What inspires me to write a post for this blog is most often the simple beauty I come across at Sun Rising each and every day. The changes, brought by the turning of the seasons, the shift from dry to wet, from warm to cold, the effects of wind, the presence of the wildlife, all fill my mind as I walk around the site. When some image is captured in a photograph, it feels only fair to share it. I am aware too that many who read these words are not able to get to the natural burial ground often, and value the chance to see some of what I do each day.
Sometimes those beautiful moments are harder to find. Sometimes the days are long, the world seems to have gone mad, nature itself seems too harsh, and it takes an effort to find peace: my coat drenched with chilly rain, my boots heavy with mud, I shake myself, striving to dislodge the filters of tiredness, reaching to see clearly the beauty of nature around me.
Guelder Rose and Field Maple in Autumn Colours
The young woodland at Sun Rising is now coming into its richest autumn colours. This year, they aren’t brilliant. We’ve not had the deep frosts needed to destroy the chlorophyll and turn the leaves yellow and gold. Dry, bright, crisp-cold days are what bring out the reds, russets and purples; instead, the wet weather has meant many trees are losing leaves without much of an autumn display. Some of our younger trees are also still recovering from almost 18 dry months , from the start of summer 2018 through to this damp October, and as a result they have shed their leaves early.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t moments of wonder. The blending colours in this photograph, from the field maple’s pale greens, yellows and gold, into the gorgeous reds of the guelder rose, caught my eye yesterday. Between trees with leaves still a dark matt-green, the ivory bark of the silver birch with tender leaves now yellowing, there is the guelder rose with its shamelessly rich burgundy. Its scarlet viburnum berries, the rose hips and deep red apples, all offer moments to pause and gaze, to breathe and remember: even in the madness of this world, there is beauty.
