October Days

 OCTOBER

I'm not sure where September went but it's gone.

 October was originally the eighth month of the Roman calendar. The Anglo Saxons called it Wynmonath - the wine making month or Winterfylleth meaning the the month with the full moon (7th) heralding winter. This year the October full moon will be a super moon and is also the latest date possible for a Harvest moon.

I've probably mentioned all the bits of weather folklore for October in previous years but here are three good ones. 

Dry your barley in October,

Or you'll always be sober.

(Malted barley is the main ingredient of beer, which was drunk by everyone when water wasn't safe)

A good October and a good blast,

To blow the hog acorn and mast.

(Dating from the time when villagers were allowed to turn their pigs into the woods to feed on acorns and Beech mast - called pannage

In October manure your field

And your land it's wealth  shall yield

(Best time for muck spreading, before the fields get too wet,  ready to sow crops in the spring)

A page from the Brambly Hedge Autumn Story by Jill Barklem

A  poem from the book " A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson 

AUTUMN FIRES

In the other gardens

And all up the vale

From the Autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail!

 

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes

The grey smoke towers

 

Sing a song of seasons

Something bright in all

Flowers in the summer

Fires in the fall.

 

 

I like the line "Sing a song of seasons" and as I get older it seems to be easier to appreciate each season as it arrives - after all if I'm still around to see a new season then that has to be a good thing!

And Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday about the unusual crop growing in the fields around here. The conclusion was reached that it's definitely Quinoa ........probably!

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Storm Names

 I heard  Storm Amy being mentioned about three weeks ago. I googled to find out why it began with A - because I thought it would only begin with A in 2026.

This is what I found...............

But it turns out they start with A in September which is the start of storm season. The names are chosen by The Met Office, Met Eireann (Irish Meteorological Service) and KMNI which is the Netherlands Meteorological Institute. These storms are the ones likely to have medium to high impact on the three countries. Seven choices for names from each country by public suggestion. 

Apparently Storm Amy was forecast a few weeks ago but wasn't actually named by the Met Office. It brought strong winds on 14th September to Scotland and the local newspapers called it Storm Amy - but it seems it wasn't strong enough to be officially named.

Here's a link for next year when names for 2026 -27 can be submitted 

Meanwhile today is the  29th of the month, St Michael's Day or Michaelmas........ the day with many weather sayings attached.

If St Michael brings many acorns down Christmas will cover the fields with snow. 

As many days old as the moon is on Michaelmas Day, so many floods 

shall we have after. 

If there is snow at Christmas that will be a big surprise, but there certainly is a huge crop of acorns this year to fall if it's windy today. The new moon was on the 21st so we should expect eight floods before the end of the winter - oh dear.

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September Days

 Fair on the first of September, fair for the whole month

Autumn Hedgehog and Fruit one of the  Angela Harding prints from her book
'A Year Unfolding'

" I saw old Autumn in the misty morn,

Stand shadowless like silence listening to silence"

Ode:Autumn .Thomas Hood (1799-1845) 

 SEPTEMBER

Now everyday the bracken browner grows,

Even the purple stars

Of clematis, that shone about the bars,

Grow browner; and the little autumn rose

Dons, for her rosy gown,

Sad weeds of brown.

 

Now falls the eve; and ere the morning sun,

Many a flower her sweet life will have lost,

Slain by the bitter frost,

Who slays the butterflies also, one by one,

The tiny beasts

That go about their business and their feasts.

                         Mary Coleridge ( 1861-1907)

It's an amazingly good year for hips, haws and sloes which is a worry because...............

Many haws and many sloes make many cold toes.

The full moon this month is on the 7th and in the past the September full moon was  called the Fruit Moon, Wine Moon or Barley Moon. It is also a total moon eclipse or blood moon. The moon will rise at around 7.30pm and will already be in total eclipse.

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August 1st

  AUGUST

The Emperor Octavian, called the August,
    I being his favorite, bestowed his name
Upon me, and I hold it still in trust,
    In memory of him and of his fame.
I am the Virgin, and my vestal flame
    Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage;
Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claim
    The golden Harvests as my heritage.

from The Poets Calendar by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Illustration from The Illuminated Book of Days by Eugene Grasset

Today is Lammas, the 1st of August was one of the Celts 'cross quarter' days. The dates that fall between the solstices and equinoxes that were used to mark the agricultural year. Lammas or Loaf-Mass marks the wheat harvest. In early Christian  days a loaf of bread made from the new crop would be brought to church to be blessed.

