News

So what news do I have...? Not much really. I am as dippy as usual about things. i texted a friend yesterday to see what time we were meeting, only to find it is next week.... Oops!

Today F and I made the most of the sun and went out. First we went to Smokey's for a fry up. This is a local truck stop / greasy spoon and is a very good place to know about. Doesn't look like much but the car park is always busy and in the Summer the queue stretches out the door.

Then we went to godrevy. Godrevy is the headland at one end of the Gwithian / St Ives Bay. The headland has Godrevy island off it, home to the lighthouse and the headland is rocky with little protected areas of sand. Then as you get further in you reach Godrevy beach, home of surfers where the Red River flows into the sea. There the beach turns into the long sweep, past the old sand escavations, now flooded and home to birds, past the towan (sand dunes) of gwithian, past the sand dunes of Phillack, a little village that sits between Hayle town and the sea, past the black cliffs to the mouth of the Hayle estuary. The other side of the estuary the beaches of Carbis Bay and St Ives glitter in the sun.

We managed to park eventually on the headland and then walked down to the beach. We normally walk around the headland but today we scrambled over rocks. We spent an hour and a half exploring a very small area. Those rocks look like they form a solid plateau from above but in reality water has carved channels through them in every direction. Some have been made by water flowing out of the cliffs, others by the sea and some by both. Some run from land to sea and others run parallel. Some are alley ways and others are little rocky clefts and others are almost caves while some actually are little cavelike tunnels.

It was lovely.

Generally my life does not feel eventful at the moment but that is all good. All the thinking and stuff is going on underneath. I am continuing to learn about my Ancestor, the one who fought in the Crimean. I have just read somebodies diary of the Crimean and it was fascinating. i have however pieced together that he did not suffer the full horror of the war, he arrived after the winter, so starvation, bitter cold and Cholera were not a combination he had to suffer... Instead he was surrounded by Cholera and burning heat... It seems he went and raided the seaside towns before going to the Siege of Sebastopol. I now have a diary of the Indian Mutiny to read and then I also have a book about his regiment coming too.

In other news, F and I have finally booked our honeymoon! we got a fantastic deal on a holiday to Rhodes, one of the Greek islands. I guess tourism must be suffering a little.... I am really lookig forward to it and I have been planning excursions, reading books, buying clothes.... and deciding what books I wish to take for the days we stay cocooned between the sea and the swimming pool.... Can't wait!

Castle Connections

There is a hill near here. A big long ridge with three high points with the St Michael leyline running all along it. One high point has been topped with a memorial and another with a folly castle that is now a restaurant. F asked me to marry him on a cold, claer, bright winters morning sat on a granite stack near the monument and we celebrated our wedding years later in that castle.

Ever since I first came here that hill top has fascinated me. I found an obscure track along it's side to a vantage point on it's side my first week down here, house hunting. When I moved here, I was taken my the more normal road to it's top within days. I sat in lectures gazing out at it. It watches me as I live and work.

My Dad told me at my wedding that he thought he had been there before but not inside. I promptly forgot this!

So I was very suprised when looking at old family photos belonging to my Grandmother, to see a familiar building... In fact I found two photos.

This first photo shows my Father with my Grandmother and Grandfather sat in front of the castle on some of the granite stacks. This photo is probably around fifty years old. And so, despite the two photos not looking at all the same, I left it at that. (oh how silly - and prehaps a little ego in there? *laugh*)

This second photo is clearly older and the men on the castle walls are wearing bowler hats. It also says on the back Dad at ****, in my Grandmother's writing. It was nagging at my Dad and he came back to it and figure it out.... This photo is of my Great Grandfather, also at the castle! He died in 1914 so this photo is at least 100 years old and shows I have some sort of connection this palce going back through four generations over a hundred years, even though there is no obvious reason why my non-Cornish family should have been drawn here....

Now since my wedding people have delighted in telling me things about the place... One friend told me they had heard the owner had been given large amounts of money by people from a now defunct base so they could hold completely private parties there overnight. My conspiracy friend has delighted in telling me that the St Mary line and St Michael line spiral around each other across the land and that the St Michael line is polluted and bad and favoured by Satanists. I do not agree, the line is not bad, it may have been put to selfish uses, but that is human, not the line itself...

However....

One night as I was on my way home I was casting out thoughts that I wanted to learn things, to know. A Voice answered and said 'we can show you everything'. Of course I was interested! I told me to go to ****. So later that evening, Little Dog and i went there. It was pitch dark as it was the New Moon. I made it to the top and sat on granite admiring the view.

Nothing happened. Well, not till I closed my eyes anyway... At once there was a circle of shadowy figures around me. And having seen them, I knew who these entities were who offered me knowledge, and power too. They were of Crowley's ilk. Crowley was intimately connected with Cornwall and while he may not have been one of these spirits, they were of his line. Not the sort I wish to have anything to do with. Not my path. not anything I wish to have in my life. So I politely declined and walked away.

And since then my path and learning has done nothing but speed up, but it a gentler, kinder direction, one full of heart and soul, that seeks to work with spirit, for it. Not to understand it and control it. But it does all make me wonder at the exact nature of my families connection with this place.... Why have we all been drawn here? and how strange that four generations of my family have all loved this place, hundreds of miles from where we lived....

For my part it is all about love and a connection to the land and to my ancestors. What drew them there I shall never know.

Peace At Last

So some days don't go to plan.

