Jan, I wonder, as does Susie Mawhinney in her comment about what if we had landed elsewhere, but I also wonder about what is it that seems to be calling me elsewhere!? Sometimes I feel like this is not where I belong...such a strange feeling. And feeling that life is too short...do we all feel that way as we take on the years of living ?
It's an interesting thought -- I don't think all the forks in the path *had* to bring me to this bit of forest -- but there was definitely some recognition between the two of us. Following a call to somewhere -- not even knowing where is a twisting path -- I adored where we lived in Wales and had no desire to leave, but I did feel strongly about Brexit and over and over this pull to a forest -- those and herbalism took me to an elsewhere, but a bit of me wants to be in both Wales and the forest ;) -- I think these paradoxical yearnings are very human and perhaps more urgent as we age and have to sift the decisions. xx
Yes, I absolutely agree with you Jan about sifting the decisions. Because I am a naturopath and love everything herbal, our very short growing season in Canada makes me yearn for some other place, like France or England or Spain, where spring arrives earlier and winters are milder. Thanks Jan.
Growing and foraging were issues in north Wales (our bit of it though it was localised) -- not to the extent of Canada, but we were in slate country with difficult, shallow soil. We didn't have to move country to find forest, but the milder, lusher... was a big draw.
"Tracing the threads of an overpowering calling that brought me to the forest" A hill in my case, "to a relationship with a patch of earth that I am not indigenous to, yet experience as ‘home’."
Jan I wonder often about whether these places we have landed upon found us, rather than the reverse? I wonder if we had landed elsewhere, would we still feel the land as so much part of us as we do now? Is it us that has adapted and made it this way or was it always there..?
"At the heart of this tapestry are liminal moments so fleeting that I might have blinked and missed them;" And this, I feel this almost with a desperate panic,... those single moments you speak so beautifully of, they are never frequent enough are they? xx
I love the idea of the land finding us, Both when I moved to Wales and to the forest I had a really strong sense of the place calling me -- right down to the particualr house. We arrived in Wales on a day of horific rains -- saw about 10 houses and nothing was right, then the last one -- even before I got inside I 'knew' it -- and yes -- felt known too. The estate agent didn't turn up and when I phoned didn't want to come out as it was near the end of the day - I insisted and the place was half derelict and he was sure we wouldn't buy it, but it was just the one.
And in Brittany -- I knew it had to be in the forest and every house we saw was outside -- there was just one -- and it had just been taken off the market, but was put back on the day before we were sailing -- it felt miraculous to get to see it and it was just a complete yes -- for all its quirks!
And those moments -- I hunger for them always and they are never frequent enough and take their own sweet time :) xx
My story is similar, the sale of this house so nearly fell through because the agent selling had been told by a friend - who really wasn't in the end - that we were not interested because he wanted us to move closer to him near La Rochelle, I cried for days but insisted that our offer had been the first... it was a battle but we won. Jan, I hadn't even set foot here, my husband found it, sent videos of its unloved and derelict state but I knew the moment I saw the hill it was the one! xx
Such a wonderful story -- that knowing is very deep -- almost like a remembering despite this being a new place. That's an awful thing for a friend to do, but glad it worked out -- really it had to :) x
As traffic both actual and in one's head streams on by there is the possibility of looking sideways to notice the mouse in the undergrowth, the last hawthorn berry , the colour of the sky ...
jan, hat was really a piece from the heart and It was good to be reminded of Derek Jarman again. Can you please confirm whether Calmly by Candlelight is on 28th or, as you'd previously said , on 27th. I've got it in my diary as 27th. Don't want to miss it.!
“Tracing the threads of an overpowering calling that brought me to the forest, to a relationship with a patch of earth that I am not indigenous to, yet experience as ‘home’. “
Thank you for this beautiful piece which reminds me how connected we all are, wherever we are, whoever we’re with. I’m writing something at the moment about a recent visit to a place I have never lived in but feel every time I go that it is my ‘home’, in that it’s my space in the world, the patch of earth that holds me and that allows me to breathe. It’s not the only place where I feel something like that but it’s the primary one.
Thank you Michelle -- it's so fascinating the ways in which particular places call us, speak deeply to us, or sometimes the opposite. I'd love to read your piece when it's done.
Jan, I wonder, as does Susie Mawhinney in her comment about what if we had landed elsewhere, but I also wonder about what is it that seems to be calling me elsewhere!? Sometimes I feel like this is not where I belong...such a strange feeling. And feeling that life is too short...do we all feel that way as we take on the years of living ?
