DEBORAH CROMBIE: Ooh, that sounds like a daytime soap opera, doesn't it? But it's a little more poetic than the "shortening days"--or autumn, for those of us in the northern hemisphere at the moment. I know that this is something that most people dread, but I am one of the small number of people who LOVE the drawing in of days, and it's not just because they signal the end of our horrible Texas summers.
(Love autumn colors and these fabulous pincushion mums!)
I've always thought there was something so atmospheric and romantic about the shadows of early dusk and the glow of lamplight. The shorter days stimulate my imagination and give me a big creative boost–I do my best writing in autumn and winter (and also at night.)
I love the spare beauty of autumn and winter landscapes, and I also love gray days. Not even living through Edinburgh winters cured me. I seem to have been born wired for someplace like Seattle.
Or England…
Fellow REDs, do you find the shorter days give you a chance to creatively recharge?
HALLIE EPHRON: I confess I love the longer days, but then we don’t have the heat you have had in Texas.
One of my favorite things is to sit outside at around 6 with a glass of wine, listen to the birds, and watch the clouds show off (usually with swallows WAY HIGH UP zooming and whistling) as the sun starts to set.
Now it’s already darkening by 6, and the temperature has dipped so I need extra layers. And yesterday I found myself in the mood to make tomato sauce and lasagne… another sure sign that the days are getting shorter and winter is on the way.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yes, such an interesting thought..I kind of love them, too. I don’t mind the dark, or darkening days, and it’s cozy. (Er, traditional.) And bleak, yes, that’s okay, too…for a while. It’s interesting that you call it recharging. I never thought of it that way, but yes,I see that. But I do love wrapping myself in shawls and scarves and sweaters on even Uggs..it’s so comfortable, and reassuring, definitely conducive to writing.
Most of our birds have vanished..it’s so fascinating. We used to have a yard full of creatures..now they all seem to be retreating, too. Now there’s just a cardinal duet and a couple of blue jays.
(I remember in the height of my general assignment reporter days–we used to love it when it was dark for the 6pm news live shots and we could use lights. One looks so much better with good lighting against a black sky! Just a little occupational note.)
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, would you say it’s in the bleak… midwinter? (Badum-tsss!)
I like the shortening days, not so much for the change in light, but for the cooler weather, and the chance to start a fire in the woodstove and, as I did last week, to make a slow cooker stew! I always remind myself that the early sunsets and later mornings are the price we play for the days that stretch on to nine o’clock in June and July. I’ve spent enough time in Hawai’i to experience the equatorial twelve hours light, twelve hours dark, and it always seems odd to me.
RHYS BOWEN: I’m one who does not look forward to shortening days. The bleak midwinter (good title!) was one of the reasons I fled from England to Australia. Like Hallie I love to sit outside on my balcony with a glass of wine and watch the sun go down. I especially love this in Europe when the sun sets at nine or ten
I notice our evening walks have already been pushed forward to six. Soon it will be five. I am not at my creative best during dark days!
JENN McKINLAY: I love the darkening days. I am more creative at night and in winter, as well. But I also have glorious daytime weather so the early darkness isn’t as oppressive. AZ doesn’t do dreary.
READERS, are you inspired by the shorter days? And do you have a favorite autumn novel? The first autumn novel that made an indelible impression on me was A WRINKLE IN TIME!
I am not fond of the summer heat so I enjoy the cooler weather [sweater weather?] of autumn and I don’t mind the earlier descent of darkness. A fire in the fireplace and the chance to curl up with a good book . . . perfection!
ReplyDeleteFavorite autumn novel? OCTOBER SKY by Homer Hickam . . . .
Oh, that's a great one, Joan! Thanks for the reminder!
DeleteJoan, the book OCTOBER SKY was also a movie with Jake Gylledahl (sp?). And I'm a fan of Sweater Weather. Better chance of finding a sweater that fits me.
DeleteDiana
It's a great movie, Diana . . . .
DeleteOCTOBER SKY was originally published as ROCKET BOYS . . . .
My husband gets SAD, but luckily I don’t. I am enjoying the cooler weather. We were eating dinner outside and it was perfect, that almost-but-not-quite hint of coolness as the sun went down.
