Can the wind sweep across eternity?
Carrying a cherished loving thought,
Swift and sure over a deep blue ocean
Till under a starry sky turning to sunrise,
It arrives to pierce my aged heart with joy

29th January 2007
A brief few days of frost are now forgotten as the warmer weather returns once again. I spent a few hours in the garden yesterday meandering under the trees with a flat, grey sky overhead that let fall a constant light rain. I climbed the short hill weaving from trunk and bough and stopping at every stately trunk to admire it. So much has changed in the 25 years since these now tall wooden sentinels were slender wands of leaf and twig. I can remember walking around the garden then and towering over them all and yet see now they raise their protective branches above my head and shield me from the raindrops. I envy their vigour and innate need to grow and mature in the light. I shall through the summer months take a walk around the garden and photograph all the trees and post it as a walk. Trees are the skeleton the rest of the world sits upon. We need to look after them.

26th Jan 2007
Long and protracted frosts have occurred during the nights this week depositing the moisture from the air onto the ground creating crystal clear days filled with sunshine that bring the distant vista of the Pennines in to sharp focus. One never realises just how far the eye can really see when the air is clear. I’ve been feeding the birds every morning because of the cold weather. To be honest they seem to enjoy the muesli bound with bacon fat, more than I do. Not sure where the week has gone to (or the month come to that?) Mornings and evenings are now growing brighter once again and by mid February it will be bright enough in the evening to take small walks after work once again. Think I shall attend a garden chore whenever it is dry in the evening and post the photo to show you what I have been doing.

“It is the beech tree that stands for today and yesterday and for all time. Clothed with translucent leafage, or stripped, as now, in suave silvery loveliness, it grows as a gracious monument to the memory of the old beliefs. To this day I find it no easy matter in the depths of a beech wood to disbelieve in Dryads.” (In Greek mythology, the Dryads are female spirits of nature (nymphs), who preside over the groves ...) From a Country Year by Teresa Hooley

Lest we forget that from all the warmth and wet tidings left over from autumn the teeth of winter can still bite deep... (our complacency, but a softest morsel for the gnawing cold to ravage.) The wind has stilled to a whisper and in its stead rushes in the snow, the vanguard of the long, cold days now coming swift from the north. See how fast we can slip from the azure clear daylight sky with its low rays of winter sun into a malevolent evening where the sky dims and bruises to take on utter blackness like a cape of invisibility that then drowns the world under a tide of whitest chill. I for one am glad to be a creature of man, (of science) for naught but a folly would wish to be one with nature tonight. For in January she is a foe incomparably merciless and while she stalks I shall sleep and think of summer.

21.01.2007
Some high winds this week but no damage to our house luckily. A few people died in other parts of the country though. Just don’t imagine this type of thing happening here in England! The cold weather is set to arrive here this week starting today and there is even a promise of snow this morning. It will be the first this winter if it does.
Sunday dinner menu is…
Vegetable soup (homemade) with pesto and mozzarella rolls.
Parcels filled with goat’s cheese and spinach served on rocket with red onion chutney
Roast goose with black pudding sausage meat with roast potatoes and seasonal veg.
Apricot/almond tart”
I might be a little busy later making it all but I love it really. (The goose is free range by the way.) I think I am right in saying that goose cannot be raised intensively. For the immediate morning I shall go and buy a newspaper and read it whilst having breakfast of 2 boiled eggs and toast. Oh and try to update my blog.
Hope you like the sunset picture….

Happiness borrowed to help on our way can come to mean nothing...so they say! With mouths to feed and unfair bills to pay life is hard and we can lose our way.I need a bright tomorrow to come today. The morning comes with a scarlet sky. A warning to Shepherds and sheep...fly! I stir and turn and should wonder why? Yet an angel next to me makes me cry. For this angel loves me and that is no lie

Sometimes I misunderstand if it is love or...
A determination for you never to lose....
That which your heart has set sight on
Have you never thought that perhaps...?
I may love you somewhat differently
Yet equally as valid, whole and forever

The transition into a new year again occurs
To soon have the months flow past in anger
Yet there can be a joy in time’s fleeting steps
The slow and deliberate dance of humanity
Moving rhythms searching enlightenment
That rise to dance on a clear morning laid
Over a bed of snow that hugs the earth
A glint of bright light reflects in my eye
And behold my soul is laid bare and I am...
Whole and ready for a journey to summer

This is a little late for Christmas now ( i couldn't find it ) but it's a nice picture so enjoy

2nd Jan 2007

The New Year is here and it’s all uphill toward summer from here. Longer evenings of light (ok a little imperceptible at the minute I will grant you but they are coming. At approximately 3 minutes a night...something to think about while the wind and rain seems to trammel us indoors. Spent most of the holiday time quietly at home with Mike but also spent three days in the Isle of Wight with Nick over Christmas which was very enjoyable. An island within an island is probably the best way to describe the people and the culture there. One interesting misconception about England is that the south of the country is filled with educated genteel types and the north of the country is full of thick oafs...don’t believe a word of it. From my observation the ratio is pretty evenly spread although a bit more of the state revenue pie dished up for the north of the UK would be good. But no moaning just yet it’s the New Year and my spirits are lifted. Even more so, if I have a holiday in February as we have planned. For the minute take a look at the picture I took on my phone near my house the other weekend. I saw 20 rainbows that weekend and was sure it was a sign of good things to come...i'm still waiting. HAPPY NEW YEAR