At this time of year it is always difficult to judge what kind of weather we may encounter the photo above is from a day in August and rains continued intermittently for most of summer and autumn.
This resulted in our route along the Ise being both overgrown with brambles, nettles and weeds as well being rutted and muddy in places which made walking an interesting proposition, especially for those who had forgotten their boots (again)!
The weather was kind to us with the December sun casting a lovely, yet melancholy glow through the leafless branches. We thought back to other walks in different seasons as we stopped to sit and enjoy our Mindfulness meditation. We allowed our breathing to slow and felt the warm on our faces, we felt calm now the muddy puddles were behind us and glad that our way was easier to navigate.
We crossed the bridge and remembered Allan the Storyteller from our last project telling us a tale on the very bridge in a heavy downpour. We felt glad that we were warm and dry, we felt glad to have walked successfully towards another lunch with friends.
As it was a Monday we had the
Green Patch, where some
of our group are volunteer gardeners,
we had the site to ourselves.
We fed the chickens and ducks in the hopes of finding some eggs and looked at these optimistic little plants
Back in the cabin Carole had arranged our fired and glazed
clay stars, birds and trees. We kept the ones we had
made to take home as gifts for friends and family.
We also wanted to leave a gift
for Sue, Nigel, Vicky and all
the other groups and volunteers
as they are all stars!
So we hung the remaining
decorations on a tree
outside the cabin
to wish everyone all good
things for the coming year.
After we had eaten, we all got busy tidying.
What an enjoyable walk! What a fabulous team!