Thanks as always Jan for the wondering path.
It's an interesting thought -- I don't think all the forks in the path *had* to bring me to this bit of forest -- but there was definitely some recognition between the two of us. Following a call to somewhere -- not even knowing where is a twisting path -- I adored where we lived in Wales and had no desire to leave, but I did feel strongly about Brexit and over and over this pull to a forest -- those and herbalism took me to an elsewhere, but a bit of me wants to be in both Wales and the forest ;) -- I think these paradoxical yearnings are very human and perhaps more urgent as we age and have to sift the decisions. xx
Yes, I absolutely agree with you Jan about sifting the decisions. Because I am a naturopath and love everything herbal, our very short growing season in Canada makes me yearn for some other place, like France or England or Spain, where spring arrives earlier and winters are milder. Thanks Jan.
Growing and foraging were issues in north Wales (our bit of it though it was localised) -- not to the extent of Canada, but we were in slate country with difficult, shallow soil. We didn't have to move country to find forest, but the milder, lusher... was a big draw.
"Tracing the threads of an overpowering calling that brought me to the forest" A hill in my case, "to a relationship with a patch of earth that I am not indigenous to, yet experience as ‘home’."
Jan I wonder often about whether these places we have landed upon found us, rather than the reverse? I wonder if we had landed elsewhere, would we still feel the land as so much part of us as we do now? Is it us that has adapted and made it this way or was it always there..?
"At the heart of this tapestry are liminal moments so fleeting that I might have blinked and missed them;" And this, I feel this almost with a desperate panic,... those single moments you speak so beautifully of, they are never frequent enough are they? xx
I love the idea of the land finding us, Both when I moved to Wales and to the forest I had a really strong sense of the place calling me -- right down to the particualr house. We arrived in Wales on a day of horific rains -- saw about 10 houses and nothing was right, then the last one -- even before I got inside I 'knew' it -- and yes -- felt known too. The estate agent didn't turn up and when I phoned didn't want to come out as it was near the end of the day - I insisted and the place was half derelict and he was sure we wouldn't buy it, but it was just the one.
And in Brittany -- I knew it had to be in the forest and every house we saw was outside -- there was just one -- and it had just been taken off the market, but was put back on the day before we were sailing -- it felt miraculous to get to see it and it was just a complete yes -- for all its quirks!
And those moments -- I hunger for them always and they are never frequent enough and take their own sweet time :) xx
My story is similar, the sale of this house so nearly fell through because the agent selling had been told by a friend - who really wasn't in the end - that we were not interested because he wanted us to move closer to him near La Rochelle, I cried for days but insisted that our offer had been the first... it was a battle but we won. Jan, I hadn't even set foot here, my husband found it, sent videos of its unloved and derelict state but I knew the moment I saw the hill it was the one! xx
Such a wonderful story -- that knowing is very deep -- almost like a remembering despite this being a new place. That's an awful thing for a friend to do, but glad it worked out -- really it had to :) x
As traffic both actual and in one's head streams on by there is the possibility of looking sideways to notice the mouse in the undergrowth, the last hawthorn berry , the colour of the sky ...
That is so apt Nigel -- love the sideways glance x
jan, hat was really a piece from the heart and It was good to be reminded of Derek Jarman again. Can you please confirm whether Calmly by Candlelight is on 28th or, as you'd previously said , on 27th. I've got it in my diary as 27th. Don't want to miss it.!
Thank you so much Anne -- and you are right -- 27th -- I'll send everyone a reminder email -- thank you xx
I opened your post and melted. Thank you for sharing your heart and...soul of writing.
That's so lovely, Christie - thank you x
“Tracing the threads of an overpowering calling that brought me to the forest, to a relationship with a patch of earth that I am not indigenous to, yet experience as ‘home’. “
Thank you for this beautiful piece which reminds me how connected we all are, wherever we are, whoever we’re with. I’m writing something at the moment about a recent visit to a place I have never lived in but feel every time I go that it is my ‘home’, in that it’s my space in the world, the patch of earth that holds me and that allows me to breathe. It’s not the only place where I feel something like that but it’s the primary one.
Thank you Michelle -- it's so fascinating the ways in which particular places call us, speak deeply to us, or sometimes the opposite. I'd love to read your piece when it's done.