Promises

The nights are drawing out. Since the 8th December, sunset here has been somewhere between 15.55 and 15.56 (I only have data down to the minute, not the second). Somewhere in there, around about the 12th was the earliest sunset of all. Yesterday and today, sunset here was 15.56 and some seconds

Of course, we haven't hit the solstice and the shortest day yet - this year it is on the 21st. Although sunsets have been getting a few seconds later each day for about a week, sunrises are also getting later, by almost a minute a day, so the net effect is a shorter day. Sunrises keep getting later for a while, even after the solstice, but sunsets are, by then, themselves advancing by almost a minute per day, so the days start to stretch

Last year I satisfied myself that I understood why it is this complicated but, like the earth that is rotating both around the sun and around its own axis, it's all gone spinning out of my head. I'm fixated on the numbers because I'm urging the year on and seeking signs of spring

I have already seen my first blipped snowdrop (in Dublin). It's way too early for that here but, trawling the garden for cheerful harbingers, I found this. It has shed its leaves, new buds have swollen and the first flowers are here. It's not early, this is its time, but it is still resssurance that the turn is coming soon 

The focus is just about good enough to see pollen grains on the anthers, but I don't think there will be many bees collecting it tomorrow at 4 degrees Celsius all day