by Marja-Leena 
at 5:00 pm Sunday, December 21st, 2008
It’s almost midnight on winter solstice day and it’s been snowing almost steadily for 24 hours and it is still coming down. What an incredibly beautiful winter wonderland it is out there. The night is bright with a pinkish glow to the sky, an other worldly effect from the reflection of city and Christmas lights up into the snow packed cloud cover. It is quiet… stille nacht.
by Marja-Leena 
At [10:04 a.m. Pacific Time] on Sunday Dec. 21, 2008, the northern hemisphere begins its tilt back toward the sun, marking the winter solstice* in this part of the world and slowly leading to longer days.
This may be the first day of winter but winter’s been here for a while and hard: Old Man Winter hammers Canada, coast-to-coast*.
In much of this modern world of ours, we’ve lost our close connection to the earth and sun, to the movement of light and dark in that ever repeating cycle of the seasons, as well as the deep ancient fears and hopes tied to that. We’re reminded of that when we have power outages and have no heat in our homes. What will our future be like when we have permanent scarcities of oil and natural gas and electricity?
We remain cosy at home so far while it continues to snow here and we prepare for the arrival of family for Christmas. Our thoughts and wishes for safe journeys are with them and all travellers! Tonight we may light a fire and candles to mark the winter solstice. May all my readers be warm and looking forward to the holidays however you may celebrate them.
Related posts:
to light, 2007
the longest night, 2006, with Newgrange
happy winter solstice, 2005
and 2004
* expired link removed
by Marja-Leena 
Well, more snow came down on Wednesday and it has stayed. Here, in the usually balmiest corner of Canada, we are experiencing zub-sero temperatures. Instead of the rain quickly washing it all away as usual there’s lots more snow forecast for Sunday and some days after. Can it be that we will have a white Christmas, the rarest of events in Vancouver?! I do remember one very snowy Christmas in the 70’s…
As one who grew up in Winnipeg and lived a few years in northeast British Columbia, I chuckled over Stephen Hume’s essay: Cold? This isn’t cold. I’ll tell you what cold is*.
While ice makes for treacherous roads, its beauty is delighting me around home especially on the sloping glass of the solarium beyond our kitchen window. This morning the sunrise was glorious through it! I’m thinking of Wirkkala’s ice glass all over again.
And, while I was out later this morning, Erika discovered unusual icicles and captured beautiful photographs of them – go have a look!
Oh, and I almost forgot… you must see Lucy’s gorgeous frost and ice photos!
*link has expired, sadly
by Marja-Leena 
Though many areas around Metro Vancouver received a lot of snow on the weekend, our little microclimate prevented us from getting more than a dusting and even that was blown away by the high winds. Funny how the weather can be so different a few blocks apart. This week it is continuing below freezing and getting even colder with clear skies giving us sunshine and moonlight. We have a chance at having a rare white Christmas – here’s hoping! So many parts of North America are having exceptionally cold weather, so we hope everyone is able to stay warm and safe.
Snow means snowflakes, like paper snowflakes. Erika has covered many windows in our house with her gorgeous paper creations, the above is a negative photoshopped version I made of one of them. I wished to scan some for better results but did not want to disturb them, but have a look at the ones Erika posted.
And of course, snow also means real snowflakes or snowcrystals. Enjoy!
During this cold snap, I particularly love the phrase that Plutarch recently used: secret ministry of frost, which comes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Frost at Midnight.
Tuesday morning: Talk about localized weather behaviour and 10 more days of cold weather plus a snow storm coming on the weekend*! I should be careful what I wish for. A likely white Christmas but possibly challenging travel for everyone including our family.
*expired link has been removed
by Marja-Leena 
First snow at sea level arrived this morning, beautiful, mesmerizing thick fluffy flakes falling for two or three hours but still too wet to build up very much, then quickly washed away by rain. The local mountains have been getting quite a bit over the last while and will be opening this weekend to skiers and snowboarders. Down here we may be getting more snow this evening along with high winds, hopefully not like the storms of winter 2006-07. With very cold (as low as -9C) and clear days and nights ahead, it would feel so Christmas-y if we had some snow stay with us.
by Marja-Leena 
This beauty is from my indoor collection of plants, a zygocactus I think.
