go and scream in a forest

got together with a good friend today and we both spent more than an hour talking about recent frustrations and energy-stealing situations and those damn christmas expectations and selfish, ungrateful people. after we got it out, we decided that what we needed to do was go for a walk in the forest and have a healthy little scream. or two. or ten. or enough that i now have a bit of a sore throat. but damn, do i feel better. while it doesn't make that selfish, ungrateful young person less selfish or ungrateful, it did ease the burden of it for me significantly. so, if you're near a forest, get out there and have a good scream. oh, and do look up while you're there. i guarantee you'll thank me. and even more importantly, you'll thank yourself.

the view from sunday night

foggy and snowy - it made for a grey landscape, but it was still and quite beautiful, and at least it makes it seem less dark, even if it is still a bit dreary. i took a solitary walk down to the lake with the camera, following deer tracks in the snow. there's a regular deer highway down there. what is it about a walk that settles the soul?

three swans and a bunch of ducks? geese? they were a bit far away for me to see, even with the zoom, and i'm not a birdwatcher anyway. there's but a thin layer of ice on the lake, no skating this year, but just that open spot they're hanging out in. i wouldn't walk out to it tho', that's for sure.

as i crunched through the snowy landscape, i thought about how nice it was that i didn't take my phone with me. so for a few minutes, i could escape from the latest antics of the cheeto in chief. i could have a small break from the constant humiliations he rains down on us...i very sincerely often feel embarrassed when i read the latest news...deportations of lawful greencard holders, absurd claims, baldfaced lies. there's just. so. much. and my overwhelming feeling genuinely is embarrassment. it's embarrassing to think that people in the land of my birth are indisputably that stupid. they knew he was a sexist, lying, cheating, racist son of a bitch with the attention span of a gnat and they elected him anyway. it's humiliating.

but, for a few minutes out there in the hush of the foggy, snowy, still morning. i could just breathe in and let go.

* * *

fire and fury - a postmodern book for a postmodern presidency.
and to think i once loved postmodernism.

* * *

podcast pioneer (or rather) storyteller extraordinaire joe frank has died.

i only recently heard some of his stuff on home of the brave.

a symphony in frost

it is absolutely still, clear and cold. a wintery sun peeks wanly over the horizon, its pinkish golden light illuminating the heavy hoarfrost that has settled onto the trees. the sky is a clear, clean blue so brilliant it seems unreal. the still air so fresh and cold it makes your very lungs feel alive as you breathe it in. and in the stillness of that cold, glittering world, you begin to hear a glorious symphony of sorts which seems to be coming from the frost itself.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

i can handle the winter...if this is what it's going to be like...

i can't believe it get to drive down this lane every day.

here's hoping your weekend is filled with magic.

will it be a white christmas?

at the moment, it looks like it will be a white christmas. at least if you look outside. the weatherman says something different. it's supposed to be above freezing and start raining tomorrow, so it just may be that all of this glorious whiteness is gone by christmas. so, we did our best to enjoy it today and it kept coming down the whole time. let's face it the weathermen have been wrong before, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

husband set off with the sled and the snowboard.

sabin's friend used the old-fashioned wooden sled.

sabin tried out the snowboard.

it wasn't easy.

but far thought he'd give it a go.

he really bonked his head a good one.

and then he too accepted that it wasn't easy.

so we headed for home and decided to build a fort.

this is how dark it was at 2:59 p.m.

so we aren't really seeing the signs of that winter solstice.

yet.

it's now 5 p.m .and they're still out there.

i've just given them thermoses of hot apple cider.

o christmas tree, o christmas tree...

the world is covered in a blanket of fresh, white, fluffy snow. and while that brings joy to my heart and makes everything seem fresh and new, it also keeps me indoors because it's pretty friggin' cold out there to go with it (-7C). it'll also make it a bit problematic for getting our christmas tree this weekend, because how do you shake all that snow off before you bring it in the house?

last year's tree

and i've been thinking about the christmas tree. for years (and i mean like 20 years), i've been collecting shiny purple ornaments, adding a few new ones every year. and there are many that are meaningful and which i love getting out year after year, but suddenly, this year i'm not sure purple feels right. and most of what i've got for the tree definitely isn't handmade (except for that nordic sun symbol that's on top) and i'm in this handmade mode and wondering how to reconcile that with my glitzy purple tree. especially since i haven't made any ornaments this year and it's getting a bit late if i should embark on that now.

when you think about how nature can decorate the trees, it seems rather pathetic to even try to trim the tree with all that fake glitz and spangle, even as much as i love shiny things.  maybe next year i'll felt a bunch of old sweaters into homey new ornaments, like trinsch did. maybe i'll go out to the blue room and make up a few of the spool birdies and it'll make me feel a bit better.

but i sound a bit more depressed than i mean to and than i really feel...i'm looking forward to christmas. sabin loves it so much and i've gotten her some really nice clothes and some games and lego and some fun stocking stuffers (think robots) that she will love. we'll have wonderful food with friends and family, starting already tomorrow. we've been baking up a storm while it stormed outside. so really it's all good. i think i'm just trying to reconcile my new thoughts on consumption with the old me and with tradition. it's a journey, what can i say?

all is quiet

we woke up this morning to a winter wonderland of snow. it's still gently coming down, but it feels awfully warm out there, so i don't know how long it will last. it was enough that i had to shovel in front of our house and the neighbors' (they're in turkey). normally, husband would do that, but he's away all week, attending a course. it was so magical being out in the gently falling snow that i didn't mind shoveling. in fact, it was a rather invigorating way to start the day. and i felt justified in having bought purple furry bumper boots, since you totally need such boots in the snow. and they leave a pretty footprint:

it's funny that it's actually no quieter than usual, but because the world is white and the contours softened  by the snow, it feels even quieter. the only sound i can hear is the crackling of the fireplace downstairs and the cat snoring (she's really got a problem, i wonder if we should have that checked). it feels like it will be a productive day.

