Autumn is here and the days are getting shorter . . .

The days are getting shorter now the clocks have been gone back. The trees are letting us know that those summer months are now long past us, by giving us one last glorious flourish of the golds and browns of autumnal colour. Very soon they will be bare and have gone into their long sleep through the coming winter months. Along with those early nights and the smell of bonfires and wet leaves, our minds will inevitably be drawn to Christmas, shopping and the thoughts of spending time with friends and family.

Our ancestors were very wise back in pagen times, when they elected to place a winter festival in and around the years shortest day, giving us something to lift our spirits during those bleakest of winter days.

Spare a thought too for those of us who are affected by SAD. This is the affliction that due to a lack of daylight that accompanies the short autumn and winter days, can trigger feelings of sadness and exacerbate depression in those that suffer from it.

This time of year can be very challening for those that suffer from those illnesses.

I liken it to standing at the foot of a mountain and looking up and thinking, that before you get to see the daylight again, you have a long, long climb before you.

Apostles of Apollo

The Apostles of Apollo.

I am presently reading a very interesting book that I happened to come across whilst browsing through Amazon.co.uk a week or so back. It is a little known story but one that had to an air of secrecy about it, because of the sensitivity that revolved around the symbolism, politics and religious implications of those who would eventually takes those first steps upon The Moons surface. The title of the book is ‘The Apostles of Apollo’  Carol Mersch.

James Irwin: Journeyed to The Moon to discover God

Astronaut James Irwin. Image Courtesy of NASA

To most people, March 17th was just another day in the third month of the year. I would have counted myself with the majority of people, thinking that this was the case. That was until I came across a reference in one of the many space related newsletters that I read, that this particular date was the birthday of the eighth man to have walked upon The Moon. Why should this date have had more significance to me, than most others you may well ask? Well on one of the walls in the apartment that I live in, I have a signed print of this particular astronaut standing next to the Apollo 15 Lunar Module ‘Falcon’ along which is parked the Lunar Rover – the first vehicle to ever be driven on another world. The astronaut to whom I am referring was United States Airforce Colonel James B. Irwin.

. . . . sunny and warm in this beautiful old city . . .

 . . . . . thank-you Global Warming – just once in a while, it’s nice to see that even you sometimes need an afternoon off. The old Cathedral is awash with Spring sunshine and it is displaying its best face for all the visitors and pilgrims, who have made the effort to come and see her. As for me, I am sitting in Costa-Cofee, watching the world drift past the windows with an americano . . . . .

Canterbury Cathedral – bathed in sunshine on a Spring afternoon.

. . . . I fully intended . . .

Women – can’t live without them – but trying to figure out what their thinking . . .

‘ . . . . they said try to do some Creative Writing . . . . it will help you to express your feelings . . .

So I did.

Avoid any subjects that make you feel sad; stir up negative thoughts; you need to start concentrating on subjects that lift your spirits and perhaps creating a blog could be a way of sharing your thoughts with a wider audience.