Sunday, December 22, 2024

Stark Winter in Hyde Park...

My first stop on arrival in England is invariably Hyde Park, and this time was no different. The bare, skeletal trees with their dark, spindly branches suited my mood and the whole nature of the trip...
The skies were steely grey, reflected in the cold water of the silent fountain...
Everything seemed quiet and pensive, forcing reflection on thoughts that offered little warmth or comfort. However, after a while, Life seemed to take the upper hand and the little wonders of nature, however small and discreet, refused to be overlooked.
Tiny, modest buds and delicate blossom were there to be seen, for eyes ready to look onward, and the wild bird song was to be heard, for ears willing to listen...
Already bursting forward were early clusters of snowdrops, in defiance of bleakness, whilst the monument to the departed seemed less a memorial to royal demise than a celebration of this wonderful legacy left to us today, almost 300 years on; Hyde Park.

Lovely Lichen... In Mount's Bay.

Even on the greyest of Winter mornings, there is always something to catch the eye when meandering along the coastline path that borders Mount's Bay, leading away from Penzance towards Marazion.
Typically, the waves were crashing along the vast stretches of pebble shore with the clattering swash and dragging backwash on the shingle. The wind blustered, sending the seagulls on perilous flight, but closer afoot were the granite bolders, with their striking smatterings of lichen!
Some of these were incredibly vivid in colour, with their bright golden aureoles 'flowing' and bursting across the stony surfaces, as ink drop diffusions, spreading out repeatedly, in a multitude of different shapes and shades.
Others, meanwhile, were more subtle with delicate lacy clusters embroidered on rust-coloured stone or scaling over the weather-worn wooden fencing with feathery outshoots...
With this strange organic shroud, every surface becomes strangely ageless, or rather seems to acquire a patina of age and wisdom, witnesses of the passage of time and Life itself.