Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Brigid was here

Brigid was here.  There are many ways I can tell.

I can tell because the days are so much longer, so quickly. 

I can tell because the sun comes up earlier.  

I can tell because I hear different birdsongs now. 

I can tell because the sun is in different places throughout the day now than it was at Winter Solstice.  When the cats lounge in the sun in our south-facing main room, they sometimes sit on the floor now, instead of always on the table.  When I'm working at my computer, the sun hits different places in my office than it did six weeks ago.  At Meeting for Worship, the places where one should sit if one does or does not want sun in one's eyes, or on the back of one's head, has shifted. 

The sun is higher in the sky, and that seems to be changing every day. This is dramatically noticeable. 

I can tell because when I'm working at my computer and I need to turn on the office lights, it's later in the day. 

I can tell from the different things that happened at our Brigid-inspired potluck dinner party a few weeks ago: creativity, community, fun, fast friendship between a child who expected to be bored and a normally-aloof cat, lots of laughter, some silliness, learning to make Brigid's crosses (there was some swearing, a true feeling of accomplishment, and some just plain fun involved), delightful food (a beetroot and sheeps'-milk feta torte, sheeps'-milk being traditional for Imbolc/Brigid; chili with Boston brown bread (aka cornbread with corn and rye flours); salad; apple pie and apple crumble and stewed apples; lots of chocolate...).

Brigid was here.

7 comments:

Alyss said...

All week I've been worried that I'm running late in the morning because of how light it is. Nope, not late... just spring is coming!

Morgan said...

*grin*

And I *do* keep running late in the late afternoons, b/c I keep thinking it's earlier than it is! Nice "problem" to have. :)

Heather Cate said...

Lovely! Your celebration sounds so wonderful :)

Beth C. said...

Apples are a symbol of Brigid? No wonder I'd been craving them the last couple of weeks! And we've been getting rainbows of the sort you get from prisms on our bathroom floor lately--a treat from the way our window is set in the bathroom. I'm glad you and yours had a blessed, creative Brigid/Imbolc!

Morgan said...

Thanks, Heather! :)

Beth, apples are a Goddess symbol in general; I wouldn't say they're specific to Brigid.

Beloved Wife has definitely been reveling in having access to some of the apples of her childhood again since we moved here -- especially Bramleys, which aren't available in the US, and russets, which are occasionally available, but aren't popular commercially at all (we occasionally got them at Farmers Markets). And we both love apple pie. So really, any event is a good excuse for apple pie.

And someone else obviously thought apple crumble was a good idea, too... *grin*

We do get a variety of good apples just in the regular grocery store here. This makes me happy.

Mmmmm. The prisms sound very neat. Sunlight early in the morning is good and helpful thing (at least for me -- I know you're much more of a morning person than I am! Of course, that wouldn't be hard...)

Blessed be.

Amy K said...

I've been noticing and enjoying the late afternoon light, as well. It's the speed of the change that I especially notice. Derivatives of trig functions, you know.

Morgan said...

I suspected there was a derivative in there somewhere... *grin*