December: once upon a time the tenth month in the early Roman calendar. If you have read any of my posts covering the months of the year this will come as no surprise.
From Jan-Dec I’ve been challenging my own assumptions about the months. I have been surprised and then surprised again at how quickly I became used to my new knowledge: I can no longer think of the months from September to December without noticing that they are numbered 7-10.
Now the year begins in January instead of March, the names of the last four months of the year are detached from their original significance. The names are just names. That is another wonder of language and our understanding: the transference of meaning from the literal to the customary and familiar.
Something else I’ve added to these posts, to give a sense of time passing, are photos of the view from my window.
Some months have needed more than one photo – to capture just how quick the changes can be. May began with apple blossoms, which by the 19th had all but disappeared leaving the trees fully dressed in leaves of light green.
December too, is a month that can show itself in various guises – such are the blessings of changeable weather and a low angle of sunlight. Three days in a row:
It just shows how hard it is to sum up one month in a photograph or a paragraph, that there is no one ‘truth’ about the way December ought to look.
As for the featured photo it is neither a White Christmas nor Fake Snow.
The photo was taken in the second snowstorm of March 2018. Could you tell that from the photograph?
All a photo needs sometimes is a fake caption to give it a new meaning. Even if it’s only a harmless ‘Merry Christmas’.
Perhaps the way forward into the New Year is to be wary of taking things at face value, to go on questioning received wisdom (even if it’s your own) – and to keep an open mind.
Enjoy the year as it turns! If the planet stopped spinning, we’d all fall off. Wouldn’t we?
Maria Donovan 
Thank you, Maria, for your lovely and informative posts. Here’s wishing you a very happy holiday season and a wonderful being to the new year!
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Thank you very much, Jim. Wishing you the blessings of the season too, much happiness and a great new year.
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A lovely way to end the year, Maria. Beautiful posts. Your last sentence reminds me of something I read on a wall: stop the world, I want to get off 😀
Looking forward to more posts. January is another lovely post❤️
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Thank you, Melissa for joining in at the end and the beginning! Happy New Year. 😆
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Love your series of photographs! Such diverse seasons unlike my subtropical environment.
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My friend in Brisbane said the same – that her view didn’t change as drastically. Must be beautiful though. Thank you!
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Such a contrast between hemispheres. Actually Indigenous Australians say if one looks closely enough there are six subtle seasons 😉
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I have a guest post from my friend, Sarah Klenbort, that says something about that, I think. I am interested in different views!
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The guest post called ‘May in Oz’, written when Sarah was living in Sydney, mentions those six seasons!
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Wow, thank you, I will check it out.
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This is interesting. I’ve been thinking about the months, lately too, and how the names evolved. When you mention spinning, that’s what my head does once I start thinking about how far this business of marking time goes back.
Thank you, I am enjoying the turning of the year, particularly now we’ve returned to the Spring equinox. I was ready for that change. Whether or not we would fall off, I’m glad for every seasonal difference, no matter how untypical they might be.
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