The Northerly
In New Zealand a Northerly is a warm wind. Out here in America a Northerly is exactly the opposite. COLD! I won’t tell you how long it has taken me to get used to that.
And yesterday The Northerly wind blew rain right through thebarn and into everyones faces.
I still opened all the barn doors so everyone could circulate about their fields but most of the cows chose to stay inside and make a mess of the new straw. We all dived for cover actually. This is what happens when I lie in the straw anywhere close to Tane – he is a neck nuzzler.
Because of the rain I worked on Christmas – My family are so far away I have to get things in the mail early.
Then I got chatting to my far away people and then the light was gone before I knew it and no photographs to speak of but suffice to say: Another ordinary day on the farm. (God how I love ordinary.) Wet and windy with a large side of MUD! And though it was a Northerly it was not TOO cold. But ordinary.
Interesting. I don’t have much to say this morning. I miss my far away people awfully this morning. It is this bloody Christmas season. And then last night John started playing bloody bollocksy christmas carols (the nerve of the man) and I complained and he said: Why are you such a scrooge and I growled like a dog and he turned the volume down.
Today will be better! I am sure of it. I can almost hear the gears in my head winding down!
I miss you.
Have a lovely day
cecilia
83 Comments on “The Northerly”
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Bless the ordinary (and calm) days 🙂 Bollocksy Christmas carols have been belting through our malls since the middle of September, I always come home with a headache and they don’t do much to improve my mood. Laura
September! Horrors! c
Great selfie! sorry you are feeling so down, think positive thoughts. You will soon be off to see your son, and then on to the Southern Hemisphere later, and then your northerly wind will be warm again. A lot to look forward to. 😃 I must admit though celi I would hate my kids to be spread around, but I hate that they commute every day in London especially now, so maybe I would prefer them to be further away, in the countryside somewhere.
Yes it is hard how this happened.. and I am not in my home country either – not good really – c
That is SUCH a fabulous photo! It totally makes up for the lack of others! Who knew Tane was such a rogue? I’m with you on the confusion over wind direction, though. Coming originally from the northern hemisphere, I had to unlearn all my instincts about direction, seasons and weather. I’m better at it now, but it’s still weird sometimes. But I’m with John on the Christmas carols – it’s too early, of course, but I like the tradition. My Australian family doesn’t celebrate Christmas much, and I miss my English family Christmas traditions sometimes…
I need to get back outside as both Tima and Tane are roaming but Tima needed a good walk – and the 29th it is!! I booked my ticket to melbourne from wellington yesterday. I will email.. c
Hurrah! Looking forward to it so much. I shall get on and book my own.
I am soooooooooooo jealous!
I can only barely believe it’s happening myself! Anyone out there in Oz who wants something (small) carried to Celi, let me know, and I’ll do pack pony duty.
Kate, I share your happiness deep from my heart!
(is that real English, can I say so? – correct me please)
Irmi, it’s fine English. Thank you for sharing in my excitement and good fortune!
Kate, you enjoy the meet-up, it is a wonderful way to cement a friendship!
Oh what a fun photo! A selfie with the pig….hahaha It is a really nice picture of you.
Facing north…. I have never been south of the equator but, for as long as I can remember, I have thought about it and thought how strange it would be to not be looking toward ice and snow, but warmer days, as I faced north. Everything would seem upside down, which actually makes sense in a rather strange way. Do you sometimes feel you must be upside down?
I am sure your far away people miss you miserably too. Fortunately you’re going to see many of them this winter, so hang in there and time will pass quickly. Hope your day is a lovely one too! ~ Mame 🙂
When we were little my sister and I thought Australians WERE upside down, and we tried to dig a hole to prove it!
Oh my goodness, you tried to dig to Australia! And at the same time, I was trying to dig to China! lol… I was convinced I was going to make it too. Anyone I have told that to thinks I was/am nuts, but you would understand 🙂
Of course I do. I’m talking more than 70 years ago!
Digging to China is what we used to do too, Dad would come down the back to inspect our hole and say Not deep enough – dig harder.. we did too! c
Love the picture with Tane. I am not a fan of Christmas either, too much stress and other bullocksy stuff. All of the other Farmy friends will think we are a pair of scrooges!
I think there are as many people who could skip christmas as there are who love it – we are in good company.. c
Wonderful photo! You and Tane are very photogenic. Very sweet little guy. I don’t mind the Christmas carols now, but can’t stand anything Christmas before Thanksgiving. Which is a hopeless wish these days as it’s all about Christmas practically before Halloween!
