Determination and hope
I always feel that there is hope now that we have gone past the winter solstice. Until this week the daylight hours have been getting shorter and shorter by the minute, but that is all over. We have turned a corner, now that the darkest day has gone, and we are working towards shorter nights and longer days. It is only little by little, but on 21st December the solstice sun set here in the afternoon at 15.38, by the end of the week the sun sets at 16.01.
It’s not much, but it’s a start. I remember my grandmother
saying that after the winter solstice the day was a cockerel stride longer each
week. Three minutes seems about right for the stride of a cockerel.
I have made two marks on the grey slate of our sunroom floor.
They show where the sun reaches on the summer and winter solstices. On the
shortest day, the sun is low and can almost touch the far wall. But it will
never get there because, from now on, it will be getting higher in the sky. And, by the summer, the sunshine will be at the mark near the door – difficult to
believe now but it will happen, it always does. The heavens are ruled by forces
that are not affected by pandemics or other such disasters on earth.
The robin on my bird table responds to the length of the
day. He is still defending his territory and fights off any other robin for
now. When I go out to the washing line (sometimes at dusk because I have
forgotten to bring the clothes in) I can hear him singing a weak little song
from the holly bush. Soon there will be two robins and then I will know that he
has paired up and will be getting ready for nesting. They are early nesters.
His red breast always cheers on dull days.
One of my Amaryllis flowers is red too. This year, during
lockdown, I sent for a plant from a garden centre, on the internet. It came
about two months ago and I planted it but I am still waiting. No wonder the box
said that it was called ‘Day Dream’!
I have another Amaryllis, but this one is special because
the bulb was left on our outside table, as a gift, about six weeks ago. It was
in a box, complete with compost and a pot. I planted it straight away and now its
flower is opening. Petal by petal it is revealing a robin red flower full of
flamboyance and beauty. The Amaryllis is from Africa and the name has lots of
meanings but two stand out for me.
One meaning of this flower is ‘determination’ and the other
is ‘hope’.
(Taken from my column in the Shropshire Star)
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