A Sunday Stroll

Aisling, at the Quiet Country House, invites us to go for a stroll each Sunday, and to post some pictures to share. Ideally, the stroll would be around my own garden, but since I've still not gone out there to tidy up properly, and since there is evidence of dandelions, docks and other unexpected things, I'm not posting pictures of the devastation that is my back garden today. My stroll took me out around my neighbourhood - as far as the postbox to post a letter and back. It was a bittersweet little walk, because as I set off, I realised that the last time I'd walked the first part of that route had been to take Trixie for her last walk before her demise last September. Part of me had just avoided retracing that path, but it was good to do it today. I discovered some neighbours have gardens that are even more out-of-control than mine. Some have hedges growing right out onto the footpath. One has an old rowboat quietly rotting under a willow-tree, while grass grows up through the holes in the base. My fence needs repainting, but it's still intact. ... Noticing these things lifted my mood a little.

But noticing these things lifted my heart a LOT:

It's whipping around in the wind, so all you can see is a yellow blur, but that laburnum is glorious and I love to see it. The house in that plot has been demolished, but it gives me hope that the trees haven't been ripped out.Look at that veil of creamy-white blossom! Do you know what hawthorn smells like? Stick your nose into the branches below. There's a superstition that hawthorn or Mayblossom shouldn't be brought into the house - but I'm not sure if it's during May, or once May is over, so for safety's sake, I just leave it on the tree!The horse-chestnut is still showing its candleabra with the lovely flush of pink.
I noticed that this oak has grown into a really sturdy tree from the little sapling it was when we moved to live here just short of 13 years ago.

And that even though it's hard to get the paper-thin petals of Rosa Rugosa to stay still enough in the wind to take a decent picture, their scent was on that breeze too. Heavenly!
Finally, along this path I noticed another big change that's happened over the past few years. There's no litter! There are leaves and twigs blown down in the wind, but no plastic bags or sweet-wrappers. In fact, I didn't have to step over any dog-poop either! 45 minutes, strolling in the sunshine, with the breeze blowing... I should do this more often! Maybe next week, I will have some pictures from my own back-garden, but I'm glad I got out and about a little way this afternoon. Hope you enjoyed the stroll!