Following the storms over the weekend Ruth Brownlee’s stormy seascape is today’s leading image.  From her windy vantage point (on the island of Yell in the Shetlands) she should know what a storm looks like.  Mind you this morning was gorgeously calm down by the aqueduct in Wiltshire. Only the rushing water and debris by the weir was a sign of what had happened.  Ruth Brownlee’s images will be uploaded to the website this coming Saturday 29 October.

 

Getting up early promises well;
a milkhorse on the road
induces thoughts of a sleeping world
and a waking God.
This hour has something sacred;
bells will be ringing soon,
but now I am content to watch
the day begin to bloom.
I would only waste my breath
on poor superfluous words;
how perfectly they wing for me –
the new invisible birds
who celebrate the light that spreads
like love to window sills
as morning steps like a laughing girl
down from the Dublin hills.

Bremdan Kenelly, Getting Up Early

 

 

The dog is not a great fan of storms, particularly if thunder and lightening is a factor. I am not sure he would survive Shetland at all.  It is great to see so many people in Bath and things are hotting up towards Christmas. The last Christmas Market in Bath was a much more ‘spread out’ affair, with lots of local food and tipples to enjoy from one end of the town to the other. Hopefully this year’s edition will be the same. Meanwhile Helen Simmonds continues to woo visitors to the gallery.

 

 

For the present there is just one moon,
though every level pond gives back another.

But the bright disc shining in the black lagoon,
perceived by astrophysicist and lover,

is milliseconds old. And even that light’s
seven minutes older than its source.

And the stars we think we see on moonless nights
are long extinguished. And, of course,

this very moment, as you read this line,
is literally gone before you know it.

Forget the here-and-now. We have no time
but this device of wantonness and wit.

Make me this present then: your hand in mine,
and we’ll live out our lives in it.

The Present, by Michael Donaghy

Bath’s surroundings are glorious at this time of year.  Sancho Panza and I stopped to take a breath on Iford Bridge, over the river Frome. I admired this view of one section of the garden at Iford Manor while the dog secured the area in search of a crust or two left by walkers.

 

We did meet other dogs, even a spaniel or two..

 

 

Regards,
Aidan Quinn