Summer!
This moving quotation is from an interview with a Russian writer who grew up in Siberia, born of a family which was politically exiled during the Soviet era, meaning that both she and her sister began life living, quite literally, underground, and were later...
Richness on the world
A lovely summer image of blueness infusing the landscape. The hills Lullingford way were blue as a summer sky, a deep promising blue, and there was a richness on the world. Wishing you richness on the world, wherever you are. Source: Mary Webb, Precious Bane...
Pale blue and gold
Spring mornings, perfectly wrapped up in two glowing hues.  And here, enjoy another evocative combination of blue and gold. … the splendour of pale blue and gold spring mornings. Savour also a morning summed up in sound rather than colour.  Source: Gavin...
Begin afresh
A soughing sense of spring surging in the dense-leaved trees.  You can hear the branches, brushing against each other in the dancing breeze, whispering like a wish in your ear, enticing you to begin afresh, afresh, afresh. Yet still the unresting castles threshIn...
When does autumn begin?
Officially, around 21st September, and this year it arrived with the precision of a Swiss watch. But sometimes it can slip its calendar moorings, and choose another moment. I loved this marker of Gavin Maxwell’s. Autumn begins for me with the first day on...
Dancing summer days
They are still with us, although we’re far from that beautifully named, white-spumed ‘maned Aegean’. Eke them out, enjoy each and every one and then bask through the winter months in recollection of them…. memories of this pure sunlight, these...
Of perfect summer mornings
Being a madrugadista, I love descriptions of the magic hours of daylight before the world is up and about. It sets me up for the day if I wake by dawn in summer, around five in June but by now, mid-August, already slipping well into six o’clock. As I see the...
Pardon my barging in
A beautiful, exuberant image of spring as an emotional and late arriving guest or friend, with its heavy showers transformed into ‘copious tears’. Welcome, spring, tears and all. We need them to help the summer grow. ‘As I write this spring barges...
A perfect day for …
Today is a perfect day for it. A deep, crunchy blanket of snow fell overnight, the branches thickly dusted and the ground uplighting the world with the astonishing luminosity of snow.It also reminds me of a shared moment with my brother. He had just arrived at my...
Winter is…
James Rebanks’ Shepherd’s Life is an engaging examination of a working life and of keeping a way of life going in a world that doesn’t appear to value its culture or traditions. Â And it isn’t an easy life either, as this biting description of...
The joys of this world
Many indeed and I like the short list, but even more the loving depiction of cleaving to the sea and the islands in a gentle autumnal light. May your masts spring branches and fruits, but not before you are safely in harbour. “Many are the joys of this world – women,...
Is the spring coming?
This enchanting and energising story is about self-discovery and renewal, bringing together two stupendously spoilt and brattish but intelligent children who transform themselves, or allow themselves to be transformed, by the beneficient forces of nature and the...
The advent of May
There was a time when I could half read poetry in various ancient forms of French, provençal or Occitan, at least enough to have the sense of their meaning and loveliness. This is one I noted decades ago, which is no time at all if you consider that it dates from the...
Buds bursting forth
A lovely description of burgeoning vines, building momentum to burst into leaf. I particularly like the presence of a guardian angel standing by each leaf to help it grow. And note what is tucked away in the heart of each bud. ‘In each of these rose-green buds...
Winter was over
Until I read The Song of the Cid I thought it was just a Hollywood film with Charlton Heston.  In fact, it has some beautiful and tender lines about love, friendship and family, and here, about the advent of spring. In the last month, we’ve seen that magical...Yes, sign me up!
