Pre-Holiday Season 2019: Martinmas

Monday, November 11, 2019

Martinmas snuck up on me this year. Work has been stressful and I've already been sick a few times. That's unprecedented. Currently I'm dealing with a very mild respiratory condition, but still. Three times ill in just over two months of school?  No fun. Also, Dale's been dealing with some overwhelming work issues as well so things have been a little gloomy around our household. We're trying awfully hard to keep our spirits up but that can take extra energy which can be hard when one is exhausted. 

Anyway, yard work is mostly done. Leaves are raked and bagged. I didn't quite finish cutting back all the plants I wanted to but it'll have to either wait for spring or the increasingly less likely warmer day. It's gotten quite cold recently and it's snowed a little here and there. Today we only got up to around 15 degrees. 

Last year Dale and I made a chicken pot pie to mark Martinmas. Today we had no such special dinner. Nigel Slater, a food writer I follow, will make a ham on Martinmas as something of a practice run for the ham he'll make for Christmas. I'm not that ambitious, however, I will note that I ate a ham sandwich for lunch. 

For me, Martinmas is developing into a day to mark that yard work is done, winter is inevitable, and that it's time to turn my energies inward to hearth and home. 

Holiday Season 2018: Martinmas Day - The Coziness of Home Part 2

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Dale just got back from walking Athena. He took her down to the Minnehaha Creek and remarked just what a beautiful walk it was. He mentioned that with the light snow on the many unraked leaves how pretty the mixture of white and brown on the ground and white and gray in the sky are. I agreed that it is rather pretty and peaceful at that. The last couple days have been this sweet mixture of fall and winter. It's all so very November. I found myself on our couch in the living room looking out of the window across the street and thinking how beautiful and peaceful it all is. The feeling of being warm inside and looking out at the cold serene day and the light coming out of other houses is very comforting. 

Listening to Autumn by George Winston adds to the warmth and calm of this beautiful day. 

Ephiphany 2014 - Bitter Cold

I woke up at 8:00 this morning and the temperature was 20 below. Still that cold an hour and a half later.

Ephiphany 2014 - Windchills

These are the windchill temps from 3:00 am today. Governor Dayton has called off school. The last time school was called off for extreme cold was by Governor Carlson about 20 years ago. As far as I know, that's the last time the winter chill was this frigid.  I remember Dale  and I waking up in 1994 on a Saturday or Sunday and seeing the battery operated clock on the kitchen wall being behind due to being slowed down by the bitter cold. A 12-pack of Diet Coke that was pushed up against this same wall was starting to freeze too! Granted, the old apartment wasn't very well insulated - but still!