Snowdrops for candlemas

Today is Candlemas Sunday when we celebrate the presentation of Christ in the temple and the purification of  Mary 40 days after the birth of her son Jesus. We think of Jesus the light of the world.

There is a saying:

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.

Today has been dry and sunny although very cold, I don't think winter has ended yet.

This time of year candles and snowdrops are quite significant for me as I think of certain family members  who have died around this time.

 Snowdrops are a symbol of hope, so although we may have more bad weather to come they are the first signs of new growth in the garden and a promise of much more good things to look forward to.

 There were snowdrops in church this morning picked from the church garden. I wish I had so many snowdrops in my garden.

 

Happy Christmas

This time of year is so busy and I have done so much but not blogged a lot. I get so busy and everything has to be perfect for Christmas. Well it's now Christmas Eve and I have done all my jobs, baked loads, decorated the house, and that is it. Later on tonight I will be going to the midnight service at church. Then tomorrow and for a few days  it's family time.

I hope you all have a lovely time this Christmas, thank you for reading my blog  and for the lovely comments.

May the peace of Jesus be with you this Christmas time.

Harvest flowers

I've had a lot on my mind this week. It was all about saying I would do something and then wishing I'd never said I would. It was all about doing a display for our Harvest Festival at church.

When it's Harvest time at church the different organisations  are always asked to decorate a windowsill or area of the church. I was asked to do the porch. I spent all week thinking about colour schemes, looking around the flower shops to see what was available, looking around the garden to see what I could cut, looking through magazines to get ideas. I asked a friend to help me who was good at flower arranging.

I wanted to do something that represented autumn.. So I thought about autumn colours and autumn in the hedgerows. I collected berried branches for an autumn harvest. There was hypericum, rose hips and a shrub dripping with berries which I found at the allotments but I don't know what its name is. There were seed heads and hydrangea. We finished off with some pears and apples arranged amongst leaves to look like windfall apples and pears.