I know – and poor old Thanksgiving gets pushed onto the back burner in the scramble for christmas – soon i will have everything sent away then i can putter about and ignore it all..
I have to reply like this as i cannot remember my password and WordPress are being awkward…..You did make me laugh about your comments on John playing Christmassy music…like you my family is far away, but somehow I cannot get into the Christmas mood…its not the same without family and just me and old Nev . He could not care about Christmas at all…..
Yes, if noone else minds a nice glass of wine and a good dinner is the best way to celebrate christmas
I fully agree. Your are so right. Nothing else is needed… Hugs, Irmi
I expect to be on my own at Christmas and as I have always done in the past… I will raise a glass to absent friends, nowadays I think especially those bloggers who find Christmas difficult.
Yes, and we will gather around our PCs and connect to each other while raising our glasses to each other – as Celi said, she will open her house on Christmas virtually to us, to the Fellowship (see below, Celi’s answer to nettyg). It’ll be nice, I think! 🙂
I hope Tane’s nose isn’t too cold. Hugs, Kim
Oh yes! Ha- it did make me giggle a bit when he first did it!
So many comments from so many varied blogs and bloggers that I have been reading for the last month on how much of a chore Christmas is for many. And the reasons are as wide spread as the bloggers…family, financial, commercial, religious, political…I appreciate all of those comments showing me that I am not the only one who both has a sentimental view of the season, but also just wishes it would all go away and leave us to find some other issue to worry over.
We do it for the children? I guess that is what christmas is all about now and if there are no children in the house (and no family coming over to gather) then it is very different. c
I absolutely agree C. I delight in the grandchildren filled with awe, but if they weren’t present in my life…the traditions would quickly be a thing of the past.
Winds do something to the body. I always say “it messes with my ions” 🙂 Scrambles up my energy no matter which way the wind blows. I can handle rain or snow but wind does something weird. I could play some Christmas music all year especially the happy beat of Mannheim Steamroller. Mostly if I am working on a project for Christmas or baking for the holiday. If the wind is blowing, it must be quiet. I get the missing part. It’s physically painful to miss someone that much. Helps a little to get a hug from a snugly pig though, I’d bet. Too sweet for words. Maybe the wind will die down and you can feel more yourself. This is truly a hard time of year for so many.
Yes – I am not alone in feeling alone – but soon i will be cooking and talking with family up in the mountains so that will be nice! c
You sure are pretty for a very grumpy scrooge. And absolutely DARLING with Tane nuzzling up next to you. I feel for you. But I will remind you of your own words, which roughly paraphrased said that work was the best remedy. I expect you’ll find your comfort there, despite the Christmas cheer and carols of others. (Poor John.)
And yes! Spot on advice! c
Celi, I empathise with you about Christmas, I would swap it at the drop of a hat for Your Thanksgiving. I did sleep last night, Elly’s visit has been aborted – the car broke down on the way, they think it is the alternator, a jump start got it going but the power went again. A friend is coming to collect them and take them home. Driving in 60 MPH winds and driving rain is no fun, better to be safe than sorry. There will be plenty more days. I love the neck nuzzling!
WhatsApp again helped keep me in the loop. 🙂
Poor old Elly, I hope they get that sorted out ok! c
I hope so, she needs it sorted out before she heads off to China.
What a pity, Marie, that you could not meet. Have a nice evening!
Irmi, I spent the evening sitting by the fire an talking to friends near and far away. Time for an early night.
So sleep well, Marie! Good night! See you…
Love the selfie. We do’t see enough of you, with you always being the photographer. Christmas can’t start for me until my birthday on 1st, even though I made the Christmas cakes on 1st October – they have to mature, like a good Bordeaux wine.
I’m missing my family, too – Skype has gone peculiar. It asked me to download an update and then when I did it wouldn’t let me in.
Sorry you’re cold. It’s not warm here, windy and grey, but beareable.
Calm down and enjoy your weekend.
love,
ViV
Oh no! Bad skype.. there is facetime too (Hugo used it) but you need to both have I phones.
My phone is out of the ark, and does nothing fancy at all.
awwww we all have down times- I love your selfie! Take care you will be off to NZ soon ! xoxo
I might count the days – it always feels good to start my countdown!
Lovely cuddly selfie of you and Tane! To enjoy Christmas carols there must be snow falling and a great fire going.
