Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
16th August 2025
Stone Ranger Wisdom
It’s been a funny week. Not ‘funny ha-ha,’ but a bit peculiar. I have felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for pretty much everything. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of having an attitude of gratitude anyway, but this week it seems to have been ‘with the volume turned up’.
As someone who spends a lot of time (and money) focussing on supplements to try and improve my health, and a lot of time (and effort) obsessing on ways to keep fit, flexible and strong, this week I have been overwhelmed with how grateful I am that I can eat and drink – and eliminate it all (sorry if that’s too much information); grateful that I can walk, work and exercise and grateful that I can do all the things that I want to do, albeit a bit slower than I did 30 years ago.
And that seems to be the stand out word for me – ‘slower’. I have always interpreted ‘slower’ as meaning weaker, lazier, and not as committed or passionate, but I am realising that slower can also translate as better, more accurate and more committed.
Strangely, despite devouring numerous times my weight in ‘shelf help’ books over the years, the thing that has brought the ‘wisdom of slower’ to my awareness is my beloved dry stone walling.
I have always loved the analogies in nature for living well and they have taught me a lot. Now, rather rewardingly, dry stone walling is bringing more wisdom and learning than just how to construct a solid, lasting wall.
At a ‘member’s day’ at the quarry near Pontardawe last weekend, I decided to concentrate more on the foundations of my wall and the herculean stones which that involved. I have been reticent to address them in the past as quite frankly as well as being miserably heavy, they are just not as ‘interesting’ or rewarding as building the actual wall is.
And there is lesson number one.
Foundations may not be the colourful main character of a dry stone wall and are often overlooked but they are essential for the rest of the build and the longevity of the wall. Uncharacteristically, I spent all day stripping the stones out of their trench, chiselling odd shapes off (where necessary and viable), redefining the trench and then digging the stones back in, interlocking them securely and ensuring they were dug in so they were level on top, in order to make the consequent courses of stone as easy as possible to lay. Or as they say, ‘To give yourself the best chance …’
Normally I would have just wanted to ‘build, build, build’, but once I had got into the mindset of making sure this foundation level was as good as it could be, I thoroughly enjoyed it and got equally as lost in it all as I do when I build the actual wall. It can get very meditative and there is something very ‘collaborative’ about actually cutting and shaping or digging in a stone to fit securely. And it’s that collaboration that creates a solid base and foundation.
And isn’t it the same in life? It is getting the foundations ‘right’ and strong which will stand you in good stead for whatever is to come. That takes time – in my case it’s taken about 50 years – but is so very worth it. Whatever you are trying to achieve, there will be ‘foundations’ that will need to be established – not avoided, not rushed, not corner-cut nor ‘thrown together with fingers crossed for a good outcome’ but built slowly and solidly and with commitment and conviction.
As the rest of the wall takes shape above these fabulous foundations, I will continue to enjoy the ‘build, build, build’ bit but I will also be confident (and a bit smug) that my foundations also received the time and attention they deserved.
And grateful for the lesson they taught me.
Give Plants a Chance
As the hot and dry conditions continue, gardens everywhere are beginning to show signs of struggle. I have a few shrubs and herbaceous plants in my own garden that are not looking very happy at all. I think it is pretty futile to try and water them back to enthusiasm now, so I am going to err on the side of optimism and cut the herbaceous stock back early so it has less top growth to support.
I will do the same with the shrubs in the winter when I can see just what’s what. A wild fuchsia hedge is looking very underwhelmed at the moment but even if winter rain doesn’t revive it, then I can still cut it back hard to try to rejuvenate it in late winter/early spring. It might not be a technical approach, but I am all for ‘giving things a chance’.
Hormonal Heatwave
Phew. I really don’t care if last weeks temperatures mark the last heat wave of 2025. I don’t even care if it is the last heat wave of the 2020’s altogether, to be honest. Whilst I love the summer sunrises and sunsets, I really don’t enjoy working in the heat any more and I hear lots of people ‘my age’ saying the same.
We put so many changes down to age, but I stumbled across a great podcast last week that explained the connection between women’s hormones and an increased intolerance of hot weather. It’s fascinating. Apparently lower oestrogen and elevated progesterone levels will result in a lack of tolerance for these hotter summer days, and therefore is often more pronounced in menopausal women as well as those who are peri and post menopausal. This debilitating hormonal imbalance is also seen in pregnant and menstruating women, and so they may find hotter weather more exhausting too.
The podcast, featuring Dr Stacy Sims talking with Stephen Bartlett on Diary of a CEO, mainly deals with the hormonal effect on women and exercise and how to maximise your workouts – or just everyday life – taking into account hormonal influences. For instance, ice baths are not great for women (but are good for men) with water around 14 or 15 degrees being cold enough to have a beneficial effect. I wish I’d known that before subjecting myself to cold water dips of around 3 and 4 degrees. Also breakfast is essential for women – for energy, wellbeing and balancing blood sugar – whereas it’s not for men. Why on earth we are not taught these fundamental things – like nutrition – in school, is still beyond me. I’m sure having some understanding of my hormones (and how they alter) would have helped me far more than Pythagoras Theorum ever has.
Since the menopause knocked the living daylights out of me, I have an almost irrational fear of hormones and the havoc they can wreak. So any scientific explanations and advice I can garner are absorbed at an even greater rate than my (numerous) supplements are. It’s one of the many things I remain ‘passionately curious’ about. There is a famous saying that ‘knowledge is power’ or to paraphrase my brother, “Knowledge is like underwear – useful but best not shown off.’
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