This week I felt a deep appreciation for the fog. It’s the first week of February and we have been immersed in a cloud of fog for much of the morning. We don’t get a lot of it in the city where I live, so when it arrives it feels a rare moment to savour.

When we seek out and notice the simple pleasures in our lives we can cultivate a sense of appreciation for the moments and experiences in our everyday. Over time we start to notice even more and feel gratitude for the smallest of moments shaping our days. The simple things, the glimmers, and the gentle moments of connection to nature can help us to elevate the everyday and increase the feeling of joy in our life.

December is a month full of wintery and festive moments to appreciate.

The Winter Solstice on the 21st of December this year marks the moment in our year where we experience the shortest day of the year with the fewest hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere experience the longest amount of daylight hours for the Summer Solstice. The sun is at its furthest point from the equator and at its maximum angle of tilt from the sun.

For a long time I struggled with the season of winter, especially after the festivities of December were finished and decorations packed up. I wanted to feel better about the winter season and made a conscious choice to seek out the joys of the season to support me.

By adding in new routines and rhythms to the winter months I’ve found different ways to think about and approach the season, helping it feel more restful and restorative but also uplifting. One of those rhythms has been to write a seasonal manifesto.

At this time of year life and work can feel full. I’m always taken by surprise with the fullness of the season, even when I have intentionally planned a smaller more edited list of things to do.

As we move further into Winter I am reminded to take cues from this season to support myself, to notice the spaces, and the wisdom in nature right now.

When we seek out and notice the simple pleasures in our lives we can cultivate a sense of appreciation for the moments and experiences in our everyday. The simple things, the glimmers, and the gentle moments of connection to nature can help us to elevate the everyday and increase the feeling of joy in our life.

November is a wonderful month full of moments to appreciate.

Samhain (pronounced ‘Sah-wain’) celebrated on the 31st October, marks both the end and the beginning of the Celtic Wheel of the Year. Halfway between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, Samhain is a cross quarter festival marking the ending of Autumn and welcoming the first signs of Winter. It is the third and final harvest festival, where the cycle of birth and growth comes to an end, and there is a move towards death, hibernation and a dormant phase in nature.

The sound of the rain creates a comforting cosy rhythm on the windows, the wind is whips around the roof and a wave of appreciation gently moves through me. A familiar feeling of the joy of being cosy at this time of year brings with it a distant felt memory of moments of this season from years gone by. I think about my autumn manifestos written over the years and know it’s time to create the next one.

A seasonal shift is happening. Cobwebs glisten with morning dew, there’s a coolness to the damp lawn underfoot, and a few remaining pops of colour are present in the garden from dahlias, anemones and roses.

The greens in the trees have started to fade, red and yellowing leaves have been spotted here and there, and sycamore seeds are hanging and ready to spin to the ground.

Welcome to Frondescence and my first blog post and journal entry marking the start of this new season in my life and career. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here, it means the world to me you are finding this space and are taking the time to read this and explore my website.

Frondescence means to ‘gain foliage’ and ‘the condition of unfolding new leaves’. 

I want to tell you my journey of ‘unfurling’ and how I came to create the Frondescence ecosystem, and it starts with you…