From St Jude to St Valentine

Linking up with #One Week - Winter '14 hosted by Older Mum (In A Muddle).

Autumn arrived with a howling gale,

Trees fell,

Power cut.

A sigh of relief,

Storms over,

Winter on the way.

A promise of crisp days,

Perhaps snowy walks.

A time to hibernate.

But oh no!

Christmas ruined.

No power for days.

Cut off.

Is this Armageddon?

New Year starts in the same way.

Floods everywhere.

Ground water rising.

Power out,

Light the fire.

Again and again.

Wearing us down,

Down,

Down into the mud.

A few days in Singapore,

Heaven.

Dry, warm, sunshine,

Heals body and soul.

The final storm,

No Valentines Day for us.

Boiling water on the fire.

Has 2014 really come to this?

The road is a river,

The potholes large enough to swallow a truck.

Too wet to repair,

Helpful traffic cones are half submerged in eroding tarmac.

Watch out cyclist….

Next day, the jet stream is on its way north.

Signs of spring all around,

What ever  happened to winter?

Photography by Lesley Beeton

* St Jude storm 28 October 2013
* Valentines Day  storm 14 February 2014

One Community: March 2014

One Community is a monthly photo project in which participants photograph their lives and communities with a theme in mind. The theme varies by month. The goal is to both showcase similarities and differences in our communities worldwide – and bring us all closer together in understanding through art.  

Words for March chosen by Sarah at Beauty School Dropout :

shower, calm, green, friendship

Join One Community: March 2014 at Beauty School Dropout

Welcome to my One Community, with thanks to Sarah.

Fancy a cool, natural shower? 
This inviting pool and rock shower is a pleasant reminder of holidays in 
my homeland South Africa, and of childhood play. 
Now living in the UK, my life is a far cry from this, not least because of the weather,
but also because you simply don't see scenes like this in suburban Surrey.

This pleasant location is my calm. 
The tree dominating the photo is Mom's tree. It is where we
scattered her ashes. It is where we come to reflect. 
Surrey is a wooded county, and this beech tree is typical
of the woodland near to my home. 
Quite different from the rugged scene of my childhood above.

Signs of spring are everywhere now. Green shoots and tender leaves.
The mild, wet winter has brought the fruit trees on quite early, 
perhaps too early for a good crop. Time will tell. 
I love the light and rain drops on these young leaves in my garden.

These two 'babies' were the best of friends. 
The dog in the foreground died in 2012. His best pal mourned his loss. 
In life, they never stopped playing, and read each other's next move perfectly. 
A very good example of friendship.

Photography by Lesley Beeton