A spring walk

It seems a long time since I was able to take my local village walk but today my son came over to visit and we went together armed with cameras.

It was good to see the green shoots appearing and the spring flowers like celandines. There was even blossom on the hawthorn. There were quite a few butterflies too, small tortoiseshells and a peacock. It is far too early for this type of butterfly but the weather has been rather mild. I hope we do not get a cold snap that could kill them, and there is not much food for them either. The birds are still using the bird feeder loving the fatballs and the half coconut shells full of fat and seeds.

Have you seen any butterflies yet? And what are your thoughts about them being around so early? What other signs of spring have you seen?

Learning to give and be active

The Spring Equinox has passed and we look forward to the longer days. It is also the time of Sports Relief in the UK where various sporting activities are undertaken in order to raise money for those disadvantaged both here and abroad. Money was raised to help those in need, those who are disabled and those whose needs are great compared to ours.

Why have we not yet learned that all people are equal in the world and that all of us have the same needs so why is it that some people do not even have clean water. Others die needlessly because medicine is not available. Some earn a pittance looking through other people’s rubbish to find things to sell. Is this a fair world? What can we do to change it?

Many people give money to fund clean water, to help people to live in harmony with their land, but there are other ways to help. There are many volunteer organisations both here and abroad where you can go and help on a practical level for months at a time. Maybe those who are greedy for more money should do some of this unpaid work and see how it feels. If I was younger and physically able then I would be out there giving a hand. What would you do? Where will your path take you?

Acting and solving

There are many people, including many druids, who are actively protesting against fracking and other assaults on our planet. This is very good but how many of us have thought about what solutions we can offer?

When people were protesting about the badger cull, there were some who put forward a campaign for protecting the badgers with a vaccine. So they came up with a solution to the problem. What solution can we find to provide our energy without fracking? Locally there has been a lot of protest against wind farms but no one has suggested an alternative.

Solar farms are one solution and are not so visible as wind turbines. But we need all kinds of alternative energy to supply our needs and we need to learn to look at alternative energy as a package of wind, solar and wave or tidal energy.

We can’t go on like this. Our attitudes need to change if we are going to keep the human race alive in the future. So while continuing to protest against fracking and other things, let us find a solution to put forward to those in power so that they can see that we are trying to do our best for our planet.

Growing hope

The sun is shining again. I am sure we are all feeling much better now. The earth is drying out slowly and life in the ground continues to surprise us. As my garden is new to me, I look each morning to see what has appeared. I have found crocuses and daffodils and a tiny violet. The birds are returning to the feeder too and yesterday there was a blackbird eating the fallen seed as well as whatever was in the grass. (photo below but taken through the window so a bit blurry)

All of this gives me hope that when we all feel better after the storms and chaos of the last few months, we will be able to give attention to those things which need it; the overbearing way in which our views are dismissed, for one example. What can we do to make sure our concerns are heard? How can we make our voices stronger? How can we help to get rid of corruption so that there are no innocent people sent to prison for something they did not do? There are many other items which need our attention; I am sure you can think of many more.

As a druid I believe that we are all connected in some way and that we are all equal. How do you feel?

 

The colours of Spring

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus and enjoyed the amazing warmth of the sun. This morning the sun was shining but now, only an hour later the sky is overcast. But it gave me time to take some photos of the garden. Yellow daffodils, orange yellow crocuses and yellow forsythia. There are other spring flower  colours of course, but yellow seems to be predominant, at least in my garden.

There is something about the colour yellow. The sun is yellow and makes us feel better when it shines. The yellow flowers also make me smile and feel lots of hope about the things going on in our world. They also give me a feeling of inspiration too, making me want to create things and write. How does this colour make you feel? Do you have yellow flowers in your garden? Or do you find other colours that you like better? Does the colour around you change the way you think?

Here is a photo of those beautiful crocuses.