......unruly sun" as that wonderful MetaphysicalPoet. John Donne" called him.
Last evening I watched the programme on the Yukon River. I looked at my Atlas afterwards and traced its progress through Alaska. And during the programme they briefly mentioned the Athabasca River and I know Red lives by the Athabasca Glacier so wonder how far you are from the Yukon Red, if you are reading this.
It takes seeing a programme like that to make us realise just what cissies we are where the sun is concerned. I am not a 'sun worshipper' (one of my carers is ) and if it does get really hot then my reaction is to go and lie down in a darkened room until the sun sets.
But this year, with Easter being at its absolute earliest, we seem to have been expecting Spring sunshine early too. And we do have to remind ourselves that it is we humans who have imposed dates and names for the Seasons on the World. Plants know better. They go on hours of daylight - they don't know when March 21st is or when the first day of Spring is. And as for the first day of the Meteorological Spring - forget it. The days get lighter, the shoots pop out of the ground.
But looking at the Yukon proogramme last night (especially as the week before last the river we looked at was the Zambesi) made me at any rate jolly pleased I lived in what is called a 'temperate' country.
Could I cope with a good six months of the year being dark and icy and bitterly cold and with living in such a remote settlement that if I wanted a new vehicle or a new settee I would have to either wait for the thaw or stand out watching for a vehicle coming up the frozen river with a whole load of things for various drop off points. Thinking about it certainly tends to make one get things in proportion.
But the beauty of it all is unmistakeable, the joy on that day when the sun first breaks through on the horizon; or the morning when you wake up and hear your first drop of water plopping off the end of a huge icicle.
It made me remember flying over I think maybe Greenland and seeing where a glacier met its Waterloo, the sea.
But come on there Mr Sun - I know you are warming up, I felt you on my face when I opened the front door this morning - get a move on and warm a few 'cockles' - we are getting desperate.
If only we could learn to accept each day as it emerges for what it is. But then, if we are farmers and our fields have been under water all winter and the ground is too wet to put our new-born lambs out, and if we let our milking herd out on the fields they'll plough it up for us in a couple of weeks, who can blame us for lying awake worrying?
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26 comments:
I think the word fickle comes to mind when we talk of weather and seasons. Some wag said the other day, 'it is going to be sunny today, that will be the second day this year'. In nature, natural order has its own path to follow not ours.
That is an interesting series, on the rivers. We watched it last night and last week.
Once again you make me think about something I wouldn't unless you brought it up. Could I cope with 6 months of the year being dark? Given electric lamps,and plenty of candles and lanterns in case the power wasn't working,I suppose I could.
Still I'm glad I don't have to, Mary
I complain about our weather at times but wouldn't want to cope with snow and ice for weeks, or scorching temperatures and humidity. However, I am looking forward to things being a bit drier and warmer!
Your post reminded me of when my SIL and her husband lived in Bethel, Alaska. At one point they bought a new pick up truck and had to have it brought by barge up the river to their town. The barge trip cost more than the truck as I recall!
It's been chilly here but I have lovely blooms out my kitchen window that have lasted a long time - weeks and weeks! Bright yellow daffodils and grape hyacinths! So wonderful to see.
I do love the 4 distinct seasons of Massachusetts. That said, Winter is a bit long...the cold general lack of sunshine and daylight hours makes me yearn for Spring. Alaska is on my bucket list and one day I will visit and see all the natural beauty it offers.
What a lovely, meandering post, Pat!
I, too, love 4 seasons and hope we'll get back to that really soon. Our usual winter has been missing for 3 years now. The early spring flowers have come and gone and the dogwood, forsythia, and dandelions (sigh!) are in bloom, the baby leaves are unfurling in the trees, and the birds and rabbits have been saying 'Spring' for weeks.
As long as we have Kit-Kats, we'll get by!
Hugs!
Spring, when the cold air mixes with warm air can have many weather changes and quickly too. The Yukon River and Athabasca river are on opposite sides of the rocky mountains. The Athabasca river flows into the Mackenzie river which empties into the Arctic ocean. The Yukon river empties into the Bering sea. These two are thousands of miles away. I traveled the complete length of the Mackenzie river from Tuktoyaktuk to Hay river. It took me 10 days.
