What’s the story? Autumn glory!

I started this week with a glorious walk through Frith Wood. It was the perfect place for me to spend a misty Monday morning, as I prepared to start my new ‘Community Connector’ role in Malvern that afternoon.

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My trusty iPhone 5s has had a busy time in Autumn 2022. I’ve been noticing beauty all around me and my camera has been clicking away in my attempts to capture as much as I can…

From a fiery leaf on the pavement by the bus stop in Ledbury:

…to a view across the River Wye of the Bishop’s Palace and Hereford Cathedral:

Autumn leaves of Castle Green, Hereford:

Autumn leaves of Ledbury:

A magnificent mushroom mattress:

…and back to the autumn glory of Frith Wood, Ledbury:

When my grandmother, May Littlechild, was in her late eighties (and I was in my early twenties) she recited a poem to me as we stood together in my grandparents’ garden on a clear summer’s day. I found the moment so moving that I wrote down the words and learned them off by heart:

O God, we thank Thee for this universe, our great home; for its vastness and its riches, for the manifoldness of the life which teems upon it and of which we are a part.

We praise Thee for the arching sky, the blessed winds, the driving clouds, the constellations on high.

We praise Thee for the salt sea, the running water, the everlasting hills, the trees, the grass under our feet.

We thank Thee for our senses by which we can see the splendour of the morning, hear the jubilant songs of love, and smell the breath of the springtime.

Grant us, we pray Thee, hearts wide open to all this joy and beauty, and save our souls from being so steeped in care or so darkened by passion that we pass heedless and unseeing when even the thornbush by the wayside is aflame with the glory of God.

‘For God and the People: Prayers of the Social Awakening’ Walter Rauschenbusch

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Turn up the volume and enjoy the sounds of Frith Wood on my misty Monday morning in the midst of a passing shower.

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