Come away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o
I missed Ailsa’s Distant theme last week, but I’ve just found this photo of Haldon Belvedere in Devon that I quite like so I thought better late than never.
And for this week I’ve chosen the not quite hidden . . .
You can join in at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/09/06/travel-theme-hidden/
I confess I’m not very good at responding to all you lovely people who comment on my posts. It isn’t rudeness or even laziness, it’s just pure overload, full time work, study blah, blah, blah! Now Rommel is an absolute treasure and he pointed out that I asked a question but didn’t listen to the answers so now I’m going to.
These are the berries from a Guelder Rose, or Viburnum Opulum. The bush likes moist soil to grow in and I saw this one beside a village pond in Hampshire. The berries are a good source of Vitamin C but they have to be cooked and apparently they need a lot of sugar to make them palatable. 
These are elderberries, and not good to eat. Many, many years ago I picked bucketfuls to make wine. It was a rich, dark and syrupy drink that wasn’t really sweet enough for me, a bit like cough medicine. I prefer the light summery flavour of elderflower champagne, made from the delicate sprays of creamy white flowers. I’ve never tried making it because I worry about the little creatures that feast on the berries. If the flowers are all picked there wouldn’t be any would there? But it doesn’t make sense to simple Gypsy, because some people DO make it and there are still plenty of berries, perhaps they’ve done the maths.
This is a Cotoneaster, a common garden shrub that hugs a fence or wall and provides food for birds in winter and attract butterflies and bees. They are poisonous and would give you a very bad stomach.
Blackcurrants! Pretty and very shiny, but straight from the bush they are an acquired taste. They make delicious jam or jelly and are cooked with apples in a pie. The best possible use in my eyes is in a certain blackcurrant drink, full of Vitamin C that begins with R and ends with A!
Raspberries are one of my many favourite fruits and of course they are lovely in jam, and all sorts of desserts, especially with my dark chocolate brownies. But I prefer them straight from the cane, I never wash them just pick, blow away any lingering bugs and pop tehm right in my mouth.
So Rommel, am I forgiven?
If you don’t know him you should go and visit him, he’s been missing for a while but he’s back now and I’m so glad, he’s an absolute star. http://thesophomoreslump2.com/2013/09/03/eisa-festival-saying-sayonara-to-the-summer-in-style/
Jammed
Pausing on the edge of night foreboding
Tense in traffic jammed up in the gloam
Hovering on the brink of the half light
Waiting for some story to unfold
Beneath the bridge a sense of something stirring
Waiting hoping longing to be told
Would you give away your family home for your political beliefs? Sir Richard Acland did in 1944 with Killerton, his 6400 acre estate just a few miles outside Exeter, handing it to the National Trust. The estate includes 20 farms and 200-plus cottages, many miles of footpaths and woodlands to walk, and the main house that is open to the public. A walk that has long been a favourite of mine and my children when they were growing up, is at Daneswood, great for an hours pootling. Here are some of the sights in and views from the wood this misty, late summer evening.
I’ve chosen three photos this week, very different ones but all of the sea.
The first was taken at Cape Coast, in Ghana. I’ve chosen it simply because it was taken on an unspoilt beach, that had just a small hotel with hut rooms looking at the ocean.
The next was taken here in England. I think I might have posted it before but I still love it and hope you will. I call it ‘Mermaids’.
This one isn’t a very good quality image but I’ve chosen it because it reminds me of a time when I did somethingthat was very brave for me. You see, I’m not a very good swimmer, I’m scared to put my head under or to go out of my depth. I think it’s because when I was a child someone pushed me under in a swimming pool. But when I went to Borneo a few years ago I had the chance to snorkel on a coral reef and I knew it was a once in a lifetime time chance. I forced myself to have a go and even though I was tense all the time, it is one of the best things I have ever done.
Do you have Sea photos to share? Join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/weekly-photo-challenge-sea/
My Dartmoor series continues with some contented locals.
Shelter beside rocks
grazing in peace without fear
Scotch black-faced ram sheep
shaggy fleece hangs soft and pale
soon they’ll fetch you for the shear.
The lazy poet is as much about words as photography, hence the image is small. You can click to see a larger version if you want. 🙂
Last week my daughter took me to Bishop’s Waltham, a village a few miles from her home in Hampshire to see the ruins of its medieval palace. The buildings are full of atmosphere and set in lovely grounds.
This is the great hall, imagine how magnificent it would have been. 
The buttery, pantry and servery, rebuilt in 1387-90 by Wykeham.
Intriguing little peepways, including narrow ones for arrows. I’d like to know what the curve shape is about in the second photo. 
Amazing stonework.
The Bishop’s tower, where he had his private apartments. 
I loved the shape here and the feel of the stone, each one laid by some secret hand from long ago.
The bakehouse and brewhouse, my favourite part, I think because of the chimney breast, again marvelous stonework with different bits added and repaired over time.
This palace was mainly constructed by William Wykeham who was bishop from 1367. It has earlier history though, with important royal visitors, King Henry 11 visited in 1182 and Richard the Lionheart in 1194. Henry V prepared for the battle of Agincourt here and Queen Mary 1 waited for King Philip of Spain to arrive for thier marriage in 1554. Imagine the ghosts!
English Heritage look after the site and its free to visit all through the summer.
See what a wonderful family picnic spot the palace is! http://sugarandspiceandallthingslife.com/2013/09/02/a-family-picnic-at-the-palace/
Cricket on a summers day is the quintessential English scene, imagine the clink of willow!
‘Play’ is for Ailsa’s travel theme, join in here http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/08/23/travel-theme-play/
Cheri Lucas Rowlands tells us about the basics of depth of field and aperture and compares the effects of using a shallow depth of field to a a greater one. She asks that we :-
Do you agree that my first photo is rather dull, whereas the second is okay?
Can you post some photos that show the effect of changing apertures? Join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/weekly-photo-challenge-focus/
The Dartmoor series continues with a distant view of Brentor and I’ve posted a larger image then usual so that you can zoom in to the horizon and see the church.
Brentor
St Michael’s tower atop volcanic cone
presiding over broad sweep of moor
with expanse of green pasture and hedge
and with barren peat soil to the fore
built on solid granite eight centuries past
you perch on sacred pagan land
with unconcerned remains of thirty nine
lying north to south beneath Christian floor
traces remain of what once was so fine
crafted Before Christ by sturdy hands
no longer standing the ancient hill fort
but in perpetuam it’s ghosts will hold fast
Lucid Gypsy 