Dry August and warm

Doth harvest no harm.

 This year the harvest was going well with tractors and full grain trailers passing all the time but then came the last two weeks of July with rain on and off and it's all gone quiet again in the fields.

 Looking back at what I'd written for previous  1st August posts and came across this, which I'd forgotten - but the bit about making the most of our time while we are here is a good thing to remember...............Apparently I found this in one of the old Folklore diaries.

The act of sacrifice at harvest is a reminder that we all follow the same path of life and death and reminds us to make the most of our time whilst we are here. Consider the passing of the summer and enjoy the bounties it has brought us and think how best to prepare for the coming autumn and winter.

It was an important day in the country, as land which had been harvested could be made available for village people to graze their animals. It was once a public holiday when fairs were held.

 Perhaps that was why the first Monday in August was a holiday for years until it was moved to the end of the month. 

I decided to find out more........................ and discovered ..............

1. Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed approx. 33 saint’s days or religious festivals and took them as holiday.
2. Bank holidays were first introduced by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 and reduced public holidays to 4 days (Easter Monday, 1st Monday in August, Boxing Day and Whit Monday).
3. The act was introduced by Sir John Lubbock, the 1st Lord and Baron Avebury, (30th April, 1834-28th May, 1913), English banker, politician, naturalist and archaeologist.
4. The 1871 Act was repealed 100 years later and its provisions incorporated into the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which remains the statutory basis for bank holidays.
5. Bank holidays designated since the 1971 Act are appointed each year by Royal Proclamation.

 (Much of this post has been on previous August 1st posts from several years ago, hopefully long forgotten by everyone! )

Back Soon

 Apologies for not replying to yesterdays comments - had a long morning out and then a busy afternoon.

St Swithin's Day

A well known weather saying that has - thankfully - never  proved correct.

St Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain

For forty days it will remain.

St Swithin's Day, if thou be fair

For forty days, twill rain no more.

It was especially wrong in 1976 when there were lots of violent thunderstorms with rain over night on the 15th and then for the next 40 days there was virtually no rain, leading to the hottest summer and worst drought in living memory.

[I was working on the mobile library which was before any sort of air conditioning, so we sweltered in a 'tin box' - day after day].

St Swithin was an English  monk who became Bishop of Winchester in 852 and died 10 years later. At his request he was buried in the churchyard rather than inside. On 15th July 971 his remains were moved to an appropriate resting place inside the Cathedral. This coincided with a period of heavy rain that lasted for 40 days - and that's how the prediction started. 

Another old rhyme, found in one of my folklore books - written in the 18th century

Now if on St Swithin's Feast the welkin lours,

And every pent house streams with hasty showers.

Twice twenty day shall clouds their fleeces drain,

And wash the pavements with incessant rain.

('welkin' is the sky and 'lours' means glowers or  threatens)

The picture comes from The Farmers Almanac website

Back soon.

PS Hooray to the BBC for Quizzy Mondays being ⅔ back - a small crumb after the weeks of tennis watching! and I promise no more mentions of tennis until next year!

June Country Days on the 2nd of the Month

June - my favourite month of the year, meteorologically the start of summer (or  wait to the 21st for the astronomical start)

It is thought that June is named after the goddess Juno or possibly from Iuniores which was the lower level of the legislature in the constitution of ancient Rome.

Calm weather in June, sets the farmer in tune

 The weather pattern for June often alternates between spells of stormy weather and shorter periods of dry calm. The farmers prefer calm and warm with night-time dew to speed up crop growth and statistically June is England's sunniest month.

 

Summer Moon Walk . An Illustration by Angela Harding from her  book 'A Year Unfolding'

Other people in the past have also enjoyed June and written poems

 

Christina Rossetti said in her poem                    Summer

If the year would stand

Still at June for ever,

With no further growth on land

Nor further flow of river.

If all nights were shortest nights

And longest days were all seven,

This might be a merrier world

To my mind to live in.

JUNE 

Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine

  The Month of Marriages!  All pleasant sights

And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,

  The foliage of the valleys and the heights.

Mine are the longest days, the loveliest nights;

  The mower's scythe makes music to my ear;

I am the mother of all dear delights;

  I am the fairest daughter of the year.