ReplyDeleteI’m currently re-reading AN ACCEPTABLE TIME by ML’E, also set in autumn, and wishing for a star-watching rock.
A star-watching rock, yes. We should all have them. And that's a nice reminder to reread L'Engle.
DeleteI'm finally over my grieving for the end of summer produce, so bring on fall. I dug out my cold-weather furry-lined slippers last week and they felt super comforting. I came home from my week away on retreat and Hugh had a big pot of chili ready. And the long dusks of fall can be so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteJenn, it's going to be 100+ in Phoenix all week - yikes! (My son is there for a bit, so I was checking the weather).
Edith, definitely going to miss summer produce too.
DeleteHow wonderful that Hugh had a big pot of chili ready for you when you came home from your retreat. Chili is perfect for cooler weather and very filling too.
Diana
We had the first chili of the season last weekend, Edith!
DeleteI don't like it getting dark so early. I sleep too much as it is. Here in Sw FL we get cooler nights and enjoy the not so hot days. Perfect beach weather for me. We bought a boat a few months ago and I haven't been in it yet because it's been too hot, now I will enjoy some rides around the keys around Sarasota or Ft Myers.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds lovely. Florida in cooler weather is bliss.
DeleteNOPE, I hate the fewer hours of daylight. I used to use the special light to cope with SAD for many years when I lived in Toronto. I had a 2.5+ hour commute to work then. I left home at 6:00 & got to work at 7:15 am, not seeing any daylight. Came home after 6:00 pm past sunset.
ReplyDeleteI'm still awake before 5 am in retirement, so I hate spending the first few hours awake in the dark...sunrise is 7:30 am these days. But I am usually able to get daily morning exercise outdoors which helps a bit...Daylight Savings Time ends in a couple of weeks...ugh.
Grace, I also had to use the special light during my last years of work. Waking up in the dark, walking in the dark before work and coming back from work in the dark was more and more difficult. Since retirement, I didn’t have to use it because I can enjoy the day light.
DeleteDanielle
Grace, though I am not a fan of the dark in the evening, it is fun for me to see the sun coming up in the morning. When I wake up in the mornings, it is usually gray just before the sun comes up. In the dark hours of the evenings, for me, there has to be light so I can see in the evenings.
DeleteDiana
Grace, when I lived in Edinburgh, I was at least outside a good bit on the those short winter days. If I'd been stuck in an office during the day I might have felt quite differently. Then, I was just cold:-)
DeleteJulia, you know I love In The Bleak Midwinter. The novel, not the dark and dreary days. I've never been a fan of winter's gloom, nor of the ice, but at least since we don't have horses any longer, I don't have to bundle up and trudge to the barn to feed and clean stalls. I miss the horses, not the frozen water buckets. Autumn is lovely, a reprieve from the steamy summer, which I'm also less fond of. But it's too short.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I love sweaters and cooking big pots of soup while watching football on Sundays.
As for writing, I don't know that my creativity changes much from season to season, except that my calendar is mostly clear from November to March. Less travel, more time at home means more words per day.
Oddly enough, Annette, my calendar tends to tick up in the fall. In Maine, it seems like everyone is outdoors doing their own thing during our lovely, but brief, summer, so when Fall arrives, that;s when we start making dates together, going to the theater, having dinner parties, etc.
DeleteJulia, I think you secretly work for the Maine tourist board.
DeleteAnnette, I am all for more words a day.
DeleteShorter days don’t inspire me but they urge me to prepare for winter.
ReplyDeleteI love the sunrises and the sunsets but I’m not a fan of the dark hours.
My favourite autumn novel is Louise Penny’s Still Life. I’ve wanted to live in Three Pines in autumn (and later, all year round )since I read it.
Danielle
Danielle, to live in Three Pines if only to eat in the Cafe. Oh, my!
DeleteOh, to live in Three Pines…and to sip cafe au lait and scotch by the Bistro fire. Elisabeth
DeleteOh to be in Three Pines and enjoy a conversation with Ruth - and of course Rosie! (Hand over scotch glass).
DeleteI'll meet you all there! Scotch by the fire with a group of friends sounds wonderful.
DeleteLove reading about Three Pines in Louise Penny's mysteries. Diana
Delete“Cheers, my dears. All the Reds commenters”! 🥃
DeleteThree Pines is indeed idyllic.
