Winter Solstice
The longest night, the shortest day...and the nature of opposites
Today is the Winter Solstice for those of us who reside in the Northern Hemisphere. Depending on how far north you live, it can mean a day of only minutes of daylight, if that! I won’t say sunlight, because even though I have hours of daylight (rather than minutes), the sky has been covered in a thick blanket of grey cloud since mid-November.
Tomorrow my days will slowly get longer.
Psychologically, this is great! Knowing that every day will be a few minutes longer gives me a much-needed boost. Because whilst it’s the shortest day for me, I know my friends and family in the Southern Hemisphere will be enjoying their longest day. And some glorious summer sun!
Growing up in Australia and spending most of my life there, I am very aware of the nature of opposites. Not only because I see photos and get messages from friends and family enjoying (or complaining!) about the opposite seasons, but because my body seems to still feel it somehow. I am connected to the opposite side of the planet.
Christmas for me is usually a time of summer, sun, beaches, barbeques, and beers.
This year, as I head into the longest night of the year, I have a different feeling. A feeling of getting cozy, of lighting candles, of fairy lights, of comfort food. Not a snowflake in sight though, unfortunately. The feeling of last Christmas, spent in Australia at the beach, still lingers. I can almost feel the warmth of the sand under my feet as I dig my toes into it. I can almost hear the waves lapping at the shore, taste the salt air on my lips…
I haven’t seen my family since December last year. Like many other people around the planet, COVID-19 put a dampener on all our travel plans. I basically haven’t been anywhere and we haven’t had visitors. 2020 was supposed to be the year of visitors for us. Instead, it’s been a year of staying put. Luckily, my partner decided that beer brewing is a great hobby so he’s been brewing delicious beer for us to drink all year long! There has to be some kind of silver lining!
Still, I haven’t rested on my laurels, instead, I’ve actually managed to ‘do’ a few things - like reading, writing, even singing!
What I’ve been writing:
I rose to the challenge by a fellow Medium writer to write a 10 line poem using only words containing a particular vowel. It was a challenge! If you’d like to read the poem, check it out!
I wote a haiku which is published on Medium
Shining rays of light
Brighten the path before me
As I step forward
The inspiration for this was ‘future’. I feel it’s important to focus on hope as we head into more uncertain times.
I’m working on several projects - not entirely productively I have to say - but my photo-poetry collection is coming along and I’ve started writing a story about the community of jackdaws in our backyard aimed at junior readers. After watching this fascinating community of birds for the past three years I felt I had to write about it! They’ve managed to win a war against the local seagulls! I’ve a few short stories in the works too.
I’ve had a few poems published this year, in real, actual books! (Also available on Kindle)
Three poems feature in an anthology called Tangled Sheets: poetry for lovers
Three poems in an anthology called Kintsugi, about healing. It’s available on Amazon - Kindle and paper form.
Some musical magic:
In February, before the planet locked down, we were lucky enough to see some live music. It was the last weekend in February, just before the borders closed here. We saw a Canadian musician called Ariel Posen. He was AMAZING!
This is a clip from his concert in Stockholm just before he’d been to us. We’ve been listening to him on repeat all year in our car (because our car is older and only has a CD player! Yes. We bought his CD!)
Our band has continued to rehearse despite knowing there’ll be no gigs in the foreseeable future. We’ve added The Angels ‘Am I ever gonna see your face again’, a real Aussie rock song! Plus another Aussie band from the ‘60s, The Easybeats with ‘Friday on my Mind'.’ It’s fun!
Some great books to dive into:
I’ve read more this year than in about the past five years combined! I’ve written about many of them on Medium (January, February, March, Spring). But here are a couple of stellar must-reads:
The Yield by Tara June Winch, the winner of the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Thanks to my sister for sending me this one! I read this book in (almost) one sitting. It is stunning! If you love language, are interested in how language shapes thought, connects us to culture as well as one another, then you will enjoy this novel (I’d even say love it!). Did you know that one langauge per week becomes extinct? This novel addresses that issue and even helps preserve a language. It’s a work of fiction but based on so many of the issues Aborgines have faced post-colonisation. They’re stories we need to hear.
Side note: Check out the clip below if you’re a bit of a language nerd…
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo: This was a highlight read of 2020 for me. And a Booker Prize winner for 2019. Refreshing in style and perspective, it takes you on a quite complex journey via a range of interesting characters. Here’s a review.
The Power by Naomi Alderman: Imagine if teenage girls all over the world simultaneously developed a physical power to cause immense pain and even death? This is the premise for Alderman’s book, a great piece of speculative fiction. Here’s a review.
Siri Husvedt is the author of What I Loved and The Sorrows of an American, both of which I read this year and loved. She has a gift for taking normal people with normal lives and weaving magic into their daily decisions and dilemmas. I love her writing style, reminding me of Anita Brookner’s, Latecomers, one of my all-time favourite reads.
Non-fiction
I’m still picking up and putting down Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces too. It’s not an easy read, but oh so interesting! I’m also listening to the audio book of Stamped from the Begininning by Ibram X Kendi. Next on my non-fiction list is The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk.
A fabulous read if you’re wanting to know about your gut is the book Gut: the inside story of our body’s most underrated organ by Giulia Enders. It’s so informative and written in a style that’s easy to read and funny! If you click on the book title you can also watch her very charming TEDx talk.
This year I joined a wonderful group of womxn in an online space called The Garden of Neuro. It’s a space to share resources (books, websites, TED talks, films, podcasts), to spend time thinking about your mind, your body, your life, and how you can change, grow and develop. Click here if you’d like to check it out and join! (Or hit reply on the email or comment below.)
I wish you all a very restful, peaceful, and healthy end-of-the-year. I hope you manage to carve out some time for yourself (perhaps it’s the first time you’ve had this time of the year to yourself?!). Whether you’re enjoying a cozy winter or a lovely summer break, enjoy! And I’ll be in touch in 2021.
Lisa xx