Embracing the changing seasons

 

Christmas Eve 2021; I would love to have that much rain in the gauge by the end of this week!

 

The first day of winter is still a few weeks away but throughout November we have experienced a steep decline in the amount of sunlight. While I'm very grateful for Pacific Standard Time, our treeline inhibits what light remains; by two thirty p.m. the sun has dipped below the treetops, a little filtering through breaks in the forest around three thirty and by five twenty it's dark even on a clear evening. Our few days in Reno seem to have exacerbated the lessening daylight upon our return home, and another trip for next weekend to visit our eldest will further accelerate winter's arrival when we get back.

A bright and unfortunately dry October provided many warm afternoons to sit on the patio and bask in the warmth, which I did just about every chance that presented itself. I did so because I KNEW what was lurking ahead, not that we've had much rain this month, but the darkness emerged as though on a speeding train, lack of precipitation of no consequence. Merely as days ticked past, the solstice grows closer, nothing we can do to alter that course. I've decided to embrace these darkening days, for they offer their own spectacular brand of beauty, that of shade and dew, of chill and fog, of the need for hot drinks and cozy fires. We prepped a lot of wood, and every few days my beloved splits a little more. I load it in the wheelbarrow, which he carts to the house. We did just that this afternoon, most of it small sticks that required his attention and that of his saw. Those pieces wait in the carport, the rest in the garage for later this evening if we feel so inclined (and we probably will).

Rain is forecast for later this week, so I'm hoping to string some Christmas lights tomorrow, maybe even chop back the last of the garden, ahem. I'm working on a quilt design, having purchased a pattern from Tales of Cloth. I've gone back and forth within myself for more than a few years about that quilt, and am about ready to make the plunge. It's the same with a book I want to write next, a sequel to a novel originally penned in 2013. This is the perfect time of year to hunker in the house, indulging my love of pastimes that one really can't do well outdoors. Or I can't do them justice. Better to sit in the sun when it's warmly shining, then revel inside when the darkness falls.

But not in a frightening way, just how seasons alter, how life goes from summer to autumn to the tail-end of fall; Advent has begun, my candles waiting on our coffee table alongside a Christmas book by Martin Luther, from which I read a chapter each Sunday evening, then through Christmas week, although this year Christmas is on Sunday, so we'll enjoy the Nativity story well past St. Stephen's Day. By then the solstice will have been celebrated as well, yet there won't be much change in the level of light for another few weeks. Not until mid-January can I see the difference, the sun clinging to the south-eastern horizon. This is our second full winter here, reminds us of our years in the UK, although not quite that chilly or dark.

And not so wet, sigh. But we'll see what this week's storms bring, and I'll embrace the brief daylight and whatever rain lands. Time for indoor pastimes to keep me busy as winter knocks on the door.