Wednesday 3rd January 2024 - Anything Village Related and Signs of Spring

I started this year’s blogs with villager, Glo Begley’s, interesting article about the village defibrillator.  If anyone has anything they would like me to publish, that is village related and which could not be interpreted as libelous, I will be happy to consider publishing it.

Before I start today’s blog, I first want to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year.

With Christmas and New Year celebrations over, January and February can be an anticlimax, especially as we will probably have, the worst of the winter’s weather to come.  As for me, once into a new year, I start looking for signs of spring and there are already some in our garden.  The bluebell’s foliage is showing (it has been for a few weeks), as are the daffodils and other spring bulbs.  Today I noticed the witch hazel flowers are opening and the buds on our helleborus are starting to unfurl.  Keeping in the spirit of things to come, last week I planted onion and shallot seeds in trays and on New Years Day, I added to these, two varieties of peppers and tomato seeds.  The days are gradually getting longer with a few more minutes of light at each end of the day.  This will encourage new growths both in the garden as well as in the hedgerows and fields.  I’m really looking forward to being able to sit in the garden with my morning mug of coffee; even if it's only for a short while.  Until such time, I have plenty of winter tasks awaiting my attention indoors and after all the cooking, in preparation for Christmas, the kitchen would definitely benefit from a bit of an early spring clean.

I have a couple of photos today.  The first, which I didn’t fit in last year, is of the sunset which greeted our family as they arrived in the village for the holidays on Saturday 23rd December and the second, the beginning of the first sunrise of 2024, lighting the sky as the sun started to creep above the headland.  Two definite contrasts – and end of a day and the start of another, as well as the beginning of a new year.