Spring rains,
From grey skies;
Earth's greening.
Ashley
NB. I don’t understand why my uploaded photo appears to be out of focus. My original is perfect and if you click on the image is appears to be okay. Technology! I’m not coping well with it! It seems to change daily and sometimes it’s just too much! Is it just an age thing?
February; Springtime brings the light, And hope.
Green tongues, Sense the growing light; New shoots.
Mid way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox is Imbolc, a pagan festival of renewal; I read that in Old Irish the term means “the belly of the Mother” (Earth). In Christianity this time is known as Candlemas, also a time of renewal and the returning light. The earth is stirring from the cold of winter, plants are beginning to grow and since the Winter Solstice in December, the days are perceptibly longer.
All my photos were taken at Rowallane, near Saintfield, County Down. It was a day for hat and gloves but every now and then the sun shone brightly. As we entered the walled garden we could see the work already done by the many volunteers who joyfully tend these borders. Whilst there were few flowers there was one exception, Daphne bholua “Alba” (see my first photo). This shrub was covered in wonderful little flowers and in this walled garden the scent was heavenly. If there had been a seat close by we might still be sitting there!
Have a wonderful Spring.
Ashley
#Note: WordPress have once again made changes, resulting in me not adding as many photos as usual and I found it very frustrating producing this blog. I know of one or two others who’ve had similar difficulties.
#Note: my email notifications were filled by someone “liking” many of my posts and as usual WP asks if I’d like to check out this other persons blog which I did and I was taken to a website that shows my blogs but on someone else’s page! Beware of SPAM!
Delicate white blossoms Cluster around dark needles - Blackthorn in flower.
It’s the Spring Equinox, when day and night are of equal length. A celebration of balance, of light and dark, inner and outer, of female and male.
I’ve written about the flowering stems of Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). Hidden by the small, dainty white flowers are sharp needle-like thorns on dark branches: light and dark, beauty and armour. This small native tree has far-reaching roots which produce many suckers creating impenetrable wide thickets, a natural guardian tree from which we learn to respect boundaries.
I give thanks to Mother Earth: in my hands, my heart, and my mind, are all the elements of the Universe.
Ashley
A Different View 