Life
Some pictures from the garden. Tomatoes coming along nicely in the greenhouse, a good crop of blackcurrants picked for the freezer and some soft evening light making for a couple of portraits that I was pleased with. This collection is a slice of lockdown in many ways; a lot of time has been spent on the greenhouse over the past few weeks; tending to plants, battling weeds and harvesting some lovely homegrown fruit and veg.
I was sad to hear the news that Marc Treanor had passed away recently. Marc was known for his big works of sand art that he made on the beaches of Pembrokeshire and beyond. Marc was one of those characters whose work often popped up on social media and due to it’s nature (the tide would reclaim the sand a few hours later) most people would seldom get to see it in the flesh. A few years back a friend asked Marc to produce a piece for her hen do and I was lucky to be able to get some pictures for them. I didn’t get one of Marc unfortunately. We’ll miss seeing his work on local beaches.
Lovely video here from my friends at Mother Goose for Visit Pembrokeshire.
Lucy needed images for her website and social media but was not keen on having her picture taken. Lucy runs workshops on making chocolate, kombucha and other fermented goodies so we decided that some shots during a workshop would provide a good opportunity to get some nice natural images. We had a big, light kitchen to work in so all went well and as a bonus I came away with some tasty treats!
Lucy’s workshops are good fun and she makes the slightly daunting task of making your own fermented foods straightforward and enjoyable. A relaxing, fun atmosphere, simple instructions and supervision make it easy to get started with fermenting at home. Some pics below.
Summer has deserted us over the last few days but with the sea flat calm and no wind to speak of, braver souls than me went in for a dip at Penycwm. There’s something special about being at the beach in the rain on a still day; it usually means you’re likely to have the beach to yourself and it can seem like you’re the first person to ever set foot there. The rain clears away footprints and dapples the surface of the sand, the sea is pocked with raindrops and wet rocks and pebbles glisten. It becomes a quiet place and it feels like an escape from the world. Not an unwelcome feeling these days.
The rods have been dug out recently. With calm sunny evenings, it’s been nice to spend some time in accessible parts of the coast as most of the path is closed for now due to the difficulties of social distancing close to cliff edges and also due to the Pembrokeshire Coast Path being a big attraction for visitors to the area. When it’s calm and pleasant at the waters edge, fishing is a good excuse to linger there. Similar to photography, it’s a meditative experience to spend some time casting a line and occasionally pulling in something to eat. Joey got lucky and pulled in a couple of good size pollock. I got a couple of tiddlers that went back but my excuse was that I was mostly busy taking photos ;)
The Shed at Porthgain are doing takeaway fish and chips (thank the lord) so we went down on Friday night to eat something we hadn’t cooked ourselves for the first time in a while. It was one of those rare evenings in Pembrokeshire where the air was still but heavy and the sky was bruised with rain clouds that sat overhead. We took a walk around the harbour, skimmed some stones on the flat water and wandered out onto the headland to look at the harbour markers there. Dramatic light is always welcome as it shows off the landscape at it’s best but then a muggy evening of flat light and muted colours is also lovely; especially with a belly full of fish and chips and a drowsy mood.
