This week has been one where I'm starting to look at the yard and thinking 'I really ought to do something about that...' As a result, the roses got pruned, the wisteria got chopped way back, the dead daisy stalks and some other plant material composted. The first crocus is blooming in the yard, and the wild roses at the park (and the ones I pruned at home) are all showing buds getting ready for the upcoming spring.
“If people did not love one another, I really don't see
what use there would be in having any spring.”
-- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
For the most part this time of year around here, things are still looking sort of dark season of the year, but if you look closely, the daffodils are emerging, as are irises and some of the other bulbed plants. It dawns on me that maybe there's a place for me to plant sweet peas -- now is the time for them to go in... but where?
So that's what I did when it wasn't dumping buckets of rain outside. Last night the rain was torrential. It was so loud on the roof. I love listening to the rain on our roof! Last night was a pretty spectacular show.
We got a little snow, now it's time to turn towards the changing of seasons. And Tibetan New Years (Losar)!
Some day I want to compile a calendar of New Years dates throughout the year. There's the Gregorian calendar New Year. There's the Chinese New Year (new moon between January 21st & February 20th), Losar (Tibetan New Year, dates vary but often the new moon after Chinese New Year), Taagaan Sar (Mongolian New Year, also a month after Chinese New Year), Hindu New Year (March 28th this year), Kha b' Nissan (Assyrian New Year, April 1).... Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, September 20th, Hijri (Islamic New Year, September 22nd), Samhain (Celtic, pronounced sowen, October 31), etc.
There's something refreshing about being able to wipe a year clean and welcome a new year. It's not quite the same as a new month or a new week. New months are great for starting new projects, but they don't tend to have quite the same celebratory feeling of the new year. You know?
So, that was a tangent! The seasons are clearly starting their slow change towards spring and with that it will be interesting to see what other changes come, change after all being the only consistent.
With anticipation of new green things & curiosity,
--Susan