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
The Kitchen's Garden 
83 responses to “The Northerly”
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 🙂