Summer Solstice Arrives

Friday, January 9, 2009

January bares his two sets of teeth.



Remembering that January is named for the Roman god Janus who is represented with two faces looking in opposite directions, we are feeling the double bite of widespread flooding along with many slides on our highways which have stranded thousands in our area.

Turning to one of my favorite books of the "keeping of the months of the year" (The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady), I found the following quote from the Faerie Queen by E. Spenser:

"Then came old January, wrapped well
In many weeds to keep the cold away
Yet did he quake and quiver like to quell
And blewe his nales to warm them if he may;
For they were numbed with holding all the day.
And hatchet keene with which he felled wood
And from the trees did lop the needless spray."

Methinks that the month has more than a wee bit of bite left in it, I am afraid...but time will tell.

From the verrra soggy Pacific Northwest,

Duncan

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