I've recently been watching a series of programmes with Clive Myrie in Italy. His commentary is a little condescending, but the locations he visits are absolutely stunning. Italy at its best.
Down here on the Costa del Fenlands they're predicting temperatures may reach 70F today, or about 20C if you prefer. Meanwhile though huge patches of many fields lie under water with seed or crops just rotting.
Like others have commented here, I enjoy the seasons here in my very temperate part of the world. Spring has been wetter here than the past years, but with our summers becoming hotter and dryer, we‘re glad about the rain. This weekend, we‘re in for up to 28C - warmer than what we sometimes get in July!
John - Your part of the country is dreadful for farmers this year I bellieve.
Cro - I watched it when it was on before - I know Italy quite well and enjoyed every minute of the programme.
Red - no wonder I couldn't find the Athabasca River. The huge distaces in your country are quite foreign to us on a relatively small island.
Thanks everyone.
I used to like the programme Ice Road Truckers about lorries in Canada, but it does not seem to be on any more.
I cannot remember a Spring like this one. I suppose they have been warning us. I listened to Simon Armitage visiting the dwindling Arctic glaciers this week. Shocking. I think Thelma must have nodded off with her finger on the return key...
Here on Sheppey, after several days of strong winds and warm temperatures, the waterlogged farmland is beginning to dry out quite well. No sun today but up to 20 degrees temps.
I like the post heading.
I certainly agree with your last paragraph since we farmed for many years. Jackie
So enjoy your blog. I have to say, you re one of the most thoughtful and articulate bloggers I've encountered!
I used to love watching the ghost hens
The broilers who were months past their steel by dates
Blinking as they sat in the grass, their faces to the sun
Do you still have hens John?
Tasker I had forgotten that programme - the farmer and I never missed it - wish it would come back.
Isn't it good to hear that the farmland down the East of the country is beginning to dry out?
Thanks everyone. Sunshine here so far today!
I was born up there and my oldest son now lives on the shore of the Yukon River. He doesn't like the dark so usually takes holidays for a week to see the sun. It is cold there but you get used to waiting for stuff and people up there are mostly generous with one another. One lady didn't get the wedding. dress she ordered for her wedding and within a week had been offered the loan or gift of about 100. I miss the place including the dark and the wind. No trees of any consequence up there either.
The series on Rivers has been astounding and like you I watch along with my Atlas. Of course your title made me think of Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage at Dungeness. Have you seen the cottage? We were there one sunny springtime evening and it was purely by chance that we saw the words highlighted by the sun exactly as Derek Jarman intended. I blogged about our visit some nine years ago. I’m currently reading Katherine Rundell’s excellent biography of John Donne, Super-infinite: The Transformations of John Donne. I heard on the Radio 3 news bulletin this morning that March was the hottest March on record and was the 10th consecutive month in being the hottest on record. I know anecdotally in my own garden that growth appears three weeks earlier than last year - and yet the ground is still too wet to sow seed directly despite living on the well-drained greensand ridge in the South Downs. Over the last couple of years the nearby arable fields have been turned over to sheep pasture or even set aside entirely. But we have asparagus, leek, chard, spinach and rhubarb all producing well in the veg plot so I won’t starve. However, those who rely on supermarket confections because they either cannot afford or know how to cook real food will suffer - from obesity, diabetes and other diseases of the post-industrial age, although BigPharma is undoubtedly working on a solution which will eventually end up in our rivers. What you might call a full circle comment! Sarah in Sussex
I think one of the loveliest things about being alive is sitting outside lifting your face to the warm sun. I feel the tension melt. That and burying my nose in a perfumed deep red rose and inhaling, checking for bees first of course. - Pam, Aust.
In the meantime Weave I have been reading 'The Ministry for the Future" a book about climate change by Kim Stanley Robinson - the book club's choice this time. Sun roars,
'I am a god and I am not a god. Either way, you are my creatures. I keep you alive.
Inside I am hot beyond telling"...it goes on, ending with "Someday I will eat you. For now I feed you. Beware my regard. Never look at me".
Wow. Fierce eh? Not the kind sun of by backyard sunbathing, and one we certainly have to respect. - Pam.
Wishing you joy and strength on this, the 14th of April.
Hugs!
Thak you everyone for your good wishes
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