They have names now; these storms. Maybe it will help. If we personify them maybe then we can blame them, increase the distance between them and us. These storms are hitting us, it’s them; we didn’t make them. We don’t make them. Storms have been around in wilder and more powerful forms for far longer than we have been around. The weather is like stone and the mountains; indifferent to us. Yet, we may have encouraged them somehow. Climate change; can we deny it anymore. It’s nothing new. Five hundred generations ago we were plunged into the sudden climate change of the Younger Dryas. This is the climate change that has been occupying my thoughts at the moment, how it must have been, how we coped, how we did not. It wasn’t our making then, but the echoes of it still hang about in our oldest stories.
Storm Frank is slamming into the cottage tonight. Calm down Frank, please calm down. I didn’t go near the chickens tonight. We lifted the eggs earlier, when all was calm, and I know they have enough food and water from last night. I suspect that if I had tried to check in on them their door would have been ripped off it’s hinges as that side of the cottage is a bit of a wind tunnel when the wind blows from the south. One benefit that Frank is bringing us is the effect on the wood stove. Strong wind means that there is a good draw on the fire that seems to make it easier to regulate. Although the air vents have to be closed down to nearly air tight to stop the fire getting too hot. Like many people this Christmas; I am reading ‘Norwegian wood’. Tonight I read the stove and fire chapters and experimented with the top down burn. I am converted. Now every other way to light a wood stove is just wrong. The stove is glowing, and Frank is making lots of noise outside; it’s time to sit down with a good book.
A last minute present was delivered by the postman this morning; fondant laced with pollen. Under a full moon I slipped this package onto the bees tonight and whispered that they are not to eat it until tomorrow morning. It’s said that you must always tell the bees the news. The news is that we have made it past the solstice. A few sleeps ago sunrise caught me after I woke up. I have an image of it in my head, a vague echo; a memory imperfect yet feeling like perfection. I hadn’t seen the sunrise for weeks even though it had been hanging around on the edges of my mind. At this time of year there is always the thoughts of the local standing stones lining up with the winter sun, and thoughts of chambers like Maes Howe. Why? Why did they do it, and why does it haunt my winter thoughts. Maybe it’s obvious when the nights are so long and the days are so short. Maybe it’s obvious when I am dragged from my warm bed on a cold winter morning with the little lady screaming, “Daddy, I want to go to the toilet! Daddy, I want to go to the toilet! Daddy, I want to go to the toilet! Daddy, I want to go to the toilet! Daddy, I want to go to the toilet! Daddy, I want to go to the toilet!” The pancakes still need made and I am groggy with winter dreams. It seems routine until I am walking the little lady down the stairs and I look out the window. The hills, the sleeping bare trees, the stone grey sky, and then the sun creeping over the forest reminds me there is nothing routine in any of this. The epiphany charges me with enthusiasm; time for solstice pancakes.
There is no point reminding the bees about the solstice as they are far more tuned in to these things than I. Instead, the news is that the house is bursting with excitement. The little lady and the little man are dreaming of santa. They are full of the hope of presents under the tree. The littlest man is too small for such things and a bowl full of breakfast and the sight of the lovely Sharon will probably fill him with equal delight. Happy solstice. Merry Christmas.
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