration of calves on our small farm growing up. My father had us boys help and it always made me wince a wee bit.
I should be used to it by now, I grew up on a sheep farm but the castrating of the lambs is and always has been my most dreaded time of year… I wince a huge bit! Heaven knows how this act must seem to a boy? I know my son refused point blank to help… but it is a necessary work so I do it. I have to…
Thank you for taking the time to read this Matthew, I wish you a peaceful rest of your day.
Can I come live with you?! The photographs are exquisite and your writing about the place and memories of your father are infused with such feeling. Truly beautiful. Thank you.
You’re very kind Ben, thank you, I miss both my parents enormously but in all things gardens, my father especially. And you would be very welcome here, I can’t promise yeasty beer though I do have home made wine… but only on the condition you take over the castrating!
Beautiful read. My partner and I live in the Dordogne, and have been afflicted by the same damp cold making our newly planted basil and tomatoes grow a little yellow and frost bitten ! We are easing our way into life here and hoping to buy our first home. Reading you is delightfully relatable, the nature connection and beauty of your photos utterly nourishing 💚
It’s terribly frustrating isn’t it! We have been here twenty years on the day I posted this letter and we’ve never known two wet seasons as wet as the two just passed, it has been horrendous. Over the last two evenings, three more huge oaks have just slid down the banks, the earth so waterlogged the roots have nothing to anchor them…
As for my garden, my father would definitely cry…
I hope we both have more cheery and warm weather very soon Anaïs, thank you for your lovely comment. 🍃
I order you to go outside and pick those flowers that you rush past and put them in a jar in your kitchen. Each time you look at them be grateful for all the energy you put into creating your haven on the hill. There is beauty in the chaos, and the weeds. There is no taming nature.
And you still find time for your writing and all your correspondence!
Belated thanks Jo, honestly, I’m not sure how I squeeze it all in either… especially when I wake as stiff and sore as I have this morning… five hours straight brush cutting was definitely not a good idea, and I’ve still an hour left to do before I go and check on my old neighbour to have that dreaded conversation, then over to another friends house whose garden, 10 times the size of my own I care for… and in between that all the usual mundane tasks a mother has to do… in less than a month I will be 60 years old, this level of energy requirement shouldn’t be necessary, and I feel it every day much as I don’t want to! I though we were supposed to slow down when we are older? I must have made hat bit up though…
Life on the land eh. Busy!! What was your original reason for moving onto your hill in France with all of it's quirky neighbours, animals and gardens? Like something from a movie! Be careful what we wish for eh. Or stop and remember why we wished for that! I wish you a busy or restful afternoon - depending on what you wish for. Jo xx
So, so lovely! Thank you for being a good steward to this place we call home (for now). It is inspiring and beautiful and you talk so lovingly about it, like a very dear friend. The pictures are a wonderful addition!! I love the first of the deer photos-with just the ears poking above the barley. Almost as if he were the lovely friend you were waiting all along for, and in fact playing a game of hide n seek with. *SIGH* Thank you!! XO
Those photos of the deer were a few extraordinarily beautiful moments just before work one day, I was so lucky to have the right lens on my camera and the time to relish such a breathtakingly gentle and rare (usually they are gone the moment they spot me) pleasure.
Many thanks for your kind words and for reading my words Danielle.
And huge apologies for my delay in replying… I hope the day is kind to you xx
Susie, I have been saving this so that I could savour it at the right moment when not rushing around with all the busyness of life. Sad it was worth the wait, reading as I settle to go to sleep with pictures of the French countryside in my mind. The beautiful and the sad 💛💛💛
Very belatedly Emily - I always save the posts I know I’m going to love most for when I have time to enjoy them too… so that is a lovely compliment 💛thank you lovely - happy Friday! 💛xx
Thanks hugely PIpp, I feel like an old delight this morning… yesterday was a little too over adventurous 😂and I’ve still an hours more to do…
Sending a very stiff hug! X
Amazing post, Susie -- the energy and honesty in it shine, And gorgeous pictures too xx
Thank you so much Jan… it was quite a half term break, even by usual spring standards…! I hope you escaped the worst of the rain, it’s been the worst spring we’ve seen in 20 years here… ⛈️
I think your rain was worse -- and it's stopped today :)
Oh my Susie… from conjugations to castrations, your life overwhelms with obligation and yet a part of you is ever-tuned to the earth’s message. When I read your phrases and look at each one of your photos (gently zooming in with fingertips as if handling a delicate flower) I see/feel a luminosity similar to the quality I feel after reading, say, an Oliver or Berry poem. A grand stillness and reverence that are only possible because of your willingness to hold the darkness in your other hand. I bow to your way—so fiercely, gently honest and benevolent. 🙏
Ps. THANK YOU for your kindest mention. I’m both grinning and blushing.
That was entirely my pleasure my brilliantly eloquent friend🙏🏽
I don’t think any writer who does their best to pay attention ‘to this one wild and precious life’ could be given a higher compliment than that which you have here Kimberly…. I would be floating on a cloud if my tears of deep gratitude weren’t so heavy! A mere thank you doesn’t seem sufficient but I can think of nothing that will, except sending love with it🙏🏽♥️
May your weekend be blessed with smiles and beyond xxxx
Your inexhaustible energy amazes me. I have single pages of To Do Lists while yours are chapters of endless pages. Love all your beautiful photos and phrases created to convey each of your marvellous stories. Big hugs and much love 💕
I think that week my energy came to a complete standstill and just said NO, STOP! I was admittedly, physically and emotionally exhausted. I have made a promise to myself though… no more lists! They serve no purpose (since I never get chance to look at them) other than stress and I’ve quite enough of that already… 😂Huge thanks gorgeous- sending love and hugs always ♥️xxxx
Thanks for this lovely post Susie and stunning dreamlike photos, the honesty in terms of what you do and how much! Maybe your car’s dragging under has offset any hellish reservation. There are a few swallows around but none nesting here, and the dandelions have turned to seed but nothing compared the fairy like swathe you show - all good wishes 🌿
I do hope you’re right Mariko, I feel the weight of my culpability in carrying these painful but necessary tasks.
