Abstract Landscape Painter.  Rural Dweller.  Lover of Modernist Art and Design.

4 May

Two Orange Tip butterflies are nosing the white flowers of a patch of nettles, and from the grassy path ahead, a Skipper rises up and alights on a clod in the newly cultivated field.  It all but disappears against the pale, brown earth.  Three Small Whites ripple down the line of cowslips as we walk, and a Peacock butterfly seems so enamoured with Millie that, at one point, I think that it is going to land on her head!  The heat is bringing out the butterflies and, I notice, the small mauvy-blue flowers of the Self-Heal - a contrast to the vivid dandelion yellow.

At a high point along the path, I stop and sit down.  It is a step above the field margin, and thus provides a ready seat.  The air is perfectly still.  It is silent, save for the “hummm” of bees and flies, going about their business.  I gaze into the hazy distance, watch the flight patterns of birds and absorb the warmth of the afternoon sun.  I can feel it soaking into my bones.  Millie snuffles about in the grass – eating dandelions and rabbit droppings, if truth be told.  The peace is welcome and therapeutic.

As we reach the first dwellings, on our way back along the lane, the smell of a barbecue scents the evening air – the first outdoor cooking of the year has begun.

All text & images ©2018 Carol Saunderson

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