After a week’s break we were back to our routine, the walk. The temperature has improved a lot and the roads are almost clear but there is still plenty of snow elsewhere. We were greeted by many on our way up and down. The weather changes everyone’s mood.
Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering ~ Steve Maraboli
Everyone needs to analyse and understand what makes them tick, like taking a clock apart to discover how it works. Self-knowledge will help you to understand what you have to offer that’s special.~ Rod Judkins (The Art of Creative Thinking)
Thses images were taken during a visit to “The Fallero Museum – or Museo Faller de Valencia“.
In March every year the city of Valencia, Spain is taken over with Las Fallas. Parties begin and massive colourful “monuments” appear in the streets, only to be burnt to the ground a few days later in an emotional night of fireworks and flames.
Falles is a popular festivity that has been celebrating the feast of Saint Joseph in València since the mid-18th century. Thanks to citizens and falles artists, ephemeral monuments depicting satirical images are erected on the streets of València. These monuments are made of ninots, figures that are set alight to welcome the spring on 19th March, feast of Saint Joseph. On 30th November 2016, Falles was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
If you can’t visit Valencia for Las Fallas, then this museum full of the festival’s ninots (sculpture caricatures) is a must. Each year, hundreds of ninots are put on display at a special exhibition and visitors vote for their favourites, which then escape from the traditional burning on 19th March and are added to the museum’s collection.
This fascinating collection exhibits ninots from 1934 onward. The collection is a wonderful demonstration of aesthetic and artistic evolution over time. The museum also features posters and photography and informative videos, which tell the story of the Fallas Festival.
When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy ~Rumi
It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it ~John Burroughs
What keeps earth air breathable? Not oxygen alone. The earth is a freer place to breathe in, every time you love without calculating a return — every time you make your drudgeries and routines still more inefficient by stopping to experience the shock of beauty wherever it unpredictably flickers ~ Peter Viereck
We had snow on the night of 25th December but it was gone within 48 hours. It snowed for the sake of white Christmas. Many of us were missing snow even the people who don’t ski.
On the first day of 2021 we enjoyed our usual hike but there was no snow just some frost.
Fortunately we had good snow on Saturday morning. The trees covered with snow were beuatiful. The temperature was perfect for a leisure walk and a visit to our local cafe. They serve good carrot cake and coffee. The cafe visit didn’t happen as it was closed for Christmas. It may sound odd but yes, in this town the restaurant, the cafe and the bar all were closed from 21st December til 3rd of January. The employees were given Christmas break to be with their families.
It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it ~ Dale Carnegie
Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties ~ Helen Keller
Our walk was concluded with a piece of rum soaked fruit and nut cake which I made for Christmas and a cup of hot chocolate.
The best way to get to know the place you are traveling in is to walk around… and the best way to walk around is with comfortable shoes! Grab your travel buddy and your running shoes and go explore ~ Laura Marano
I love walking because it clears your mind, enriches the soul, takes away stress, and opens up your eyes to a whole new world ~Claudette Dudley
Every path, every street in the world is your walking meditation path ~Thích Nhat Hanh
APPLY WITHIN
You once told me You wanted to find Yourself in the world – And I told you to First apply within, To discover the world within you.
You once told me You wanted to save The world from all its wars – And I told you to First save yourself From the world, And all the wars You put yourself Through.
-Suzy Kassem
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence ~ Henry David Thoreau
After one week we were back on one of our favourite trails. The actual weather decided to show significant difference from what the meterological institute had forecasted and I am glad. We had an amazing experience.
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky ~Rabindranath Tagore
It is the uncertainty that charms one. A mist makes things wonderful ~ Oscar Wilde
We have forgotten what rocks, plants, and animals still know. We have forgotten how to be— to be still, to be ourselves, to be where life is: Here and Now ~ Eckhart Tolle (Stillness Speaks)
There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton
We walked in the mist hiking up and also coming down. Needless to say, we were happy with our decision of going out.
Details about the distance and the elevation. The beauty of nature was boundless
No cloud is so dark that the sun can’t shine through ~ Unknown
Be Still like a Mountain, and Flow like a Great River ~ Lao Tzu
Whole day sunshine is past for now. We are surrounded by mountains and to get the warmth of afternoon sun we need to move out of the house. We do not plan our hikes/walks on daily basis but what matters is the sunny side of the mountains 🌞😎. Anyways when we go out near farms, we get chance to say hello to happy sheeps and to enjoy the beauty and freshness of autumn.
I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.~ L. M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)
AUTUMNAL
Pale amber sunlight falls across The reddening October trees, That hardly sway before a breeze As soft as summer: summer’s loss Seems little, dear! on days like these.
Let misty autumn be our part! The twilight of the year is sweet: Where shadow and the darkness meet Our love, a twilight of the heart Eludes a little time’s deceit. … …
Ernest Dowson (The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson)
Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn–that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness–that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.~ Jane Austen(Persuasion)
In our region the day tempearture is well below two digits now and the days are getting shorter hence it’s obvious that people enjoy the warmth of autumn sun. Trees are changing colours quite fast. A new scene welcomes us whenever we walk on the roads.
Sunday was a sunny autumn day and we did what was expected. We had been on a walk/hike, covered 12 km distance and climbed 600m above sea level. I used 867 calories on the walk. The data may or may not be 100% precise as I use fitbit but gave immense satisfaction. Figures are good when they are in favour. 😜
For those hours we did not have pandemic on our mind, a good change. On our way we met people of different age groups. On this tour our topic of discussion was hindustani classical music. To make our climbing easy we always choose a topic and discuss it. It worked like a miracle, we were not out of breath after covering 6 km in 90 minutes.
After the last chunck of steep hike we got a beautiful view. We rested on rocks and enjoyed it thoroughly, and yes we didn’t forget to write our names in the guest dairy.
The golden trees were not very close to the trail still I tried a golden close up shot.
The whole scenario was quite different when we hiked down hill. There were clouds and things looked so different. There was no chance of photography but I already had enough.
Yesterday we went to see a day cabin on a local mountain. Such cabins are popular hiking destinations in the local areas. People can go into the cabin to rest, warm up and eat packed lunches, a day cabin does not have accomodation facilities. The hike was quite steep but not very long. We climbed upto 300 m above sea level while covering only 1.2 km distance.
The pass was through a farm which is currently occupied by a couple of calves ( though not new borns). I was bit scared as it was my first encounter with such a big animal. It went fine.
The first sign of the cabin
A family with kids was already there but there was plenty of space to keep social distancing 😀
Inside the cabin
Just a view
Dramatic clouds
We stayed there for sometime then continued towards another hike but after half an hour we gave up the idea and returned. The next destination was at 600 moh and we didn’t have enough water and no snacks. My husband insisted to go back.
Sometimes weather decides to go against the forecast and it shows no mercy what so ever. It rained heavily for little more than half an hour.
Later in the evening around 9 pm
I believe the best way to begin reconnecting humanity’s heart, mind, and soul to nature is for us to share our individual stories.~J. Drew Lanham