DeleteKinda like Cabot Cove is idyllic? :-)
DeleteLOL, Hank!
DeleteI love all of the seasons but not all of the weather that comes with them. Autumn can be glorious in Connecticut. Leaves can be brilliant, days can be crisp and clear, sunsets can be spectacular, Halloween decorations can be fantastic and the smell of burning wood can be delicious! Or it can rain.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the shorter days and the longer nights. I love the down comforter on the bed and snuggling in the little quilts or woolen blankets on the couches while reading the incredible books that you are all writing. XXOO
My only regret as the long days of summer slip away, is how my step is slower and less sure, because this season is a strong reminder of the passing of time. I am trying to be grateful for all my years of excellent health and take these changes in my stride. That is much harder to do looking out at the world I love and seeing what I am seeing.
Judy, I read a beautiful piece the other day about autumn being a time of embracing transitions.
DeleteI loved A Wrinkle in Time and Still Life, too. And I don't mind early dusk. Like Deborah, I've always found the lamplight in the twilight atmospheric, magical, even: That particular blue and the yellow lamps and windows. And, of course, the fall colors. It's (fall) actually my favorite season, although I don't think I'm more creative at that time. More reflective, maybe.
ReplyDeleteFor me, reflective and creative go hand in hand.
DeleteDarkening Days…a soap opera title for sure! I do welcome fall because it is a season of change. And delighting that for the first time in “forever” it is 67 at dawn here in Florida. What I don’t welcome is the “darkness at dawn” … getting up before the sun begins to rise. (Thinking that Darkness at Dawn was a book or movie title, but too early for me to consult with that Google guy.) Happy Monday, All. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteThere is a book (thank you, Google) by David Satter called Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State. We should probably all put this on our reading lists...
DeleteThanks for the recommendation.
DeleteNormally I wouldn't really mind the shortening days and the early darkness but now my old dog is having troubles. We are taking things one day at a time and a routine we have established is I go out with her at night after her supper. She goes out on her own all the other times. But this time is special for us because we walk a little bit across the backyard. That doesn't sound like much, but for both of us it is needed, that little bit of movement. She loves tomatoes and now that there are no more in the garden I buy her cherry tomatoes and drop one outside for her. If she is very lucky she may have two. Need I say things are not as enjoyable in the dark? She doesn't hear and I think her sight is going, too. But the biggest problem with the early nights is she can't last through the entire night any longer. I don't know what time it was when she got me up this morning but it was pitch black dark. Afterwards, we both tried to go back to sleep but neither of us did and soon what passed for sunrise started chasing the dark away, so it probably wasn't all that early, but it sure seemed like the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteOffhand, I can't even think of a book that takes place in autumn. Oh, wait, maybe. I think The Raging Storm, the latest one by Ann Cleeves is set during that time.
This is so poignant, Judi. Thanks for sharing. Lucky dog.
DeleteJudi, your care for your aging doggie brought some tears to my eyes. Kenai crossed the rainbow bridge last autumn and I wonder all the time if we could have hung onto him just a little bit longer. But no. I am sure. Still, I miss him all the time.
DeleteThank you Hallie and Judy for your replies. Knowing that other people have gone through it and "get it" helps. Not like this is the first time for me, not even close, but every time feels like the first time. The vet talked me off the edge of the cliff two months ago and helped me to understand that Sunny is not suffering, only my carpet is. So it's not time, just yet. Besides, the carpet is almost as old as she is!
DeleteThanks for sharing, Judi. Our dogs are getting on, too, and you are so right. Every time feels like the first time. Enjoy every moment.
DeleteAnn
ReplyDeleteI welcome each season, even winter on the tundra. And now that I’m retired and every day is the weekend, I don’t really mind the darkening. Last week our dogwoods were covered in red berries. Then a scurry of starlings arrived and cleaned them out in less than a day. So if anyone finds a seedling growing in the garden next spring, you’re welcome! It’s a gift from the flick.
ReplyDeleteThe news is horrid.
Much love to you all and to Israel.
And to the people of Gaza.
"welcome every season" - it's a great way to live. Second your thoughts news.
DeleteNice Post, Debs.