From 'The Poets Calendar' By Longfellow 

And another written for children by Irene F Pawsey

Month of leaves,
Month of roses;
Gardens full
Of dainty posies;
Skies of blue,
Hedgerows gay,
Meadows sweet
With the new mown hay.

Flowery banks,
A-drone with bees,
Dreaming cattle
Under trees:
Song-birds pipe
A merry tune—
This is summer,
This is June.

And way, way back in 1557 Thomas Tusser said in his Five hundred points of good husbandry

In June get thy wedehoke, they knife and thy glove,

And wede out such wede as the corn doth not love;

Slack no time weding, for darth nor for cheape;

Thy corn shall reward it, or ever thou reap.

I think this means - keep weeding that garden!

Back Soon

Sue

A Book Find, The Mystery of St. Servatius Day and other unknown Saints

At the Bank Holiday Sunday car boot sale, just as it started to rain and everyone covered their stuff  I found the first book of the year, with a very apt cover.  

Another book about weather sayings and folklore to add to my collection for £1............

The author has also put together collections of sayings in books  on Gardening, Cooking and House and Home.

 I thought the book would have many of the weather lore sayings that are in my other books, and it has but also some lore and stories that I'd not come across before.

This is  one...........

Who shears his sheep before St Servatius' day

Love more his wool than his sheep.

St Servatius?? No mention in my book of Saints but this book above says he was a fourth century bishop of Tongeren in Belgium, with his Feast day being today the 13th. He is one of the so called Ice Saints, whose feast days fell between 11-14th May, traditionally a spell of cold weather - but not here this year!

I'd not heard of the Ice Saints either but apparently the others are .......

11th May - St Mamertus, a fifth century archbishop of Vienne in France

12th May -  St Pancras - the patron saint of children who was martyred, aged just 14, in Rome in AD304. Relics of this saint were sent to England and an early Anglo-Saxon church was dedicated to him in Canterbury (and the area of London and then the station too).

CANTERBURY – ST PANCRAS CHURCH, SUGGESTED SITE OF KING AETHELBERT’S PAGAN SHRINE

14th May - St Boniface, an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk, baptised as Winfrid at Crediton in Devon who was martyred in Germany after becoming archbishop of Mainz in AD 754.

According to wiki and my Saints book his special day is June 5th , and even accounting for changes in calendar it doesn't explain the May 14th day.

So no idea where the author found her dates for the book, but I suppose any tales from 1400 years ago are bound to change with time!

Thanks for comments yesterday, I'm glad it made a smile for a Monday morning.

Back Soon

Sue

May Country Days and Country Ways

  In April Spring is in the air

But in May Spring is on the ground

From 'The Illustrated Country Year' by Celia Lewis

For ancient Celtic people May 1st was Beltane (Bel's Fire). The first day of summer and bonfires were lit to help the sun regain it's strength. A day of feasting and in many places there are still traditional events on this day, involving dancing round maypoles, May Queens, Garland dancers and Morris men and hobby horses.

The May-pole is up,

Now give us a cup,

I'll drink to the garlands around it,

But first unto those,

Whose hands did compose

The glory of flowers that crowned it.

'The May-pole' by Robert Herrick, 1648

Most old sayings prefer a wet and cold month, we need some of the wet bit - especially for the farmers' fields as April was a record breaking month for sunshine and warmth (love it for myself but not good for crops).

May damp and cool fills the barns and wine vats

Water in May is bread all the year

A cold May is kindly,

And fills the barn nicely.

A wet May

Makes a big load of hay.

In the middle of May comes the tail of the winter

And a warning for shepherds

Shear your sheep in May,

And shear them all away.

Watch out for late frosts around the third week of May. These are attributed to Saint Dunstan (or St. Franklin in some versions). Apparently he made a pact with the devil in order to obtain good sales of his beer. In return for his soul the devil promised to attack the blossoms of the  apple trees in the orchards so that the cider makers would have less cider to sell.

The Full Moon this month is on the 12th and was called The Milk Moon or Mother's Moon.

Apologies for anyone with a really good memory because much of this post has been on May 1st posts in previous years back to 2017!

Back Soon

Sue

Cuckoo Day?

Today is St Tiburtius Day and traditionally the first day to hear a cuckoo - according to two of the folklore books on my shelves.

