In the Southern Hemisphere, April is in Autumn.
The days here are still warmish, but there is a sneaking whisper in the wind. That whisper is saying 'winter's on its way'.
This time of year always makes me think about the transition into winter. I start to prepare things for the cooler months.
We often reserve spring time for cleaning, but there is a also a cleaning energy that arrives in April. It's more of a 'reorganise and transition' type of energy.
I find myself packing things away from the summer, decluttering, washing bedding and preparing blankets knowing that I can still wash them and dry them in the warm sun well before winter arrives.
I often think about herbs, oils, foods, flowers and other things around me with a seasonal view.
It's a time for harvesting lots of rosemary, adding cinnamon to my coffee on cooler morings, using lavender oil on my pillow for a better sleep, baking apple pies and watching my trees turn from green to shades of yellow and then orange.
My April summary would be:
Word or Theme: Re-organise and Transition
Herb: Rosemary
Spice: Cinnamon
Oil: lavender
Fruit: apple
Colour: golden yellow
Seasonal Tasks: preparing bedding
Song: 59th Street Bridge Song (Simon & Garfunkel) 'Slow down'.
Garden tasks: harvest the last of the summer crops, prune back any overgrown plants, burn off the garden and tree lopping for charcoal and ash, prepare the soil and plant the winter crops like peas, broad beans, onion and garlic.
Does April bring a particular feeling for you each year ? What is happening where you live ?
Next year I will look back and see whether the April theme comes again on the wind.