January

'Never rains but it pours', they say and this month they are right.  Downpour after downpour.  Flood warning after flood warning ping on my weather app and the river opposite my house roars defiance at its banks.  The sky is grey, the land is brown, its all a little drab and dreary. Yet, blink and you'll miss it, a hint of sunshine lifts an otherwise dull, wet, winters day.

Goldcliff by Newport Wetlands

Winter drags slowly on.  We are in the dark half, mid winter.  January, oh how it drags.  Aptly named after Janus, the god of time and two faces - one for the past, one for the future.  For me, its a month where I assess whether the last year turned out grand and make grand plans for the new.  An inbetween time, a month of uncertainty, hibernation, a time for planning, dreaming, setting events in motion.  I make hesitant steps towards new year goals and gather energy for the year to come.  A slow start.  Some actions I've made are bold, bolder than my character, others are hesitant, as timid as a mouse (not the Scorpion Mouse type).  A whole new year, the turning of the wheel, time to make changes and adapt.

As January is the doorway to a new year, I figure you have to decide what you want the doorway to lead to, build the door and then gather the energy to step though it.  Luckily, there are still 2 big sleeps left in January for me to build my door and stir up enough gumption to step through!

This January I'm finishing the editing of my next crochet book - the end is so near.  A project finished which leaves me with bittersweet nothing to do.  No big project to sink my teeth into.  I wonder, with not a small degree of panic, what I'll do next.  The final layouts of the book are in the post so I'll spend tomorrow morning twitching the curtains in anticipation of the post man.

I've done a bit of crochet too.  I've been commissioned to make a monstrous blanket.  Oh yes, 2.5 x 1.5 meters.  Huge!

I've got another 18 blocks to crochet before joining it all together.  Though I love the pattern and yarn, the lack of colour leaves me feeling 'hurumph'.  So, I'm making this on the side...

The photo is rubbish, those colours are neon!  Brighter than sunshine.  Bright enough for sunglasses!

So, 2 big sleeps and then it will be February.  February is quick as a flash and then the March winds march across the land bringing spring and lambs in their wake.  Already the blades of daffodils are piecing up through the dank soil, stretching upward with the promise of sun, warmth and colour!  The cloak of winter will slip away and spring will bloom.

No need to wrestle with lack of vitamin D and SAD for much longer...

Spring is coming!!!