It’s August!! Yay, Summer holidays and days full of hot sun, gardens full of flowers and another two months (almost) of Summer!!!

Except… it doesn’t really feel like Summer, does it? Aren’t you looking at the trees and wondering where that fantastic bright green has gone? Haven’t you spotted some… dare I say it… brown, yellow or gold creeping in amongst the green? And the fields are flowing golden with the crops…. until the farmer has passed by, when they stand, shorn and bare. It’s Harvest time, and the countryside is overflowing with the end results of a growing season.

I know traditionally we call the break from school at this time of the year the Summer holidays, but truthfully I think we’re past the best of the Summer. Midsummer, June’s festival of light, is literally the midpoint of the Summer season, when days stretch into nights that stretch into early mornings of birdsongs and babies that can’t read the time and so follow their own sweet, natural rhythms. By August we’re either sticky from the heat or wishing we could properly put on our wooly cardigans without pulling them off in frustration at overheating ten minutes later. The evenings are drawing in (sunset in mid-August is 8.30, a whole two hours earlier than June) and shops are screaming School School School, taking any possibility of relaxing away from us anyway.

School holidays were set according to the needs of the agrarian world, at least in the UK they were. Children were free to work in the harvest fields for the whole day, instead of bunking off school or racing to work after the day’s education was done. That’s partly why dates vary across the country, with both Ireland and Scotland going for an earlier start and finish to coincide with their biggest harvest times. Even in the 21st Century, we see the influence of natural rhythms. Our children may never need to harvest the corn or dig the potatoes, but they still get the space needed to do it.

This year it has struck me full force that, actually, we’re running our seasons wrong. Like I said. what’s with Midsummer being at the start of Summer instead of its zenith? Likewise, Midwinter isn’t the middle of the season we call Winter is it? And Autumn colours (sometimes accompanied by a chill in the morning and a breeze in the night) creep in from mid August, rather than waiting for the months allotted to them. I think we need to Be More Celts. We need to change our seasonal thinking. Ancient Celts used the high points of the solar calendar to fix the midpoints of their season, so that Midsummer really was the middle of Summer and the Autumnal equinox was midway through Autumn. This would mean that Winter starts on the 1st November, Spring on 1st February and Summer (blessed, short, lovely Summer) on 1st May. And Autumn started on 1st August, with the feast of Lammas or first harvest. From now until Hallowe’en is Autumn.

With an Irish Father, I’m claiming my heritage back. You cling on to summer as the last rays of sun and heat slide away. I’m happy to announce it Fall already, and now I’m free to anticipate all the joys of the season we’re in, not the one we’ve just left.

Happy Harvest season, everyone! Let’s get the Pumpkin Spice coffee in!

I have a massive favour to ask….

I don’t monetise my blog. I don’t run adverts, take sponsorship for writing posts or use affiliate links. I want everything I do on this blog and in my hygge life outside to be truthful. If I promote a book it’s because I’ve read it and like it, if I  point out an item it’s because it’s impressed me on its own merits and not because the publicist has talked me into it. It does mean I don’t run giveaways and I’m not chasing followers, but the drawback is that I need to find a way to support myself.

That’s why I write books. My thoughts are that if I ask you to buy a book not only does it support me, and let me keep writing as an independent writer, but you get something back for your bucks. I’ve written several books, some on hygge, some on Christmas. If you like what you read here, or in the Hygge Nook, and you’d like to support a struggling writer, would you please consider buying a book? Ebooks give you the best value, since for 2 or 3 pounds you get the whole content of the book without paying the extra for paper production, but I’d be a pretty poor writer if I didn’t appreciate the beauty of a real book in the hand. If you buy just one book, it all adds up in the end to support me, and I’d be so grateful.

If you already have my books, or just want to support me as an independent writer, you can always just send me the price of a cup of coffee as a friend, to paypal.me/HyggeJem . I tend to use a lot of my spare cash on books that I review for the website, so every penny donated goes towards building my happy hygge life.

My first three books are hygge related, 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way  was my first book, and is available in Paperback and Kindle version. It’s a simple look at ways to feel more hyggely in life and at home even though we’re not Danish and don’t have it in our DNA.

How to Hygge Your Summer, in Paperback and Kindle form, has lots of good ideas for the summer months. I strongly believe that hygge is so much more than throws and warm drinks.

Happier is my fourth book. It’s about how I boost my own happiness levels. It’s full of hints, tips and ideas for you to use and adapt to suit your own situation. It is available in ebook and paperback version from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

I have three Christmas books,

Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas was released in September 2017 and is available again in paperback and ebook version. It looks at keeping the Christmas season warm and cosy, with ideas for activities and routines to keep Christmas happy.

A (Hygge) Christmas Carol is my look at Dickens’ immortal classic and the many lessons we still learn from it today. It contains the full text of the book as well as hyggely thoughts on the story.

Enjoying a Self Care Christmas is only available in ebook version. It’s about keeping Christmas simple enough and healthy enough to keep you sane in the process.

If you buy any of the books through the links on this page, I get a couple of extra pence per copy, in Amazon vouchers which go towards buying more books to review for the blog. I’d really love it if you’d support me monetarily, but I quite understand that cash is tight for many people, and I just love having your support via reading and commenting as well.