ReplyDeleteI don't particularly appreciate the shorter days, but I do love what you so beautifully describe as "the spare beauty of autumn and winter landscapes." When the trees are stripped of leaves and their naked branches are reaching for the winter constellations--Orion, Cassiopeia, Ursa Major and Minor, among others--I feel deep contentment. My spouse says my appreciation for late fall and early winter is because I was born in December. Perhaps she's right!
Oh, I love the autumn and winter constellations, too. Thanks for reminding me to go out and look at the night sky.
DeleteAs Jordan Baker says in The Great Gatsby: “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
ReplyDeleteThat is so perfect, Hank. (Maybe time to reread Gatsby...)
DeleteI love a Wrinkle in Time and it is perfectly autumn. I also remember reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in winter and loving it.
ReplyDeleteJenn, I enjoyed both novels. Diana
DeleteYes, Narnia in winter is another one forever fixed in my imagination.
DeleteDarkening days bring clutter. ‘You can’t get there from here’ is the current mantra as every room is filled with begonias dying off, houseplants needing to be repotted and enough time for the earwigs to move out, and geraniums – 300 of them waiting to be potted up. Of course, there are buckets and buckets of tomatoes needing to be processed, and yesterday I picked a bucket of onions which are now looking for a table to rest and dry off (there are still more).
ReplyDeleteToday is miserable – pouring rain and high winds. I just looked at the weather radar, and it seems to be settled overhead and just spinning. I need to go an hour’s drive to the hospital this morning for a procedure – those don’t get cancelled due to weather, so I have a driver for that (sometimes he is useful). They have put mask regulations back on for hospitals, so will be puffing through that, and then this afternoon we are getting flu-shots and covid shots.
Soon, I hopefully will have not much to do, and the cat and I can stand and do the jigsaw puzzle until the outdoor light dims enough that we can’t really tell the colours. We both look forward to that – and hopefully not to have tomatoes at every meal. I can mail them…
As for a novel – I always fall back on Louise Penny. Weather is so much a part of her books, and she describes it so perfectly. It is as though you too are living in it.
We're having similar miserable pouring rain & wind in Vancouver all day today & lasting into Wednesday. Alas, it's not good weather for cycling or hiking. Art galleries & museums & ramen/Asian noodles are Plan B today. Oh & binging GHOSTS on CBC GEM on the Roku TV in my room. I forgot who recommended this Briyish comedy, thanks!
DeleteMargo, reading your post made me just want to crawl under a quilt and read a good book, lol. Good luck with the tomatoes! If I were closer I'd take some off your hands.
DeleteMargo, I loved your comment that “sometimes he is useful”! Good luck with all of the nature you’re dealing with, inside and outside! — Pat S
DeleteI am firmly in the camp of those who do not enjoy the darkening days. Let me put it this way: when, a few decades ago, the news was full of the discovery of the syndrome we all know as SAD, my first reaction was. "How is this news? Doesn't everyone know they get miserable when the days get shorter?" Of course I have since learned that no, only a "lucky" percentage of us feel that.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, though, I will admit to one positive. While I definitely do not have improved creativity in the fall, I do experience a lot more culinary inspiration. Fall makes me want to start cooking cozy, warming foods again. Big pots of soups and chili. Complex casseroles. Sauces that require long simmering and meat that is oven-baked.
That's one of the best parts of fall for me, Susan. I adore my all-day-on-the-top-of-the-stove meals!
DeleteMe, too!! I am, in fact, making a 15 bean soup today! We had to crank both furnaces on this morning here in north Texas.
DeleteI don't know if I'm more creative in the dark. But I do like the pretty leaves and the reprieve from the steamy heat of summer. Except this is the time of year when two blankets is too much and one is not enough. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteLiz, I have the same problem, except it's that two dogs are too much and one is not enough. :-D
DeleteThough I miss stepping out to do errands in whatever I happen to be wearing - no coat, no gloves, no socks! - I generally don't miss summer in the city. Humid and sticky and I survive because of air conditioning. Then the days shorten and cool off and my energy increases. I walk faster. I am more wide awake. I cook. I like the coziness of dusk with light in windows. And I start missing the spectacular leaf display of my childhood further north. (I secretly believe I was meant to be a New Englander even though genetics say look at eastern Europe)
ReplyDeleteTriss, it's never too late to become a New Englander...