Is Boo 100%? He might be just sleepy.
He is fine – he gets cold so when he is outside he cuddles down into his pod.. c
I love the selfie photo. I have tried selfies with Daisy deer but have never been successful. Either her nose is curious and we get a closeup of a wet, black nose, or she’s jerking away. We are still in Dallas… and the northerly hit here too colliding with southern gulf moisture bringing flooding rains. Back home the power is out – freezing rain. It’s supposed to warm up tomorrow so the trip home should be pleasant.
WET you are, by the sounds of it. You will be glad to get home and check the property! c
Hey, I had a dream that Chloe and I drove out to visit you! 😀
That’s because one day you WILL! Maybe in Chloe’s summer break! c
When I moved from California to Maine I made numerous wrong exits off the interstates because “west is towards the water”. And I LOVE it that you snuggle with your pig! I don’t celebrate Christmas in that I don’t do the gift exchange, so that leaves me free to enjoy the Christmas lights and the Christmas spirit. Noticed it first as a teen when I boarded a packed city bus (with permission of a bus employee) and a man passed his quarter up to the driver and his dime change got passed all the way back to him. To this day the smell of Christmas is the smell of the interior of a rain-wet San Francisco Muni bus.
What a beautiful story.. and what a beautiful memory.. c
I’m in two minds about Christmas, love the tradition of it, late night church and the old hymns, not the shopping mall tinny stuff cranked out ad nauseum, nor the awful fixation and push to spend up big when most people can’t afford it, and the too-sweet and unrealistic ads of families all scrubbed and happy with “stuff”, when the reality is not like that for so many…..I’ve worked in a hospital over Christmas and there’s so much alcohol fueled violence and death, it quite takes away any thoughts of ‘merry’. But I love gentle handmade gift giving and other ‘orphan’ friends and I getting together for a meal, I miss my grandchildren and daughter who are across your way ……probably experiencing chilly northerlies too…in Ohio. Any fellowship members in Akron, could you pop in and give my lot some hugs? And this year there’s a sweet great-granddaughter experiencing her first Christmas. This year the other ‘orphans’ are away, and as I have a new house, I’ll be over there pulling wall paper off and starting to paint….there are invites to join others for lunch and I’ll probably do that, but those tables groaning with every kind of animal imaginable and people tipsy with too much ‘cheer’ don’t do a lot for me. There, I’ve scrooged… and cried a little….all over the Lounge too. 😦
This Christmas I will be home with the computer on so we can move in and out of The Lounge and keep each other virtual company! I always think a good hard physical project (like painting or wallpapering) is perfect for Christmas. Day. But plenty of time for us all to get ready for that! c
Lovely idea, it’ll be Boxing Day here by then, fun to ‘see’ you all on your Christmas Day 🙂
Today will be ordinary and lovely, indeed.
Yes ordinary and lovely! c
Nice selfie, indeed. Love to see you. I’m with Viv in that matter. We don’t see much of you and it’s a pleasure today. – Hm, I think I’d need a Tane, too, for getting warm. 😉 T = 0°C.
Tonight a neighbour enlightend his really tall tree (a slim, mighty cypress) growing on his ground and me, living in the 2nd floor, get it all: It’s an ugly light chain built up and down the poor tree in a very aggressive way, glaring into my living room, my kitchen. I get it directly into my face sitting at my table or when doing the cooking. It really blinds me eyes. I hate it and I almost could kill him/her for that (sorry Fellowship). I don’t even know to which house that tree belongs to or who that person is. Oh, “merry” X-mas, neighbour. It never ever was a problem, but this year – what happened? Got crazy? – Must look for some blinds very soon…
Oh you poor thing – do you think your neighbour realises? People can be so thoughtless. Blinds sound like a good idea.. c
Thank you, Celi, for understanding and for your compassion. Yes, maybe you’re right and the neighbour doesn’t even realise.
some people really don’t think – not on purpose they just actually do not think past the moment.
I’d say they are kind of hollow, numb or deadened, in any case not attentive at all – of course not on purpose… 🙂
Poor things..
Love the picture of you and Tane.
