Tag: Gill Henwood

Let it glow

Glow Festival, Harlow Carr. photo by Gill Henwood

Let it Glow! Enjoy an unmissable after-dark spectacle of lights at RHS Gardens this festive season

Winter needn’t be doom and gloom. The snow can be a hazard for travellers and people living alone or in isolated places but it also brings its own beauty and even quietness.
The Royal Horticultural Society at its 5 Gardens, Wisley, Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall, Bridgewater, Rosemoor are brightening the winter evenings with ‘Glow’ Festivals.
Light displays around the gardens and illuminations on and in trees bring a magical beauty. A reminder that light arrangements penetrate the winter cold and gloom. In frosty (even snowy!) weather the combination with coloured lights is, for many of us, a cheerfulness which delights.
(Sorry if you don’t agree!!)

The photo above was taken by my friend Gill Henwood at a visit to the Glow Festival at Harlow Carr Garden, near Harrogate, Yorkshire. There are variable dates at the Gardens, some not ending until 30th December. If you live nearby any of the gardens, look up the Royal Horticultural Society website for further details.

Meanwhile, my friend Heather Upfield has sent me a photo, from the West Coast of Scotland,
of her garden and trees beyond, clothed in snow and breathing tranquility. So peaceful!

Both photos are aspects of Advent.
The expectation of Light from God coming into the world, and the quietness and gentleness with which, in the birth of Jesus, He does it.

[Mr G. 3rd December 2023]

Moonbow portent

photo: Gill Henwood

Lunar Halo
A ring around the Moon was seen over the skies on Saturday evening
The phenomenon is caused by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.
Gill Henwood took these photos of the moon over Cumbrian skies.
Here, on the cusp of the Advent season, on the day which is sometimes called ‘Stir up’ Sunday, she offers this reflection to stir-up our thoughts towards the Christmas season ahead. It centres on the journey of the Magi who visited the infant Jesus, prompted by a bright portent in the night skies.

Pondering a moonbow
The Eve of Stir-up Sunday.

Through a mist, I am known

Tarn Hows, Lake district,Cumbria. Photographed by Gill Henwood in the early morning mist.

Poem and photographs. by Gill,open up the opportunity to weave your own thoughts into the experience of the mist shrouding Tarn Hows, one of the beauty spots of the Lake District. St Paul is painting a picture of love and its fulfillment in the Love of God. Our understanding of love, as powerful as it may be,is but a view through the mist in comparison to the brightness of God’s love for us. It may be that, circumstances in our lives might not suggest a brighter vision right now. Our world in many places is shrouded with mist and darkness. The photos suggest a way through as the scenes are charged with expectancy and promise. You might see a deeper joy about to reveal itself to you. Whatever you make of these photos and Gill’s words, please try and take to heart the line, ‘I am known’.
You are known to God. That knowledge is expressed in God’s arms around you; God’s love for you.
No matter how you see it or feel it, it is real.

[poem & photos by Gill Henwood.]

Beech in Autumn

Beech Tree, Lake District, photographed by Gill Henwood

My friend Gill has sent me this wonderfully autumnal photo and poem.

Beech in Autumn

Fallen beech leaves,
copper shining with rain,
carpeting the grey slate with burnished glow
of the changing season

As the tree sheds her leaves after another year,
her bare skeleton speaks of hope and renewal:
that one day, after the cold frosts, bitter winds and ice,
warmth and buds of growth will come again,
anew, afresh.

She is over a century old.
She bears witness this Samhain, All Hallows, All Saints,
Remembering.

[Gill Henwood]