DeleteHa, we are soul sisters, Triss.
DeleteOMG, Debs, this topic has made everyone so poetic today!!
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't it lovely?
DeleteI just hate the darkening days! I have no ambition when so much of the day is dark. I thought that might change after I retired, but it didn’t. Last year my doctor suggested that I should get a light box, but I never got around to it. (No ambition.) I got one about a month ago but haven’t started using it yet. I hope to get started with it this week.
ReplyDeleteOnce autumn hits, I’m never warm enough, no matter how many layers I’m wearing. I used to love huddling under a cozy comforter, but now the weight of bed covers aggravates my nerve-damaged left foot. So I skip the bed covers and just sleep under an electric blanket in the cooler months. The comforter is on the bed for “show” during the day.
DebRo
DebRo, a friend suggested doubling up on vitamin D to avoid SAD, and I've felt much better during the dark days since doing that. You might want to give it a try.
DeleteJulia, thanks for the tip. I love the mornings in the wintertime with the fresh air. Diana
DeleteThanks, Julia. I’ll try that!
DeleteDebRo
Thanks, Julia. What a good idea.
DeleteI don't have SAD lights, but I replaced the kitchen bulbs (6) with 100 W Daylight bulbs. Those lights are on most of the day - I tell myself since they are LED it is not much on the power bill. What a difference to be in that room! The above mentioned 300 geraniums are under fluorescent lights in the sunroom - another room where you just feel happier. I am sure the cops are watching thinking it is a grow-op - well it is - of geraniums!
DeleteAs the amount of daylight grows shorter all I want to do is hibernate.i remind myself if the grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who spend all their time in bed.But int on the piles of blankets and books! I rejoice on the bright sunny days even though it means the temperature will be frigid. I am thankful for those of you who are energized to create books that will get me through the winter.
ReplyDeleteBrenda, I have a special reading nook I sit at during the winter; right be the fireplace in the living room, swaddled in throws, in a Morris chair with wide wooden arms perfect for setting a hot cop of tea or cocoa on!
DeleteA couple years ago after my son's February birthday celebration we all wound up in his bed because it was his day and he wanted to watch a movie. Since I've had short hair, after years of long, I often keep a knit hat on, even inside. So there were my son, the 2 grandkids, me in my hat, and the dog, all under the covers. He said we looked like the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory family. We did! It was very nice and cozy. Fortunately he had a bed big enough to accommodate us all.
DeleteI’m with Deborah on this. Don’t like heat much, even though I spent 3 years in the Sahel in my twenties and survived. I think the feeling of fall for me is one of excitement, because I was a kid who loved it when school started up again. Might be because I grew up in a very small Wyoming town, and most of my friends lived on ranches. I didn’t see them much in the summer, so fall was reunion time.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite quotes of the season:
“We are almost at autumn solstice, where all will be cooler. Darker. Deeper. Quieter. More intimate. I am drawn now more and more to the colder seasons. The nights stretching longer. The pace slower.” – Victoria Erickson, Rhythms & Roads
That's a wonderful quote, Lynn!
DeleteBeautiful, Lynn. That captures it so perfectly.
DeleteI agree with Liz, on the blanket dilemma. Since I'm generally warmer than most others, adding that blanket is an on for part of the night , then off about half way through the night affair. I like light but not heat. Like milder weather, though sometimes the colder days get my hands achy but I don't like it dark when I leave for home. I did think about a pot roast on Saturday, didn't make it but thought about it.
ReplyDeleteDeana, I have a throw-blanket sized light down comforter which is perfect for the half the night on-half off dilemma, which I also have. Shivery at the start of the night, then overheated by 3:30am. This little comforter is small and light enough to yank off with one hand; no struggling and untucking needed!
DeleteIt still isn’t fall in California. A bit cooler at night but lots of sun and ninety degree temperatures in the afternoon. I have no inclination to change the foods I eat based on the time of year. I always run at sunrise, so I get plenty of light.
DeleteThough I am not a fan of the Heat (I prefer cooler weather), I still prefer longer days to shorter days.
