Christmastime is Here

If there was any question about the holidays being here, it was most definitely answered this week. You know Christmastime is here when suddenly it's Friday afternoon and the last thing you remember is listening to The Splendid Table on Sunday morning. Instead of calling the week that's been a mess/disaster/other negative term that I'm apt to use, I'm instead taking the week at face value: a lovely week of family and Christmas preparations and maybe not so much getting work done.

Lezbehonest, there's been a lot of the bare minimum going on around here when it comes to work, but if we can't let go of endless to-do lists when the holidays draw nigh, what kind curmudgeons are we?

The Etsy holiday rush basically wrapped up on Monday and I took that as my cue to put my feet up and have another cup of tea. All week I've been looking at the work to-do list and asking the following questions: What do I want to get done today? What needs to get done today? What will happen if it doesn't get done? Can it wait until after Christmas? I realize this sounds a bit like procrastination, but I assure you it's more about lowering expectations, because it's ridiculous to expect that we can maintain a typical workweek (at least when you have the luxury of working from home) and wrap all de presents, do Christmas baking, and have a clean and festively decorated home.

My brother and his girlfriend were around at the start of the week for a quick holiday visit and Andy and I got into town on both Monday and Wednesday to spend some time with them. Despite the fact that the heavens like to open forth with snow whenever my brother and I are near (whether it's on his turf in Michigan or here in MN), safe travels and good visits were enjoyed by all.

Mom made us pose for a Christmas card photo

We received a slight reprieve from the subzero temps throughout the week. That said, it's been below zero more often than not this week. This fact has not stopped Andy from using the new snowmobile. He just puts on approximately 40 lbs of clothing and heads out regardless.

Folks dressed up like Eskimos

We finally got our Christmas tree yesterday. I was kind of thinking that we might be able to get away with not having a tree this year, thinking that perhaps the assortment of holiday knick-knacks would be good enough. That said, I'm glad we got the tree (even if it does displace some living room furniture in a cabin with no place for displaced furniture) - it's so nice to have the Christmas lights on in the morning and evening, especially as the darkest day of the year approaches tomorrow.

Except for one last outstanding package, all of the presents have been wrapped and placed beneath the tree with care. I'm glad to see the presents all gathered in one place because it makes it so clear where my holiday gift budget went. I'm not even mad.

The Christmas baking is basically done, except for some quick stuff on Christmas Eve (Is it bad that I'm already kind of weary of Christmas cookies?) and all of holiday cards and packages have been mailed. I'm so prepared for Christmas that I'm going to have to start doing actual work. Le sigh.

Andy and I went for a ride down the snowmobile trails yesterday. It was pretty, but cold. I'm pulling on the bib snowpants next time.

Happy Solstice!

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Preparing to be EXTRA Festive

Has anyone else heard Mariah Carey's EXTRA Festive version of "All I Want For Christmas is You?" Apparently, it's been around since 2010, but my friend Sarah and I just noticed it on our Pandora feeds with this year's batch of Christmas stations and there has been much LOLing go on around here about what the heck "EXTRA festive" means.

I have to admit that Mariah Carey's Christmas album (the NON-festive version, "Merry Christmas" from 1994) is the only pop Christmas album that I really truly (embarrassingly) enjoy. For the most part, the pop music industry tends to strike out pretty spectacularly during the holiday season. I mean, there are only so many pitchy versions of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" or "Blue Christmas," one can endure and the "original" Christmas songs on the top 40 stations tend be even more shades of awful. So good on you Mariah for actually producing  a Christmas album that has brought endless amusement to my Christmases.

I'd also like to thank Mariah Carey for inspiring me to have an EXTRA festive this Christmas season. I'm not sure what extra festive means exactly, but I'm pretty sure it involves glitter and eggnog and probably very loud, emotional singalongs of "Jesus, Born On This Day." This holiday season, I'm declaring everything EXTRA festive, from the cookies to the cards to the decorations. I hope you'll join me in this insanity festivity.

Hey, look at the Christmas cactus getting all extra festive. I don't think this plant has bloomed in December since I got it in 2008, so I'm pretty impressed. *slow clap*

To be honest, other than getting some presents wrapped and a few cards trickling in, it hasn't been particularly festive in these parts. The tree will go up either later this week, or more realistically, next week, and then you better believe, this cabin is going to be all sorts of EXTRA festive. Also, my brother and his girlfriend are visiting next week and there has been talk of a cookie bake with my mom, so soon we all will be merry, merry.

In other news, I've been spending a bit of time charting out 2014. I haven't critically planned out an entire year in well, ever, and the process has brought up some interesting points:

1) If I want to run a half marathon the first weekend of May, that means I should start training on President's Day. That'll be interesting. Because there's not like snow or ice on the road at all in the middle of February. No sirree, Bob.

2) I also realized I've been devoting too much time on, or at least overemphasizing the importance of, this here blog. When all is said and done, a goal of three blog posts a week eats up too much of my writing time and also makes me feel guilty when I don't get to scheduled posts. However, given the above ramble about Mariah Carey, you may be relieved to know that I'll be posting here just 1-2 times per week from here on out, a goal that should be do-able in the summer and winter.

