Happy To Be Here

On Dartmoor this afternoon.....

Peacocks displaying in the gardens of the cafe at Dartmeet  where we pick at  a horrible lunch...... deafened by the pitch of their cries - mating calls which sound like death throes.

  Walking by the river we pass this mother goat, smiling in her sleep..... and these Dartmoor ponies..... I'm sure the dazed foal is new born -  maybe only a few days old.

The path by the river becomes deep rutted and boggy so we cut up towards Yar Tor. I say, 

Let's get to the top.

   My husband strides ahead - I love seeing him so purposeful.

The ponies ignore us -  they must be used to tourists in their feeding ground.

At the pinnacle, we catch our breath,  sit on a flat rock shelf, drink some water..... and drink in the absolute beauty laid out below us, above us, all around us  - a living gift.

 I could stay here forever on the edge of time, in this clear air...... but my husband says.

Come on, I'll buy you an ice cream.

Half way down the rough, tussocky path he turns back to me, and calls up across the spiney gorse bushes,

Are you alright, darling?

Yes I am, I call back. 

And then it strikes me that alright doesn't describe how I feel.

  No, I'm more than alright. I shout it into the wind. 

I'm happy to be here.

And in that tiny bright moment I know it's true  - for the whole of me.