real gone

 

 

an early morning walk

in the early morning sun

in an early morning village

in an early morning world

 

and the sky is warm and high

and the grass has grown fast

and the sun is shining brightly

on a day that's green-cut cast

 

the field is cut

the hay is baled

and soon it goes from view

a memory as time flows past

of where the grass once grew.

 

 

 

 

   

the ghost of christmas past

We return to Packwood House just a few weeks after our last visit. This time we've come to see the House decorated as it would have been for Christmas 1918 at the end of the First World War.

The simplicity of the decoration stands in sharp contrast to the excess of modern-day Christmas. It stands as a poignant reminder of when duty, service and honour stared in the face of the apocalyptic horror of trench warfare.

 

 
Outside, the Kitchen Garden is empty save for a solitary volunteer tending to a border. She too departs leaving us to contemplate the ethereal beauty of nature as it begins its winter rest.