I'm really determined to make 2014, and what's left of 2013, a time for growth and return to things I really want to do. I've started writing 500 words a day on the current fiction WIP and it's amazing how much better that makes me feel about the whole day and how quickly the words start adding up.

We set up the bird feeders last week and pulled out some old venison ribs from the freezer for the birds, squirrels and pine marten. The marten's been coming every day since and thinks he (she?) has a pretty good deal.

I know it's been cold all over the U.S., but I just like to point out that the picture above is of frost on the inside windows of our bedroom. Brrr! Remember to bundle up and stay extra festive.

One last thing, remember those bridemaids mittens? Here's a link to see them in use on the bride's big day. I'm not thrilled with how the mittens match (or rather don't) match the dresses, but I did not choose the yarn and sometimes my inner perfectionist needs to be told to take a hike.

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Fish dinner, dogsitting, and subzero days

We had another ice fishing adventure yesterday. A much more successful adventure, I might add.

We returned to the same lake, but set up shop in a different area. It was another pretty cold day of ice fishing. It was below zero when we set out down the trail and the temperature probably rose to about 10 degrees while we were out fishing.

Luckily, there was a handy area to set up a little fire so we could boil water for tea and cocoa and warm up hands. We didn't spend too much time by the fire though because we kept having to run out onto the ice to check our tip-ups. Not a bad problem to have and all those trips back and forth on the ice sure keep you nice and warm!

In the end, we brought home three lake trout, some of which will be dinner tonight.

Today's shaping up to be the first day of completely subzero temperatures this year. Looks like we'll have a high of about -4 F today. Happily, it's a sunny day which means the cabin stays nice and toasty with passive solar. The pine grosbeaks at the feeders don't seem to mind the cold at all.

I also have a companion today. This is Jack, the neighbor's dog, who I'm sitting, on and off, over the weekend.

So far, Jack is pretty underwhelmed by daily activities at Chateau du Bois et Mons. Sorry Jack, some of us work for living. After yesterday's adventure, today's excitement is limited to work, making slow cooker yogurt (this is an experiment), bringing the night's firewood and pretty soon, a trip to the mailbox.

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Wordless Wednesday: Scenes from -30F.

When the thermometer says this:

You should only go outside looking like this:

It's a good idea to make the "hottest" dish you know (Chiang-Mai Noodles):

You should recognize you're not the only one feeling rather chilled:

It's also a good time to don the biggest, most ill-fitting wool sweater you've got:

But do try not to run around ala Colin Firth in Love Actually yelling "@#(*)%! it's freezing!" We already know that.

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It's Greek to Me

When I was little, my parents read Greek myths to my brother and I as bedtime stories. I suppose it all started because the myth of Persephone and Demeter was in one of the bedtime story anthologies we had as toddlers. Then one Christmas, when I was probably in first or second grade, we got D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths . We read and reread the book, drifting off to sleep with the ancient antics of Zeus, Hera, Athena, Jason and so many others, racing through our heads. In high school I took a mythology course, one thing lead to another, and an English major was born.

Greek myths did more for me than inspire a love of a literature and storytelling. Myths infused our daily lives as children. Our winter night stargazing were directly influenced by Greek mythology.

I've been thinking about Greek myths lately, maybe because it's been really cold lately, or maybe just because it's winter and the nights are long and the stars abundant:

For the record, 0F.L is not a real temperature. That just what the thermometer displays when it goes below -26 F. And it got down to -30F last night. As you can see, the new wood stove keeps thing plenty warm enough inside though.

Could it be all this watching the Mercury that's got my mind thinking about myths? (I realize that Mercury is the Roman messenger god, which deviates slightly from my Greek myth theme here, but nevertheless, it's Mercury who stuck in the thermometer, not Hermes.)


Despite the mild Arctic temps, Andy and I have been bundling up each night and heading out in the moonlight of the waxing moon. (And yet people laugh when I say I want to visit Antarctica . . .   seriously, I could take it.)  In the cold temperatures, the lake ice cracks and booms all night, as well as for a good portion of the day, as it expands. On these still, cold nights, the cabin's bay sometimes produces an echo and as we're out checking on the ice forming at night, our voices often come back to us, making my mind drifts to the myth of Narcissus and Echo. 

But the big show is what's happening up in the sky above us. The winter constellations, Orion, Gemini, Taurus, et al. with all their mythical stories are beginning their seasonal journeys across the night sky. Yesterday also marked the peak in the annual Geminid meteor showers. This annual meteor shower is the most dependable show of the night and the meteors come from the general vicinity of Castor's head in the Gemini constellation which is made up of the twin brothers Castor and Pollux. We caught a few meteors yesterday evening when we were out on the lake, but the bright waxing moon flooded out lots of the stars, shooting or not. Knowing that the meteors were set to peak between midnight and 5 a.m. this morning (and despite a famous childhood story when my father woke me up to look at Comet Hyakutake at 4 in the morning which I looked at  for .2 seconds before dashing back to bed), we set the alarm last night for early morning so we could see the meteor shower at its finest.


The alarm clock went off at 3:30 and we stumbled into the living room to pull on boots, socks, mittens, coats, hats. In -30F weather, we stood on the frozen lake and looked west, to see watch the world traveling through a stream of debris: bright sparks shooting across the winter

This winter living in the woods: cold, dark, stark, and beautiful. And that at least, is not Greek to me.

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