I still haven’t spotted a swallow here I the hill, elsewhere yes but I fear, this year, they will not return. A sadness I must accept while I wait for the oriel and nightingales, who surely will be here soon…
The dandelions have been heavenly though, beautifully abundant in fields and verges alike. Wishes for the world!
Thank you so much for you lovely comment, all good wishes back to you.. 🍃x
Your writing is just getting better and better, Susie. Enviable phrasing, all of life unpacked in words and gorgeous images. Fabulous.
I am so grateful for your presence here Barrie, for always geeing me on to unpack more!
Huge and heartfelt thanks!
I love reading your words. Simply beautiful descriptions of life. I was reminded of the annual castration of calves on our small farm growing up. My father had us boys help and it always made me wince a wee bit.
I should be used to it by now, I grew up on a sheep farm but the castrating of the lambs is and always has been my most dreaded time of year… I wince a huge bit! Heaven knows how this act must seem to a boy? I know my son refused point blank to help… but it is a necessary work so I do it. I have to…
Thank you for taking the time to read this Matthew, I wish you a peaceful rest of your day.
Can I come live with you?! The photographs are exquisite and your writing about the place and memories of your father are infused with such feeling. Truly beautiful. Thank you.
You’re very kind Ben, thank you, I miss both my parents enormously but in all things gardens, my father especially. And you would be very welcome here, I can’t promise yeasty beer though I do have home made wine… but only on the condition you take over the castrating!
Beautiful read. My partner and I live in the Dordogne, and have been afflicted by the same damp cold making our newly planted basil and tomatoes grow a little yellow and frost bitten ! We are easing our way into life here and hoping to buy our first home. Reading you is delightfully relatable, the nature connection and beauty of your photos utterly nourishing 💚
It’s terribly frustrating isn’t it! We have been here twenty years on the day I posted this letter and we’ve never known two wet seasons as wet as the two just passed, it has been horrendous. Over the last two evenings, three more huge oaks have just slid down the banks, the earth so waterlogged the roots have nothing to anchor them…
As for my garden, my father would definitely cry…
I hope we both have more cheery and warm weather very soon Anaïs, thank you for your lovely comment. 🍃
Oh my goodness !! I hope so too, fingers crossed 🤞🏻
Oh Susie, so stunning.
Beautiful memories of your father.
I order you to go outside and pick those flowers that you rush past and put them in a jar in your kitchen. Each time you look at them be grateful for all the energy you put into creating your haven on the hill. There is beauty in the chaos, and the weeds. There is no taming nature.
And you still find time for your writing and all your correspondence!
I have no idea how you do it all.
With love and respect. 🙏
Belated thanks Jo, honestly, I’m not sure how I squeeze it all in either… especially when I wake as stiff and sore as I have this morning… five hours straight brush cutting was definitely not a good idea, and I’ve still an hour left to do before I go and check on my old neighbour to have that dreaded conversation, then over to another friends house whose garden, 10 times the size of my own I care for… and in between that all the usual mundane tasks a mother has to do… in less than a month I will be 60 years old, this level of energy requirement shouldn’t be necessary, and I feel it every day much as I don’t want to! I though we were supposed to slow down when we are older? I must have made hat bit up though…
Sending love back… xxx
Life on the land eh. Busy!! What was your original reason for moving onto your hill in France with all of it's quirky neighbours, animals and gardens? Like something from a movie! Be careful what we wish for eh. Or stop and remember why we wished for that! I wish you a busy or restful afternoon - depending on what you wish for. Jo xx
So, so lovely! Thank you for being a good steward to this place we call home (for now). It is inspiring and beautiful and you talk so lovingly about it, like a very dear friend. The pictures are a wonderful addition!! I love the first of the deer photos-with just the ears poking above the barley. Almost as if he were the lovely friend you were waiting all along for, and in fact playing a game of hide n seek with. *SIGH* Thank you!! XO
Those photos of the deer were a few extraordinarily beautiful moments just before work one day, I was so lucky to have the right lens on my camera and the time to relish such a breathtakingly gentle and rare (usually they are gone the moment they spot me) pleasure.
Many thanks for your kind words and for reading my words Danielle.
And huge apologies for my delay in replying… I hope the day is kind to you xx
Susie, I have been saving this so that I could savour it at the right moment when not rushing around with all the busyness of life. Sad it was worth the wait, reading as I settle to go to sleep with pictures of the French countryside in my mind. The beautiful and the sad 💛💛💛
Very belatedly Emily - I always save the posts I know I’m going to love most for when I have time to enjoy them too… so that is a lovely compliment 💛thank you lovely - happy Friday! 💛xx
thanks for the natural reminders, Susie 🙏🏼
💚 the photos
I don’t know how to do unnatural Darren…
In a city I am lost, even my camera hesitant…
Thank you for kind words, thank you for the 💚