The Cuckoo sings from St Tiburtius day to St John's day

BUT unless you are lucky you probably won't hear one now and even less likely to see one. They were very common in the 50's and 60's - we all knew the rhyme 

The Cuckoo comes in April and sings his song in May

In June he changes his tune and in July he flies away

In the 80's Colin used to come home from bridge inspecting out in the countryside with news of the first cuckoo every year. Even in the early 90's we would hear one from the woodland close to the smallholding.

Now I can't remember the last time I heard one. 

So who was Saint Tibertius? According to the legend of St Cecelia  Tibertius was the brother of Valerian, to whom Cecelia was betrothed by her parents. Cecelia was determined not to marry so as to devote herself to God. On their wedding day she told Valerian and was so persuasive  about her faith that he was converted to Christianity and persuaded his brother Tiburtius too. They set about showing their conviction by collecting the bones of Christian Martyrs and giving them a proper burial. When caught they refused to change their belief and were both taken outside of Rome beaten and beheaded.

If you are lucky enough to hear the cuckoo remember to turn the money in your pocket to ensure future prosperity.

Turn your money when you here the Cuckoo and you'll have money in your purse till he comes again.

It's unlucky if the Cuckoo arrives too early before the leaves on the trees................

When the Cuckoo sings on an empty bough,

Keep your hay and sell your cow.

When the Cuckoo comes to the bare thorn,

Sell your cow and buy your corn.

I've certainly never seen a Cuckoo but here's the illustration by Carrie Ackroyd from my lovely book ' A Sparrow's Life's as Sweet as Ours'.

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April, My Second Favourite Month...........

 ................except for the expenses.

It's bad planning how so many things need renewing and paying for in April. TV licence, house insurance and dentist for a start and birthdays, but then it's my birthday month and more spring-like too which makes it my favourite month except for June - due to strawberries and Wimbledon tennis on TV (although I've just googled and the dates are mainly July this year - so that's mucked that one up!) Never mind still looking forward to a good second-favourite month.

And it's no wonder I'm feeling cheerful. The weatherman said March was the sunniest ON RECORD for Norfolk and Suffolk - that means the sunniest for many, many years. Really good for mental health.

 This bit below was written in my April 1st post of  2019

There are often a few warm days at the end of March or beginning of April which brings the Blackthorn into flower then the weather will often turn colder which is called The Blackthorn Winter. According to forecasts that looks very likely for this year. 

It was the same in 2022 and much again this year, warmth at the end of March and into April, so there is bound to be some cold sometime in April.

The rest of this post is bits from 2020 and 2022 post so I apologise for repeating.

 My Illustration for April is again from the book 'A Sparrow's Life as Sweet as Ours' by Carrie Akroyd.

The male blackbird is one of our most recognisable birds, there was a decline in numbers through the latter part of the C20 but since the beginning of this century numbers have increased again.

In Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream, Bottom says

 The Ousel-cock, so black of hue, with orange tawny beak.

because until the C17 blackbirds were just one of the birds of the ousel family, they didn't have their own name. 

This year...............

Easter is almost the latest it can be and falls just after my 70th - family get together planned for that which will be good. And then of course  St Georges Day on the 23rd,  but there are lots of Saints in my book who are less well known. What about St Vincent Ferrer on the 5th, St Waudru on the 9th, St Zeno of Verona on the 12th, St Soter on the 22nd and  St Zita on the 27th? Some wonderful names and stories.

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March 1st

 In the Roman calendar March, or Martius, was the first month of the new year. The month was named after Mars, the god of war and the guardian of agriculture. March was the month when both farming and warfare could begin again after winter.

1st March, St David's Day, The Patron St of Wales. The start of meteorological spring.

Upon St David's Day

Put oats and barley in the clay

2nd March, St Chad's Day(Bishop of Northumbria in the 7th Century)

Saint's David and Chad

Sow peas, good or bad.

Stained Glass from Holy Cross Monastery New York

4th March, Shrove Tuesday - Pancakes!

5th March, St Pirans Day and Ash Wednesday

Sprinkling of Ashes from a Polish Painting C19

6th March, World Book Day

14th March, Full Moon - The Lenten Moon or Plough Moon

 

17th March,  St Patrick's Day. Patron Saint of Ireland  and St Joseph of Arimathea.

If St Joseph's Day is clear

We shall have a fertile year.