Taking advantage of a spot of sunshine this afternoon, I wandered about outside in my garden, clipping red berried branches, fragrant cedar and shiny green ivy tendrils into a large wicker basket. These I then tucked into the winter wreath on the front door and into several large pots nearby as protection for the winter pansies that I’d planted earlier this fall. The last of the cedar branches went into the wooden reindeer’s basket back, topped with pine cones. He now stands and greets everyone just inside the front door with his red nose and shiny red ribbon.
Simple and satisfying.
by Marja-Leena 
a lazy Saturday indoors
a drizzly misty rain outdoors
lingering long after breakfast
reading snippets from the weekend paper
to each other
a little tidying and watering plants
a soothing massage on sore legs and aching knee
a sweet nap in cool bedroom under warm duvet
awakened by a lovely voice and piano
daughter and friend practicing for upcoming Winter Party
aroma of roasting chicken and root vegetables
a video of an apple, baking
by Marja-Leena 
Thick fog all night and this morning, then sudden brilliance magnified by mirroring water.
Rising light reveals season’s first frost on cold glass. Capture it quickly before sun’s melting touch!
Long low golden light across rooms casts shadow plays.
by Marja-Leena 
I felt really happy this fall with the progress on my art work, with ARKEO #4 and #5.
However this month my artmaking has suddenly stalled, as have fall garden cleanup and long walks, and it’s not just the fault of our dull rainy days of November. I sit too much in front of the computer and over newspapers reading about elections (yay, Obama!) and the economy; even my usually rare TV viewing has jumped.
I’ve lost my motivation, even though the desire is still there, slowly becoming buried as I dull my senses. Living with pain, disrupted sleep and frequent visits for treatments are my current preoccupation and distraction these days. Suddenly feeling older and crankier, I keep reminding myself that many others maintain their spirits under far greater health challenges, like fighting cancer. Impatient patient though I am, I believe that I’ll get better with the care of my gifted naturopath, given a little time. I just hope I’ll not lose the creative desire if this lasts too long, for my past experience has been that it takes me a while to get those juices flowing again after too long an interruption.
Another interruption is coming up fast: Christmas. Our eldest daughter was visiting this week and she became excited by the new Christmas issue of the Martha Stewart magazine, thus reminding me it’s that time of year again. Our whole family is coming home this year so there will be much to prepare. I think this year I may forego making my own cards for the first time in years. Disliking shopping as I do maybe I’ll take up sewing again and make some of the gifts this year like I used to many years ago. I still have a large stash of fabrics. Maybe that will keep some of those creative juices flowing.
Wishes for renewed health, energy and motivation much appreciated!
by Marja-Leena 
The elections here in Canada and the US plus the world economy has taken far too much of our attention lately. Canadians vote on Tuesday, October 14th and that night will be an anxious one awaiting results that we hope will be an improvement over the past three years. Cross that off the anxiety list and we’ll still worry about the American one and hope they, too, will vote in a better future.
It’s Thanksgiving here this weekend. With one daughter at home, we’ll have a quiet, simple healthy feast of a small organic turkey, yams, brussel sprouts and apple cranberry crisp. We’ll remember with love our family away presently in England and north of us here in BC. We hope that they will be alright in this downturn of the economy. Canadian banks are not as badly affected but nevertheless, because our neighbour is our largest trading partner, our economy is affected. My husband and I learned from our thrifty immigrant parents to be savers and work hard to be debt-free. It’s an old-fashioned concept that is being mentioned in the media these days as we hear about how many people are over-extended with credit. My husband may not retire as soon as we’d hoped because his pension is affected, but we’re thankful his health is good and his job seems secure.
It’s been a relief from the maddening world for me to escape into my artmaking for a few hours almost every day. I may not change the world with my art, but it keeps the world from changing me too much. Something to be thankful for.
On another note, I must add that I’m very proud that a former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Congratulations! Though some are not happy about it. Ahtisaari believes that:
His idealistic realism came early in life. Born in Finnish Karelia, he and his family fled Stalin’s invading forces in the 1939-40 Winter War. The experience, he said earlier this month, “explains my desire to advance peace and thus help others who have gone through similar experiences as I did”.
Here are more links about Martti Ahtisaari in Helsingin Sanomat. Many thanks for people like him!
Happy Thanksgiving and hopes for a better world for everyone.