“”And what does January hold? Clean account books. Bare diaries. Three hundred and sixty five new days, neatly parceled into weeks, months, seasons. A chunk of time, fo life . . . those first few notes like like an orchestra turning up before the play begins.”
~ PHYLLIS NICHOLSON, Country Bouqet
“I used to think that logically the New Year should begin in March when all nature comes to life. But no, before bursting forth in all its richness and glory, the growing year must have a quiet interlude of preparation. This, I’m sure, is one purpose of January. Biologists tell us that when all above the ground is dead from mid-December to the end of January, furious activity occurs underground. How comforting to look at the earth stark and frozen and know, despite appearances, something is happening somewhere down deep.”
“January is a rewarding interlude for human beings, a time for preparing not only for a new garden, but to take on new ideas and new thoughts. Some months are action months, some are thoughtful months. January, to me, is a thoughtful month, a ruminating time, an interlude for evaluating the year just past. Here we stand with twelve beautiful months before us to do with as we will. What will they bring, what challenges, what riches? Each month is a part of the whole, and it itself a new beginning, as is each hour. Each moment, even is new and untried. What will the pattern and shape of this year be? What in it do we want more of and what less of? We will probably carry out certain plans, each week will have its special rhythm.”

“Winter is the season when we see the earth in large, broad sweeps, in forms, masses. It is too cold to stop and examine details. Everything is simplified. We see the bones of the land. We see what was here before and will remain after us. What is older than time, what is forever enduring. In contrast to summer’s growth and tropical tangle, there is a cleanness and simplification everywhere visible. Through bare trees we observe the shape of curving hills beyond the brook - the basic plan and structural beauty of the valley.”
“In their opposites, perhaps, city and country are the two sides of man - the active and the doing side and the quiet and meditative. A city is straight lines, horizontal and upright. Lines that lead man far out and away from himself into action and doing, while the curving country landscape brings him back to his own center. I know I am most content when my days are filled with constant awareness of the sun rising and setting, of leaves unfolding in spring, flourishing in summer and dropping in the fall. I find my spirit thrives when close to the ebb and flow of nature’s tides.
- Jean Hersey
from A Sense of Seasons
2 comments:
I haven't heard of this book before but I want to check it out after reading these lovely quotes! The title alone sounds right up my alley!
You will love her writing! My favorites are The Shape of a Year and A Sense of Seasons.
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