Imbolc
The celtic wheel of the year has once again turned to Imbolc, and even though the wind rushes wildly and the storms batter the shores I can see new life bursting up in my garden. A lovely iris I put in last year has emerged in a sheltered spot, and primroses are flowering already, I'm keeping an eye out for the snowdrops I scattered about and eagerly (and impatiently) watching the progress of the bluebells that are coming up as well.
Last night, I had a dream featuring a field full of lambs and certainly it felt like a warning to me that now the lambs are landing on the land, it's time to rein in my wild hunting hound and make sure we avoid anywhere where sheep could be lambing outside. So we will return to the steep gorges and the dark valleys where her gaze is drawn less across the miles and more into the brambles and the trees. Such is life with a Saluki!
I remember living through winters in Canada and finding January and February the hardest, unable to fathom quite how the UK could already have daffodils coming up and greenery growing as we plunged into the coldest temperatures of the winter and the fiercest snow storms. I'm grateful to be back in these more temperate lands - though it comes with its fair share of mud and muck instead of glorious pure snow - as I get to watch the land slowly come to wake. Wales surely is at its finest in Spring and I await it with bated breath!
