Snapshots of the Moon and Dorset with snippets from the diary at what turns out to be a difficult time.
When the days and nights are roughly of equal length it’s time to close the part of my online diary that runs from December Solstice to March Equinox. Anything goes in there from whole story scenes to a very private rant to unavoidable news.
The diary gets too big and baggy if I keep it going for a whole year and takes ages to load, so I divide it into astronomical sections.
Some tiny fragments with photos.
In chronological order:
Thursday 23 December 2021
Language Learning
Learning Welsh from the programme notes to Pobol y Cwm:
Mae euogrwydd yn taro Colin fel gordd
euogrwydd – guilt
taro – hit/to hit
fel gordd – like a hammer
Guilt hits Colin like a hammer :
Mae euogrwydd yn taro Colin fel gordd
Would guilt hit me like a hammer be
roedd euogrwydd yn taro fi fel gordd?
Monday 27 December 2021
Something about the weather
Christmas Day was wet and quiet.
Boxing Day: cold and sunny.
Boxing Day. Plenty of people about at West Bay
A few moments later looking the other way.
Ideas/scenes/dialogue for a story
Angela: ‘I like wearing a mask. It’s handy because I’m hyperventilating anyway.’
Monday 3 January 2022
Notes to Self
My thoughts are like children running screaming round the playground. Perhaps the one I want to pick is the thoughtful child at the back.
Allotment and garden
Sunday 8 January 2022
We could grow our own flax. Make linen!
The Last of the Pumpkins
(slumped in the oven for easy peeling)
Research for stories:
which can lead me into all kinds of avenues, such as:
Friday 21 January 2022
Looking at the Moon
A Waning Gibbous Moon from my kitchen window 08.27 on Friday 21 January 2022
Below the same Moon phase in one of my favourite apps
Left: Northern Hemisphere. Right: Southern Hemisphere
in the app ‘Phases of the Moon’ for 21 January 2022
Waning Crescent Moon at Dawn
28 January 2022
Time and changes
Tuesday 1 February 2022
A New Moon. A New Lunar Year.
The Year of the Tiger …
The Moon never turns its back on us
Ideas for future self-improvement
in the series: Things I would like to do really well if I had another life. Maybe with a better camera.
to photograph the Moon – advice from NASA
‘Set your camera’s white balance for daylight, and try a fast shutter speed with a smaller aperture’
Birthdays
A spring posy from the garden for …
News that seems to change everything
Thursday 24 February 2022
Russia has invaded Ukraine.
I’ve often wondered what it must have felt like for ordinary people when Germany invaded Poland.
Friday 25 February 2022
Russian troops getting closer to Kyiv (let’s say it the way Ukrainians say it).
Radio 4, the Today Programme, focuses on Ukraine for days. I mostly trust the BBC for news. Reporters like Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet (still in Kyiv) have seen what Russia did in Syria and still care about the people there too, and don’t stop sending messages about the situation in Afghanistan or Yemen either, but in the mainstream most other news is blotted out for a while. Floods in Australia? Hardly a mention. Not when Europe is witnessing the kind of times we thought were going to die out of living memory.
Roedd euogrwydd yn taro fi fel gordd
Waxing Crescent Moon
18.29 4 March 2022 (looking West)
Nine star broccoli seedling
12 March 2022
Daffodil with reflection
99 per cent Full Moon
17 March 2022
Life has been evolving on our planet for billions of years and in many beautiful ways. Some things haven’t changed all that much – the way the Moon looks from the Earth, for instance. But humans have the capacity to inflict great damage in a very short time.
Some ways to help:
From the Ukrainian Institute in London: Russia’s War against Ukraine. What you can do to support Ukraine and Ukrainians
Choose Love ‘does whatever it takes to help refugees and displaced people’
DEC The Disasters and Emergency Committee – currently highlighting appeals for Ukraine and Afghanistan
Share the Meal is ‘the world’s first app against global hunger’. You can donate as little as 80 cents (US) or 65p to the United Nations World Food Programme
The Equinox was on 20 March 2022. Meteorological Spring began on 1 March in the Northern Hemisphere and now it is also Astronomical Spring.
I hope there are good things to report between now and the Solstice on 21 June.
If you have hopes and wishes, or ideas about how to ‘fix Putin’ so he will want to make peace, please let me know!
Maria Donovan 
Such a beautiful insight into the world around you, Maria, in some ways the same and in others very different from my life in the southern hemisphere. I smiled at the people walking along the beach on Boxing Day. We do that to walk off the excesses of Christmas food and drink 🙂 Your photography is excellent (I love the daffodil reflection) and I like the NASA tip. We have Blood Moons and I never quite capture their eerie reddish glow.
As to world affairs, don’t get me started on Russia and Ukraine, I am beyond appalled. However, it is good to see our local business organisations, charities, food outlets, even writers, asking for a bit extra when items are purchase so it can be donated to help war-torn Ukrainian families. Such good in the world, I hope it can disconnect the bad.
Looking forward to the June Solstice! ❤️
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It’s lovely to continue our conversation here, Gretchen. I thought of you when putting up the photos – I expect more cheerful blossoms next time. It’s good to hear how things are in Brisbane! Am so glad there was something you enjoyed here in the words and pictures. I enjoy your blog so much – can’t leave any comment there, so I’m saying it now!
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Thank you, Maria, so thoughtful and very kind of you 🙂 I often get asked why I do not activate comments (and miss out on lovely conversations like yours) but the best way I can describe it is to say that I enjoy reading other blogs and looking outward, not inward at my own work. Hope your Brisbane friends are okay now things have dried out after our flood.
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I can understand that, Gretchen and it’s your blog! I appreciate your outwarding-looking approach too. Thanks for explaining 😊. I think other Brisbane friends are OK and hope you are too.
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Yes, thanks Maria, things are getting back to normal although La Niña hasn’t completely gone. Some more wet days ahead – fortunately everyone knows the drill!
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Hopefully all will be well and some cooler (drier?) days will be with you before too long.
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🙂
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