THE RAMBLINGS OF A STRUGGLING ARTIST ON LIFE WITH TWO TERRIERS, A PONY WITH ISSUES AND OTHER WILDLIFE AND BIRDS THAT CROSS OUR PATH

8 February 2013

HOW DO THEY STAY UP?


Walking over towards the edge of the evil Fernworthy Forest below Thornworthy Tor, I was struck by sections of the wall that encloses the Tor that appear to being held up by magic, given the weather they have to endure. Below is the wall I was walking along in context, followed by close ups of the sections that I consider miraculous. I hope you like dry stone walls; if not you may be asleep by the end of this post.


Thornworthy Tor above the wall


Stretching away to the North









I think they're absolutely beautiful. Anyway, we are snow and rain free today which feels like another miracle. Here are another few pictures from today....


Interested sheep 


Thornworthy Tor


Crow....

And finally, I'll leave you with this beautiful Kestrel that flew over me last weekend which I forgot to put in the previous grumpy post. Enjoy your weekend. It's just started raining....argh - I spoke too soon! Until next time...



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18 comments:

  1. Elizabeth8 February 2013 at 19:22

    I'm not a bit asleep --but fascinated......

    Lots of dry stone work in Morocco
    which I love to look at too.
    Sitting round waiting for a blizzard to kick in here!

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  2. rusty duck8 February 2013 at 19:54

    I do love dry stone walls. Some of those pics do make you wonder. I suppose they offer less resistance to the wind - it goes straight through the gaps!

    Of equal interest, how does Thornworthy Tor stay up?

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  3. Bev9 February 2013 at 06:51

    the walls are beautiful. i nominated you for the versatile blog award. :)

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  4. Em Parkinson9 February 2013 at 10:14

    Elizabeth - We're hearing reports about serious weather over your side of the pond so it must be bad. Keep safe!

    Rusty D - Geological magic perhaps. It is very precarious looking!

    Bev - thank you! I don't know what one of those is but I'm going to go and have a look. Much appreciated and glad you like the walls.

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  5. Ragged Robin9 February 2013 at 10:27

    Beautiful photos :) Dry stone wall sequence fascinating - they have a beauty all of their own :)

    We have a sprinkling of snow here again today although now is turned to rain. Looks like more snow tomorrow!

    Hope you have recovered from events in your last post. Brilliantly written!

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  6. thelma9 February 2013 at 12:28

    I suspect the walls stay up because they are heavy, not a bit like the Cotswold walling round Somerset though, which are much neater, though of course the stone to hand on Dartmoor is hardly limestone, or is it?

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  7. ShySongbird9 February 2013 at 12:57

    Living on the edge of the Cotswolds there are lots of dry stone walls near me. They are so intricate, a very skilled craft of course.

    Love the Kestrel.

    We have heavy snow forecast here for tomorrow...of course they may change their minds by then :-)

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  8. Em Parkinson9 February 2013 at 19:23

    Ragged R - Thank you, yes....I am recovered, although I have very achy hands from raking and picking up months worth of horse poo yesterday!

    Thelma - Just a HUGE lump of hardy granite here. The ones I find amazing are the little tiny things perched on top. Amazing.

    Shy S - My partner did a course about ten years ago and now does the odd garden project. It takes him HOURS to place one stone so it looks just right. I don't think the wallers who did the ones in the pictures would have had the time to do that!

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  9. Elizabeth Musgrave10 February 2013 at 22:58

    Fabulous pictures! I am going with a friend to spend a week building dry stone walls this summer. Whether I will then be able to tell you how they stand up remains to be seen!

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  10. Gill - That British Woman11 February 2013 at 12:33

    first of all it's lovely to see photos that aren't covered in snow!!! Dry stone walls are very unusual over here. I would love one on the front of our porperty but wouldn't know where to start.

    Gill

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  11. Em Parkinson11 February 2013 at 14:39

    Elizabeth - I do envy you but, as far as I remember, my partner had a VERY achy back after the walling weekend he did some years ago. Pack your lower back support!

    Gill - I'd start by phoning someone else to do it! They are beautiful aren't they?

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  12. Jenn11 February 2013 at 17:04

    You have a gift... not just anyone could make stone walls interesting!

    Lovely photos, as usual... I especially liked the icy ones you shared last week.

    ¤´¨)
    ¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
    (¸.·´ (¸.·`¤... Jennifer
    http://jennsrandomscraps.blogspot.ca

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  13. Em Parkinson11 February 2013 at 17:12

    Thank you Jenn. I love that little swirly thing before your name by the way....

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  14. Bovey Belle12 February 2013 at 10:33

    I think they're lovely too Em. We have some bits around here, mostly set with a bank, but most tumbled down and not maintained any more.

    Love the windy gaps in your Dartmoor ones - like missing bits in a jigsaw puzzle.

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  15. Anonymous12 February 2013 at 13:19

    Hi Em, thanks for your message. I was feeling a bit pathetic about letting Minty go so your story has been very timely and has cemented my resolve, thank you. I cut and paste the addresses of any blogs I want to follow into my reading list, that seems to work. If it doesn't let me know and I'll figure something else out. Thanks for your lovely comments about my blog, I'm enjoying yours too- so nice to hear tales from different places.

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  16. Em Parkinson12 February 2013 at 13:54

    BB - Glad you like them. I sometimes wonder about some of the pictures I put on here. They are like very bad jigsaws aren't they!

    CT -I do miss riding so much but I relive the accident in my head and how easily it happened and how badly it affected my family. Perhaps one day I'll have a plod on a nice easy horse but, quite frankly, that has never appealed to me at all. No luck finding a home for him yet but you never know. I'll put a link in my list and you should appear on it.

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  17. Gail H. Ragsdale15 February 2013 at 14:37

    Love the walls! What great photos of them also.

    The black face sheep are really cool too~

    Love your photos whether rainy, snow covered or bright and sunny!

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  18. Em Parkinson15 February 2013 at 19:15

    Not sure you'll like the next post which will be lots of photos of frog spawn! Thank you though and I'm very excited about your painting arriving; I can't wait to see it.

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