The moon of this night makes
All fields and mountains bald.
Hattori Ransetsu
Hattori Ransetsu (1654 – 1707) was a samurai, a haiku poet, and a follower of Matsuo Basho. He was very dedicated to Basho, and after the master’s death, he took the tonsure and became a monk.
To read more poems, click here.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
Cicero
I’m grateful for having both, and the time and peace of mind to enjoy them. I read two or three books a week, and I read every day. I cannot image a life without books. Here are a few that stayed with me a little longer this year, in no particular order.
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‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
Clement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St Nicholas (more commonly known as ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas).
Clement Clarke Moore (1779 – 1863) was an American writer, a Hebrew scholar, and a teacher at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City.
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful day with family and friends!
I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again”.
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll (1832 – 1898), pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was an English logician, mathematician, photographer, and novelist, especially remembered for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) & Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
To read more quotes by various authors, click here.
’Tis the first snow! Who is likely
To stay indoors?
Takarai Kikaku
Takarai Kikaku (1661 – 1707) was a Japanese poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō.
To read more poems, click here.
It’s the winter solstice today, marking the first day of winter. Check your shadow at noon if you live in the Northern Hemisphere: it’ll be your longest noontime shadow of the year.
It’s also the shortest day of the year, and it never felt darker. We haven’t seen the sun since November 28th in Stockholm; it’s the darkest of December in almost a hundred years.
There is a scientific explanation for it, although a reason doesn’t help the mood: a high pressure over Russia which has formed an inversion (weather phenomenon when hot air cannot rise as it usually does). This high pressure has created a kind of “lid” of hot air that prevents the ground air from rising and cooling. And that, together with the humid air, creates this strangely foggy and rainy December.
You wake up in the morning, fumbling around in the darkness, waiting for daylight – and I mean light in the loosest meaning of the word; it’s more like 50 shades of gray, pun intended – until after nine in the morning. That’s it; that twilight zone gray is the daylight. And at two in the afternoon, the gray starts to fade to black again. At three is pitch dark again. I imagine the apocalypse would look like this.
We have a few regular visitors in the garden like the cutie above, so I soldier on and take photos, but my camera struggles with the darkness. I keep increasing the ISO until 12.800 for a decent photo.
No light without dark, I keep telling myself. And I’m thinking about people in Murmansk (Russia), Thule (Greenland), or Tromsø (Norway), where total darkness reigns this time of the year. We do have six hours of daylight, whether gray or not.
To end on a more optimistic note, let’s rejoice in the fact that the days are getting longer as of tomorrow!
Here comes the sun!
Bonus: Nina MacLaughlin’s Winter Solstice column.
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Another way of measuring performance, the best Christmas album, crown shyness, herding cats, and more in The Zone No. 10.
As I see it, not everyone who publishes a book is an author. They’re just someone who has published a book. The best way to become an author is to write more books, just as a true entrepreneur starts more than one business. The best way to become a true comedian, filmmaker, designer, or entrepreneur is to never stop, to keep going. They hustle, they keep creating. Very few of us can afford to abandon our gift after our first attempt, convinced that our legacy is secured. Nor should we. We should prove to the world and to ourselves that we do it again…and again.
Ryan Holiday
NB: There won’t be a Zone post next week as it’s Christmas Eve. You shouldn’t be surfing the web then, even for such great content as this. Take care, be safe, and don’t forget to laugh!
The Zone will be back on December 31st with a special year-end edition.
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To read more The Zone posts, click here.
Time for a quick visit to Millesgården to see the Christmas decorations, something we do every year; it’s become a tradition.
They usually have lovely decorations and often a smaller exhibition in the artist’s home. The flowers were gorgeous as ever, but understandably, no exhibition this year. It’s a wonder they’re still open.
Being a sculpture park helps to keep the distance, of course. I wonder whether any future readers would know what this distancing is about. Or would this be the new normal?
The exquisite pot designed by Carl Milles in the 1920s is available in the museum shop. It’s a bit pricey, though—it would make a good Christmas gift.
Christmas roses (Helleborus)
The simple is beautiful.
Traditional Swedish straw decorations.
St. Francis statue in the sculpture park. The Christmases roses are in full bloom, which is unusual. Usually we have a lot of snow this time of the year.
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To read more posts on Millesgården, click here.
We took rest on a mountain pass
Even above the soaring lark.
by Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) was the most famous Edo period poet and a haiku master.
To read more poems, click here.
The Christmas tree and the decorations are up! The Nutcracker guards are new; I found them at our local garden center (while looking for bird feed).
The Yule goat is over twenty years old.
The Santa traveling by hot air balloon is from the garden center as well. I regret now not buying more of them, they match the older decorations so well.
Decorating the Christmas tree is one of my favorite things to do while listening to the best Christmas album of all time: Frank Sinatra’s The Christmas Album.
No Christmas is complete without a cat hiding under the tree.
