The Devastation and Beauty of Nature

These last few days, like a lot of people, I have been saddened by the news and images coming to us from Japan. The devastation that nature can bring to parts of the world is unimaginable to those of us who live in parts of the world that are not at big risk of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes etc, and we can only try to imagine the heartbreak and feelings of shock and loss that these people must be going through.

On Sunday we went out for a walk to a country park just a few minutes walk from the house and their could not have been a bigger contrast to the images that are coming to us to through our TV screens. The sun was shining, the birds singing, the buds appearing on the trees as nature comes to life at the start of Spring. Families out enjoying the weather, children laughing and playing and dogs running along beside their owners.

This just made me realise that along with all the struggles and problems of our every day life, we should be grateful and appreciate more the things that we do have.

My thoughts are with those in the world who are not as lucky x

Canal

Yachts sailing on the Flash

View of Pennington Flash

Spring is in the air.

Today the sun is shining and even though there is still a nip in the air, you can feel spring on it's way for the first time this year. We have had a lot of grey, wet and miserable weather lately so decided to take the chance to go out for a walk. 

A branch of the Liverpool and Leeds Canal, and Pennington Country Park are just 5 minutes walk from the house, across some fields at the bottom of our street. Its one of our favourite places to go and during the better weather we go there frequently. So off me and my daughter went, looking forward to that feeling of being in the countryside and away from traffic and the general noise of everyday life.

It didn't go to plan, the route we take from the house was virtually a no go area, unless you had wellington boots on, the ground was saturated and boggy. We did eventually make it to the canal path from another way but found the canal path was just as bad...so we couldn't make it to the park :(. We made the most of it though and walked along the canal going the opposite direction  into town instead (this part has a proper path)...ok, we didn't get that feeling of isolation and being away from it all but the sun was shining , the buds are starting to appear on the trees and signs of Spring are definitely in the air.

Looking towards Pennington Flash from the Canal

The Canal in town

Spring is in the air and ducks seem to be making most of it too