Darkness

The clocks went back today. Yesterday was a vivid blue day but today has been dank and grey. All day thick cloud sat on the top of Penycloddiau. I was working in the shepherd's hut, snug and warm at my little desk by the window. I look out towards the hedge which has just been cut. A rowan tree and a horse chestnut rise out of the hedge and a new little oak tree, grown from an acorn by the stonemason who worked on our utility, is growing at its base. I watched a tiny wren hop in and out of the newly shorn hedge, disappearing into its depths. It is an old hedge, even when just cut it is still about six foot thick.

Later I made bread, scones and turned the last of the pears into an intensely sweet and fragrant pear crumble. The kitchen smelt like a hug from your mother.

Tonight it was dark when we sat down to eat. I am not a winter person but even I have to admit that it is cosy in here tonight by the woodburner with the cat sprawled ecstatically in front of it on the rug.

Comments

  1. "The kitchen smelt like a hug from your mother..." -rolling that sentence around in my head and loving it. Stay warm and cozy inside by the fire!

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    1. It's a bright clear day here this morning Caroline. Might even plant some bulbs and look forward to next year!

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  2. I wish I could see your kitchen - but I believe I can feel it and smell it.
    Over here we've had a lovely fall day - a fire, a walk, tea by the fire, reading by the fire (there's a theme!) and now the hen is in the oven and I'm going to get back into my book.

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    1. Fires - a necessary theme for autumn and winter!

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  3. Such an image of domestic bliss you give us, Elizabeth! It all sounds so relaxing. I hope your winter doesn't turn too dark and dreary.

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    1. This bit of winter or late autumn is ok. It is the bit after Christmas that always lasts a thousand years!

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  4. Such lovely images you weave here, Elizabeth. And how heartwarming is that one sentence - "The kitchen smelt like a hug from your mother." It'll stay with me for some time, I'm sure.

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    1. Hi. nice to see you back again! Hope all is going well for you in your new life.

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  5. Here too, the falling back of the clocks seemed to take us from sunshine one day to darkness the next, and I too submerged myself in the kitchen yesterday with seasonal cooking, with the woodstove roaring and the cats snoring on the sofa nearby...

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    1. Must be a primitive response to the dark and cold - lighting the fire and making food.

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  6. I think we're holding off another two weeks this year, and I'll admit I'm glad. That switch always seems to signal a move into darkness that I'm not quite ready for yet. Still, that extra hour in the day is always welcome . . .

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    1. I would like to pull out autumn for another two weeks. Here it always seems to come too soon.

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  7. What a cozy atmosphere you've given us in this post. I always love that first day of the fall clock change...our extra hour will turn up on Nov. 4 over here in the States.

    Pear crumble...must have been heavenly in scent, sight and taste! xo

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    1. I did appreciate the extra hour but still the dark evenings came too soon.

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  8. I decided yesterday I like it when the clocks go back. An extra hour for me as I am a morning person. Spent three hours moving plants around the garden, made ice cream and flapjacks, ironed, watched rubbish Western (your FIL would approve). Lovely day and then to wake up in daylight again today

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    1. The pattern clearly suits your internal clock! I am the other way round and would rather wake to darkness and have another evening hour.

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  9. An evocative post as always. It was wet here yesterday. Coldish and miserable.
    Well, it was almost light when I went to work today and just about dark by the time I got home. Not good. Especially as I sit with my back to the only window in the office. The cat has just discovered the heat from laying in front of the wood burner. I think she approves!

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    1. I used to work in an office with no windows at all! Horrible. We need to focus on the woodburner!

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  10. But how do you know what a hug from my mother smells (smelt) like? Yes it's a real milestone, isn't it, when the clocks go back. The year has fatally aged. We languish now for a few days until, full of the end of year spirit we break out with the pumpkins and the fireworks and then its one long party through to the Epiphany and then the long trudge through (why is it three months in the spring and only two in autumn?) until the clocks turn forward again and spring blossoms and the world is big and fecund. Then it's that dreary succession of Sundays after Trinity that go on and on and on well into the summer holidays. Ah well just to spite everyone I may not vote in the police commissioner elections.

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    1. Well I don't know about your mother I suppose Fennie! A hug from my mother was warm and very gently sweet smelling. Agree completely about the long slow trudge after Christmas. I always need to remind myself that March (which clearly ought to be Spring) is not!

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  11. There is a cosiness to winter nights, but in general I long for the bright evenings and teh coming of spring. Already I'm calculating it is only seven weeks to the shortest day.

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    1. The thing that always throws me is how long the winter lasts after Christmas!

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  12. Replies
    1. The old hedges are pretty substantial although you can't really tell from the field when you look at them head on.

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  13. With all the Hurricane Sandy aftermath here, your place sounds like heaven! Can I come over? I'll lie next to the cat.

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    1. Of course you can. I have reserved the spot for you. So glad you came through Sandy unscathed!

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  14. Such an evocative post. I hope you've shared some of the sunshine we've had today, you're not so far away.

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  15. We did this morning and I got the rest of my daffodils in!

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  16. I do actually rather like winter especially the version that your lovely words conjure up:) I enjoy closing the curtains and lighting the lamps and curling up with some knitting or a good book. My body definitely slows down in late autumn and winter, I sleep later - 7am instead of 6am:) - and I do a lot less rushing about. Home and hearth are what I crave at this time of the year.

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