The winter storm seems to have moved out at this point. This is one of those times I’m thankful to live in town rather than the country. Apparently the country roads are impassable. We’ve been under the highest level of travel warning for a day or so now.

Some pictures from the neighborhood today. Rachel and I have been listening to the Telepathy Tapes for most of the day. While we’ve been listening, I’ve been playing solitaire. Haven’t done that in years, especially with real cards.

I’ve gotten away from hiking over the past year—and I felt it today. It does me a lot of good in a lot of ways when I’m regularly in the woods. I’m going to get back to that.

One last fun bit about solstice: all the ash from the fires yesterday will be sprinkled onto the garden in the spring.

Closing out the day with a campfire, the flame of which traces back to the spark struck this morning. It’s been a full but unhurried day, my favorite kind. Plenty of time to reflect on the year and consider the one upcoming. Plenty to be grateful for.

Goat kebabs. No local farmer had ground goat available but one did have shoulder steaks. Me and a cleaver got it most of the way there and then a blender did the rest. Goat is associated with Yule, for reasons that aren’t very clear. We also have straw Yule goats we’ll be throwing onto the fire.

Dang, that chili was good. The recipe called for two pounds of ground beef, which felt excessive. We swapped one pound of ground beef for another pound of kidney beans. Perfect. Since we get our beef from a local farmer, it’s expensive—which in turn makes us a bit more sensitive to its overuse.

Chili is cooking over the coals. We went with chili because it’s easy to cook outside—which was more important to us than what we actually cooked. I used Kent Rollins’ recipe; Rachel has her own chili recipe but we went with this one because we’ve been enjoying Kent’s stuff lately.

First act of the solstice: light the Yule fire from flint and steel. I wanted to use that method because it is more bodily and patient than striking a match. This candle will be used to light all the other candles and the cooking fire today.

Rachel and I are establishing a new holiday season tradition: playing gin rummy every evening with Christmas movies on in the background. It’s been so fun!

I’ve been learning how to cook with and maintain cast iron lately. The learning has been mostly from the goofy and charming Cowboy Kent Rollins. The goal is to do some outdoor cooking, especially for our upcoming Yule meal. We’ll see how it goes!

Looks like I’ve been on micro.blog three years today. I was briefly on the service once or twice before that but I didn’t use the community aspect so it didn’t last. I’m glad I tried again because I’ve found some great friends and acquaintances here!

Got a flint and steel in the mail today and I’ve successfully made a small fire from it. The plan is to use it to make a Yule fire two weeks from today. I’ll practice a few more times. I recall an Episcopal priest’s repeated failures one Sunday and I’d like to avoid a similar episode.

We got all festive today! This morning we cut our Christmas tree and decorated it. This is our second year with a live tree and I think we’re officially converts. We also set up a Yule space (pictured is the Yule log centerpiece). We’ve been looking into some Yule traditions and developing a plan.

Watching the turmoil of my 78 year old mom has made me utterly certain that the doctrine of eternal, conscious torment in hell preached by fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity is cruel. I live and breathe religion and religious ideas, but that one is dangerous and wicked.

Going to the store on a Saturday with some small plumbing part in hand always makes me think of my dad. Of course, now I’m going to Lowe’s instead of the little hardware store in Oolitic but, still, a good memory. The smell and feel of those classic hardware stores was wonderful.

Came across this in my mom’s basement. I think everyone around here had this painting. Rachel’s family also had it and (when she was very young) she thought it was her deceased grandpa.

Halloween is easily the best night of the year in our neighborhood. It’s like living in an 80s movie. I got a counter to keep track of the number of kids that came through.

I am a Jack-o-lantern traditionalist: no stencils or fancy carving tools, just a pencil and a small knife. Here’s this year’s pumpkin.