An incredible storm has raged all day long and continues into this dark, cold night.
The wind has howled around the cottage, shaking the trees so fiercely that the ground has trembled!
Thunder and lightning, hailstones rattling the windows and snow…this is the worst storm I have witnessed in over ten years at Bealtaine Cottage!
The scary aspect of this biting cold, storm-ridden, night is that only two nights ago, it was positively warm; in fact the dramatic rise in temperature woke me up before dawn.
As the weather becomes more and more wild and extreme, so everyday life is affected.
Even as I write this blog and upload photographs, the power has cut out twice, leaving me to start over…though some of the writing is automatically saved.
It is past 9pm here in the cottage and the storm has not let up all day.
Still, I have made the most of the time, moving the beginnings of my Blackcurrant wine into demijohns, where it will bubble and work away in the coming months.
The back of the cottage is a little more sheltered…indeed this storm is raging from the north of the country.
Temperatures have plummet by 10 degrees over the past 48 hours.
Despite our best efforts to ignore it, climate change is fast turning into the crisis of our present time…and looks likely to be a problem of growing enormity.
Mother Earth has endured over two hundred years of industrial impacts, as well as an ever-intensifying human population, all demanding energy, food and an ever-increasing standard of living.
On the day my mother was born, there were just over one billion people living on Planet Earth. 
On the day she died, this had increased almost sevenfold, to over seven billion!
As the natural world is plundered, many species are in sharp decline.
The sustainability crisis is second only to climate change, as the greatest threat of our times.
I have kept diaries over the past ten years and have noted rare, extreme weather events become the norm!
This is not going away.
We have to face into this problem and start developing solutions.
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I write to encourage, help and inspire mindfulness for our beautiful world and have photographed and written over 870 blogs on the Bealtaine Cottage site, as well as over 110 videos on YouTube…all free from advertising!
You are very welcome and appreciated by leaving a comment, liking, sharing, or even leaving a small donation. Blessings X
Blessings
I’m not as well-versed in climate change as some of the people who have posted comments here, but I can tell you that it’s been very cold in the center of Italy for the past few days and my calla lily is blooming (in Jan.!!) . 10 years ago this wouldn’t have happened. Everything seems to be topsy-turvy now-a-days.
The evidence, even on this website, appears to be stacking up! Thanks for the observation.
Blessings
The eastern shore of Massachusetts was devastated by the storm. Some homes in Places like Marshfield were destroyed when the seawall was destroyed. News clips showed waves crashing over three story homes. The time has come to abandon living on the coast. It is no longer safe, despite its great beauty. Nature will reclaim its own! I am truely sorry for those who have lived these areas for generations, but all must wakeup to the realities of life and climate change.
I do chuckle when people talk about the extreme cold these days. When I was growing up in NH in the 1950-60’s 25-30 below was consider COLD! 2 below was a heat wave…It is now that the cold is penetrating further into the warmer climes of our country that people are more concerned…or are they?
Hope all is well in your little corner of Ireland.
xxbj
Times and climes are changing indeed. The coast here in Ireland is also very unpredictable, with storms and flooding. All is well here, Blessings X
Here in Georgia, USA we have never experienced such a storm as you have had. I hope your little piece of paradise has weathered the storm well. I have very much enjoyed perusing your archives over the last few weeks. Every time I read some of your posts, I feel uplifted and inspired. Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Bless you X
Hi everyone,
yes, we’re over here in Eastern Wa. We know this area is slated for “new” Mediterranean winter climates and increasing drought (per the Koppen-Geiger climate update).
We are doing everything we can to create a system as resilient as possible should our average 9″ – 12″ inches begin to decline. The oscillations of the jet stream have deepened – meaning arctic blasts in November (-10 below) to spring – like weather for the month of January. I find myself searching the Pc literature to develop as many micro climates, walls, windbreaks, rain catchment designs as possible. We dropped the idea of growing annuals as a primary focus two years ago. Now we are full tilt on growing trees, shrubs and perennials and just constructed an earth berm greenhouse (requires no energy inputs).
