The sun is slowly coming around again. Happy New Year!
Our neighbors had two white horses set out on their own today. No halters, but not afraid, they sauntered up our farm road. We were able to point out their direction and they were safely retrieved.
Our use of lights from candles, bonfires, and holiday strings are rooted in the chasing of the darkness in the depths of the longest night at Solstice. Many of us are loathe to take down our winter festival lights until we see visible signs of lengthening days.
It seems inappropriate to post beautiful photos of Galeries Lafayette in Paris, but it is so wonderful.
Christmas is similar to what we had in the US and different.
This is the time of year when France goes into a deep slumber. This time of long sleep is punctuated by Fêtes such as Noël, Epiphany (coming of the Three Wise Men on January sixth), and lately Valentines' Day.)
But long-cooked meals and intimate gatherings are also looked forward to in these long nights.
We might get snow this weekend. The season of heating is upon us. There are many woodstove-heated homes in France including in Paris.
When we first arrived in the rural center of France, we were so surprised to see the intense night skies. The stars are brilliant, and the constellations are easy to pick out.
There are some reasons for this. One is that not just in France but rural areas of Europe have been emptying of people, so even less density of population and night lighting.
In rural Pacific Northwest, we knew a lot of hunters. Some went to Central Oregon. Others went to the coast. Most ate the animals, usually Deer or Elk, they shot.
In rural France hunting is around us many times of the year. The historical tie to proud shared ownership of forests, woodlands and pastures is the freeing of hunting lands for use not by the titled but use by everyone. The hunting traditions live to this day.
Since our pompe à chaleur (heat pump) died, we've been hard up for heat. It was an air to water heater for underfloor radiant for the ground floor and for radiators upstairs. Really nice heat.
