Well after a wonderful day of vocal teaching in Birmingham, at the wonderful Hockley Street Studios with my lovely pupils and the thoroughly kind and charming manager of the studios Steve, once I alighted at my usual stop, I decided to brave the heavy bags I was carrying and the dangerous country road and walk home, as I sometimes do.  It’s a 40 minute uphill walk along national speed limit country roads, through Knypersley and Rock End, to Biddulph Moor.  Despite the nutters driving 60-80 mph in the middle of the road (not only do they not understand speed limits, particularly around pedestrians, they also don’t know how to navigate corners safely on country narrow bends), it was worth it.  As it always is worth it :-) (Apart from that day in winter when I almost got run over.  Literally – never navigating that road on foot with slippy roads/poor visibility again!)

I was greatly rewarded with the lovely evensong of the birds, dappled, hazy and smoky evening skies, (calming :-) ) and delightful scents wafting my way here and there.

Further along my walk, I stopped outside the cottage in Rock End as I always do to admire and wonder about the old village noticeboard.  I looked for the baby collared dove I saw on their fence last time, but didn’t see it.  I noticed this time a lovely, powerful, comforting energy from the stone post in their garden.  I’m learning that this warm feeling in my abdomen chakra means something has ancient energy – it’s been there for a while and has been used or touched by many people.  It has special significance.  I don’t think it’s stone age but maybe in some form the stone has been alive for ages.

Towards Rock End stables, I admired once more, as I always do, the majesty of the rocks. The powerful gritstone that I love so much.  The stone of my heartland.  Dark grey and ominous in that sense, reminiscent of the power of a dark stormcloud – Thor-like… yet warming and comforting.  As I think about it, my hands ache to touch it and… feel its warm moving energy.  Sense the history of the ages.  Feel and see the people who’ve gathered near there, perhaps for millennia.  Run my hands over its delightfully rough texture, like a comforting pumice stone! Yet with lovely, larger crystals.  Climb it…as we have on a number of occasions! Climb barefoot… even naked! Now that would be cool! Some sky-clad time! As I am having now as I write this (haha too much info ) and it’s really helping me to feel calm, open, like my energies are being released.. infrared released into the atmosphere…

The spirit guide with me draws my attention to the silhouette of the rocks in the field, like a wisdom or back tooth emerging from a gum, on the horizon.  The energy has been visible to me in my meanderings and photos for some weeks now and now I begin to attune to what my spirit guide Atreyu (as he wants to be called for this present moment – a favourite film character of mine reminiscent of Native American wisdom yet youth and honour and true honour and love, and that is why she’s chosen it, its male quality as she wants to be a man, too at points, she/he says – channelled intermission there!)

I was rewarded not much further along by something that looked like,but wasn’t, beautiful white dead nettle! I was very excited! And so much of it! I love it.  I only discovered it a few years ago by myself and it’s still very special to me! It represents my first ever attempts to really love plants and find my own path in the plant kingdom, beyond pansies and standard garden plants…Until I read about dead nettles and nettle soup a few years ago (or perhaps it was my green-fingered ex husband Matty who told me about it), I’d had no idea that you could get nettles that didn’t sting.  As we used to wander along the river towards Sarehole Mill in Hall Green, (of Tolkien fame, apart from the mice, possibly the best place in Birmingham to live!) I was blown away by the plethora of different coloured nettle flowers! How beautiful! That a plant I had been taught to fear and steer away from as a child could contain so much beauty, variation and uses!

I then noticed, in the fading bluey violet evening light, a very very exciting thing! My first sighting of the wild carrot family in flower in the whole year!!! I don’t know what it was – hemlock, I suspect – but I am very very happy :-):-):-) I love hedgerows so much! They are the most bountiful, wonderful, mysterious, underrated and palpable spots for wildlife and plants :-) I love, I adore to watch them blossom and I have been looking forward to the emergence of wild carrot plants for so long….It’s truly summer then :-) I so look forward to inhaling those wonderful heady blossoms and maybe even eating some yarrow (checking very carefully for correct identification as eating hemlock, which looks nearly identical, is poisonous!)

Back at home, upon entering the garden I saw some happy bats! Three, in fact! Two were chasing each other so to speak, spinning around each other in a wild dance! Another, that looked slightly larger, was following them!  Santa the cat was sitting in his usual spot, as if waiting to greet me :-) (Or maybe he was watching the bats!) We talked, in cat language, he rolled about a bit to show off and say hello, then followed me excitedly into the house!

Finally, I gazed at the moon in love and admiration, with the lovely dappled clouds beneath :-) Home at last!

And looking forward to taking my lovely partner around our local sights now next week! It’s gonna be a beautiful May