Recent upticks in heavy rain events put the southeast states up 37%, NE up 75%, as the jet stream loses its way. This new pattern appears to be the case for Ireland and her neighbors as well.
Thank you Colette for making this blog possible. It brings me great comfort to know I can be included, share observations & information towards solutions.
cheers,
sheila
I’m glad you mentioned the Jet Stream
Colette, we’ve been hoping for a spell of cold weather to help kill off bugs and slugs ready for new plantings. Be careful what you wish for, as they say! Whilst we all share a collective responsibility for the dramatic shift in weather patterns, we must, I believe, also recognise that the forces of empire continue to be engaged in a worldwide experiment with weather modification which is absolutely insane and has a profound influence on the changes we see taking place. On top of unprecedented planetary warming detected everywhere in our solar system (linked to sunspot activity and a new form of light being emitted from our sun), the factors at work which directly effect our weather are multiple and complicated. In no way should this let us off the hook individually, however I often think that the media focuses on climate change at the expense of all of the other ways in which our Mother Earth is under siege as a result of our individual activities -of which climate change is the end result. The finger pointing at the 99 percent, without even looking at such practices as shown in this documentary, can tend to let the big players in this off the hook. If we want to live in accordance with principles of sustainability and respect for all life on our precious planet, the practices of weather modification as employed by the military industrial complex must also be addressed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85027636&v=TGsi7JaV6gs&x-yt-ts=1422503916
Sending you love from a windy, cold, but beautiful Ballyconneely,
Lol XXX
Weather modification is a big issue and one that the media is deliberately ignoring, as is their want, being owned by the same people who own the military industrial complex. As governments also refuse to recognise, let alone address this issue, then the buck falls on us to do what we can.
Blessings x
We can look on the bright side. We have to strengthen our homes (against the coming storms) and plant more trees (to calm down the storms as well as keep us warm). Plenty to do.
The residents of Sao Paulo are suffering the worst drought ever, with water being cut off for five days out of seven. We’re the lucky ones.
David
You are right, David, for this is what we can do for sure. Plans into action is the way forward. With rainfall now it appears to be either a feast or a famine!
Blessings X
Thoughtful words; unfortunately too many people are complacent, lazy and too stubborn to even contemplate climate change, but in the end it’s huge business that is not interested. Too much money to be made now without thinking of the consequences and as James Lovelock said a few years ago it is now too late and we might as well enjoy the ride. I hope nature will win …. all very sad to think what we have done to this miraculous planet of ours in such a very short time.
James Lovelock revised this comment, concluding that in terms of Gaia, there was always hope…(I paraphrase somewhat). The Earth is alive and self regulating. We need to harmonise with that energy!
Blessings X
Things do indeed appear to be changing weather wise. We are not at all mindful of our delicate world. Thank you for a thought provoking post!
Blessings X
Sadly, you are on the money. I’m here in rural Victoria Australia. It’s supposed to be mid summer when the temperatures sit most days around the 30-35 degree C mark. It’s currently 16C and like the rest of the week, we;ve had the fire lit. My husband, a Londoner is calling this a British summer. It’s anything but an Australian 1 but last year we saw record breaking heat of 5 days over 40C. I fear the backlash of heat we will see before summer is over. Another run of extreme heat perhaps? Torrential rain? There was severe flooding around Victoria only 4 summers back (before we moved up) so anything is possible. I think that of all the things we will see with climate change, erratic and unpredictable weather including a greater occurrance of extreme weather is what I fear the most.
Hope your storm blows out soon and there’s no damage to your gorgeous gardens.
The storm has passed and all is well…thanks X Hearing accounts like yours from around the world gives us all a better insight into what is really happening and forms a connection that is understandable. We are realising, slowly, the need to change the way we live. Blessings X
I wonder if that is the same storm we just had..I saw a picture of it from space and it was huge! It wasn’t too bad here in western MA, but some people got over 3 ft of snow! It headed out to sea….I hope your lovely Spring weather returns tomorrow. You are so right about climate change..extreme weather is the norm now….stay safe! Patti
Thanks Patti…off to bed with a hot water bottle, a book and ear muffs! 🙂