Thankyou for all your positive comments on my last post about homeschooling. I have moments where I feel like I am floundering, but mainly I feel really good about it. I am constantly aware that we are in a very privileged position, with the school letting us work like this. Last week, Steve had a day off work, and he and the Wolf -Boy made a fabulous animation!
Aside from that we have had nothing but torrential rain for the last fortnight. No sign of drought here. The reservoirs are full to overflowing, and the roads have become raging torrents of water. My poor ponies are bedraggled and miserable, and STILL needing to be fed hay, despite it being almost May.
Just before the weather deteriorated, my sister and I went off to Cornwall for a day. We wanted to visit a couple of holy wells and sacred sites near Boscastle. The first Holy Well, outside the church of St Piran, was a sadly neglected place. However, the tiny church, little more than a barn, was a treasure.
We then walked on down the valley to St Nectan's Kieve. I'm at a loss to know what to say about this place. It felt like a truly powerful place, and a very beautiful and peaceful place too, but also entirely alien to me. It is obviously a place of great spiritual importance for many people, judging by the clutter of offerings and gaudy trinkets covering every step of the path down, and most of the rockfaces surrounding the pool. The power of the water thundering through the keyhole is almost overwhelming, but for me, I just felt like an outsider. Almost homesick - I wanted to be beside my own beloved streams and rocks, not these unfamiliar ones. Weird huh!?
Further down the valley towards the sea, are some remarkable labyrinth carvings on a stone cliff face. There is some confusion aver the origin of these. Bronze age carvings or 100 year old copies? I'm inclined to favour the theory that they are of a later date. Up the road, there is a Roman pillar, with a carved inscription, but the inscription is so worn, that it is almost impossible to read. If these labyrinth carvings are older, given that the automatic response is to trace the labyrinth with your fingers, surely they would be worn into obscurity from 4000 years of rubbing?
However, 4000 years or 100 years old, they are beautiful pieces of work, hidden behind the ruins of a little mill and workers houses. Again, these are obviously a place of pilgrimage, and the tiny ruined houses are a fascinating view into the past. Sadly, the mill itself had a very unpleasant feel to it, and neither of us wanted to step over the threshold.
I can feel some labyrinth drawings brewing, but first I was inspired to do a quick sketch from Boscastle.
This is the entrance to Boscastle Harbour. Boscastle is probably best known for the catastrophic floods in 2004. Restored after the damage, it is a place of magic, with a tidal harbour and a powerful sense of wild beauty. The twin headlands made me think of a dragon and a wolf, guarding the boats in the harbour.
And finally, I have two lovely treasures to send you in search of this week! The first is a singer (the talented daughter of good friends of ours). Do check her out - we think she is going to be The Next Big Thing!
And the second is a delightfully rural blog which a friend of mine has just begun. She is an artist, and mother, and pony owner, and a keen observer of nature. Her blog is a lovely, lighthearted look at our tiny corner of Dartmoor.
Em's blog : Dartmoor Ramblings