ReplyDeleteMy relatives have a tendency to get together for dinner and I noticed that in the summer, it is easier for me to meet up with my relatives during the summer when the days are longer. When it starts to darken earlier in the day, if we get together for dinner, I prefer that they come over to my place for dinner. It is hard for me to go out in the evenings when it is dark.
When I visited Europe, I was surprised that it did not get dark until nine p.m. I loved that. And in Scandinavia, it was light all day with fewer dark hours. I love that.
Favorite Autumn Novel? As long as the electricity is working and I have light in the dark evenings, I can read a novel. Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency novels usually come out in November and I remember that because a friend's birthday is in November. We both love this series. I loved WICKED AUTUMN by G.M. Malliet. I am sure there are Many Novels that I love to read in the Autumn, though I cannot recall all of the titles.
Diana
Now we will all be looking for autumn books, Diana!
DeleteNot a cold, icy, early darkness winter fan.
ReplyDeleteI would like to hibernate all winter but that is not a possibility and I count the days until they start getting longer again.
For those people like me who have to go to work in the morning and don’t have a car, the ice and snow is a problem and a potential danger when it’s dark and you can’t always see where the slippery frozen patches are.
Around here (New England) the roads are cleared by the town but the sidewalks are left up to the business or homeowners to clean and not everyone takes the responsibility to make sure these areas are walkable.
I don’t find creativity to be seasonal and one of the reasons for making soups and cold weather dishes in the fall and winter is that is when the produce for making them is available and this is the time of year you need them to warm up from the cold dark days and nights
My ideal time is spring, the embryonic shoots of the crocuses and early spring flowers and the longer warmer days when there is no more concern for a winter storm or wintery mix which could turn into anything from a blizzard to an icy sleet.
I suspect even I will be looking forward to spring come February...
DeleteThe darkening days is a wonderful description. I don't mind the shorter days, the longer nights. It's just a phase that will reverse before we know it. It's lovely to have cooler weather again and more energy.
ReplyDeleteThere are things I love about every season, and they mostly far outweigh the negatives. But I could never live in a place without that change of weather. While my daughter was living in Kenya she talked about the "rainy season", which looked like normal, year-round Cincinnati weather to me: a few minutes or a couple hours of random rain. Shrug. Their near-equatorial days began at 6:20 and ended exactly 12 hours later, 365 a year. By contrast, I enjoy sitting on the back porch watching the sunset in the summer long after dinner is over, or cozying up by the fire to dispel the dark and cold in the early winter evenings. Fall and spring have their own multitude of charms, too. The maple trees behind our house are ablaze right now, and they're breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteLike Edith, I broke out the cozy slippers a week ago, and swapped out the cotton spread for a light down blanket over the weekend. We had the chimney cleaned, and Steve replaced the seal for the fireplace insert door, so all we have to do now is stack some wood on the porch and fill the indoor woodbox. I made a basket full of fire starters a couple weeks ago, with toilet paper rolls and egg cartons, dryer lint, wine corks, and leftover candle wax. Bring on the chilly nights!
I love the changing of the seasons, too, Karen. Although I must say that when I've lived (briefly, in both Mexico City and Guadalajara) closer to the equator, you do begin to sense the more subtle shifts.
DeleteThat's what my daughter said. We were in Nairobi in both the dry and "rainy" seasons, but I couldn't see any difference.
DeleteThe Darkening Days: stay tuned for tomorrow's episode! Will Susan reveal to Jill that Stewart, her date for drinks and a meal at the swanky Foxy Club, is actually the husband of wealthy Miranda Collinsworth, and the father of Alicia's triplets? Will Grant propose to Susan after her divorce from Peter is final or will Chance--the dashing new man in town and twenty years' younger than Susan--make good on his promise to give her a night to remember? And who is that distinguished woman in gray who seems to be everywhere Chance goes? Don't miss a single thrilling minute of The Darkening Days!
ReplyDeleteLate spring is my favorite part of the year as it wanders into summer--the promise of fewer clothes, warm breezes caressing my arms as I take my walks--wildflowers blooming in the woods, greenery reappearing, days stretching out. I hate being cold and I'm always cold in winter no matter how many layers I pile on or hot drinks I consume. But I do enjoy cooking those savory soups and stews!
Thanks for cracking me up, Flora! This is brilliant!
