Another week, another post! Here’s a little round up of things from the last week…
1 Notre-Dame
I really enjoyed clicking through (thanks Kottke!) to the NYT article about Notre-Dame Cathedral’s restoration; people coming together, preserving history, appreciating the particular resonance of D-major… A lovely story.
2 Enjoying
Chef’s Table (Pasta); Freakonomics two-part podcast episode on the subject of large retail stores; the fact that a lip-shaped version of sleep tape is on a list of cool stocking stuffers (here).
3 Passing the time
My youngest son had an appointment to attend and I luckily decided to bring along my sketchbook. The wait was over a half hour, but the time flew by because we invented drawing challenges for each other as we sat side by side. I now have Christmas-themed drawings of a dog building a fort, penguins skating on an iceberg and the memory of making him chuckle when he gave me the prompt “a person whose having a hard time making his Christmas tree stand straight” and drew a man dragging a level and a crooked Christmas tree in a room with a crooked picture and a crooked vase.
4 First Snow (Storm)
In her book Things to Look Forward To, Sophie Blackall lists “First Snow” as one of them, and writes:
Growing up in Australia, I didn't see falling snow until I moved to the United States. After twenty years, it's no longer a novelty, but I always look forward to the first snow. If you're outside, you can tell it's coming. The sky lowers itself like a goose on her eggs, and everything grows very quiet. Then a snowflake flutters down, and another, and soon they are swirling about like the aftermath of a pillow fight.
In the country, the landscape sparkles like a Victorian Christmas card. You can go outside in the first snow and tramp about, then come indoors, light a crackling fire, make a hot toddy, and revel in coziness. In the city, falling snow causes everyone to slow down for a minute. Everything is beautiful, and the children are happy. It's hard to argue with that. (p 26)
We had the “sky lowering itself like a goose on her eggs” and we had the snowflakes fluttering down, but then, as if unwilling to commit, the first snowfall was a scant bit of fluff. It wasn’t until Sunday, December 8th that the real snow came. That snowfall made everyone slow down, quiet down, and the world turn white. It’s that kind of snowfall that forces the machines to come out for winter duties, when snow clearing produces a parade of graters, loaders and dump trucks along the roads. I turn into William Cowper, the “chatty poet” that Adam Gopnik quotes in “Winter: Five Windows on the Season” and like him make a similar profession:
I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem’st,
And dreaded as thou art!…
I crown thee king of intimate delights,
Fireside enjoyments, homeborn happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturb’d retirement, and the hours
Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
5 Eating
We cooked an especially cozy meal last Sunday. It perfectly coincided with the season’s first snowstorm. This “Pork Shoulder Braised with Apples” via Cup of Jo was delicious. We substituted plain mashed potatoes for the polenta and boiled some peas for colour.
Wishing you a lovely Friday!