Tag: Lake District

After the Rain

My friend Gill Henwood has been reflecting on Midsummer life in the Lake District, Cumbria.
She sent me her reflection in the form of a poem with a P.S. about Nature at work. When she sent it, we were all awaiting the August Summer Storm christened by the weather people as Floris. The North of England, the whole of Scotland and the Western Isles as far as Orkney are bearing the brunt of it, but already things are improving in Cumbria.
Gill invites us to ponder on the beauty, stillness and calm, which can so often follow a storm. This is not just true of Nature but also in our own lives too. Sometimes we are buffeted about by what life throws at us but God is always near, ready to throw his rainbow cloak of love in a great arc over us. We do, however, like Elijah in 1 Kings 19, be still to hear and know God is there for you.
Here’s Gill’s poem:

AFTER THE RAIN. Gill Henwood

The winds are soughing
In the beech tree canopy.
Sound ripples away
As the waves on a beach.

Lichens reach into the air
Dewdrops and sun
A rich garden
Growing on the stump.

Badgers have clawed
Bark for grubs,
Dragonflies shimmer
Past, in the sun shafts.

Life is renewed
The seasons turn again
After rain, the sun.
After storms, the calm.

And throughout, the
still
small
voice.

1 Kings 19:11-13

P.S.
The dragonfly, emerald and gold, dazzled me. S/he flew on but, having stopped, I looked. Noticed. A miniature garden on the decaying tree stump. Was s/he a fleeting messenger? “Remember, it’s Lammas…”.
The farmer was baling the hay last night at 10pm, headlights on the tractor, collecting the bales before overnight rain. First fruits, in the sheep-dwelt fells: the grass harvest for winter feed.
And for all the local creatures of hedges, dry stone walls, woods and tarns: plentiful seeds, berries, nuts, leaves. A harvest festival is quietly underway.

[Lughnasad is the Celtic name for Lammas, time of the ‘first fruits’ of harvest. (Newgrange website) Lammas is the Christian Festival on August 1^st when we give thanks for Harvest that is coming and offer to God the gifts of the Land.]

Gill Henwood
posted by Mr G. 5th August 2025

Keep me as the apple of your eye

Morning near Tarn Hows, Lake District. Photo by Gill Henwood

An early morning reflection from the Lake District
by my friend, Gill Henwood.

Out early morning, the dogs have swum in Tarn Hows
and we’re returning through the woods above Coniston.
The birds are singing all around us,
in the unfurling tender canopy of leaves and tree blossom.
No wind: the day is rapidly heating in the nearly-summer sun.

A cuckoo sounds across the fells. We heard two yesterday in Little Langdale
… heralds of summer (and danger, if you are a future foster parent bird sitting on eggs).
The shade of the delicate canopy brought to mind:

“Keep me as the apple of your eye
Hide me under the shadow of your wings.”

Psalm 17.8

The peace and calm of protecting shade, the ‘wings’ of myriad mature trees above.

But other wings break into the birdsong (though they ignore them).
Fighter jets are training, flying circuits below the fell tops, preparing for defence,
reminding us that peace and calm have a terrible cost.
Thinking of Ukraine, the Middle East, people in conflict wherever.
May they one day hear the birds sing, the cuckoo call, and find shelter under shading trees.

Till then, may our prayer be with the psalmist,(above)
prayed at Night Prayer, Compline, the traditional offices, prayed at Night Prayer, Compline, the traditional offices.

Gill Henwood.
May 2025

Lakeland Triptych

[Photos and words from Gill Henwood]

The soughing of the icy wind
Snow atop Coniston Old Man
The lights coming on below
Dusk

The misty ridges over
Little and Great Langdales
Still, receding into
Skies.

Sunset above firs
Over the cold, cold sea
Waiting, watching for
Spring.

Gill Henwood ~February 2025

{Soughing ~ the long or low sound the wind or sea make as they move.}

All things New

*Gill Henwood, photo towards Gooseyfoot Tarn, Lake District.*

Behold I make all things new (Book of Revelation 21: 5)
This is a hope expressed at the end of the New Testament and it is re-enacted each year as Spring approaches.Despite the effects of climate change, Nature is determined to keep Planet Earth going. This, despite attempts by some of the human species to do the opposite. But we can rejoice and have hope. The Witch-Hazel in my garden is already producing its leaves on which it will build new growth. Tulips, daffodils and other bulbs are beginning to peep over the parapets of their pots. Things are being made new.

*Gooseyfoot Tarn. (Photo by Gill Henwood)*

My friend Gill who sent me the photos of Nature at work in her part of the Lake District, at Gooseyfoot Tarn, has also sent me this comment:

“Young beech saplings keep their copper leaves during the harshest weather – a promise of new growth in the slender buds along their twigs
The green tubes in the foreground of Gooseyfoot Tarn (above) are seedlings planted among the roots of fallen and felled trees. All the larches were diseased and beeches on the tarn fringe were taken down too. It’s now open, with natural generation of conifer saplings and planted native deciduous woodland.
Gooseyfoot Tarn is thought to be an old duck pond shoot from before the forestation, when Grizedale was moorland. There is still a wide variety of fungi in the soil and wild flowers along the tracks, despite the forestry activity.
The ‘naff daff’ shoots are naturalised old bulbs from when this track was a field boundary. They started flowering a few years ago after the waterlogged land drains were restored and now line the path with jolly profusion! Survivors when much else drowned…

As February approaches, in the Northern Hemisphere, we can look forward to more light and the greening of new growth. Life in our world is far from easy just now and sometimes it is hard to have hope. The world’s political situation is very uncertain and wildfires and other climatic disasters make it hard for many others. Yet, there is a renewal and regeneration which tells us a different story. Below is a prayer which many will find helpful. In whatever way we are able, may we all try to take up what it is telling us about our Stewardship of the earth and our share in the creative process of God.

A Prayer:
Heavenly Father, creator of all things,
help us to realize that we are custodians of the wonderful heritage
with which you have so generously endowed us.
Give us the minds and the hearts to rejoice in your creation,
and to walk through your beautiful world with seeing eyes.
Help us to save the good earth, the stately trees, the dainty wildflowers,
the birds and all things that have no voice to protest against destruction.
We thank you for your bounty and pray we may be worthy of it.
Amen

[Mr G. 23rd January 2025]