Quiet Day

The begonias loved the rain (so much more refreshing than my watering can !)

and I was caught sketching when it poured...giving added texture, I suppose...?

.and in fact I found the rain refreshing too... We visited Clare Priory for a Quiet Day, and were given a a warm welcome, along with other groups there that day...I found a quiet spot on a wooden seat with centuries old ruins on one side, and  prolific young pear tree on the other...but another nearby tree slowly caught my eye as I rested and relaxed into the deep silence all around...

the tree was old, gnarled, aged...and lots of dead leafless branches hung down in a tangle towards the ground...the white haired lady that looks back at me from the mirror, and who Im only just beginning to recognize as me, seemed mirrored in these branches gathering lichen...mmm... but then I began to realise there were leaves higher up...this tree, like me, was still very much alive !  But it was only as it began to rain that I noticed the fruit...

Rain suddenly pelted down, and I ran for shelter under another tree with much denser leaves and branches hanging down; a really natural umbrella... but only as I was standing underneath it, getting used to the dim light...only then did I begin to notice that under the leaves, on the inside, hidden away, this tree was bowed down with hundreds of deep blue plums...

www.clarepriory.org.uk