Thoughts on a train

I'm on a long train journey today, traveling from Exeter to Glasgow. Right now we're rolling through the Lake District, which makes me think of one of my great heroes, Beatrix Potter: author, illustrator, farmer, naturalist, rural historian, and conservationist, who worked so hard to preserve this beautiful countryside that she loved.

 "I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was a child. What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common-sense."  -  Beatrix Potter

"There's something delicious about writing those first few words of a story. You can never quite tell where they will take you. Mine took me here, where I belong." -  Beatrix Potter

"I do so hate finishing books. I would like to go on with them for years."  - Beatrix Potter

"Thank God I have the seeing eye, that is to say, as I lie in bed I can walk step by step on the fells and rough land seeing every stone and flower and patch of bog and cotton pass where my old legs will never take me again." - Beatrix Potter

"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest."  - Beatrix Potter

Some of the pictures in this post first appeared on Myth & Moor on Beatrix Potter's 150th Birthday, July 28, 2016. Descriptions of the images can be found in the picture captions. For more information about this remarkable woman's life, I recommend Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear. The Tale of Beatrix Potter by Margaret Lane is also good, and At Home With Beatrix Potter by Susan Denyer is delightful.