Eight weeks: back to life

Yesterday some technical problems didn't allow me to post, so here I am today, exploring how is life 8 weeks after the equinox. First of all I have to say that next sunday, 21 of may, we will be leaving and hit the road for approximatively 4 months, so I will have to stop my light tracking and mostly I won't have any internet connection, so my posts from around Europe will be very seldom. For the first time in years I feel so heart brocken at the idea to stop my life, my projects and go away. I'm not sure if I should be worried about my gypsy spirit being tamed or happy because that means that I'm finally enjoying the 'here and now'. But my family has been organizing this trip for so long, way before I could find my own peace of mind and so next sunday my life will have a turn and change to the core for several weeks.
Here we're experiencing the most cold spring in years, or possibly ever. Temperature just rised a couple of days ago above zero, but never more than 12-15 C in the sun ( it means maybe 8 ? ). It feels good on our frozen to the bones bodies, but still watching last year's nature journal, we were way over 20 this period of the year. The trees are amazing. They're still bare, but yeasterday's rise in temperatures is making blossom all the buds so the tiny leaves start making their shy appearence on the branches. Life goes on, Mama Earth is shouting, and I try to make her braveness my own, to face the colder moments of my own life. But let's track the light:

Sunrise has been at 4:35

Sunset will be at 21:53

Lenght of the day 17h 17min

( + 5h 1min of daylight in eight weeks, + 39 min since last monday)

 

A few of the older stats can be found here (equinox) and here (three weeks) and here (seven weeks )

 

 Can you spot the raven on the fence ? We have been bringing him food for two months now, and he is becoming our 'friend'. He waits for us and while we are in the park he sits on the fence and looks at us. I will miss him like a crazy, as silly as it may sound.

 

Woodworking

It has been a long while since I last showed some of the things I'm doing with wood. It is very exciting to me since I'm learning everything 'hands-on' so to say, but even without any guidance but trial and errors I can see getting better and better all the time. I'm learning to master our new-to-us stand drill, chisels and wood-burning iron and I'm looking for a good carving knife to test myself on a new level of the carving experience. But here the last things I made ...

Flower-shaped pen holder (or brush holder). It is quite fun if you look at the first two pictures, the toys around the stand drill ... house full of (unschooled) kids that's it heheheh ....

Candle holder out of a branch

 

Pyrographed dread or beard beads

 

All the wood i use is either recycled ( the pen-holder ) or out of fallen branches that I find in the forest, so everything is extremely eco-friendly.

Seven weeks, back to life

Almost two months since the equinox, it is already time to look forward at the solstice and the mid-summer celebrations, incredible.
The light is nowadays our mistress, this part of the north has been blessed by several sunny days in a row now which feels so good after a winter so long which lasted way after the vernal equinox. Life now is in full bloom, animals are nesting, trees are showing the first tender leaves or buds so big ou can tell they're about to burst. Yesterday as I was outdoors with my two youngest we experienced something amazing. We usually go in this playpark which happens to be basically in the forest. From the short wooden fence we saw an hedgehog coming, and that is rare enough already as the little ones tend to be very shy, and 'burying' very close to us under a pile of dry leaves. We could hear the little thing grunting and moving and startling and all of a sudden it came out litteral dragging another hedgehog ! They started an epic fight ( from what we saw they looked to be two males ) that lasted almost 20 minutes, when one of them gave up and run away to let the other one go back in the pile and fall asleep almost on the spot. For once I had my cell phone with me so I could take a few pictures and make some videos. We didn't disturb them at all, just watched them from the fence of course.
But let's track the light now...

Sunrise has been at 4:55

Sunset will be at 21:33

Lenght of the day 16h 38min

( + 4h 22min of daylight in seven weeks, + 37 min since last monday )

 

here the Equinox stats and few more here, here, here 

 

And now a few evidences of our adventure yesterday ....

Beauty

I see lately I have only been pointing out how beautiful is the nature out there, and what a great amazement Mother Earth ways ignite in me; but I can't help that. Nature in this moment of my life is a balm, a companion, a meditation and a prayer alltogether and I can't help bowing in front of her as she is really keeping me sane in a moment of great confusion. Here a few pictures of some wild flowers in my yard, taken just a couple of days apart. At the moment the situation is again at 'square one' since after the snow the sun has been shining for three days now and the temperatures have risen to the 'warm' point.

 

... same flowers same place ...