Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
Right at the end of the day,
Daylight is fast dropping.
I've got my back to an easterly wind and the easterly wind has brought with it a drop in temperature.
So if you imagine here I am on Dartmoor,
There's the green of the grass around me,
The pockets of deep dark orange bracken and then the orange bracken that stretches up the hillside.
It's all died over now from its summer glory of green and with my back to the wind I can feel the coolness in the air,
The grey clouds,
The light dropping around me,
Dog walkers hurrying back off the moor to get home and I'm a bit out of breath because I walked quickly up the hill to get here and I'm gonna be turning right back down the hill again to go back home.
I just wanted to get a blast of air.
I've actually been out with my family today.
It's a special time of year,
This marks the anniversary of my dad dying.
My family and I wanted to meet up,
We just wanted to be together.
I took my mum out,
We took ourselves off to a place that we used to visit a lot as a child and it's on the edge of Dartmoor and not where I live but we had to drive there today and we met at this place where we've got lots of childhood memories of walking and having ice creams in this particular place along the River Teane and we just wanted to meet as a family.
We went for a walk,
My mum met a friend and sat in the pub waiting for us and then we gathered for a family meal and just rose and raised a glass to my dear old dad.
And as we were walking on the walk prior to having our lunch,
I was walking along the path and there was a robin that appeared and today I'm going to show the photo that we took of this robin that was a tame as anything along the path.
And for me,
You know,
I just feel that nature shows up messengers and for me this absolutely was a messenger and it was dad just coming to say hello and I love it.
It feels like he was just looking out for us today and just wanted to say that he was remembering us too.
That's how I took it.
And today I think is all about gratitude.
I come from a family that,
Like many families,
We rub along and do the best we can but there is a real deep rooted thread of love in our family and connection,
Particularly around our parents.
We've all pulled together originally to look after dad and then more recently now we're pulling together to look after mum who's also getting very elderly and old.
And today is a reflection on gratitude.
Gratitude of connection,
Gratitude of love,
Gratitude for me and my life,
Of the family that I just happen to be born into and whom I love so dearly.
We're all very different.
We have different ways of expressing ourselves in the world and yet we're a family that comes together through an expression of love.
So today is just a reflection on the love of those of past and also the love of those who are still with us and a real gratitude from me in my heart of knowing that I have been so blessed in my life to have a rock-solid family that have very different views and yet we all pull together with this thread of love that binds us and brings us into a place of connection.
And so today is all about love and my request is that you reflect on things that you feel grateful for in your life,
For the people you feel gratitude towards.
Where do you feel grateful in your life and where does that thread of love take you as you reflect on it?
