DECEMBER - "And ye, beneath life's crushing load..."
...whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!"
Edmund Sears - reflecting on war and peace
Today, Friday 20th, is a classic December day - the sort without snow or frost. Yes, it's cold, 5°c, but not that cold! Having just returned from walking the dogs, I'm ready for my cup of tea! That moment when I sit down in the kitchen, kick off my boots and wiggle my toes before exchanging the boots for shoes is sublime! Especially on a December morning! Someone said that there is no unsuitable weather for walking - just unsuitable clothing. True - yet - and here's a big yet - a walk is less tempting on a dreich day! I'm on the dog-walking rota here so I feel a sense of duty rather than pleasure on such days. No point in pretending - the electrifying moment between boots and shoes and the sense of obligation rather than excitement that precedes a dreich day's dog walk are signs of my times!!!!!
One thing that never changes, however, no matter how the years take their toll, is that feeling of belonging to the land. With a history of big skies, open country reclaimed from marshland and the certainty that one can expect the fertile land to produce a harvest, it is a given that I am as happy to be a part of the countryside as I am to be toasting myself by a log fire. Simple pleasures!
Belonging to the land in 2024 has certain subtitles. Belonging to the land and working it until it is exhausted. Belonging to the land as long as the view doesn't include monuments to modern technology. Belonging to the land and working with it to benefit people. Belonging to the land and having a responsibility to it... The list goes on!
I watched, in the 1960s, as hedges were uprooted and wild flowers all but disappeared from my native Lincolnshire. Horrible poisons were used to increase yield for profit - and farmers were, deliberately and unforgivably, kept in the dark - often having no concept of the eventual outcome of this contamination.
I remember the hedge bottoms, between my home in Epworth and Burnham where my Emerson ancestors had lived, as bridal white in May, with little wedding favours of cowslips and red campion sprinkled amongst the tulle.
Walks with my Granny from my grandparents' cottage in Belton, were an education. Granny knew every wildflower we came across and she had something to say about each one. I found out which were useful, which were not to be touched and which had folk stories attached to them.
Then they became scarce.
Progress took its toll on my native Lincolnshire just as the years take their toll on us - should we be fortunate enough to grow old!
The good news is that, for a while, people with an awareness of our planet's needs were listened to - their arguments were respected and action was taken to redress the balance. Our fortunes were about to change.
When I visit Lincolnshire and Yorkshire now I am grateful for the return of old favourites popping up on verges and in meadows. The downside is that there aren't as many meadows. Large areas have been given over to newbuild - but often not the newbuild needed or wanted by so many.
The British countryside will benefit from those who actually live in it - rather than sleep in it and catch the 7:30 to a concrete city miles away, getting home to go to bed!
Here, in the Scottish countryside, we have the problem of depleted communities due to properties being bought cheaply for second homes. People from all over the world buy up the basic little cottages, sometimes letting them tumble down - when they should be available as homes for young people starting out.
There's a common denominator here - and I don't think I need to explain what it is!
Fortunately, our close neighbours and those down the hill, on the river, have an intelligent respect for the wildlife here. We all live as a part of it. We have weather-related problems - but isn't that the case the world over?
We watch the fortunes of the animals and birds who share our little corner of the earth. (It's amazing how memories flash up as I write these blogs - I remember a house on King Edward Street in Belton in Axholme, not far from the little railway station, which had a small plaque bearing the name "OLCOTE" - our little corner of the earth! I've seen it used since then but I thought it so clever when I first realised what "OLCOTE" meant.)
This little corner of the earth brims over with treasure. I haven't seen traps on our side of the wind farm. The animals and birds do what they have always done. Sometimes it is difficult to watch but if we call ourselves nature-lovers then we have to accept all of it. I felt helpless last week when I was working in the kitchen and turned at the sound of a louder than normal thud on the French windows. We often get small birds bumping into the glass, generally just becoming stunned for a while, but this was not just one small bird!
I left my baking and went to the window. The horrible screaming sounds were dreadful to hear. There, in the tiny paved area outside, was a sparrowhawk with a jackdaw. Now I know we are meant to let Nature just get on with it but I had to try to stop this!! I opened the door with my elbow (I was at the sticky stage with the pastry!) and hoped the sparrowhawk would fly away - afraid of me. But no!! It glared at me as if to say, "Mind your own business!" Then, hanging on tightly to the unfortunate jackdaw, it flew low to another part of the garden. I then decided to leave it, seeing excrement and feathers and imagining the awful injuries to the victim and deciding to let Nature take its course. I felt devastated for the rest of the morning. Silly really - I've seen similar things happen before - I don't know why it affected me in the way it did. What if the jackdaw was coming to me to protect it? Time to stop thinking!
Later, Ginny came in to see if I needed help with lunch and so I told her the story.
"Oh yes! It was a sparrowhawk - I took lots of photos of it eating the jackdaw. They have to eat too, you know!"
Yes I did know - but all the same!
Apparently she'd seen it from another window. Oh well!!
At this time of the year I have noticed that birds and animals are inclined to alter their eating habits. When the weather is against them, they will source, scavenge and hunt at times which are not usual for them. Foxes are no longer hidden away during daylight hours. Night-hunting owls will join the short eared owls and hunt during the day. Small birds who are normally solitary will join flocks of other birds.
In the middle of this month, Clemency went out to see to the chickens and spotted a barn owl, not very far from her, in the very old sycamore which we've named, "The Gnarly Tree". It was just chilling! The owl decided to leave and flew over the orchard across the lane to the triangular field which borders the lane to the wind farm. I suppose it was hungry too but I do hope it leaves our chickens and quail alone!
Two weeks ago I was bemoaning the fact that I hadn't seen the siskins recently. I was surprised as many had brought their young to feed in Spring and Summer. Someone heard me - because now they come to feed in groups of a dozen or more!
Hope is essential for life, and people who like to grow things get that sense every time they sow, plant, divide or prune. Judith brought her cuttings into the conservatory for protection. It's very cold in there during the winter months so we're hopeful.
I put some hyacinth bulbs into a terracotta planter on the 10th. They had started to form little shoots in storage so I covered those and hoped they would settle better outside as a result. I wheeled the pot around to the porch door so that everyone can check on their progress each time they go out that way. Nothing just yet - but lots of hope!
Today is the 22nd and we have the second day in this sequence of bitter winds. Things have moved and there will be damage. When it gets light, a reconnaissance will need to be made!
But, whatever the weather or terrible international news, Christmas will still come on Wednesday 25th. Greenery has come indoors and adds to the decoration. The quail and the chickens will receive their gifts - foodie treats for the quail and a swing for the chickens. The dogs will have their daily walk and exciting things will be spotted in the great outdoors! Like many other people, our family has faced bereavement very close to Christmas - but, even on that Christmas day, there was a great sense of gratitude for the life lived and now ended - and for the Baby In The Manger. I wish you Peace, Love and Happiness this Christmas. Thank you for taking the time to read these monthly blogs. I hope 2025 brings you many blessings.
From out of a wood did a cuckoo fly,
He came to a manger with joyful cry;
He hopped, he curtsied, round he flew,
And loud his jubilation grew!
A pigeon flew over Galilee,
He strutted and cooed and was full of glee,
And showed with jeweled wings unfurled,
His joy that Christ was in the world.
A dove settled down on Nazareth,
And tenderly chanted with all his breath;
"O you," he cooed, "so good and true,
My beauty do I give to you!"
I believe this to be from an old Czech carol, known as "The Carol of The Birds". It was a favourite of mine when I was very young - still is!
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