Since we moved to Maryland in 2008, every winter I struggle with honoring the season. Winter is about death, about letting go, about lying fallow. But every year around this time, I feel overwhelmed with loss and grief and giving up on cherished hopes. Every year, I yearn for spring: new growth, new beginnings, new hopes. And yet, the time is not right for any of that.
Thank you, Laiima, for reminding me that I'm not the only one who struggles to get through winter, and that as a time of reflection and trimming of dead weight, it is nevertheless invaluable.
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Recommends threads are Open Threads where I highly encourage promotion and self-promotion and cross-linking. What have you read or written this week? Please share!
13 comments:
That's an interesting- for me!- perspective of winter. I live in Subtropical Australia. For me, winter is a four week period of actually honestly nice weather and temperature. I treat it a lot like other people treat spring.
Things I have read this week... I started re-reading the Silmarillion, by JRR Tolkien. One of the most fascinating things about Tolkien's writing of this nature- LOTR and the Silmarillion both- is that it can be really dry, but there's always that chance it'll hook you and draw you inextricably in.
Things I have written... Well, I'm the runner of a Pen and Paper game run over IRC that I've been running since March, which typically involves writing thousands of words a week. Does that count?
THEY are coy, these sisters, Autumn and Death,
And they both have learnt what it is to wait.
Not a leaf is jarred by their cautious breath,
The little feather-weight
Petals of climbing convolvulus
Are scarcely even tremulous.
Who hears Autumn moving down
The garden-paths? Who marks her head
Above the oat-sheaves? A leaf gone brown
On the ash, and a maple-leaf turned red --
Yet a rose that's freshly blown
Seals your eyes to the change in these,
For it's mostly green about the trees.
-------Amy Lowell
I've always rather liked winter. Granted, I grew up considerably north of where I suspect you live, so my experiences were softened by snow days and sledding and the fact that I've always liked sweaters. To me, it's not so much a season of death as it is a season of (relative) rest -- the light leaves the sky early, and the cold reminds people to eat warm things and sleep in cozy nests. There are storms, of course, and those are fantastic -- winter is no gentle friend, but it is certainly a powerful one, and dangerous..
Of course, I have the immense priviledge to be safe, and warm, and well-fed, and though bad winter driving is a very stressful thing, it's not something I can really say I resent dealing with. If I were in a less lucky position, I'd probably prefer summer, even though that's the season when everyone goes away on vacations so it's hard to make plans, it's painfully bright, and I wilt in the humidity.
@bekabot and @fluffy_goddess, those were beautiful posts. Thank you!
As a Recommends, I'm delighted that one of our Ramblers posted this week on BOTH the Bechdel Test AND Twilight as it relates to Jesus Christ Superstar:
http://girlatheistandwriter.blogspot.com/2012/01/jesus-christ-superstar-deconstruction_29.html?spref=tw
How awesome is that. :D
How lovely to see my name and a blog post I wrote referenced by someone else! I'm glad it resonated for you, Ana.
What I'm reading right now is a biography of Brian Eno. I had never heard any of his music, and barely heard of him at all; I got the book from our library because Spouse likes Brian Eno's music, and Spouse has enjoyed reading biographies of musicians. Spouse has not gotten far into this particular book, because it is densely written, and somehow did not capture his attention in an I-must-urgently-read-this way. I picked it up out of curiosity, and was astonished to find that (according to the author) Brian Eno seems to think like I do about a variety of things. We might possibly even have the same Myers-Briggs personality type, but he is definitely a fellow Perceiver. Now I *really* want Spouse to read the book because he could then get insight into how my mind works. (But I fear since I've already mentioned that wonderful connection, he may have immediately lost in interest in the book. Spouse does not enjoy thinking or talking about psychology or personality or 'what makes people tick' - which is unfortunate because I enjoy all of those topics.)
This is old but new to me: an overview of a book series by John Ringo, who is an awfully good sport for both agreeing with the review and encouraging others to read it as well.
Most helpful is the new phrase I have picked up: OH JOHN RINGO NO.
[TW for rape, misogyny, sexual slavery, and excerpts that you can never unread]
http://hradzka.livejournal.com/194753.html
Maybe the next time Chris is doing "Snarky Twilight", or even in one of Ana's posts, we might like to recommend that Bella should change her story. (Just my excuse to link to my blog, and to a song I have fallen in love with.)
TRiG.
LOL, and the URL link to "naughty" flagged you as spam. You've been added to the Whitelist. :)
"Naughty" is spammy? That didn't occur to me. (I must have an innocent mind.)
TRiG.
Hey, thanks! What can I say, I was inspired! :D
Personally, I like winter. What is hard for me are the weeks or months, sometimes, before winter arrives properly and it's sleet and rain and 7 hours of daylight and no snow to lighten it up. The end of autumn is the time of little deaths, winter is the pause between exhale and inhale, a time of cultivating and preparing for the onslaught of new spring. I am at my most creative phase at autumn and winter - spring is busy and noisy and too light and harsh and drippy and annoying, and summer is busy and crowded and dashing and there's always too little time to sit down and let the ideas flow and ripen.
Chris, I'm glad you liked that. I thought it might interest you.
TRiG.
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