Hot tip for that 'teach someone' exercise- make the explanation intelligible to a five year old. You really have to understand something well, to get it boiled down enough for a simple explanation. I just heard/read that somewhere. (I started Witching Week early- brainfog set in days ago!)
Thanks for the outdoor coffee idea, too. Although, with some group-Covid habits still in place, I might skip the whole shivering coffee routine for my own morning till Spring. -20 F windchill here)
What an awesome read, thank you!! I've learned that the days between Christmas and January 6th are known as the Celtic Omen Days. Definitely liminal space. A year neither ended nor begun. Noticing Nature, one day for each month of the new year. Noticing the omens around us, ending with Twelfth Night, or the world turned upside down.
Thanks. As a cloud watcher I find the observation we live at the bottom of an ocean of air a great thing to be reminded of. On the other hand the concept of drinking my coffee outside in Middle Tennessee when it is barely above freezing with a windchill of 20 below rather unworkable. Finding ruins however is my specialty. I live in these.
As far as the “witching season” goes I find it more than inhabitable as long as I keep my nose to the grindstone and my broom in the air.
I hereby swear to make The Festive Perineum an official holiday to follow Boxing Day. Who is with me? I'm also a huge fan of the walk back. I'm often astonished at how completely different the same route looks when walked in the opposite direction. How did I miss that window? That mural in the alley? That dead alien? Okay, maybe not the last one. But the walk back is still a fantastic reminder of how a small shift in perspective can reveal so many new details.
This is so great, Mike, from start to finish! It’s ridiculously cold here, but yesterday there was ‘sea steam’ coming off Lake Michigan and the Chicago River and it’s beautiful to see. Thank you for this gorgeous post!
I love this! That week between Christmas and New Year's, if we are privileged enough to have vacation during that time, feels so much like the freedom of childhood, when each day is open with limitless possibilities. Thank you for these suggestions!
Mike, this is so generous - thank you! I like to use these next few days to take long hot baths listening to Dylan Thomas. Until the family start hammering on the door, that is.
It is still -15F here and tomorrow it’s meant to rain??? I am not taking my coffee outside! When it gets reasonable out there, though, I try :)
I like that idea of enoughness. I grew up in a hoarder household — which I was responsible for dusting and vacuuming — so am a vigorous purger of THINGS and chafe at clutter. Yet there is still a lot I don’t notice. I used to make jewelry, for example, and have had both the jewelry and the making supplies sitting around for almost a decade pretty much untouched. A couple months ago I realized it was a hobby I probably wasn’t going to return to, and I’d grown out of the most of the jewelry I’d made, so I went through it all and gave the pieces to my nieces, and the older one is getting my supplies for Christmas. That felt really good! When you’re a purger rather than a keeper, you do run out of things to clean out and let go of, so it’s nice to take something like that and make a meaningful gift of it rather than just take it all to the thrift store, which is overflowing itself.
There is a tiny ruined building I pass several days a week. I think it’s actually an old root cellar of some kind, but you’ve nudged me to make the actual effort to see if I can find out, which my intentions have never managed to do before.
Hot tip for that 'teach someone' exercise- make the explanation intelligible to a five year old. You really have to understand something well, to get it boiled down enough for a simple explanation. I just heard/read that somewhere. (I started Witching Week early- brainfog set in days ago!)
Thanks for the outdoor coffee idea, too. Although, with some group-Covid habits still in place, I might skip the whole shivering coffee routine for my own morning till Spring. -20 F windchill here)
What an awesome read, thank you!! I've learned that the days between Christmas and January 6th are known as the Celtic Omen Days. Definitely liminal space. A year neither ended nor begun. Noticing Nature, one day for each month of the new year. Noticing the omens around us, ending with Twelfth Night, or the world turned upside down.
Thanks. As a cloud watcher I find the observation we live at the bottom of an ocean of air a great thing to be reminded of. On the other hand the concept of drinking my coffee outside in Middle Tennessee when it is barely above freezing with a windchill of 20 below rather unworkable. Finding ruins however is my specialty. I live in these.
As far as the “witching season” goes I find it more than inhabitable as long as I keep my nose to the grindstone and my broom in the air.
I hereby swear to make The Festive Perineum an official holiday to follow Boxing Day. Who is with me? I'm also a huge fan of the walk back. I'm often astonished at how completely different the same route looks when walked in the opposite direction. How did I miss that window? That mural in the alley? That dead alien? Okay, maybe not the last one. But the walk back is still a fantastic reminder of how a small shift in perspective can reveal so many new details.
Now to celebrate the Festive Perineum!
Thoroughly enjoyed this read Mike! "Witching Week" is also my favourite name coined so far for this weird time. Happy holidays! ✨
This is so great, Mike, from start to finish! It’s ridiculously cold here, but yesterday there was ‘sea steam’ coming off Lake Michigan and the Chicago River and it’s beautiful to see. Thank you for this gorgeous post!
Loved reading the newsletter. I will attempt a 'lagom' on my email feed and definitely keep 'Everything Is Amazing" Thank you.
I love this! That week between Christmas and New Year's, if we are privileged enough to have vacation during that time, feels so much like the freedom of childhood, when each day is open with limitless possibilities. Thank you for these suggestions!
Round these parts, the Witching Week is known as the Merryneum. Which I rather like.
Just wanted to say love your newsletter. Thank you for everything Mike. Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Thank you!
Mike, this is so generous - thank you! I like to use these next few days to take long hot baths listening to Dylan Thomas. Until the family start hammering on the door, that is.
Festive Perineum is hilarious! I hadn't heard that before.
And the walking home thing sounds interesting! Might give that a try!
I’m building a Mars River model now- solar powered - it can cook me a hot dog 🌭
Yup our doors are frozen - not likely to move very swiftly in the near future
It is still -15F here and tomorrow it’s meant to rain??? I am not taking my coffee outside! When it gets reasonable out there, though, I try :)
I like that idea of enoughness. I grew up in a hoarder household — which I was responsible for dusting and vacuuming — so am a vigorous purger of THINGS and chafe at clutter. Yet there is still a lot I don’t notice. I used to make jewelry, for example, and have had both the jewelry and the making supplies sitting around for almost a decade pretty much untouched. A couple months ago I realized it was a hobby I probably wasn’t going to return to, and I’d grown out of the most of the jewelry I’d made, so I went through it all and gave the pieces to my nieces, and the older one is getting my supplies for Christmas. That felt really good! When you’re a purger rather than a keeper, you do run out of things to clean out and let go of, so it’s nice to take something like that and make a meaningful gift of it rather than just take it all to the thrift store, which is overflowing itself.
There is a tiny ruined building I pass several days a week. I think it’s actually an old root cellar of some kind, but you’ve nudged me to make the actual effort to see if I can find out, which my intentions have never managed to do before.