Gwaith 16: Frost at Midday

Helo Pawb

This is just a quick post to show you more of the cold weather under a bright, blue clear sky that I am experiencing here in Corris.

Facing north, on the path running along the fields beside Afon Dulas

After my Tuesday morning Welsh Conversation meeting at the Corris Institute, I went for a walk along my favourite river, Afon Dulas. Even at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, frost still covered the nearby fields. The village is in a valley that runs roughly north-south, so the sun takes a while to climb above the pine-covered hill and start working on the frost. Even when it was visible, the temperature, courtesy of the cloudless sky overnight and during the day, was still low, so that as I walked, my breath plumed around me.

Sheep cropping through the frost-covered grass

Apart from the frost itself, highlights of this walk included seeing two grey squirrels prance away daintily at my approach; standing still in a field and listening to the irregular dripping of frostmelt from the bare branches of nearby oaks and beeches; and watching six F-15Es, possibly from RAF Lakenheath, roar over the hills and across the valley as they travelled the regular exercise route known as the Mach Loop. As if in defiance to their thunderous flights, after their third pass a red kite appeared above the same hill the jets flew over. At first I thought it was a distant plane, but no rumbling preceded it. The bird rose quickly on updrafts, then winged its way high across the valley. Not unlike the Tornadoes banking and producing contrails, at one point sunlight glinting from the edges of its wings, before it disappeared in the pine woods on the opposite hill.

So, below are more photos from the walk:

Frosted plants in the village

Close up of a frost fern

Frost on one of the kissing gates along the path

Frost on a field

Sundazzle on Afon Dulas

Frozen surface of a pool near Afon Dulas

A F-15E banking as it passes over Corris

Frost on the roof opposite my studio, as I was writing this blog.

As always, I hope you enjoy this post and I welcome your comments.

Cofion Cynnes

Earl

Gwaith 3: Residency Update

Helo Pawb

Yesterday (Saturday, 17 Sep 16) marked two weeks I have been at my Stiwdio Maelor residency, so I thought it time to post an update on my various activities.

My major aims for my time in Wales are writing, language and landscape. ‘Writing’, obviously, means my dark ages novel, though that doesn’t mean I won’t respond to other prompts from the muse. ‘Language’, again just as obviously, refers to my attempts at learning Welsh and finding opportunities for practicing it. Finally, ‘landscape’ means my desire to observe and absorb as much of the Welsh landscape as I can, for my soul and for the book. These first two weeks, I would say, have been successful on all counts.

My studio (Stiwdio Chwech)

Writing

Since leaving Australia, I’ve averaged 3.5 hours of writing per day. This may not seem much, but it doesn’t take into account flight days and days spent staying with friends before my residency, as well my time on Helfa Gelf and traipsing the countryside. I want to build this to four to five hours per day, though when I finish this first five weeks of my residency and go travelling for five weeks, my average is bound to drop. Anyway, in my two weeks at Stiwdio Maelor I have managed to accomplish the following:

Interdraft work (structural editing and conceptual re-jigging): 19.971 words

Draft 3 of the novel: 1,428 words

Blog posts and other writing: 3,197 words

Blog posts (including this one): 3

Haiku drafts: 11

Poem drafts: 1

And, unexpectedly, short story drafts: 1

I am quite happy with this output, though of course my focus, now that I’ve essentially finished the Interdraft work, is on continuing the novel redrafting.

My working space

The view from my desk this morning

My Ancient Britain and Roman Britain maps

Language

Last year I went to hear Alan Garner talk about his work, which you can read about here. On the way there, I suddenly felt a little disconcerted, a little weird. I wasn’t sure why, then I realised I had entered England and let behind the dual-language signage of Wales.

Traffic lights in Corris, because of water works

In Welsh, the adjective comes after the noun

While I am still a long way from fluency, my brain is used to seeing and, to some degree, comprehending Welsh words and signs. Since my arrival at Maelor, I have been to the Tuesday Welsh Discussion Group at the Corris Institute twice and am starting a Welsh class in Dolgellau tomorrow (Monday, 19 Sep). And on Friday I will be attending a Noson Siarad Cymraeg, a night of talking Welsh. No Saesneg (English) allowed. I think I might be listening more than speaking. I have also been practising Duolingo Welsh, an online course, and listening to my downloaded Say Something In Welsh sound files. I’m hoping that I can have half-decent conversations with shopkeepers and people around Corris by the time I leave here.

Landscape

As my previous postings (here and here) can testify, I’ve been out and about in the Welsh landscape, even if my fitness level meant I haven’t quite been bounding through the land. In the two weeks I’ve been here I have had four walks in total and, once my knees recover from the Cadair Idris climb, I intend to walk three to four times a week, weather permitting. I feel quite at home in the landscape and become so absorbed in it that I sometimes forget to take notes of trees, bird sounds, colours of moss and stone for my book. I’ll manage better the more walks I do.

Below are photographs from a walk I took along Afon Dulas late in the day:

The start of the path along Afon Dulas. For some reason my camera was on a Soft Focus.

Night haze above the river

View downstream

That’s it for now. I hope your own works and days are going well. As always, I welcome any comments.

And more jackdaws, for those who remember my fascination with them last year. Photo was taken this morning.

The mist on the hills behind my bedroom

Cofion Cynnes

Earl

Cyfaredd 5: Spring is a-coming in?

Helo Pawb (Hi Everyone)

Over the last week, we have had glorious weather here in Corris. The sun has been out, birds have been chorusing in greater numbers, and buds are appearing on trees. When I went for a walk on Tuesday, I had to take off my jacket, so warm it had become, though I haven’t acclimatised enough to be like the locals, some of who were almost in t-shirts. For a while it looked like spring had finally arrived, but then the rain and mist returned, sometimes at the same time (see short video below). The last two days, especially, have almost made me feel homesick: sun, then drizzle (or mizzle, as my Cornish friend would say), then rain, then sun—like the famous Melbourne ‘four seasons in one day’.

Below are photos from my various walks to show how the seasons have been changing, sort of, around Corris:

Late Winter

Winter trees

Afon Dulas, looking upstream

Frost on fields

On a clear day you can see for miles. View from a local lookout.

Waterfall seen from the same lookout, days later, after rain

And then the mists descend

Some signs of Spring

First buds (on a blackthorn** bush)

Blackthorn** flowers

First daffodils (Wales national flower)

Lambing season, though I missed taking a photo of the lamb
gambolling around its mother

Afon Dulas, looking upstream, with sun-scald*

Corris in sunshine

Or Not

And then the mist and the rain (filmed today)

Whatever the weather, I am loving my time here. The folks here, in the village and with Stiwdio Maelor, are welcoming and helpful, my studio is a great place to work (plenty of quiet thinking and writing times), and the landscape is inspirational.

On my last trip to Britain, I fell in love with jackdaws. Not sure why. They just seem to have an interesting mix of solo and communal activities.

Jackdaw warming itself on a chimney pot

Sometimes I hear one overhead give a single ‘chak’ and other times when one bird is excited or there’s a whole flock of them:‘chaka-chaka-chak’. Here’s a photo of two having a chat :)

'So, how's the weather?'
'Cold with a side order of wet. Don't you just love it!'

I hope wherever you are, the weather is feeding your soul in some positive way.

Until next time.

Pob Hwyl

Earl

(* See Robert MacFarlane's article on nature language.)

(** My good friend Grevel Lindop pointed out that what I had thought were hawthorn bushes were in fact blackthorn bushes. Thanks, Grevel.)