Monday 23 January 2012

From Winter to Spring.



I am having a major clean-out of my study. I have decided to do no more machine embroidery and am giving the stuff out to make a bit of money for the local Air Ambulance, who were so good to me when I needed them. In the process I have found so many things I had forgotten about.

One of them was a writing exercise that we did at our local Writers' Group several years ago, when we had to write a piece on each season of the year in no more than fifty words.

Reading through them a few minutes ago I thought how apt they were for this time of the year. Alright, Winter still has a long way to go and there can be very cruel weather in February. Locals are quick to remind us that one of the worst Winters ever up here didn't start until the beginning of February.

But reading my Winter and Spring pieces together, does give one a feeling that Spring is not so far away. It is also possible to view it as a metaphor for life (particularly if, in may case you read them the other way round!)

Winter.

Bushes are heavy with berries - red haws, orange hips, purple-black sloes. They shine damply in the morning light. Fieldfares, a thousand, fly in and settle on the branches. By evening the berries are gone. Next morning the bushes are bare and black. The fieldfares have gone. Winter has come.

Spring.

A celandine under the hedge; a marsh-marigold on the beck side; aconites in the garden; a primrose in the wood; a daffodil by the side of the road; pollen on the pussy-willow; the sun shining weakly through thin cloud. All yellow. All the colour of Spring.

Have you ever tried doing a piece in fifty words? For someone as verbose as me it is jolly hard - do have a go. I would have been hard-pressed with the Spring one without the semi-colon.

9 comments:

George said...

In two words, Pat—very lovely!

MorningAJ said...

Excellent descriptive pieces! You could have a go at the Friday 55 challenge I do each week over at the G-Man's Blog. I know he'd be glad to see you.

AJ

Arija said...

Love your photos of erantis and snowdrops and fifty words is not many to get the sense of a season across in. Well done.

steven said...

spring!!! wow weaver . . lucky lucky you ..... we're diving deeper into winter . . . . steven

Heather said...

Very fitting 50 word descriptions Pat and beautiful photos to accompany them. Thankyou for the lovely comments you leave me, and enjoy your patchwork and needlepoint. I started my love of needlework with needlepoint and have dabbled with patchwork but it requires too much maths for my liking, especially when working with triangles and diamonds - I always seemed to lose the points.

mrsnesbitt said...

Lovely Pat - strangely enough I am just developing my sewing skill! Note the singular - "skill" not "skills" lol!

angryparsnip said...

Spring ! already ?
Very lovely photos.

I think the limits of fifty words is interesting exercise. It makes you think much like when I write haiku.
I always ramble on so having limits really makes me stop and think.

Wonderful descriptions of Winter and Spring.

cheers, parsnip

Aging Ophelia said...

Sharp imagery! I haven't tried to write a seasonl piece in 50 words/less. I've been working on flash fiction for the last year and have found it helpful to all of my writing-- it tightens me up.

Lovely blog! Peace, Mari

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you for the comments - I should have known I was tempting fate (see next post).