Summer solstice

It is the time of the longest day here and light abounds, shining through the house in unexpected ways, keeping the evenings long and the mornings very early.

What makes you shine? What fills you with light?

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Matariki and quintessence

Matariki, the Maori New Year celebrates the return of the Pleiades star constellation to our southern night sky. This occurs at the time of the shortest day.

My Camellia Quintessence (more here about this lovely plant) near my door bloomed on the shortest day this year.

This quote I found seemed appropriate.

Man is a microcosm, or a little world, because he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament, from the earth and the elements; and so he is their quintessence.

Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus

For readers in the southern hemisphere happy Matariki, new beginnings, as the light returns and for northern hemisphere readers enjoy the fullness of the light.

Last light

Here in the southern hemisphere we are entering the darkest time of the year as the days shorten.

We have been enjoying some wonderful weather that has us confused. It is warm and calm but the sun is a mellower, soft light and it is in the sky for shorter and shorter hours each day.

As the afternoon draws on the sunlight is slanting across the walls and floors at quite different angles. Sunset behind a nearby hill happens quite dramatically.

On Friday I managed to capture the last, reflected, milky sunlight near the phone and computer.

Then the last of the rays falling on a bedroom wall and within seconds it is all gone from the house and the dark begins to creep in.

Flowering and time counting down

I am having a deliberately quiet morning after three really busy days. My head is full of lists and plans, which is normal for many people at this time of the year.

I have been getting out with my camera and I have photos to use on my blog in the future. I have also been aware of lots of ideas to blog about but we have a family wedding on Christmas Eve this year and naturally all our attention is on that, plus Christmas arrangements. Excitement is building.

Our beautiful Melia tree is flowering in great abundance and for the first time I have given more attention to it and delighted in the delicate fragrance from its clusters of mauve star- shaped flowers.

Rain has caused the flowers to begin to drop and this morning I stopped and picked some up. In an unconscious move I have arranged eleven of them in a clock shape…..it is eleven big sleeps until the wedding and we are all feeling the clock ticking I realized after I had arranged them.

The star shaped flowers speak to me of Christmas and the short time the stars are shining in our southern hemisphere sky right now as we head to the solstice.