A visit to a friend

I had a phone call from a friend from my Uni days recently.  I was shocked to hear that she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer (which had spread to her stomach).  I arranged to go and see her yesterday, and drove up into the foothills of the Cambrian mountains.  It was a beautiful day, and spring was at its best.  Beech trees, roots entangled in the stone banks and walls beside the lane, were fresh with lime green leaves.

I kept driving and driving, hoping my memory served me correctly as my friend had normally come to visit me, and the lane got narrower and narrower.

It was good to see my friend again.  Everything is out in the open, she knows she will die, but is still planning her garden (which is a magical place) and I stayed several hours, whilst we talked about everything under the sun. We laughed as well as talking of sadder things.  It made me realize that we never know what is round the corner, and we must live life to the full and never waste a day.

I wish I had taken photos of her magical garden.  Imagine mossy tumbledown stone walls, masses of knee high Forget-me-nots, beautiful Rhododendrons, Clematis, many many plants in pots, just putting out leaves, a tangle of Adjuga, deepest purple, overgrown ponds, and wildlife everywhere.

On the way home, I stopped to get a pic of these sheep on Llanllwni mountain.  They come in positive and negative colours - white over black, or black over white!  They are Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep.

The wee one on his own.  The usual Welsh Mountain sheep often have a splodge of tan on the back of the back and around the tail, and sometimes on the legs.  This little chap has a bit of everything!

I stopped to take photos along our valley on the way home.  It's that time of year when everywhere is a hundred shades of green . . .