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Written by Nigel
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Wednesday, 28 January 2009 |
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I can’t believe this is to be my first post of 2009. I’ve be meaning to get round to adding to my blog for ages, but you know how things are. Events overtake you and all your good intentions are lost. So all you people out there in cyberspace – a happy 2009 to you .
So we find ourselves here in a month named after the Roman god Janus, an appropriate personification of the start of the new year. This particular Roman god had two faces so that he could look ahead toward the future and back at the past at the same time. As we get rid of an old year and look forward to a new one, I think we all try to be a little like Janus. We know through experience what we did wrong and what we did right over the past twelve months, and hope to do better over the next twelve. Some people make ambitious new year’s resolutions; others just take a deep breath and hope for the best.… which are you?
It’s a new year, an unspoilt chapter in the book that is life. A chance to practice the art of living anew, a fresh opportunity to put into practice all that you have learnt over the past twelve months. Everything that you searched for in 2008 is hidden there, just waiting for you to renew your search. All that you dreamed but didn’t dare to do, all that you hoped but did not achieve, all the faith that you claimed but did not have – all these things slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by the touch.
There’s a Native American blessing that I love, partly because it of the indomitable woman who first shared it with me but also because it puts into words what I could not…
May the sun bring you energy by day and
may the moon restore you by night.
May the rain wash away worry, and
may the wind bring new strength.
May you walk gently through the land and know
its beauty all the days of your life.
Alledal is beautiful at this time of year; I may not have got the white Christmas I dreamt of. I think we got the bleak midwinter package instead. We certainly have had the frosty winds making moan and with temperatures not getting above freezing for the first couple of weeks of the new year and reaching lows of -15°C the earth is indeed hard as iron and water like a stone. We even got the snow.
Here are a few pictures I’ve taken around Alledal.  The sunrise cast a fiery glow on Svinstibäcken |  |  |  Troy just loves being out in the snow. |  Boris, one of Skånsk Blommehöna cockerels out freeranging in the heavily frosted paddocks |  A snow storm sweeps across Alledal |  The winter sun through the trees over the frozen Billabäck |  A hungry heron leaves footprints on the frozen river |  A female Skånegås [Scania Goose] looks for something to eat beneath the snow |  |
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