A clear, comfortable day with rising wind and slowly falling temperature. The solstice sun against the trees throws long shadows across the field. The freshening breeze rustles the smaller branches of the maples and jostles the more sail like branches of the conifers. The sun is warm but in the shade one feels the wind chill.
Today is both the last Sunday in Advent and the winter solstice. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it is the shortest day of the year; tomorrow we begin to gain minutes of sunlight so that by Thursday, Christmas, there is a noticeable increase in daylight. Hanukkah ends to tomorrow evening.
This morning, before I fed Nori the cat, or put on the tea, I turned on the heat in the art studio. I have not spent much time in there the past while, and need to whether I make anything or not.
Speaking of Nori, she has a new ritual in which she waits for me to sit on the sofa here in the music studio, then walks back and forth over my lap, occasionally settling in briefly, before curling up in the dog bed which takes up half the sofa, and going to sleep. It is difficult to know who gets the most enjoyment and solace from the ritual.
My colleague, Lilly Schwartz, was a guest on aliensloveearth.com this week. Lilly is a multidisciplinary artist exemplar, and she was interviewed about her work and the challenges of making art in crazy times. Her thoughts on maintaining a creative practice were interspersed with her biting, and what I perceive as accurate, assessment of our social and ecological epoch. The interview is well over an hour in length and well worth listening to in its entirety.
May your Holidays are filled with joy, and, as the light slowly strengthens and lengthens, may kindness and sanity returns to the world.
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