Mosses

They said today would be dry between two rainy days, and it was for most of the time but here in the hills grey clouds drifted across the sky and this afternoon, and for about ten minutes, a fine spray of rain fell and I raised my face to it, glad to receive its blessing.

I spent the morning in the forest that clothes the steep slopes looking at mosses. There aren’t many flowers at this time of year but the mosses are bright and green and luxuriant in the damp woods where water runs down the slopes and keeps them wet. I identified several species. Here and there I saw the leaves of wood sorrel which in the Spring will have white flowers with green veins in the petals hanging from them. But for now it is just the leaves, like clover, but a brighter green and sharp with the oxalic acid they contain.

Up above the forest there are narrow paths running along the steep hillside. These were once leets, channels to carry water from a lake to the old mine workings where the water turned huge wooden wheels. These are all gone now and it is hard to believe that this was a place of industry in the 19th century. It is quiet but for the calls of buzzards and kites and now the leets are filled in and make paths for people like me to wander my lonely way along them and feel that soft sprinkling of rain on my face.