Week 5
Backlit things; new trees in the park; a cloud
Hello! I will admit straight off that I’ve been a little lost for what to tell you this week, mainly because I went away - more of that later - and so haven’t done my usual long dog walks, and I realise that this is where I spot most little changes.
Before we get down to usual business… I did a little self-congratulatory but last week about us having ‘done the worst bit’, and then I saw this…which made me laugh…
I don’t quite feel that way about February because…light! Shoots! But yeah, it’s still a tough one eh.
Anyway, the drill on these weekly posts is that I tell you some things I’ve spotted this week that really say ‘this week’, seasonal things that are NOW. And then you tell me yours. I kick off with a little round up of your previous week’s comments, which are always such a delight, so here’s your Week 4:
Driving the long way to work to enjoy the sunrises; decorating the front porch with pots of primroses; a bank of snowdrops, and realising that snowdrops have a scent; a grove of trees covered in trailing bearded lichen; hellebores raising their heads; raspberry cranach and whisky on Burns Night; the first big snowfall of the year in Ohio, the damp fluffy kind that clings to everything; noticing buds and even tiny crinkly leaves starting to emerge, plus female hazel flowers, tiny and vivid; repairing vegetable troughs and bird boxes; the clove scent of the native Ozark witch hazel; a flock of fieldfares feasting on rotting apples under a tree; tulip shoots under an ancient elm; buying the year’s first bunch of daffodils; school cancelled due to snow and freezing rain, to the delight of children; the driveway resembling a skating rink; fishing out the thick circle of ice from a frozen plant pot and propping it up on the wall like a small Andy Goldsworthy art piece; Sitting quietly with a hot tea counting the birds for the RSPB birdwatch; celebrating a very late Christmas with cousins, aunt, uncle, grandmother, and sister in a large house with a crackling fireplace just as a huge winter snow hit.
Fabulous, thank you all, again. They are always so atmospheric.
Here’s my Week 5:
Backlit things
Look at this beauty. The light must be just low enough right now to do this in my garden as I don’t normally notice it. This is a Japanese wineberry, a very excellent and easy to grow producer of sweet, red berries, and very pretty in winter as you see. Speaking of which…
…a backlit dog too. I was trying to back away to get her with a halo of backlit fur but she loves me too much and just kept coming towards me…
A cutie
New trees in the park
There was a man in the park the other day with a can of spray paint and a high vis jacket, spraying dots on the ground. My heart sank. These are not usually good things, where a park is concerned. And then when I came back through the next day in place of the dots were three new trees! They have been sponsored and so two of them just say the name of the person they are dedicated too, and not the name of the tree itself, but this one says ‘Douglas Lewis’s Handkerchief Tree, RIP 2021’.
What a wonderful tree to have planted for you, and what a wonderful future gift to us park users. I will think of Douglas, whoever he was, when I see its first handkerchief.
A pretty cloud
I did warn you I hadn’t spotted much... A slightly weird, pretty cloud. Perhaps it should have gone into the ‘backlit things’ section…
Anyway, here’s why. I went away to Stratford-Upon-Avon with my daughter and saw The Tempest at the RSC and visited Shakespeare’s birthplace. Just wonderful! I have wracked my brain to try to find some seasonal angle to this but…nope. Anyway, seasonal or otherwise, this is the room in which they believe Shakespeare was born. I found it ridiculously moving to be there. A really special time.
Please do leave me your comments. And don’t forget to save up your pics and drop them into the chat on Sunday. It being the first Sunday of the month we will be particularly sharing pictures of our ‘one spot’ that we are going to return to once a month all year, so get your pics ready. We love to see them.
I’ve loved the comfort and peace of winter darkness and the cosiness of being indoors when the weather is grim. Just as well, because there’s plenty of that still to come. But with February comes a strong craving for the light. And here it is, slowly perhaps, but noticeable every day. The way the sun catches the branches and the buds. It looks different now. The beginning of something. It makes me very happy.
We had two seasonal events this week. Our local orchard held its annual wassail which is always good fun (and so nice to drink hot apple juice in a field) and we had our traditional (to me and my immediate family) fondue to celebrate imbolc. Also! When I pick the kids up from after school club I am noticing that we are in the trail end of dusk now so the days are slowly but surely getting longer