 

20th March,  Vernal Equinox, the start of Astronomical spring and Ostara, The Pagan festival celebrating Eostre, Goddess of Spring. 

 21st  March, St Benedict's Day (also July 21st)

Whatever the weather on 21st, that weather will stay until 21st June

 

25th March, Lady Day. The feast of the Annunciation and 1st Quarter day

An east wind on Lady Day

Will keep on 'til the end of May

29th March, Super New Moon and Clocks go Forward Overnight

 

30th March, Mothering Sunday 

It is the first mild day of March:

Each minute sweeter than before,

The redbreast sings from the tall larch

That stands beside our door.

There is a blessing in the air,

Which seems a sense of joy to yield

To the bare trees, and mountains bare,

And grass in the green field.

From ' To My Sister' by William Wordsworth

Back Soon

Sue

February Country Days

A February page from The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden

The Anglo-Saxons called February 'Solmonarth' which means flat-cake month. Cakes would be made as offerings to the gods in thanks for the lengthening daylight.

The full moon this month, on the 12th, was known as the Ice Moon or the Snow Moon and snow and ice are  just as likely in February as they are in January.

I found this February poem by Jane G Austin. An American poet and author who lived between 1831-1894.

February

by Jane Goodwin Austin

I thought the world was cold in death;
The flowers, the birds, all life was gone,
For January's bitter breath
Had slain the bloom and hushed the song.

And still the earth is cold and white,
And mead and forest yet are bare;
But there's a something in the light
That says the germ of life is there.

Deep down within the frozen brook
I hear a murmur, faint and sweet,
And lo! the ice breaks as I look,
And living waters touch my feet.

Within the forest's leafless shade
I hear a spring-bird's hopeful lay:
O life to frozen death betrayed
Thy death shall end in life to-day.

And in my still heart's frozen cell
The pulses struggle to be free;
While sweet the bird sings, who can tell
But life may bloom again for thee!

I wrote about Imbolc, St Bridget's  Day and Candlemas last year so won't repeat again so soon but there are lots of weather sayings for February....................

When gnats dance in February, the husbandman becomes a beggar

A February spring is not worth a pin

Fogs in February mean frosts in May

                                                                 Double faced February

There is always one fine week in February 

Two weather sayings for tomorrow, February 2nd............. 

If Candlemas Day be mild and gay,

Go saddle your horses and buy them hay

But if Candlemas Day be stormy and black

It carries the winter on it's back 

 If Candlemas Day be fair and bright

Winter will take another flight

If Candlemas Day be cloud and rain

Winter is gone and will not come again.

Back Soon

Sue

The Coldest Day?

 There are mentions in British folklore books that January 13th is always the coldest day of the year. I don't know how someone came up with this date back in history (except that it was the first day of The Great Frost of 1205) as surely it must depend on where you live. 

Saturday was the coldest day here for a while, with a hard frost overnight and then fog in the morning and the frost and bits of fog hung around all day - not a lot of sun as on previous days. I'd already decided I wasn't going anywhere so didn't put the windscreen cover on the car. It's annoying that the garage isn't big enough to get my car into when the weather is so cold but the windscreen cover works well for when I know I'm going out early after a frosty night. 

In some books today is St Hilary's Day, but in others it's the 14th, I wrote about him last year so won't repeat myself,  last year the 13th wasn't at all cold and we'd not had many frosts, this year there have been frosts every night for a week.

Tonight is the first Full Moon of 2024 - The Stay at Home Moon. I've not been staying at home as much as I thought because as well as Keep Moving Group and shopping, I booked a swim, picked up DiL and the two grandchildren from school one afternoon when Son had the car, visited YD and EGD yesterday and today have an unexpected trip to the dentist after a filling or a tooth - not quite sure which yet- broke just after Christmas. Thankfully the one benefit of having to go private due to there being no NHS dentists is getting into see someone quickly - although it'll cost me a chunk of money. 

Thank you to everyone for comments on Saturday. It's amusing that my post about seeing someone they recognise on TV seemed to morph into comments about  meeting someone famous. I've never met anyone famous - I feel I'm missing out.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Snow? and Twelfth Night?

There was a little snow here overnight Saturday/Sunday but it turned to rain by daylight and was soon washed away. It carried on raining nearly all day Sunday - very depressing. Not really cold either - but there's still time for proper winter to arrive. 

