February bounces in and whilst the weather still brings a chill there is certainly more light as the days lengthen.
Morning birds greet the dawn
With that growing light have you noticed how the mornings become filled with birdsong? Our feathered friends sense the approaching spring and their singing is optimistic,bright and cheerful.
A great tit pauses for a drink
Indeed, it is often said that St Valentine’s Day (14th February) is the day on which birds choose a partner ready for the mating season.
Valentine’s Day brings glowing hearts
But singing is good for humans too. It helps reduce blood pressure, improve lung function, posture, and it boosts the immune system. Breathing deeply and filling the lungs with air opens our body and mind up to new possibilities. Try some deep breathing exercises and see just how much more wide awake, alert and aware you feel. Singing triggers chemical changes in the body and releases ‘happy hormones’ including dopamine and endorphins, which help reduce stress and create a sense of wellbeing.
Enjoy that sense of wellbeing…
You can sing alone – or with others. It can be huge fun joining a choir – it teaches you to listen to one another, it helps improve memory and you have the satisfaction of creating something beautiful. Any more benefits? Yes! Lasting friendships can be formed – with a common bond these can be sources of joy for many years. No wonder the birds sound so cheerful!
Walking along the road to a small Scottish village some years ago the weather suddenly turned from bright, warm sunshine to chilly, driving rain. A passerby remarked that in those parts nobody ever went out without their waterproofs. We learned the lesson the hard way!
Dodging the rain on a hilly path
Today it’s often said that there’s no such thing as the wrong weather, only the wrong clothing. Muffled up in a warm coat or a hardy rain jacket it can be fun just to take the weather in one’s stride. And to enjoy it.
Muffled against all weathers
It seems to be a particularly British thing, our obsession with The Weather. Most conversations get round to it sooner or later. Very often it’s one of the first things we talk about – it provides such a rich ground for grumbles, obsession and speculation! It changes at the drop of a hat – even with today’s sophisticated computer technology and meteorological modelling the forecasters often fail to get their weather predictions spot on. And so, The Weather is never a dull subject.
Picnickers enjoy a sunny day
A sunny day can suddenly turn to…
Storm clouds loom
…a dramatically stormy day.
Indeed, the etiquette in polite society has long ruled that ‘The Weather’ is a safe topic of conversation when all else fails. In the 18th century novel Sense & Sensibility Jane Austen has one of her characters, Mrs Dashwood, say to her youngest daughter:
‘Hush, Margaret, if you can’t think of anything appropriate to say you will please restrict your remarks to the weather.’
Changeable weather
Sometimes its easier to understand the weather than the times we live in. So we turn to a ‘safe’ subject. But even in Biblical times there was a tendency to focus on the weather rather than the social and political times the people were going through. Jesus challenged the people when he said,
“When you see clouds growing bigger in the west, you say, ‘A rainstorm is coming.’ And soon it begins to rain. When you feel the wind begin to blow from the south, you say, ‘It will be a hot day.’ And you are right. You hypocrites! You can understand the weather. Why don’t you understand what is happening now?”
Rainstorm
Then, as now, people were living in difficult times; what was going on in the wider world didn’t always make sense. And it may be that we suffer from confusion and muddle about what goes on in the world today. It is times like these when we perhaps need to focus on the simple things in life – those things we can’t do anything about but just confront head on, endure – and even, enjoy. In his book, That Hideous Strength, CS Lewis writes of a couple who make the most of whatever weather they encounter:
‘We both like Weather. Not this kind or that kind, but just weather. It’s a useful taste if one lives in England… Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Haven’t you ever noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children - and and the dogs? They know what snow’s made for.’
Enjoying the snow
So, whatever the weather, wherever you are, enjoy it and make the most of it. It’ll change soon enough…
St Bartholomew’s Day comes on 24th August – 40 days after St Swithin’s Day. Both are folk lore predictors of weather. Maybe you remember the saying:
“St Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days will rain na mair”
Forty days of rain predicted…
How closely we’d all watch for rain or sun!
Less well known, perhaps, is the piece of folk lore surrounding St Bartholomew:
‘If St Bartholomew be clear, a prosperous autumn comes that year.’
A good harvest
I rather like the saying, ‘All the tears that St Swithin can cry, St Bartelmy’s mantle will wipe dry…’
St Bartleby’s mantle will dry any tears…
Bee keepers are also reminded that ‘On St Bartholomew’s day take the honey away.’
Beehives offer a fruitful harvest
Honey is delicious when enjoyed on hot buttered toast – but it has numerous other benefits.
The teatime jar of honey – full of possibilities
In ancient times honey was used for embalming purposes but it also aids the living. Aristotle (around 350BC) undertook research into the healing and antiseptic properties of honey and Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, prescribed honey for sores and ulcers.
Research into the benefits of honey
Research continues today into the effects of honey on heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure and numerous other conditions – so we can rightly celebrate the honey harvest around St Bartholomew’s Day.
