The clump of heather by the well stone is blooming now, the first flowers of 2016. The sun is moving north and the sky at nightfall is turquoise and gold. A new year is coming across the land and what will it bring?
I am not where I was at this time last year, and the speed of change has been far greater than many years. The sun’s constancy has a great deal of comfort in it. Can you imagine if the stars really were strange one day?
Acair Fearann 
Blooms already? What region are you in?
Zone five! It is in a very warm spot, tucked up in a protected location next to a massive piece of stone. It actually is a heath plant and not a heather, hence the tendency for winter blooming. But, by habit, both heath and heather seem to end up lumped together.
That’s impressive! Our weather here goes from mild to freezing, but I see signs that the trees’ buds are fattening.