Sunday, January 31, 2021

Welcome, February! au revoir January

Despite a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, tomorrow is the day when Druids and others celebrate Imbolc, the festival of growing light. This week in the Northern hemisphere we'll reach a halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Doesn't it make you feel better to know that? Locally, we've gained almost an hour's worth of daylight since December's Solstice.


February: red-osier dogwood in front of tamaracks
February: red-osier dogwood in front of tamaracks
Photo by J. Harrington

One of the signs of Winter's grip loosening that we begin to look for about this time of year is heightened color in Red-osier Dogwood branches. Even with "global warming," it would be a rare year that Minnesotans could see snow drops in bloom much before Spring Equinox. Soon, though, leaf buds on oak trees will begin to swell, dislodging the remaining leaves still clinging from last year.

In less than a month our normal daytime high temperatures should lead to thawing. We can almost hear the faint honks of returning Canada geese and the trumpets of sandhill cranes. That should help get us through the upcoming visit from a polar vortex.


A Celtic Miscellany



Magic rain magic mist magic dew magic hail
Magic darkness magic sea magic waves magic
River magic fountain magic well magic spring
That bursts forth when a magic spear pierces
Rock magic oak tree magic ash magic lime tree
Magic bough magic yew magic hawthorn magic
Tree to make you young again magic tree to
Prevent hunger magic thorn magic ivy magic
Fern magic blossom, mistletoe and mandrake
Magic wild grasses magic wheat magic breath
Magic blood magic feather magic dung magic
Piss magic mantle magic trousers magic veil
Magic hat magic chain magic sword magic
Shield magic hearth magic bench magic door
Magic cry of a deer or cry of a magic deer;
Seven as a magic number magic the human
Head for divination magic also the head of
A dog, magic too vessels that burst in the fire
To uncover disobedience magic the river
That rises to drown liars magic the stone
That causes silence magic the deep lake
That causes forgetfulness magic the hazelnut
That makes a lover foolish magic the stone
That banishes sorrow magic the charm bought
Cheaply in the form of small poetry books,
Or nine the magic number and the magic
Number seven again and the magic twelve also
And green as that magic color violet as magic
Red as magic black as magic white as magic
Purple also as a magic hue and also red again;
Magic also the felling of two oak trees in a wood
And the magic wand used by the Druids to
Find your beloved carried away by fairies—
And, when all else fails, magic the new-fangled
Blessings of Christians swarming into our oak
Wood now, making even the disappeared speak.


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Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.

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