To highlight any visual please click it. First dayFor those of us in New Zealand, the first day of September is also the first day of spring. I'm writing on Friday 30 August, so spring is just two days away. For my wife Marion and I, the first day of spring is always a special day. To us, it heralds freshness and life. If we can, we go to a cafe for a celebratory morning tea. Then we visit an adjacent garden centre and buy plants. Marion chooses colour to put around the front door. For the back garden, I buy vegetables – seeds and plants. The spring flowers at the door are primulas and daisies. I like the colours. The vegetable is my favouite lettuce, Lactuca sativa. It's beautiful looking, lovely to eat, loose leafed and easy to grow. Strange name
UpliftMany of my friends and contacts find a slight gloom coming over them in winter but then get a lift from spring. I find that too. Plants are growing, yes, but more than that; I'm no longer getting up in the intense dark. My early morning walk with the dog has more urge and less drudge. Downturn
'Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Less often, SAD causes depression in the spring or early summer.Treatment for SAD may include light therapy (phototherapy), medications and psychotherapy. Don't brush off that yearly feeling as simply a case of the "winter blues" or a seasonal funk that you have to tough out on your own. Take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year.' Then follows a list of symptoms, and suggestion of treatments including light therapy and seeking advice from your local doctor. Windy WellingtonWellington, where I live, lies at the the southerly tip of the North Island separated from the South Island by Cook Strait. In spring, the equinoxical gales drive through the strait at a great rate.
Fortunately the acerbic tag 'Windy Wellington' doesn't always apply. Some wind, yes but not all the time. If the wind blew all the time our gardens would be ruins. But in late spring as growth has made considerable way, my garden looks like this. If the wind blew all the time the wisteria wouldn't show. It would all be blown away! Looking forwardI full well know there is a lot of worry and nastiness out in the world, including the worry about how global warming will change our future springs. Nonetheless I'm looking foward to this spring. The idea of newness and freshness has great appeal. There is a joy in the air. I hope there is for us all. ########## John McInnes Friday 30 August 2019 Offer – particularly to readers outside New Zealand. If you would like to receive an email each time a new post is uploaded to this blog, please send an email, with 'free subscribe' in the subject line, to <[email protected]>. This will save you from having to calculate when 'after 4 pm New Zealand time' is in your local time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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