DeleteP.S. I'm with you on hating being cold. But I love the excuse for the hygge life.
Absolutely fabulous, Flora! Now, please let us know what happens in the next episode!!!
DeleteIn the next episode, Alicia's triplets, now 18 (they were infants in yesterday's episode), have gone off: Hailey has eloped with Stewart's stepson Artemis, Stuart the middle triplet, is backpacking to India where he plans to become a monk under the tutelage of the Dalai Lama, and Shailey has been invited on tour with Blue Ivy. Desperate, Alicia has turned to Stewart for help, but Susan--now remarried to Stewart for the third time, has warned Alicia to back off. Chance, married to an ailing Miranda Collinsworth, offers to round up the triplets if Alicia will do him one itty bitty favor and wreck Susan's marriage. Grant and Jill warn Stewart about Alicia, but he dismisses their concern as simple jealousy since they've been childless since marrying and Alicia refused to let them have one of the triplets. Stay tuned for more of The Darkening Days!
DeleteI hope so, Flora!!!!! What a hoot!!
DeleteToo, too much. I'm glad I returned for another look at the poetry of the day. Flora, too funny!
DeleteOh, yes, I love long nights and fireplaces until I'm ready for long sunny evenings again!
ReplyDeleteHank, I just finished The First to Lie. I am still shivering from those wintery March scenes! What a wonderful, twisty, tale.
Give me long days. When I was in an office, short days meant I saw the sun only when I was driving to work or at lunch time. It was dark by the time I got off work. I hate that! That's definitely an advantage of working from home, I have windows I can see out of all day long.
ReplyDeleteI think THE DARKENING DAYS makes a great title for a mystery. But I can see it working as a soap opera, too. Maybe a PI is the main character of this soap, so we get the best of both worlds.
And Flora can write it!
DeleteI cannot work after 9:30 p.m. winter or summer unless I have a frantic deadline--I am a 100% morning person. Still, I enjoy fall and winter until February. Then, suddenly, I have had MORE than enough winter (this is Switzerland, remember, but Boston was just as bad, if not worse) and start looking for every sign of spring. When I see my first snowdrop every year I'm ecstatic, even though there is usually a LOT of winter still to come after it appears.
ReplyDeleteIs Bern very snowy, Kim?
DeleteIt used to be when I moved there 35 years ago. Recently, the snow melts in the city pretty fast. But we do get a few heavy snows per winter. If we want real snow, we just have to drive about an hour toward the Bernese Alps!
DeleteSummer is my favorite season though climate change is making it harder to enjoy. I love the long hours of sunlight. I grew up on the SF Bay Area so remember a definite change from summer into fall (and not just having to return to school). It’s much more subtle in San Diego though the nights are cooling into the high 50s.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I went wine tasting with a group of my librarian friends and we were sweltering at the first place (90 degrees in the shade), but by the end of our day, the sun was beautifully setting and the air was cooling. Good wine, good friends - that doesn’t depend on a season to be wonderful. — Pat S
Autumn and winter have always been my favorite, and the shortening of days just go with it. The changing of the leaves is magical, and for some reason I have a thing for bare trees. I have a couple of pictures up with bare trees, and I've sometimes wondered what that says about me, that I like the bare trees. I'm always drawn to those types of pictures/paintings. The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland might be my favorite fall setting book.
ReplyDeleteI love bare trees, too, Kathy, and have drawn them since I was a child.
DeleteI love the shorter days of Fall and Winter - all the earlier I can curl up and read. aprilbluetx at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteI am torn! In mid Georgia the summer is unbearable to me, especially since I got heart failure and COPD. I can't do much of anything in the heat, and I love the outdoors. I adore fall and winter. But for years I was on the graveyard shift, and my bedtime was about 8:00 a.m. So when I when I went to bed and when I got up it was dark! Very depressing. I'm on disability now but after 24 years on this schedule early morning rises are not going so well, but I do see at least a few hours of daylight, sometimes enough to drive to a park and hike a simple trail with my dogs.
ReplyDeleteI feel for those working on that shift or even regular shifts in the winter where they don't get out until dark. We all need nature and sunshine! As with everything, nothing's perfect!
I'm Jan Johnson, by the way!
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