The weather

These last three weeks have been absolutely glorious. I've spent a week walking in the snowy Pyrenees and a fortnight (on & off) in the garden and it's been a pleasure to be outside. The birds are gradually returning to the feeding station as the supply of berries dwindles and the views stretch farther and farther as the leaves continue to fall. I 'disturbed' a dormant hedgehog the other day as I was cleaning up the leaves but he stayed curled up in a tight little ball, eyes still shut tight and a slow regular breathing pattern. I carefully carried him to a quiet part of the garden, where he will be able to spend the rest of the winter, and made a warm, cosy bed of leaves, moss and twigs.

The bonfire is frequently alight these days and, whilst watching the dying embers of the smoke curling straight up, I get a feeling of inexplicable melancholy as the day turns to night. I really can't explain why, but winter evenings always have this effect on me; it's not unpleasant and it's certainly not depressing but there is nearly always a tinge of sadness about the end of a lovely, peaceful day in the garden.

We are also relishing this weather - but are still struggling with the concept that we don't have to spend every dry moment outside working! This is what comes of 13 years in SW Scotland with it's near incessant rain. Having said that, the garden clearance is coming on a treat...!

Its great weather for being on a roof!! Ive almost enjoyed being uncomfortable, and its just a shame that its darkening just as I return home. Roll on retirement  

I always feel that a really clear evening, as the sun drops, gets quite eerie. Not in an unpleasant way, a bit like walking through dark woods in summer. 

Paul

pogo wrote:I always feel that a really clear evening, as the sun drops, gets quite eerie. Not in an unpleasant way

Hi Pogo
It's a peculiar feeling and I can't quite find the appropriate word to describe it. I only feel like this on winter evenings. Any offers of help with the right word?

Izzyedwards wrote:We are ......still struggling with the concept that we don't have to spend every dry moment outside working! This is what comes of 13 years in SW Scotland with it's near incessant rain.

Hi Izzyedwards.
Were you here last year? We had an interminably long, damp, cloudy, foggy winter which dragged on and on. Make the most of these beautiful days; they really are priceless!

No, we were only here for Christmas last year, so I missed that.. We've only been here permanently since the beginning of October. So far, loving it!

Well, you've certainly had a wonderful introduction to the Limousin and the forecast is for yet another wonderful week ahead. The Limousin is a lovely part of France.

How about "wistful" Tocyvi? A feeling of vague or regretful longing.
Mr. Two feels that way for his lost youth! He says it's annoying that he can remember all the daft things he got up to in 1969 much clearer than all the sensible things we did last year!!

We are really enjoying it. My only comment would be that due to all the lovely weather, and the subsequent amount of work that's getting done in the garden, all those little snagging jobs that need finished in the house (skirting boards fitted, a tiny bit of tiling in the kitchen, the odd hole filled and painted over) are not getting done!! But it's a nice complaint to have

twointheeye wrote:How about "wistful" Tocyvi?    A feeling of vague or regretful longing.

Hi twointheeye
Yes, that's almost there......shall we settle for "wistfully melancholic"?

Melancholic: "a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause" + wistful: "A feeling of vague or regretful longing"

It really is an odd sort of sentiment. As I mentioned earlier, I don't feel like that on summer evenings, but, as Pogo said, there's something a bit "eerie" about early winter evenings but not "unpleasant".

I googled it and came up with a few quotes from people who seem to share the sentiment:

“Such days of autumnal decline hold a strange mystery which adds to the gravity of all our moods.”
― Charles Nodier, Smarra: & Trilby

“A mist is rolling over the fields. Why is a summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?”
― Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

“You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down”
― Thrity Umrigar, The Space Between Us

“Melancholy were the sounds on a winter's night.”
― Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room

“Autumn is a fleeting season, melancholy by nature.”
― Brian P. Easton, Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter

Two things are apparent to me: firstly that many other people have the same feeling and secondly that they also have the same difficulty in putting it into words.

“Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad.”
― Victor Hugo

I also like the word 'pensive'; it's the time of year when we know many things (in nature) are ending and the winter has arrived. Just as Spring brings feelings of joy, renewal, hope and optimism.

Amber wrote:“Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad.”
― Victor Hugo

I also like the word 'pensive'; it's the time of year when we know many things (in nature) are ending and the winter has arrived. Just as Spring brings feelings of joy, renewal, hope and optimism.

I'm sure you're right, Amber. Just as human life is a cycle, so are nature's seasons a life in a microcosm; autumn and winter are the 'dying' and 'dead' (or dormant) stages of development and it is inevitable that we are in some way affected by the omnipresence of mortality. In fact, our language frequently reflects this: dead leaves, dying foliage, the 'autumn of our years', the 'winter of our discontent' and so on.

I've enjoyed the responses and reflections from all of you and I thank you. I thought it was just me!

Perhaps it has also something to do with the fact that days are the shortest before Christmas. When the sun shines it gives you warmth and light but it goes under before you are ready for it - you have the feeling the day should last a bit longer...

Hi Folks
Looks like we are in for another week of wall to wall sun shine.Frosty mornings and blue skys,Beats the hell out of wind and rain in the UK.
Simmo in the High Correze.

Quite right Simmo. Keep looking at the forecast for where we used to live in Scotland - gales and torrential rain... not missing it one bit. I was down to a t-shirt in the garden this morning. A t-shirt!! On the 15th December!!