The winter solstice...
Red Phormium
The winter solstice usually marks the start of extreme morning twittering in this gardening journal. Not because I have cosmic thoughts to share, but because until 11am it's usually too cold outside. But how lucky am I that this is my typical mid-winter's gardening day! Itching to get out, and stuck inside for only three daylight hours. Dear, dear me...
Winnie the dog and I are off for a roadside walk to test the air. And then we will find some colourful flowers, plants, and/or garden scenes to take photographs of. This will be further affirmation of the loveliness of my winter gardening situation! And then, alas, the loveliness will be rather blighted by the winter bonfire. I am still clearing up the hedge trimmings. Aargh!
Wednesday 21st June
Actually, it might be the solstice day today. Is there an absolute time? Probably. It all depends on the definition, after all. Aha! Just checked. The winter solstice 2017 in the Southern Hemisphere, Canterbury, New Zealand, will be at 4:24 PM on Wednesday, 21 June, New Zealand Standard Time. Yippee! Nearly there! I'm not so 'nearly there' with my hedge trimming clean-up. Off outside I go for yet another day of bonfiring. I will start cleaning up the mess by the Dog-Path Garden.
Later...
A mini-bonfire today, because I have to go out to my jazz choir rehearsal. But I still took a photograph. Obsessive behaviour, perhaps.
Winter Solstice Bonfire Day Six
I've just had a thought. You know how some folk publish (for example, on Facebook) one photograph for each day of the year? Well, I could do a series on this current bonfire. 'Here is My Bonfire - Day 32' should be really interesting. During the series you can check out what I've been wearing each day, enjoy the flames (not the smoke), and admire (yet again) the straight trimmed top of the Leyland Hedge in the background.
Thursday 22nd June
Hmm... Woke up this morning in the middle of the saddest dream. Spent the next five minutes re-living it, feeling even sadder, wondering what it all meant. I was somewhere in London (?) and had horribly lost my friends. It was getting later and later, and I couldn't get my cell phone to work. Members of the public I asked couldn't get my cell phone working either. I didn't know what to do. A modern old-lady's concerns coming out of the subconscious?
Winter Flowering Yellow Pokers
And now, an invigorating cup of tea and an egg later, I still feel sad, lost, and droopy. Oh boy! So here's what's what. I'm charging my cell phone. It's drizzling, but Winnie and I are jolly well going to the dog park. Then I'm jolly well going for a swim. After that, I will get some sushi, and buy some bird seed and a bird feeder for the winter finches.
Rhododendron Foliage and Buds
And then I will crank up the bonfire. I will repeat after me : 'I am not lost any more. And my phone is working. I am not lost any more. And my phone is working'... Hmm...
Later...
I'm back. But I'm not going to bonfire. It's too wet, and so I've gone on strike, hee hee... P.S. The little bird love me. They need an easy supply of energy for these colder winter days and nights.
Friday 23rd June
Winnie and I already have been for a drizzly, grey walk in the forest. I've changed my library books. I've lit the log burner. The little birds (and some bigger starlings) are busy flapping around their food ball, and the blackbirds are hopping all over the Crabapple tree. It's quite cold (six degrees Celsius) and wet.
Crabapples for the Birds
And now I'm off to lunch with the Dog Park Ladies' Pack (minus our dogs). Lovely. Let's give Winnie a huge hug and a dental chew treat. She's now lost three kilos, slowly but surely, and the vet is really pleased with her. And with me! Phew!