As well as being Candlemas, 2 February is of course Groundhog Day, when Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his home in Pennsylvania to present his annual weather forecast: "If Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an early spring." Apparently, since 1887 his predictions have been correct 39% of the time, and he's predicted a long winter 87% of the time. His accuracy would probably have been higher if he'd predicted an early spring every time, and people would have been happier in anticipation.
I have associated Candlemas with snowdrops for a few years, but we won't have many bulbs this year: only a few snowdrops salvaged from Burford in pots; a couple of rows of daffodil bulbs planted last week when they were already sprouting; and any wild daffs in the unlikely case that they spring up around the grounds.
We do however have horse manure from our "neigh"-bours (sorry) nicely arranged on the kitchen garden, and a proto-list of seeds for ordering.
Between September 2010 and September 2011, I lived alongside an Anglican Benedictine community of monks and nuns. In November 2010, we moved from Broad Marston Manor near Evesham to Mucknell Abbey, a new eco-monastery near Worcester. This blog was about things that I observed and things that interested me. I have now stopped writing it. Thank you to all who were also interested.
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