Christmas is not what it once was. There was anticipation and sneaking downstairs after everyone else was asleep and turning on just the Christmas tree lights, sitting by the cooling embers in the fireplace and watching the tinsel sparkle. We had the family over on Christmas day and a groaning table, gifts surrounding the tree and the inevitable disagreement between my grandmother and her youngest sister which never did resolve anything but kept us kids in stitches at how silly it seemed to us. The cookie baking during the week or so before Christmas. Later it was as a parent and watching the wonder and, sadly, sometimes greed on the kids faces. And as a grandparent, making the trek for the Christmas day at the home of whichever kid was hosting the gang. They’re all scattered across the country now, just us, the spouse and me and the dog. We don’t do a tree or a big meal, usually just a quiet day. I suspect it will be very strange this year, too much that can’t be predicted is hovering around us.
At midnight on Christmas eve, out under the sky, a strong, true, tenor lifting in “Oh Holy Night”. . .
We all grow up and things change too – this is a good thing i think – that we change with the changes around us.. but that tenor – that will always be a stunning moment.. c
The tenor is a yearly thing, until the voice stills. It carries beautifully on cold, crisp air.
My Mom and I had a great visit with my son and his family but now I think we are iced in! Only half way home too. Doesn’t diminish the joy of watching my granddaughter play with her Great Grand Mother. Those two were a blast.
Do you have frozen rain? I hate that stuff – it terrifies me.. c
Yes, the hotel we were staying at last night lost power from the frozen rain bringing down the lines. By this morning the roads had cleared but I was afraid we were stuck.
I honestly think this is my favourite closeup of you: love that Tane is nuzzling you for all of us! And ’tis quietly raining here with a soft and delightful and warm NORTHERLY wind . . . . Am smiling that it is quite delightful to have become Buddhist a few decades ago and be able quite happily to turn my back to carols and malls and all the folderol beginning earlier each year. The food planned is definitely Australian summer style and the gifts small and personal and oft not from a store . . . Am very definitely not a traditionalist: so smile yet again that many don’t realize it is a pagan holiday which Emperor Comstantine, ill and feeling guilty of many sins, adopted as Jesus Christ’s birthday in 325 ACE . . . the great Jewish nationalist and sociologist was really born in March 7BCE in all probability. And of course we have the Christmas tree because Queen Victoria’s consort Albert was homesick for his native fir forests and presents only arrived in the 1880s . . . . . So, 😀 ! , am quite amazed how much work I get done each year during this quiet time for me, to begin at full gallop when the New Year toasts have been drunk . . .
Thank you Eha. History is an amazing study isn’t it – and it is great that we all embrace each others views and Christmas traditions. I love how each one of these historical references are a building block to today – and some little child sitting on the stairs viewing her Christmas tree with wonder – I wonder what Christmas day will evolve into in, say, 100 years. Still for the children I hope.
Oh Celi: you have hit it right on the nails as usual 🙂 ! Yes, I do firmly lean on the side of Historical Jesus, whom I was taught to respect from an early age, but began my formal studies in religions in 1982, actually after a very famous book came on the market, and have yet to stop . . . Lutheranism did not give me the succour I wanted . . . I travelled thru’ Judaism and Islam and further afield and learned a lot [none of which can sadly be found in today’s news] until . . . . As long as we treat others the way we would have them treat us, all would be well in the world . . . sadly we let the differences get the better of most of us without understanding that it is all same-same . . . Enough said: Sunday lunch calleth . . . hugs . . .
You should try the Elvis Christmas album. It cheers up even the Scroogiest of people. humma humma humma humma
Here, in the home of Scrooge,where no Christmas trees dare show their faces, I have to say that I don’t mind a Christmas carol….but Jenny, like your good self, thinks they are bollocks. We’re still waiting for North winds to blow and I’ve just ordered more wood for its arrival…love the shot of you and Tane:)
It’s waaay too soon for carols and all things christmassy, although I do understand that parcels need to be sent off! Love, love, love that selfie 🙂 Big hug to you, stay warm.
Beautiful photo of you ..stay warm and happy and get some ear plugs 😃
Typical Kiwi!! c
I don’t mind Christmas but I’m Scroogey about the carols too 🙂
I think that is the best selfie I’ve ever seen 🙂
Having spent yesterday with family and friends who came together from various distances but none overseas, I’m a mix of grateful and exhausted… it is so lovely to be with those to whom you belong. On a similar note, we are definitely on for Feb 29th. I’m so looking forward to it.
As for Christmas and carols, they’re ok in their place and time. Carols on the 2 days before and morning of Christmas while the food prep is being done and during lunch. That’s it.
What a sweet pic of you and Tane. The holidays are a hard time to be away from family, for many reasons.
I love that pic of you and Tane!