Solstice

I was walking the seaside route home with Roan asleep in the pram this evening.  It was dark and quiet, but for the sea, which made sounds agains the stone wall like a monster swallowing.  Then I saw a lady step out of the foam onto the rocks.  When I looked again, it was only the crashing waves.

I had a feeling.  When we got home, I looked it up.  Turns out today--not the 21st--is the winter solstice.

It's beginning to look a lot like Advent. . .

Gosh, it's dark these days.   But I read a really good article about how Scandinavian folks don't dread--but actually look forward to--winter!  I think it's pretty good advice to take on.  Cheery hearths aren't really a possibility, but candles and hot drinks are my best friends no matter the weather.

Oh, and now is around the time I start playing my Scandinavian mood music (Amazon affiliate), which you can listen to for free here.

I'm thinking about personal Advent devotions, pulling back from social media, and hand-making the few Christmas presents I'm committing to this year.

There is this Waiting in the Word mother's journal, but I feel like veering away from the mommy crowd, maybe doing a daily Kathleen Norris instead.  I do admit, though, I like the easy set-up with the companion journal.  Makes things simpler for me, more organized, and therefore less easy to forget or slack off on.

Since our things are in storage, it's the perfect chance to supplement with natural, affordable "decorations."  In particular, I'm enamored of this hanging Advent wreath, and this crochet tree skirt is just my style: white and red?  Check.  Star-like Scandinavian symbol?  Check.  Crochet not knit?  Check.

I really like this Christmas tree, but I don't think we should spend so much money on it.  I'd love a real one, but we have no way of hauling it home.  Which is just as well, because we'll be moving in mid-December to our new accommodation anyway!  Hurray!

Autumn Beeswax Garland {Illustrated}

I've wanted to make one of these garlands ever since I happened upon them on the world wide web.  There was only one thing holding me back: the total and utter lack of autumn in my part of the world.  So guess what?  When I saw there was still fall foliage upon the trees when returning to Wales, I waxed those babies and strung them up to make a garland!

I even let Afon help some.  Mom of the Year over here!

I bought some bars of beeswax on Amazon, and the process was really quite simple.

Because I didn't have a crockpot or disposable baking dish, I lined a saucepans with tin foil and let the wax melt in there.  It was surprisingly easy.  I thought maybe the bars would take longer and that I  had erred by not looking for some special wax "petals" or "chips," but I honestly had no problem melting these down. I cut the first two in half and didn't even bother with the rest.

My leaves were a bit dirty but I didn't know how washing and wetting them would affect the waxing, so I brushed them off and dipped them as they were.  I do sort of wish I'd had a bit more wax and/or a deeper pot because the large leaves had to be sort of scrunched in there to get them completely covered.

I dried them on a sheet of clean aluminum foil because we didn't have wax paper.  After the first batch, I realized it would be better to hold the dipped leaf over the wax and let it drip for several seconds before lying it down on the foil, so that the wax wouldn't harden and the leaves wouldn't stick and be more difficult to peel off.

If I felt like they needed it, I dipped the leaves more than once.

The smell is so rich!  Afon tried to eat the wax, I don't blame him, it's too much like honey.

After I finished waxing my leaves and carefully peeled them from the foil, I used a white thread and needle and strung them along so that the leaf surfaces were all facing one direction.  If I'd had more, I might have sewn then up so that their surfaces were all touching each other, like single file soldiers, but I needed them to stretch, and I wanted a biggish garland.

The string got tangled in the crevices and leaf edges; thick string would have been better for sturdiness, but wouldn't have sewn through the leaf skins so well.  If I'd had my (now stored and over the ocean) usual range of craft supplies with me, I might have done twine and wooden clothespins.

Wow!  A craft that I could execute successfully with minimum effort and planning.  What's not to love?  But if I were going to do things differently next time, I would:

• use wax paper instead of tin foil
• use a larger and deeper container for the melted beeswax
• use thicker string or twine

Still . . . it looks really great, no?  (Note: I could have adjusted the colors and lighting in post-processing to make the autumn leaves appear more brilliant, but I wanted to keep them as close to natural as possible.)

Hope you're enjoying the last scraps of your autumn.

#7QT: Windsdays

Tuesday was warm and windy.  I brought Afon to school but got off on the wrong bus stop.  Never mind.  We had a walk with a beautiful view of bay from way up in Llysfaen.

Did you see our Martinmas?  I also finished Roan's mittens!

I feel myself turning toward winter preparations, but I'm not sure what that means.  I don't have any livestock to slaughter or grain to stow away.  But living in Wales where the seasons are felt is stimulating me to be busy before I hibernate.  This must be what animals feel!

What do you do to prepare for the deep of winter, those of you who live in cold climes?

Maybe because we jumped right out of the sauna into the season. Here are the photos from the very, very hot Halloween in Florida:

Each year, we go to the home of long-time friends of ours in town, who are innkeepers.  I only took Roan around to the trunk-or-treating at the church around the corner, and then we came back to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.

Now skipping forward in true consumer fashion, I'm thinking . . . Christmas presents?  Probably all going to be homemade this year.  But I am the worst worst worst at keeping to a timely schedule.  Should I start now?  I guess I answered my own question.

I think list-making is order.

BUT before Christmas, in the heart of Advent, we will be moving to new accommodation!  This is all good, with a side of inconvenient, but once we are settled at a permanent address, we can apply for my immigration.  Of course, then I'll have to leave the country again. . .

We've actually been made two offers.  The person in charge of house placement interviewed John a few weeks ago and liked him so much that she wanted to give him the choice of a larger and nicer accommodation.  Though this second one is not immediately across from Morrison's (boo!), I'm withholding judgement until we see them both.

Prayers being answered, two months late, but twice as good.  So there you go.

Roan did end up having hand, foot, and mouth disease, but I can tell he's on the mend because he's sleeping much better.  Poor babe!

And those are my quick takes!

Linking up with Kelly for Seven Quick Takes Friday.