Wood weeping.

I am away from home, up-country for two days of meetings.

It’s not all work and no play though as I have once again found amazing hospitality from my friends. I am with my ex-boss and long-time friends, Christine (ex-boss) and John (hubby) tonight.

I do seem to be able to find myself a little chink of light these days while away. This morning, on the train journey here, I found myself feeling hugely thankful for Cornwall. As the train meandered through the green fields of Cornwall, I knew without doubt that this land is truly my ‘land of milk and honey’. It feeds me and nourishes me for the life I must lead as a ‘corporate whore’.

There is so much to see – today I have seen wabbits playing in the field, flocks of geese on the move to their nesting grounds, buzzards circling overhead and millions of starlings chattering away. There are lambs too – even though they are destined to end up on someone’s dinner plate, I still love to see them in the fields and on the moor. Today I have seen many of the little critters…..one was actually sleeping on its mother’s back – I’ll bet that was a warm, safe haven for the little newly born soul.

My senses are on their way up after too long of ‘hunkering down’ just to survive each day. I feel my creative juices flowing and my spirit rising.

My day has not been without frustration – I have attended one meeting where I was unprepared, having spent a couple of hours searching our electronic filing looking for a project file from the last time this particular client worked with us and failing spectacularly to find any trace – seems I was looking in the wrong place. My meeting tomorrow has been cancelled and that will also necessitate a trip back in a couple of weeks’ time. Grrrrrr.

After today’s meeting, I ‘caught’ a coffee in a coffee bar in the town where my client’s offices are and saw this display of chunks of sawn timber. The beads of sap were jumping out begging to be photographed but I didn’t have all the tools of my photographic trade with me so I have barely done justice to the wood and its beautiful, amber sap. Still, at least I captured the moment.

I have a strong love for wood. (As many already know.) It matters not whether it’s still growing……hugging trees isn’t an uncommon event in my life, or whether it has been cut and is being used for another purpose.

Paper – that’s probably one of my best uses for wood, even though there is too much paper wasted in my life. Still, it brings me books and it gives me the ability to write which is all-important in my world.

Fire – that’s another wonderful use of this amazing resource – how I love a real wood fire and how I love the warmth and ambience it brings. How I am mesmerised by the flames that curl and burst from the wood as it burns.

Somehow though, even though it’s less ‘primeval’ and more ‘cosmetic’, I love wood carved and polished so its grain gleams and its colour is magnified and enhanced. I love its feel, its smell and its look. Touch it and it’s warm. Smell it and it evokes a thousand memories and feelings. Look at it and love its beautiful burnished reds, oranges and browns.

People know this about me. Becks and Iain brought us back a wooden box, photographed wonderfully by DM twice now, from their Christmas trip to Morocco. They too bring out wooden objects for me to fondle and admire in their home – dice, dominoes and bookends. These are items of sublime joy. Pleasure in its extreme.

I cannot say whether this wood weeps for pleasure or pain but I know it brings me great happiness. It’s ‘only’ a display in a coffee bar but it is enchanting and beautiful to me. I am seeing things again. I am taking pleasure in my surroundings. I know again, having been sure it was not so for a long time, that I am truly alive.

Tonight I may be away from the things I hold most dear but nonetheless I am experiencing beauty.

Post script: When I switched off my laptop last night, I turned from my spot on the bed in Christine’s guest room to see ‘Dance me to the end of love” – a wonderful Jack Vettriano painting that I love. How perfect to go to bed with that in my direct line of vision.

Last year I was also batheing in the goodwill of my friends and colleagues....but in Princeton!