Goodbye to January

is not of course goodbye to Winter but it may be hello to the first signs of Spring. Our birds think so anyway!

Then there's
Groundhog Day/Candlemass -- 2nd when I always remember the groundhog we saw at Blue Mounds Minnesota in 2012 :)

Valentine's Day -- 14th -- Steak -- Chateauneuf du Pape -- heart shaped biscuits
Shrove Tuesday -- 17th -- Pancakes of course
Chinese New Year -- 19th -- Sweet n Sour Duck -- it's the Year of the Green Sheep apparently -- couldn't find any of those yet but maybe there will be some on the day ;)

leaves begin to sprout

catkins are out

snowdrops proliferate and crocuses and daffs are sure to follow  -- if not quite yet.

and anyway there are flowers to be had at Wallington and Belsay 

in any season

outdoors in season and indoors out of season

So January wasn't such a bad month after all

And I am looking forward to February -- a little jewel of a month :) and to reading Poetry for The Linnet's Wings which is open for SUBMISSIONS 1st-14th February.

A Lucky Escape

It seemed like a good idea at the time to have this box arrangement in the garden.

But the prevailing wind is westerly and the trellis faced NW so it acted as the perfect target and last time the wind knocked it over.

This time what with all the wind and rain the wood had rotted. The rubber ties just snapped and when Noel went out to fix it he had a fortunate escape. 

He was on the windward side about to put on new ties as a temporary measure, when the thing broke off and fell away from him onto the slates.

And we are just happy that it's the box that broken and not NOEL!

We may reuse the trellis somewhere else in the garden but perhaps wind direction should be a consideration?

January -- I LOVE BELSAY

New Year? -- Oh Dear!

Down with the decorations. Our tree is having one last night before it goes for its long sleep and the place looks fairly bare. And New Year? Well despite all this great advice -- very entertaining book Kathleen :) XX

 

I didn't have a drink! 

I was sound asleep in bed as Big Ben belted out its annual message to just another day. Meanwhile people were being crushed to death over a money scramble, dying of bad drugs, fighting for their lives in hospitals, being born, working all nighters, mourning loved ones, making love, crying out for help, partying and lunching upside down in Australia...

...okay that's getting silly but you know what I mean.

The morning news was a cold awakening. The sad thing is that when we are all supposed to be making merry that's the very time it can't be done which inevitably leads to 

that empty feeling.

Feelings of inadequacy, failure to be in the swim, failure to find that HIGH of Happitude that all the world expects. 

What pressure! What seasonal cruelty we put on ourselves and others to endure!

Sound asleep in bed, albeit not feeling too well, was a very good place to be.

Today confirmed that emptiness when we went to our local little town for a walk and found that a lot of the shops were in the process of restocking after Christmas -- or selling off tat. They had an empty look -- blank windows where the decorations used to be, depleted shelves, staff with that post holiday palor. 

A squall of cold January sleet soon drove us back home and I couldn't help thinking how miserable it must be, after the warmth of Christmas, not to have a home to go to, a cup of tea, a hot meal and how it is that the Christmas spirit drains so quickly down the gutters of a new year...

Let your New Year Resolution be

just a Little KINDNESS every day.