Well, it was the greyest weekend in Dorset. The flat grey light of late January, the month that seems to last always about a week too long, and that certain knowledge that we still have harsh winter days to come. (although I will say, it was a beautiful sunshine-filled day in London today).
So I couldn’t help, tonight, casting my eyes back to High Summer 2023 – mid June to mid July.
How extraordinary the intense blue of a high summer sky, how ridiculously leafy the green, how absurdly the flowery, it all seems to our eyes that are now used only to bare twigs, brown earth, grey sky. 
A good friend of mine always says that March is the hardest month, because you realise just how long it is before the spring really strikes, how many weeks to go before the leaves really break. But what would summer be without winter, and vice versa.
From time to time it’s good to jump ahead to the future by looking back. And no better need of these photographs, of Charlie’s serene, summer-bursting garden, than right now.
It’s not much to go on, just yet, but look at this daffodil that I spied in Red Lion Square walking up from the station to the office this morning. 
This was a very short blog, but I think a necessary one.
13 comments
Inspirational blog today. Thank you Ben
Oh I do agree Ben, roll on summer! I have just spent an afternoon in my garden and done too much as usual!!Just wish I could send you photos of my garden in the summer! Thank you for the wonderful photos.
yes indeed – “a necessary one”. what do we do if not buoy ourselves with HOPE ? Monochromatic winter landscapes, pure and subtle though they be, with bare branch and clarity of form, inspire the lithographer’s eye more than mine. The over-the-top flow’ry bower (with pup peeking through), the mid-afternoon tea table beckoning , cattle lazing on verdant hillside are where my weary gaze longs to bask in. Thank you for the reminder of what’s to come – hope it hurries !!
Thanks for sharing beautiful summer days with us Ben. Remembering the beautiful scent of Roses and Sweet Peas and a few days of immense heat (!) reminds us that Spring and Summer will soon be with us again and the short days of Winter will be over. Waiting for our sleeping gardens and countryside to awaken and burst forth is something to look forward to with anticipation and joy!
One daffodil in January is a VERY big deal! In northeastern Pennsylvania we don’t see them until April… for us February is “the longest” month.
Hang in there, and thanks for the lovely post.