Days of Small Beauties

Jackdaws flying circles around a half-moon high in a pale blue sky.

A sunbeam lighting a patch of hedgerow like dripping honey.

A long winter walk with Himself along roads that we have only ever travelled together in his van before. I love the different sense of distance that comes with walking and loved the new perspective that came from seeing familiar sights for the first time on foot. And it was lovely to walk with him.

The least badgery-looking badger squeaky dog toy that I could ever imagine in the local pet shop...and it made a noise like a duck!

The warmth and snuggliness of brushed cotton sheets.

Finally getting my hands on Dominick Tyler's wondrously word-weaving book 'Uncommon Ground', which is filled with colloquial words describing our beautiful land. So far my favourite is cow-belly, which describes the fine silt that gathers on a riverbed. Sigh.

Days of love, laughter, tea drinking, and wild and tender hopes for the future.

A gathering of tiny golden fungi in the grass.

An invitation to take part in a study of 'women who have journeyed with the Goddess'. Affirming.

Stefi, Queen of Cats, purring on my lap, sitting on my head in bed, forcing her way under the covers and demanding fuss, dribbling on my face, and generally wrapping me round her paw. I loved every minute of it!

Two foxes screeching in the garden, one with the most beautiful bright-white tail tip.

Getting up before sunrise and seeing the almost translucent pale winter sun rising above wide green fields from the train I was travelling on.

My first sight of frost this year, and then ice! I love the dance of winter across the land, making everything sparkle like stars fallen to earth. Such beauty!

A man on the DLR; the gentlest of angel-souls, wearing a pink and green knitted hat, sniffing a tiny purple flower that he held in his hand with such bliss on his face, sipping sage tea from a jam jar, and looking at the world with benign fascination. Beautiful.

A hot bath with rose-scented salts after a cold day.

A deepening connection to the Spirit Mothers of this land and to She~Who~Is; shedding layers to come to deeper and wilder understandings beneath. Loving the journey.

School today; several hugs, much welcoming back after New Year, and arriving just as the smallest children were enjoying a rousing singalong to 'Let It Go' from 'Frozen'. Truly it was the most joyous thing ever! They knew all the words and sang in that half shouting/half singing way that only small children really can. Naturally I had to join in, and everyone else who came near them did too. Beautifully, wildly, marvellously, infectious.

The wonderful sight of moorhens running on grass. Thinking about it, they remind me a bit of Groucho Marx. Happy-making.

Reading about 'wassailing the bees'.

And a stunning winter sky of bright silver, steel grey, and pale gold melting into a sunset of violet and deep salmon pink. I am still blissed out by, and in awe of, the winter light.