F decided to amend some plans I had been working on and this did not go down well. I was almost there, after weeks and weeks. Why change it now? Why not weeks ago? I got very angry and upset and fumed all afternoon. Of course it was all there waiting for him when I came home....

We sorted it out. We talked. I expressed myself. We moved on.

We went and bought chips and headed out in to the sunset with Little Dog. A glorious day was followed by a beautiful evening. Flat calm sea, interspersed with looooong parralel waves, identifiable as they headed in across the bay and dark lines, so clear.

The sun set in a purple haze.

We peered over the cliff, at the barriers above the seal haul out cove. And there they were. Lounging. Playing in the waves. Playing with each other. At least twelve. but they were hard to count... they kept moving. They were lovely to watch.

It turned into a lovely evening. It just took a bit of time.

Something to Look Forward to

I woke this morning feeling low and grumpy. I gave F a bit of a time about going out somewhere and doing something today. He eventually agreed and then I realised. I don't want to go out today. I am tired and drained after a busy and fun packed week. A lot of fun.

So what do I want? I want to know that it isn't over. We had fun and did stuff, it just happened that we did two things close together. We have other stuff booked, three concerts that form part of the Eden Sessions. For those I have to wait till the end of June and then again, all three come together.

And I have to wait till then to do anything at all and it seems a long way off. I liked having something just round the corner to look forward to. And now it seems a long way off. We need to do more, make sure we go out and arrange stuff to look forward to.

I want to go to the circus they are having at Eden this year and I also want to go and see the Miracle Theatre Companies Summer production but both these things are later in the year as well.

And it doesn't need to be anything so major (or expensive). F and I agreed to go visit one of the many local gardens on his next weekend off. Nothing so very expensive. Something nice and fun and chilled. Something to look forward to.

It also reminded me that towards the end of last year I had planned an excursion for myself. A day touring places. A day that would only cost time and petrol.... And maybe some parking money in a couple of places. Maybe I should put that back on the cards and have me a little pilgrammage next week when F is working.

Fifteen

Another day another piece of fabulousness....

Today F got an early birthday pressie - I took him out for his birthday meal. several weeks early. I was making the most of a special, off season, lunchtime deal to go to Fifteen, one of Jamie Oliver's restaurant. It was lovely (and really quite reasonable). The restaurant is placed in a lovely position on Watergate Bay. We sat in the window and looked out at the blue, blue sky and the flat sea with the hazy headlands in the distance.....

Idyllic.

Then we walked along the beach and it was so warm. If it got no warmer than this in the sun all year I would be happy. Balmy and beautiful. It is still cold in the shade though and without the sun, that breeze can feel like a biting harpy of a wind. Winter has not let hold of her grip entirely yet. The daffodils are blooming everywhere now, swathes of them along the roads and in the fields.

I like Fifteen, the restaurant of today. They have a nice ethos. They buy local, seasonal produce. They support ethical suppliers who produce top notch ingredients. They take on young people as apprentices who need to learn to put their past lives behind them. they don't shy away from police records, but give those who truly want it a chance to turn their lives around. They have to work for it of course, and work hard..... So Fifteen is a charity. I know they do a lot of local work as well. A school I worked in had a class go there to learn about healthy eating.... i bet they do more than that....

So a couple of years back we visited Rick Stein's restaurant in Padstow. Which did I like best? Rick Stein's was old fashioned, discrete, impeccable service. Fifteen was funky and fun, the service was good but more chatty than fun. Fifteen had an aura of fun upmarket surf. Rick Stein's was just plain upmarket and sleek. I have no idea what Rick Stein does with all the earnings but I don't think he runs an ethical charity, I think he is a businesss.

Jamie's influence on Watergate Bay is understated, the restaurant entrance is tucked away. The building is an old beach cafe that has been restructured with a restaurant on top and a cafe and hole in the wall below. From the beach you would not know that the restaurant above was Fifteen. I am guessing the hole in the wall and cafe are also Jamie Oliver's but they makeno advertisement as such. The choice of drinks and produce showed the mark though. There was also a surf academy and surf clothing shop and whether he is a landlord or they form part of the charity, I have no idea. But there is no taking over and empire building here. Jamie sits softly and easily within Watergate Bay....

Rick Stein however.... Padstow is nicknamed Padstein. He has a restaurant, a chip shop, a bistro, a cafe, accomodation, a foodie gift shop, a bakers and a deli.... All branded. He has revitalized Padstow and given it's fishing industry a boost, but at a cost. His is an empire, a brand.

I can't fault the food of either. I adored both and would eat at both again if I was rich or they had another special offer.... but Jamie inspires....

A Walk on the Wild Side

I have so much to post today. I had one of those days. One where I made up for the lack of time and energy and did all the things I wanted to do. All day.

F was working and I had more energy after catching up a bit on the lethargy from all that overtime, so it was time to take care of my spirit as I had coddled my body....

I went for a walk shortly after F left. I couldn't take Little Dog because this nature reserve does not allow dogs. The sun was rising but still fairly low in the blue sky. The day was going to be a lovely spring day, one of the warmest so far.

I love Pendarves Wood and nature was sure shining this morning. The human element of the walk was a little disquieting though. I shan't talk about that here though. People should not leave those sorts of things behind them....

So let's have some pictures.....

The Blue bell wood is preparing itself in earnest now and the daffodil field in the background is in full flower. I wonder if the bluebells will flower before all those daffs go...


An old boat house on the ornamental lake...

A hole in the roots of a tree. I wonder what lives down there, except for the spider....