Winter is a time of wonderful light. It spreads in long rays across the land or creates deep and vibrant sunsets over the lake.
I usually choose a word to guide me through the forthcoming year. I have had fun with this process over the years including words like, threshold, inkling, expand, pilgrimage. Some of my friends do it too and we enjoy sharing what and why.
After two years of the pandemic it is time to restart and plan a few adventures. So for 2022 I chose the word “voice.” This is linked to my next adventure which will be all about voice as my first book will soon be put out into the world. I am still in the editing and book design stage with the publisher but it will be launched in the autumn which I still cannot believe!
I was lucky to have the book to focus on during the lockdowns and restrictions. The last two years have meant a very different kind of life. I was already well accustomed to working from home but that was always peppered with the freedom to travel, meet people and get involved in group activities. Being a bit older and with a few wonky bits, it has been important to follow the public health guidelines and so life became far more limited.
The last and most recent set of restrictions were the hardest of all. We had lost one of the oldest and one of the youngest in our extended family during the pandemic. Then just after Christmas we lost an artist friend as well as another young man. It has been a lot to bear. I suppose I am at the age when this will become more and more part of life. My generation is running out of years.
As always I am privileged to have family and friends living nearby and plenty of work to distract me. Book writing was not something I expected to be doing but it has been a good experience so far. As for the online networks of entertainment, social contact and creative sharing, all of it has sustained me.
But most of all the peace and quiet of rural life has been a gift. Nature always reminds us that life goes on and that there is far more going on in all the mysterious layers of this universe than any of us can imagine. The female mythical Irish Hare has returned and again seems to have left a tiny leveret if not two in the undergrowth. They give birth in January as a rule and this cuddly baby has been nibbling shoots outside the kitchen door.
Spring is on the way and the deeply purple irises I planted in the autumn are beginning to appear. (Mind you they are getting a good nibbling from said hares, but I’m trying not to mind.) I hope you are looking forward to 2022. We certainly are in Ireland where restrictions have been lifted at last and our family looks forward to a big reunion and a wedding of one of the young ones.
Carefully and slowly we will all re-emerge. As Brian Keenan, a man held hostage in the middle east for 7 years said “Freedom comes slowly at first.”
PS Happy New Year if it’s not too late and if you would like to keep up with other musings here is a link to my column in the Waterford News and Star.
I appreciated this, Catherine. It seems to say what many of us are experiencing, and I love the visual in my head of those tiny hares nibbling on the iris! My iris and daffodils have emerged after this last snow! Wonderful news about your book also–congratulations!
Thank you so much! Wouldn’t the early spring bulbs warm the cockles of your heart. As regards the virus I suppose we have to hang in there now, cross all our fingers and toes and hope for the best.
Beautiful scenes! Hope things are getting better in your neck of the woods…we can only hope 2022 brings a little normalcy back into our lives! Happy New Year!
Hi Robin, yes we all have our fingers crossed for a better year in 2022. How lovely to hear from you. Only a few of us very old fashioned bloggers left at this stage, just about hanging in there! I imagine you are making the most of desert days and nights whenever you can. Creativity will keep us going. x
Thanks Catherine for sharing your thoughts & beautiful realistic pictures. My Iris are shooting for the stars. Remarkable, but my life still appears on hold with trepidation. The garden & my dog walks a blessed reminder that seasons come & go & so must I. Look forward to release of your book. What a joy it will be to its release for you & your efforts.
Thank you so much Sue! I can picture you, much like myself, enjoying the garden yet feeling some trepidation to go too far beyond. What used to be called normal life!!! My plan now is to make the best of the Spring and the coming summer in case we have to face another hibernation later in the year. Hang in there! x
Congratulations, dear writer friend!! so much to agree with you on here, the lock down, the losses, the wonky bits. These images you’ve shared are some of the most glorious and wonderful ever and I give thanks to you, always.
Thank you dear Susan! Hasn’t it been the strangest time? Luckily we have our creativity to keep us company, and in your case the deer! But there’s nothing like the company of friends and the freedom to enjoy what the world has to offer. Let’s hope 2022 allows for more of it……x
I am so excited to be catching up with you…voice is a perfect word for your book project. And I will be first in line to get a copy come autumn. I had the opposite problem from you. I co-authored a book and had to find a publisher which we just did. Announcement soon once it is all worked out. But it seems we are on similar paths….so excited for you my friend!
O Donna it’s been a very long time for sure! Both of us deep in our creative caves by the sound of it. How wonderful you have found a publisher! I am absolutely thrilled for you! I am learning so much from this whole process and I feel sure you will love it too. The world of blogging that we started out in was very different from today but it’s great that some of us are still here!!!! x