Light in February

 

"If Candlemas Day be fair & bright /  Winter will have another fight / But if Candlemas Day be clouds & rain / Winter is gone & and will not come again"     quotes Edith Holden an old English saying. 

Well, well, well - these days we are almost drowning in rain! Yet I am not convinced that it was all we saw of winter, though I would be glad: the Schneekarte hangs on my peg (a card that shows which person has to do the snow shovelling - here in Bavaria we have no janitor, and I could not convince my flat neighbours to spend money on a person who will clear away the snow...) 

On the table of my balcony you see dwarf iris (they smell so lovely), first snow drops, muscari "Blue Magic" (which my computer stubbornly tries to change into "Mascara").  

In February we see that the days get longer and light comes back. The Celtic feast of Brigid celebrates the light - Brigid is the Goddess of Light, bright, radiant and sparkling.  

In a book I found the proposal to contemplate a typical February question: 

'What New wants to grow? What needs light, love and caring?' - good questions not only for the gardeners among us, I think. 

January - named from Roman Janus

 

This beautiful painting is from "The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady" by Edith Holden - I have the facsimile reproduction from her diary written in 1906. 

I adore it - and think it is a good way to start my "nature-travel" through the year 2023. 

Outside snow is falling in little flakes. Nature sleeps, the puddles are covered with ice. This one looks like a beautiful shawl or veil. 

The few bulb plants I impatiently bought hang listless and limp over the rim of their flowerpots on the balcony table - but we both know that they are tough and at the first kiss of the sun will rise their little heads again. 

The title above is a quote from Edith's diary: "... Janus, who is represented with two faces looking in opposite directions, - as retrospective to the past, and prospective to the coming year."