yesterday was productive too. i had a knitting lesson from a very nice lady who works at sabin's after-school program. she has wednesdays off and we agreed to meet down at a cafe and have a coffee and she'd teach me to knit. she did help me quite it a bit on how to hold the needles, but it still feels like a stressful activity to me. i tried to knit last night while watching t.v., but found it very difficult. but perhaps it will come. i love the materials of knitting--soft yarn of natural fibers in beautiful colors, wooden knitting needles. they feel so good in your hands that i am drawn to it, despite the tension and what i call the retarded monkey stance i end up in when i'm knitting. i'm sure once i get the hang of it, i'll relax. because knitting is supposed to be relaxing, right?

i also finished my mad quilt-in-a-day project . i guess i didn't actually succeed in making a quilt in a day, since all i finished was the top that day, but i do blame my old sewing machine, which simply couldn't handle quilting together a layer of fabric and a layer of fleece. fleece is actually rather temperamental in its behavior towards a sewing machine.  but yesterday, i made the binding (after a couple of false starts involving my (in)ability to see angles and envision how they will turn out) and sewed it to the quilt. because i was "cheating" and not really quilting, but sewing a quilt top to a fleece, i was able to sew the binding on with the machine too, rather than by hand as the last step. that made it much faster and it turned out really well. for a first attempt. and i really do love these fabrics from ikea.

it will be comfy and cozy to snuggle up under in the writing house/studio/atelier these days. tho' the fireplace was installed last week and it's WONDERFUL. it warms things up quickly and i haven't subjected my hair to flames in over a week!  i hadn't yet shared a picture because i keep hoping for a day when the sun is shining and the light is better, but that hasn't come, so here's the picture i took last friday of the first fire.

although i had intended to tell travel stories today (memories are coming out of the woodwork as i read paul theroux's pillars of hercules), i guess you get domestic homey musings instead. i blame the snow, it has me nesting and hunkering down inside. i think i'll go get materials to make a fairy costume for sabin's upcoming school play. she plays a little fairy in sleeping beauty. my travel adventures will keep 'til tomorrow.

the right life

do you ever go to someone's house, look around and think...these books, this art, this furniture, these dishes, this lifestyle...this is how i would like to live. that's what happened to us last evening. we had our annual cousins party, this time in copenhagen. we hadn't been to J&T's apartment before, but i totally fell in love with it, just stepping inside.

both of them are art historians, so their home is full of wonderful posters from all sorts of art exhibitions, as well as wonderful paintings and whimsical collages. they've got clever magnetic poetry on the refrigerator. there's even art in the bathroom. it's so cool. their furniture is the best combination of inherited pieces and the coolest flea market finds. it's all put together beautifully and in between everything there are shelves and shelves of books on art. it was a heavenly and inspiring place to spend an evening. everyone was completely at ease in the surroundings,  there was great food, much laughter, some fun and games, some homemade schnapps (which i, the non-dane, had made--one with horseradish and one with apple & cinnamon--they were a big hit, especially the horseradish one!). it all ended with the agreement that it would be thanksgiving at our place next year. i aspire to everyone feeling as comfortable and happy in our home when they come here next year.

* * *

last year we had no snow all winter long. finally, around easter, it snowed for about an hour and sabin rushed out to play in it before it was washed away by drizzly rain. but this year is already different! on friday, we got our first snow. it was rather strange snow and seemed to come down in little snowballs.

but that definitely didn't stop sabin from rushing out in her new snowsuit on saturday morning:

i don't know if you've noticed the new look of gmail over the past few days. i did and because i can't resist new gadgets, i went in and chose a theme. i chose tree. when i chose it, it asked me for my location, which i thought was a little weird, but didn't really dwell much on it. i've been stunned this afternoon and evening to see the weather change on my screen, to reflect the actual weather outside. right now, snow is accumulating on the top left corner of my mails and on the word Gmail at the top--just as fluffy snow is accumulating outside. it's obvious that it's night and the tree (of the theme name) along the bottom is barely visible. it occurred to me that perhaps google wasn't reflecting the actual weather conditions, but actually controlling the weather...

* * *

quick quilt update:  i did finish the quilt top on friday, as hoped, but with all of the other weekend rushing around, i haven't sewn it to the fleece yet, nor did i have time to photograph it in good light. perhaps tomorrow!  

i'm back on form

because i haven't made any for awhile, i bring you two campaign buttons for tangobaby's presidential quest.  two because i couldn't really decide. you'll see....

it's totally amazing what a little fluffy snow will do for one's mood. 

i was even charmed by the plane being de-iced. those little de-icing machines are so futuristic-looking:

i have a strange affection for SAS:

i'm not sure if the affection stems from the elderly stewardesses (SAS = Sexy After Sixty) or the charming scandinavian mix of onboard staff--the humor of the danes, the style of the swedes, the tree-hugging-ness of the norwegians. whatever it is, if one can feel affection for an airline, then oddly, i do for SAS.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

this morning, when i went outside, this is the world that greeted me:

why is it that a magical coating of fluffy, white snow, while hell on the traffic, somehow softens the world? the edges are all a little less pokey and everything seems that much more magical. and that somehow makes everything better.

it's been a great day. i've written three small articles. they flowed out like a gorgeous extra virgin olive oil into a pan. i've turned the tide on the bad week. and it's all because of the snow. and the new shoes don't hurt.