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Carrying the light
Nov. 29th, 2020 05:07 pmThis was a weekend of warmth, and light, and quiet, and home.
Until last year, Matthias and I never did any Christmas decorations in our house — we've always spent Christmas either in Germany with his family, or in Australia with mine, so there never seemed to be much point. But last year, his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and young niece and nephew travelled here to Cambridge, and I bought a tiny Christmas tree, and some cheap decorations and lights. I'm very glad I did so, because of course this year nobody's travelling anywhere, and it was nice to have all those decorations here and ready to go.
So today, we decorated the tree, lit some tealight candles, and revelled in the warm light.
Yesterday we made the trek out to the street on the other side of town which houses all the international grocery stores (there's a Korean supermarket, two Chinese supermarkets, a Middle Eastern supermarket, an organic shop where you can buy refills of dried herbs and spices, multiple Italian delis, and a Polish/Romanian supermarket, plus lots of other specialist shops). I wanted to stock up on things like tahini, fish sauce, sriracha, and sesame oil, which you can't buy in large bottles anywhere else in Cambridge, and I also brought all my half-empty spice jars and refilled them. All in all, it was a productive, but expensive trip.
Today has been filled with yoga, and lounging around in my wing chair watching the biathlon, and reading. I'm almost finished with my reread of the Dark Is Rising sequence, and am struck again what a beautiful, and melancholy series of books it is. It's so suited to this time of year, even though two books are set very emphatically during the summer, and one in the spring. I've slowed down a bit because I've hit Silver on the Tree, and I don't want to get to that ending, which I have read and reread so many times, and to which I will never be reconciled.
I hope your weekends were filled with exactly the kind of light, and warmth that you needed.
Until last year, Matthias and I never did any Christmas decorations in our house — we've always spent Christmas either in Germany with his family, or in Australia with mine, so there never seemed to be much point. But last year, his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and young niece and nephew travelled here to Cambridge, and I bought a tiny Christmas tree, and some cheap decorations and lights. I'm very glad I did so, because of course this year nobody's travelling anywhere, and it was nice to have all those decorations here and ready to go.
So today, we decorated the tree, lit some tealight candles, and revelled in the warm light.
Yesterday we made the trek out to the street on the other side of town which houses all the international grocery stores (there's a Korean supermarket, two Chinese supermarkets, a Middle Eastern supermarket, an organic shop where you can buy refills of dried herbs and spices, multiple Italian delis, and a Polish/Romanian supermarket, plus lots of other specialist shops). I wanted to stock up on things like tahini, fish sauce, sriracha, and sesame oil, which you can't buy in large bottles anywhere else in Cambridge, and I also brought all my half-empty spice jars and refilled them. All in all, it was a productive, but expensive trip.
Today has been filled with yoga, and lounging around in my wing chair watching the biathlon, and reading. I'm almost finished with my reread of the Dark Is Rising sequence, and am struck again what a beautiful, and melancholy series of books it is. It's so suited to this time of year, even though two books are set very emphatically during the summer, and one in the spring. I've slowed down a bit because I've hit Silver on the Tree, and I don't want to get to that ending, which I have read and reread so many times, and to which I will never be reconciled.
I hope your weekends were filled with exactly the kind of light, and warmth that you needed.