Acoustic ....

.... beautiful music by English singer songwriter Ben Howard.

This is "Promise" from his debut album 'Every Kingdom'
It starts only with the sound of falling rain, but be patient and enjoy ...

"Promise"

And meet me there, bundles of flowers,

We wait through the hours of cold

Winter shall howl at the walls,

Tearing down doors of time.

Shelter as we go...

And promise me this:

You’ll wait for me only,

Scared of the lonely arms.

Surface, far below these words

And maybe, just maybe I’ll come home

Who am I, darling to you?

Who am I?

Gonna tell you stories of mine

Who am I?

Who am I, darling for you?

Who am I?

Gonna be a burden in time, lonely

Who am I, to you?

Who am I, darling for you?

Who am I?

Going to be a burden

Who am I, darling to you?

Who am I?

I come alone here

I come alone here

AMx

Snowing ....

Almost Easter and it is snowing here in the UK - at least in my bit of it at any rate. So no White Christmas but maybe we can dream of a "White Easter"....

White Easter

Frozen feathers
Fall from leaden skies,
Trees like lace
Each tiny twig enrobed in white.
Birdsong hushed,
Our footfalls, muffled,
Tread with care
The icy pathways of the town.
Flowers dream, as we,
Of warmer days,
Sun dappled grass,
And hang their heads to wait awhile
Beneath the snow.

Amararti

AMx 

End of term ....

Lunch at Hodges

 

Happy days ...

AMx 

Petit d' ....

.... from Carrefour in Bedouin, along with the ingredients to make salade Niscoise later ... tuna, eggs, green beans, potatoes and lettuce.

Temps Perdu ....

Je suis à la recherche ....

AMx
L'isle-sur-la-Sorgue, September 2011

Łazienki Park

Beneath the trees ....

I held your hand

The path before us straight,

Sun dappled,

Seemed unending.

Beneath the trees ....

We walked,

Thoughts and fingers

Intertwined,

Step matched to step.

Beneath the trees ....

We spoke

Our shared dreams,

And whispered promises.

Beneath the trees ....

Your fingers slipped my grasp.

As the path turned to shadow

I walked a pace behind.

Beneath the trees ....

I followed

As darkness fell between us

Our thoughts unspoken

In the silence

Beneath the trees ....

Amararti, June 2011

Highworth May Day ....

After the excitement of yesterday's Royal Wedding, today saw Highworth's May Day celebrations kick off with an "Elizabethan Day" a medieval market, maypole dancing, mummers, morris men, pig and ox roast ...

The most well known symbol of May Day merrymaking is the Maypole. During the medieval period it was traditional for the adults to go to the woods on May Eve where they spent the night in pleasant pastimes. At dawn the following day they returned bringing with them branches of trees, particularly hawthorn, which they used to decorate the door of each house, believing that this would bring good luck and fertility for the coming year. Geoffrey Chaucer refers to this maying in his 'Knight's Tale'.

Morris Men in the Market Square

But the highlight of the morning was the bringing home of the maypole. Drawn by oxen, with nosegays of flowers on their horns, it would be decorated with fresch garlands and greenery, flowers and sometimes ribbons and set up to become the focal point for the celebrations. With great joy and merriment people danced round it, but not plaiting ribbons as in the modern revival. In the earlier form, they either held hands in a ring, danced solo in a circle or wove in and out in a circle and there are reports of people kissing each other as they met.

Maypoles were banned under Cromwell but were brought back with great enthusiasm after the restoration of Charles II. Pepys described the beginning of King Charles' reign as "The happiest May Day that hath been many a year in England".

Uffington White Horse atop the Maypole

A local story of the Highworth area has it that nearby Longcot's maypole was greatly envied by the inhabitants of the surrounding villages in the Vale and that it was stolen one night by a group of Ashbury lads who erected it in front of the Crown Inn. It was stolen from them in turn by the men of Uffington and then in turn by the men of Lambourn, not without a fight breaking out in which boiling water was used by the Uffington men. Parson Watts of Uffington, was so horrified at this that he ordered that the maypole should be cut up into small pieces and the wood given to the poor at Christmas.