The third thing that I've broken recently by getting it accidently knocked into the Butler sink was yesterday and  the bottom half of my lovely two-piece ceramic soap dish - I was so cross with myself as I've had it for about 20 years at least. I found a small bowl to sit the top draining bit on but I'm still cross! Perhaps now three things have been broken in the last few months that will be it. If I ever have a new kitchen here or anywhere else it Won't have a butler sink for sure.

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My new Folklore diary says last night was Twelfth Night, because way back in history days were counted as beginning in the evening. 

 I've never been absolutely sure about Twelfth Night and Christmas Decorations coming down, should they be down by the end of the 5th or is sometime today OK?

 Down with the rosemary and so,

Down with the bays and mistletoe,

Down with the holly, ivy and all,

Wherewith ye dressed the Christmas hall.

That so the superstitious find,

Not one least branch there left behind,

For look, how many leaves there be

Neglected there, maids trust to me,

So many goblins you shall see!

My Christmas things are down and packed away anyway, I did them in bits starting last Thursday. Thought I'd get them out of the way as I've got two grandchildren here today....... it's a PD day for DiL, so she is at school and they aren't.

We 'did' Twelfth Night for O Level English Literature which completely ruined it. Examining a play line by line doesn't really help the understanding. We 'did' Jane Eyre too and some poems from 'The Book of Narrative Verse'. I read quickly even back then and reading things 'around the room' and line by line doesn't make for any sort of understanding. How did it take two years to prepare for an exam? Did we study other things too? ............. BTW I failed English Lit! 

Thankfully that didn't stop me getting the job as a library assistant and I was only put off Shakespeare and Classic Literature, so it didn't kill my love of reading everything else.

******************

And going back to the subject of snow, I hope everyone in the affected States in the US gets through this coming storm without harm. I heard that a state of emergency has been declared in several areas.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

January Days and Thank You

 It was really good yesterday to have so many comments - I loved them all. Special thank you and "hello" to people who'd not commented before and apologies for not replying individually. My excuse was that I was out at Son and DiL's house with the two grandchildren plus YD and EGD who came over from the coast through the very wet and windy weather (luckily it had stopped raining and blowing by evening going home time) plus BiL came too, we were all there helping to eat up their Christmas food. They are never knowingly under-catered! Now they need more visitors to help eat yesterdays food!

It was a lovely surprise to switch on the lap top when I got in to find 60+ comments, cheered me up no end because coming home after family days is still tough, even if it is the 7th Christmas.

 

It's good to know from Debs that my punctuation is appreciated as I'm not always sure I have apostrophes in the right place! and I know I use far too many exclamation marks!!

So,  here we go into January..................

The January page from 'An Illustrated Country Year' by Celia Lewis

The Anglo Saxons used the name Wulfmonath for January, the month when wolves would be hunting for food. Difficult to imagine that wolves roamed the woods and forests of England, Scotland and Wales back in the 6th Century and it must be the reason the full moon this month was called the Wolf Moon. This year it's on the 13th and was also known as the Moon After Yule and, according to my new book  - Everyday Folklore by Liza Frank, it's also known as the Stay At Home Moon - which, considering tomorrows post is called  'Just Stay In January', is very apt! (Although they may well have made up that moon name, as I've never come across it anywhere else).

January is usually colder than December and this is one of the best known sayings..............

As the day lengthens, so the cold strengthens

Other sayings for the month include.............

                                                   
 

When oak trees bend with snow in January, good crops may be expected.

In January much rain and little snow is bad for mountains, valleys and trees

Mild weather isn't recommended, so it's probably good that the weather forecast is for a spell of colder weather over the next few days. 

 A January spring is good for nothing

January warm, the Lord have mercy

Us gardeners always want good frosts in winter to kill off all the nasties that lurk in the soil. Most years recently our winters just haven't been cold enough.

JANUARY 

Janus am I; oldest of potentates;
  Forward I look, and backward, and below
I count, as god of avenues and gates,
  The years that through my portals come and go.

I block the roads, and drift the fields with snow;
  I chase the wild-fowl from the frozen fen;
My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow,
  My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men.

Longfellow -  Poets calendar

Back Tomorrow

Sue

December Days and December Photos

Time for 'Photos in Advent 2024'  - A Christmas/Winter photo everyday until Christmas. A blog tradition going back many years. 

