Darkest Depths/Long Nights Time 2025

The Wolf Moon 

 
The time of Long Nights is slipping away. Now we enter the time of cold. Remember the old adage, "As the days lengthen, the nights strengthen.".

We'll address the weather first since many of you have heard reports about New York and may be wondering. 

At our house, we've only had about 3" of snow. We have had many days of strong winds (sometimes gusting to 50 mph), and below zero windchills. Those subzero wind chills have interfered with our daily walks. Our route is far too exposed to be safe in this weather.

My hometown at the eastern edge of Lake Ontario has gotten hammered. Some of you are sitting amid the snowbanks right now. Try to stay warm and enjoy the forced confinement.

Holiday trees

We enjoyed a quiet and restful Solstice and Yuletide. Evening fires in the woodstove to counteract the cold winds, reading and a few special treats to eat.

Projects have kept us busy this month.

Footstool project begins

Bob bought an old footstool at a charity garage sale. The top fabric and cushioning needed to be replaced.

New padding goes on

He removed the old materials and cut out new padding from some old wool blankets.

New padding all on

After securing the padding, he cut a new top out of some heavy duck fabric.

New fabric all on

The recovered top was reattached to the base and now we have a footstool large enough for both of us to share. All of these materials were in my stash.

Finished product

Last year's beans have all been threshed out. There are fewer beans than usual, but I'm sure we'll get by with all of the leftovers from last year.

Total 2025 crop

Yesterday I ordered the seeds we need for this year's garden. We didn't need too many.

Choosing seeds

This year I'm going to try another pole habit drying bean. It's a black bean reportedly from the Narragansett tribe of Rhode Island. I'm excited to see how this one turns out.

Last year's trial bean, 5,000-Year-Old Cave Bean, turned out to be quite good. I'll plant that one again this year.

Bob's annual sweater was finished this morning!

Model strikes a pose

 

I often knit this pattern for him, varying the colors and patterns, because it fits his slim build very well.

In our season of rest, we've spent a good deal of time reading, each having finished several books already.

Generally, our evenings are spent reading aloud while sitting in front of the fire. We recently finished The Outermost House by Henry Beston.

A good read

Mr. Beston wrote of the year that he spent living on the Outer Beach of Cape Cod. He sought the seclusion of the beach in an effort to recover from the trauma of his World War I service. We found it to be very interesting.

Now we are reading The Slabsides Book . This book is about the woodland cabin of naturalist John Burroughs. We found this, as well as four volumes of Burroughs nature writings at the local library book sale. We plan to read all of them soon.

Who's at the feeder?

Our reading area looks out on our bird feeders, so we get great opportunities for watching the birds from the comfort of our living room.

Phase 1 complete

Work continues (slowly) on my hardanger piece. The project has three distinct phases: surface embroidery, cutting and lacework and counted cross stitch embellishments.

This week I finished phase 1. Now I begin with phase 2, which involves cutting into the piece and stitching in lacework. There's a ton of that to do.

A great find

 
On an unrelated note, we found this queen sized, handmade quilt in the thrift shop for $5.99. Yes, the decimal point is in the correct place! The craftsmanship, or perhaps craftspersons-ship, is very good. I brought it home to recognize and honor the creator's effort and spirit.

We hope that you have enjoyed any holiday which you may celebrate, and that you have eluded the flu and other illnesses. There's still time to relax and renew before the season of rebirth and growth. We hope you will take advantage of the time.

We'll be here; by the fire reading, or crafting, or playing games. Continuing to enjoy this golden period.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Warming the kitty-cicle

"Whose woods these are..."

Long Nights Time/Darkest Depths 2021

Holiday joy to you

 

Season's Greetings from Thistledown Gardens at Long Nights Time.

We are well here as this turning point of the seasons approaches. We've got our boosters, our books and our amusements and are snuggling in for a restful and restorative time.

We've taken care of the final tasks of Ingathering.

Preparing Cabbage

We put down our fermentation crocks: one of sunchokes and one of sauerkraut.

Bob packs cabbage into the crock

We also put down 7 3/4 quarts of horseradish.

A year's worth of horseradish

Currently I am threshing out the dry beans. I have seven more bushel to do. I've been dawdling at it.

Of course, our big news is that the heat pump systems are in and working very well.

The old fuel oil boiler and its "saddle bag" water heater had to be removed first. What a sooty and wet mess that made!

Old boiler before removal

Old water heater before removal

The crew installed the new heat pump water heater quickly. We were only without hot water for a couple of hours.

New water heater in place

New ground loop pump

Then they removed the old boiler and installed the pump to the ground loop.

New geothermal heat pump

Next, they installed the heat pump for the baseboard system. This took quite a bit longer and the work was interrupted by Thanksgiving and the weekend immediately following. There were a few other glitches, like a faulty part and some difficulties with our old pipes. We were without central heat for a couple of days and nights and without heat in the bedroom for another couple of nights, but we have the wood stove and warm blankets and survived just fine. It took six working days from start to finish.

Now everything is in and working beautifully. We love it! First, of course is the environmental superiority of the technology. Second, the house is at a nice constant temperature and it's so much quieter than the old boiler system was. 

Our old boiler was quite efficient (90%), but this one is 300% efficient. That means, it uses 1/3 of the energy that the old one did! We've haven't had to use the wood stove since it's been online. We'll only need it if we get a week long cold snap with daytime temperatures below the teens. Of course, we can always light the stove for "atmosphere".

Bob has begun a new, and hopefully relatively quick home redo project. We've only got two more rooms to do in the house: the upstairs bathroom and the laundry room. He's chosen to do the laundry room.

Here are some "before" pictures for you:

South and west walls

West and north walls

East and south walls

The room is small: 8'x9'. It was once a porch that was enclosed. There is no cellar nor slab beneath it. You can see we have a laundry sink and an Energy Star washer. Bob's already done the plumbing work necessary for these. It's set up for a propane dryer. We have no dryer. Bob will upgrade the wiring and put in an electric dryer outlet for the benefit of future owners, removing the propane option.

The walls are covered with a plastic coated, dark paneling. Bob began removing this today.

That paneling's got to go!

He will address drywall concerns and some nasty air leak issues behind it. We had the exterior door replaced a few years ago, but they could have done a better job with air sealing. Bob will need to fix this, too.

Our Solstice tree

We mark the Solstice or Yule in our home. We celebrate it as a joyous time to usher in rest and spiritual and emotional peace and restoration. 

Freshly baked fruitcake

In preparation we made our fruitcakes at Thanksgiving. They've been mellowing in the root cellar, receiving a splash of brandy occasionally to keep them merry.

Fruit balls rolled in coconut or nuts

We also made our dried fruit and nut balls last week. These will be our festive treats.

On Tuesday, the Solstice, we'll have chickpea and sweet potato curry over brown basmati rice for our main meal. We'll enjoy solitude and perhaps a walk - if the hunters would stay at home. Our celebrations will continue through the weekend.

A glimpse of our big tree

Whatever, and however you chose to celebrate, we wish you joy, peace, health and comfort.

Till next year,

Kathleen and Bob

May the season kindle new fires