Category: nature

Who’d have thought it?

Joey Jones2 Comments

How do you feel about cold weather?

Good morning WordPress… A simple question you are asking us today. So why am I  struggling to gather my thoughts, put them into some sort of order and onto the page?

I’m British, we are masters at chatting about the weather. Being islanders we can have four seasons in one day, so there’s always something to say. And yet here I am….with nada!

Is it because there are so many angles to come from that it makes it not so simple, not so  straightforward?

I do have a memory about the cold I could share though….Many moons ago I was in an indoor market. An elderly stopped me and asked if I knew where she could ‘ get one of those scrapers, to take the ice off the inside of my bedroom window?’…. That made quite an impression on several levels and has stayed with me ever since….

There is a quote by an American visual artist Andrew Wyeth ( 1917-2009)

‘ I prefer winter and fall, when you can feel the bone structure in the landscape – the loneliness of it- the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it- the whole story doesn’t show. ‘

Earth, Wind and Fire

Joey Jones3 Comments

What makes you nervous?

Nervousness is triggered by our body’s response to stress. The threats can be real or imagined and shows just how powerful the nervous system is. We want and need it to work, but just sometimes we become overwhelmed and that’s when fight or flight kick-in.

What makes me nervous is being out in the car when it’s really very windy. I vividly imagine a tree falling on my car, at any moment, which doesn’t usually end well. In the UK 5-6 people per year die this way. However, the HSE, Health and Safety Executive categorise this risk as ‘ broadly acceptable’. 😳 I kid you not.

Personally all adverse weather conditions tend to freak me out, somewhat. It rapidly reminds me how insignificant we are, up against the elements. They are the forces to be reckoned with as the Earth fights back and shows us exactly who is boss.

In England we are relatively sheltered from the worst of it. Snow falling for a few days and the whole country comes to a standstill. Laughable to those from more eastern zones.

But there is no humour to be found in Tsunami’s, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, landslides, avalanches, whirlwinds, tornadoes, flooding and droughts, causing destruction and famine.

Extreme weather conditions make me very nervous indeed!