Today's photo is all the Christmas cards I got out to write last week and my very ancient Christmas list book to tick when I've written them. I love choosing cards to send and buying them from Charity shops - mostly in the January Sales if possible. I specially like sending cards with pictures that I would like to receive myself! (I have been known to hide a card with a weird picture that I have received behind others  😮). And saying I got them out to write doesn't actually mean I've got them done yet! Although I really must as I want the table for my December jigsaw.

 I'm calling 1st December the first day of winter - if it was good enough for the Anglo-Saxons, it's good enough for me............ although some will say - wait until the 22nd.

The Anglo-Saxons called  December Wintermonath  before they became Christians and    Helighmonath meaning 'holy month' afterwards. In Chambers Book of Days I came across the word Dubblachd  which I believe is the modern Scottish-Gaelic for December meaning Dark Month.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat

(from The Months by Sara Coleridge)

And just a couple of weather sayings for the month.................

Rain on the first Sunday before Mass, rain for the week

Thunder in December foretells fair weather 

The full moon in December 2024 is called the Cold Moon. It's on Sunday 15th. The Cold Moon is named for the start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It's also known as the Long Nights Moon because it happens around the winter solstice. But it's rare for a full moon to occur on the same day as the solstice. The last time was in 2010 and next time is 2094! (according to AI on t'internet)

The moon photo is mine from 'many moons' ago

Back Tomorrow, when it really will be a post about Decadent December............if only I could work out how to have a decadent December!!

Sue

 

November Country Days

 

A November page from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden

   If there's ice in November to bear a duck

The rest of the winter is just mud and muck.

  

November takes its name from the Latin novem because it was the ninth month of the Roman year. The Anglo Saxons named November "Blodmonath" meaning Blood Month, maybe because this was the month when any older livestock would have been slaughtered before winter, so as to save fodder for the younger animals.

 Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast
(Months of the year by Sara Coleridge )

 

********************

 

 I love the fitful gust that shakes

The casement all the day,

And from the mossy elm-tree takes

The faded leaf away,

Twirling it by the window pane

With thousand others down the lane.

 

I love to see the cottage smoke

Curl upwards through the trees,

The pigeons nestled round the cote

On November days like these,

The cock upon the dunghill crowing,

The mill-sails on the heath a-going.

(John Clare)

Samhain which means "summers end" was the Celtic fire festival celebrated as the day shifted from October to November. The end of the light half of the year. Celts considered sundown as the start of a day, which is why although Samhain is November 1st, it would have been celebrated at sundown on the 31st. It was their new year and fires would have been lit on the hilltops to drive out the evil of  the last year and welcome in the new. Then later came the Christian feasts of All Saints on the 1st and All Souls on November 2nd, when the dead are remembered in prayers.

Back Soon

Sue

October Country Days

 I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers

L.M. Montgomery

 October was originally the eighth month of the Roman calendar. The Anglo Saxons called it Wynmonath - the wine making month or Winterfylleth meaning the full moon heralding winter.

Illustration by Eugene Grasset from the Kate Greenaway Illustrated Book of Days

There is often a short period of stormy weather in the first half of the month, followed by St Luke's little summer -  dry days around the 18th and heavy rain at the end of the month  around  St Simon's and St Jude's day  on the 28th .

In the past villagers relied on pannage - the law allowing them access to the woods for their pig - to enable it to fatten on acorns and beech mast before it was killed at the end of the month.

A good October and a good blast

Will blow the hog his acorn and mast.

 

Beech Mast

 

 I found pannage carries on  ...........this on the National Trust website........

Pannage, pigs and acorns in the New Forest

Pannage is an ancient practice that is still used today by commoners and verderers who turn out their pigs into the Forest during the season.  The pannage season, usually between September to December, lasts around 60 days. This year's season will run between 13 September to 14 November.   Pigs do a vital job of eating many of the acorns that fall at this time of year. Green acorns are tasty for them, but poisonous for the ponies and cattle that roam the area freely.

Weather lore this month is mostly predictions for the coming winter.

Hard frosts in October means we'll have a mild January

For every fog in October there will be snow in winter  

Full moon in October without frost, no frost until full moon in November

 

Much rain in October, much wind in December

Warm October, cold February.

Most of these weather sayings have been on previous October posts but hopefully they are good for a repeat.

Back Soon

Sue