I'm in Wisconsin and while it's been a gift not to have to drive in bad weather, I've also found the warm weather to be disorienting. The warmer days seem to come with less sunshine and things are grayer without light bouncing off snow. I'm trying to reframe it and enjoy the opportunity to get outside without so many layers but it is strange.
And yes it is true the warm days have less sunshine because of the cloud cover they create. It is hard. I feel ya, but I am hoping it sweeps in the new year :) Till then going to enjoy the "winter" we do have.
I went on a Pilgrimage to Maui Dec 1-5th at the "beginning" of winter here in MI and then coming back to such mild weather...I feel this sadness and longing for snow in my bones. I've never had tears swell over the desire for snow and yet, I do this year. Maybe it's the extra contrast of just being in my swimsuit, swimming in ocean and river, that stirs this. Maybe it's the missing home and remembering those U.P. Winters that never cross the bridge down here. Maybe I'm more in my body this year than I've ever been and it wants to milk the season for all it can. Silence. Solitude. Surrender.
Either way, your writing is such a blessing to read this afternoon. I have many farmer friends and it gave me perspective to that which I cannot personally understand. I live in an apartment, no farm yet, no hands deep in dirt building gardens and alters to earth. Our food comes from a farm called Angel Acres, we visit bi-weekly and now I have to wonder how much no snow is stressing the environment in the case of regenerative farming.
I love the pictures section as if they were instagram stories. The last picture is so heart warming 🤍
So cool you did a Pilgrimage! Amazing!! There is something amazing about deep winters and I fear we are becoming too comfortable with the milder ones. I usually have spent many days on my XC skis by now but none the less I have farming friends using this time to input new hoop houses instead because the ground isn't even frozen! It's concerning and it bothers me to see people saying that are comfortable with it or even thankful.
The stress is coming. It will be a challenge in the coming weeks if we don't get a solid January winter.
My heart is heavy. My thoughts echo yours, as always. My writing this week is also about the heartbreak and surrealness of this mild December and magnolia blooms and buzzing bees where winter should be.
But I also write of joy & hope and how these things can exist simultaneously, however difficult.
Sending you brightest Solstice & Christmas blessings. As I reflect upon the gifts that life has brought me in 2023, my strengthened connection to you (thanks to Substack!) is very high on the list. 🤍🙏🏻✨
Thank you for your lovely comment Dena! I hope you have a great Christmas and Solstice. May you feel the returning of the light even in the disconcerning of the warmth.
This was both beautiful and haunting. Typing this as we experience flooding and power outages (again) in Vermont, a place that normally should be blanketed by feet of snow. The temperature is 30 degrees above average and we all feel a collective mourning for the climate crisis we're watching unfold before our very eyes. It's hard to adjust to what is seeming more and more like the new normal.
I'm in Wisconsin and while it's been a gift not to have to drive in bad weather, I've also found the warm weather to be disorienting. The warmer days seem to come with less sunshine and things are grayer without light bouncing off snow. I'm trying to reframe it and enjoy the opportunity to get outside without so many layers but it is strange.
Yes disorienting is a great way to put it!
And yes it is true the warm days have less sunshine because of the cloud cover they create. It is hard. I feel ya, but I am hoping it sweeps in the new year :) Till then going to enjoy the "winter" we do have.
I went on a Pilgrimage to Maui Dec 1-5th at the "beginning" of winter here in MI and then coming back to such mild weather...I feel this sadness and longing for snow in my bones. I've never had tears swell over the desire for snow and yet, I do this year. Maybe it's the extra contrast of just being in my swimsuit, swimming in ocean and river, that stirs this. Maybe it's the missing home and remembering those U.P. Winters that never cross the bridge down here. Maybe I'm more in my body this year than I've ever been and it wants to milk the season for all it can. Silence. Solitude. Surrender.
Either way, your writing is such a blessing to read this afternoon. I have many farmer friends and it gave me perspective to that which I cannot personally understand. I live in an apartment, no farm yet, no hands deep in dirt building gardens and alters to earth. Our food comes from a farm called Angel Acres, we visit bi-weekly and now I have to wonder how much no snow is stressing the environment in the case of regenerative farming.
I love the pictures section as if they were instagram stories. The last picture is so heart warming 🤍
So cool you did a Pilgrimage! Amazing!! There is something amazing about deep winters and I fear we are becoming too comfortable with the milder ones. I usually have spent many days on my XC skis by now but none the less I have farming friends using this time to input new hoop houses instead because the ground isn't even frozen! It's concerning and it bothers me to see people saying that are comfortable with it or even thankful.
The stress is coming. It will be a challenge in the coming weeks if we don't get a solid January winter.
My heart is heavy. My thoughts echo yours, as always. My writing this week is also about the heartbreak and surrealness of this mild December and magnolia blooms and buzzing bees where winter should be.
But I also write of joy & hope and how these things can exist simultaneously, however difficult.
Sending you brightest Solstice & Christmas blessings. As I reflect upon the gifts that life has brought me in 2023, my strengthened connection to you (thanks to Substack!) is very high on the list. 🤍🙏🏻✨
Thank you for your lovely comment Dena! I hope you have a great Christmas and Solstice. May you feel the returning of the light even in the disconcerning of the warmth.
This was both beautiful and haunting. Typing this as we experience flooding and power outages (again) in Vermont, a place that normally should be blanketed by feet of snow. The temperature is 30 degrees above average and we all feel a collective mourning for the climate crisis we're watching unfold before our very eyes. It's hard to adjust to what is seeming more and more like the new normal.