After the winter solstice, Christmas gatherings we come to that special time for reflection as old year's night draws close.
How fitting it is that January is named for
Janus - the Roman God of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings.
A Time to Reflect & Make Plans
In mid autumn we lost two of our longstanding and founder club members, Ellen Stewart & Maureen Bentley.
Then on the evening of 20th November 2018, Tony Hesketh, died suddenly - “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.” Wm Shakespeare - Hamlet
Our thoughts are with Elizabeth and all the other family members of Ellen, Maureen and Tony.
Now moving forward, it won't be long till these ethereal beauties arrive,
"harbingers of Spring" as described in Wordsworth's 200 year old sonnet...
Happy New Year
"Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they But hardier far, once more I see thee bend Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend, Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day, Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay The rising sun, and on the plains descend; Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May Shall soon behold this border thickly set With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers; Nor will I then thy modest grace forget, Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring, And pensive monitor of fleeting years!"
To A Snowdrop by William Wordsworth 1819