Today being Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere and therefore the shortest day(length of daylight) of Winter as opposed to the longest day of Summer up North, I feel like concocting something special to celebrate the season. Me celebrating Winter? I must be either evolving or moving towards enlightenment! But searching through my many folders of photographs today looking for something to paint (I’ve enrolled in a watercolor course starting Monday), I discovered, to my utmost delight, how the winter palette speaks to my heart.
In December 2011 we experienced
snow on a visit to Prague
Also, what really grabbed my attention as I scanned the internet for some interesting facts about solstices, is the incredible design of this little speck of dust in the expanse of space we call home. "The June solstice occurs when the sun is at its furthest point from the equator. It reaches its most northern point and the Earth's North Pole tilts directly towards the sun, at about 23,5 degrees. If the Earth's rotation was at right angles to the plane of its orbit around the sun, there would be no solstice days and NO SEASONS." http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/june-solstice.html
Imagine that! No apple blossoms and newest baby leaves, no big juicy fruit weighing down branches of luscious trees, nor autumn winds and the rustle of rust and yellow and fiery orange underfoot, or crisp cold mornings with skies of unending blue.
Would life be even possible?
So then: Winter, dear One, we welcome you!
What shall it be then, for this celebration? A hearty vegetable soup, laced with curry and fortified with fresh garlic and red lentils, maybe?
I have to confess that I feel a bit frivolous. Some snow would really have made my day! Of course, it being Pretoria in South Africa, to expect snow is rather silly. But maybe, once we get to Wakkerstroom, I might get to use this recipe I found in a gem of a book by Sarah Ban Breathnach: Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy.
Snow Ice Cream (Yes, really!)
Take 1 cup (250ml) milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and half a cup sugar (125ml) and beat well in a large bowl until frothy. Add enough clean, fresh snow until the liquid is completely absorbed by it. This concoction, she says, will have the consistency of sherbet (sorbet in South African terms, I would think)
For now I’ll pour myself a glass of red wine and sit in front of the roaring little Queen Anne stove, reliving the few times in my life I’ve experienced snow and remembering how it seemed to bring a stillness in and around me. Nothing can surpass the tranquillity of a snowy landscape, can it?
Would life be even possible?
So then: Winter, dear One, we welcome you!
What shall it be then, for this celebration? A hearty vegetable soup, laced with curry and fortified with fresh garlic and red lentils, maybe?
I have to confess that I feel a bit frivolous. Some snow would really have made my day! Of course, it being Pretoria in South Africa, to expect snow is rather silly. But maybe, once we get to Wakkerstroom, I might get to use this recipe I found in a gem of a book by Sarah Ban Breathnach: Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy.
Snow Ice Cream (Yes, really!)
Take 1 cup (250ml) milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and half a cup sugar (125ml) and beat well in a large bowl until frothy. Add enough clean, fresh snow until the liquid is completely absorbed by it. This concoction, she says, will have the consistency of sherbet (sorbet in South African terms, I would think)
For now I’ll pour myself a glass of red wine and sit in front of the roaring little Queen Anne stove, reliving the few times in my life I’ve experienced snow and remembering how it seemed to bring a stillness in and around me. Nothing can surpass the tranquillity of a snowy landscape, can it?
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| Snowhill, near Prague Photo by Matilda |
Happy Solstice, wherever you are!
Matilda
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