Lighter evenings - NOT amateur radio

Although mornings get darker for longer for a couple more weeks, the nights start to get a bit lighter from this week. This actually starts before the winter solstice here. By the end of January this is almost an hour more light in the evening.

Every season has something great. At this time of year it is drawing the curtains and enjoying the fire. Come summer I'd be watering the garden and cutting the grass!

Dark evenings - NOT amateur radio

It suddenly seems to be dark early. Only a few months ago it was much lighter at this time. 

Here we are at 1625z with the curtains drawn in "winter mode". In a few weeks it will stop getting darker and gradually lighter, although it is the end of January before we really notice things changing. 

I like the seasons. There is something good about them all.

Fresh green - NOT amateur radio

One of the great things about spring is the fresh green leaves. The trees in our garden are just coming into leaf. There is a sense of the earth "coming alive" again after a long, dark, winter. All seasons have their beauty.

Lighter evenings - NOT amateur radio

From December 22nd the days start to get a bit longer again here. The mornings get darker until next week, but already the evenings are a little better. By the end of January it is much better. It is funny how we adapt to the changing seasons.

Seasons - NOT amateur radio

There is something good about every season. In the summer it is the long warm evenings and the summer migrant birds. At the moment, it is the autumn colours and pumpkins. Those in the photo were at Brandon Country Park in Suffolk.

Late summer day - NOT amateur radio

Today was a lovely, warm, late summer day. We had lunch in the garden and did a few gardening jobs later.

I like the seasons: they all have something good about them. The summer flowers are past their best, but soon we'll have the glorious colours of autumn.

This year our crab apple tree is filled with crab apples. Usually a friend of my wife turns them in to delicious crab apple jelly.

Autumnal garden - NOT amateur radio

Gradually, the gardens are taking on a more autumnal look. The sunflowers have passed, the apples are ripening next door, we have harvested our crab apples and taken in the sunshade for the winter ahead.  Every season has something good about it and this year the autumn colours are splendid. I hope to run an antenna down the garden for 472kHz. Not visible in this picture is my current 472kHz "antenna", which is a couple of earth rods separated about 12m apart! With an ERP of around 5mW this reached over 1000km last winter. The 472kHz wire or loop will only be in place over autumn and winter and be taken down next spring. Every season has something good about it here in the UK.

Seasons - NOT amateur radio

As I grow older, the seasons seem to come around much more quickly. The long, light evenings are no more as we start the autumn and the run towards Christmas. Soon the shops will be filled with Christmas tat as the shops cash in commercially.  In some shops Christmas starts now!

It seems no time at all since the spring when the trees were showing that newness of fresh green and the summer migrants were arriving from Africa.

As one gets older I have learnt to enjoy every season. We are lucky in the UK to have seasons and each has its own pleasures if we just open our eyes  and let the seasons flow over us.

Autumn is a season of rich colours, newly turned soil and fresh starts. Winter can have those bright cold days when the trees are bare, or warm evenings inside when the TV and fire beckon. Spring is when the summer migrants return, when the birds make new nests and sing for all it is worth. Buds appear and the bulbs in the garden spring forth with vigor. Summer is when the flowers come into full bloom - and the grass needs cutting very regularly!

Every time of the year is special and should be enjoyed. We will blink and autumn and winter will be gone and those long summer evenings will be here again, but each of us has one fewer year to enjoy.  Those long summer evenings will come and go.

No, enjoy every moment and every season. Enjoy the now.

Warmth - NOT amateur radio

At last we seem to be in high summer with high temperatures and high humidity. Although we have passed the longest day, evenings are still light for weeks to come.  The real change tends to come in September. It must be my age but it seems only 5 minutes since last Christmas! We'll blink and it will be Christmas 2015 and the nights will start to draw out again!

UPDATE June 27th 1538z: The forecast for next week is temperatures in the 30-34 deg C range.  This would be hot.