14th April 2021
Below Thixendale Gritts, looking south towards Fridaythorpe, the road drops down to the valley bottom where a white scar on the hillside can be seen. If you find yourselves driving past , pull over and park. Shaded and surrounded by daffodils you will see a memorial stone. It was placed here by the families of Australian airmen and marks their sad story. The plane, I was told by a local farmer, actually crashed at the top of the hill opposite the white chalky scar. The memorial below tells the story.
The daffodils on the steep wooded road from Fridaythorpe remain bright and fresh, shining on the memorial, glowing hope, in these strange Covid times, I drive on. Parking, I set up the pochard box so I can look down to where the memorial is, I start to paint. It is my second visit as the cold easterly wind defeated me the previous day. So I set up, and see three horseshoes on the hillside and notice they are upside down, any luck falling out. While painting, something in the distant fields makes me reach for my binoculars and I see five beautiful deer. Perhaps one of them is the one I saw recently and mentioned in another blog post. They are aware of the tractor in the next field which is getting closer. Eventually, they move away and I carry on adjusting and refining the picture. The wind is numbing my fingers, forcing me to finish again, though not before I add the fence and the blackthorn which is just becoming jewelled.
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