Cold chills

Something cold

Something blue

Strong winds

Cold showers

Gale force time

Leaves off the trees

Strewn on the ground

Kicking them round.

Run through the mounds

Of yellow and gold

Reds and russets

Spiralling down.

Crisp and clear

Frost on the way,

Sparkling blue skies

Or raining all day.

Overcast with clouds

Grey and misty

Fungi are found

Surrounded by mystery.

Soon will be winter

End of bright colour

Till spring

Comes again

In showers and bluster.

Roses

The roses have faded and are gone. Only memories stay with you. Perfume, thorns.

The autumn and fungi are here, rosehips are swelling, elderberries feed the birds. Clouds are gathering, nights are earlier, mornings later. Time for spooky evenings, pumpkins and spiders. Black cats and rats. Mists descend, people try and raise their spirits with bonfires and fireworks, lighting up the sky with flashes and whizzes. Now few entertainments will be allowed. Life continues, but a grey boredom faces us. Keep away, keep away, keep away, the bird Sings. Out of the darkness people laugh, hide, drink, get up to high jinks. Fools for a day or the season. As the year creeps on festivals are cancelled, subscriptions to TV channels you never watched before increase. Firms named after rain forests cash in. Work continues but strangely. And snacks to comfort us are eaten. Winter arrives in cold airs and frosts, the seasons turn. Will spring and rose buds ever return or will black spot spoil the days?

Remember snow?

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Six months after this image was taken, and the garden is in full growth. The cherries on the tree are swelling and lichen is growing on the tree.

Life runs in cycles. Soon the height of summer will be with with us. I hope it isn’t too hot. I don’t do heat. Maybe lockdown will end. Hopefully the virus will be bought under control. Only a small percentage of people have died out of earth’s massive population, but that doesn’t make the pandemic any less devastating. Maybe it’s time to think back and remember all those people who have died. Stay safe.

X

Branches

A mess of branches

before they were covered in green.

When air was cold and blue,

when stems bore ice.

When it was cold at night.

It was chill, and the moon shone,

through miriad twigs.

When night lasted

in the cold darkness,

from early dusk,

to late dawn.

Now the sun rises early

the heat rises to meet it,

I wake up late and fall asleep

late,

in the warm morning air.

 

Solstice

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As the year waxes and wanes,

as time passes,

light rises and falls.

Life comes and goes,

hearing bird song, then silence.

Summer solstice,

the world is warm,

but days will shrink and shrivel.

Winter solstice,

the promise of warmth,

locked in ice,

day lengthens, nights slowly shrink.

North and South

seasons, polar opposites.

Hot in one hemisphere,

cold in the other.

Unless, near the equator,  

seasons are less obvious, 

No frozen wastes here.

World floating in space,

around Sol, the Sun, our star,

Earth tipped at an angle,

anchored by moon,

held in mutual gravity

Eternal?

 

 

 

 

The cold is seeping in….

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This is the first day of spring, but it feels like mid winter. Our house isn’t that well insulated and if it gets cold it stays cold, high ceilings means that the heat rises and warms the upper part of the room before it gets to us down here on the floor. The wind is gusting from the north and whistling through the gap round the seal in the front window and kitchen. We had new windows put in, but I guess they were cheap, all we could afford. The front door slams when you go through it because they measured it wrongly, so the top sticks out more than the bottom, giving it a very strange cant.

The North Wind cools the house, rubs the heat away as it pushes past the walls. Out kitchen bathroom extention only has thin walls. It really needs an insulating layer outside, but instead ivy is taking over and a wisteria has been planted at the end. Plants don’t keep us warm, but the blackbirds like to nest in it.

Now I’m cooking our evening meal, the heat from the oven adds a little to the warmth. I could microwave the food, but the gas cooker gives a bit of extra heat.

One day it will be warm outside, the leaves will grow, and we shall have spring and summer. X

Sprigs of spring?

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In months my garden

will be aflower,

floral fancies,

blooming anew.

But sadly now

the sight is of grey hue.

Cold sprigs of twigs

leaden coloured,

deadened stems.

Give them some sun,

some warmth

some food?

Then they will improve their mood.

I wait and cry

with many a sigh,

Looking around

For colour on the ground.

Daffodils and Tulips

Crocus and Snowdrops.

Then Bluebells and Violets,

will stir the air,

colours will flare!

Brighten the world,

set bees abuzz,

and waken my love,

of nature.