The twelfth, last day of season’s greetings has arrived. I hope you’ve enjoyed these postings, and that today will be exactly how you want it to be!
Cape Cod Hygge, Part 2
I’ve read some great books lately. Have you? Please share! Here are my own idiosyncratic recommendations:
The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen – This won the Pulitzer for fiction, and although it’s sometimes hard to follow who’s doing what where, I found the milieu (post fall of Saigon) fascinating, and the uncertainty about levels of deception suspenseful. The writing was superlative. Not an easy read, but a rewarding one.
The House By the Lake, by Thomas Harding – A true account of a cottage on a lake about an hour from Berlin, from the 1920’s when the author’s great-grandparents built it, through 2014, when it was restored and placed on the Register of Historic Places. A microcosm of the history of Berlin during these years, the book brought to life all the changes during these decades in a very personal and compelling way, including the bike and running path in front of the house that used to be where the Berlin Wall was.
The Mothers, by Britt Bennett – This is for when you just want to speed read and not think too much. I thought this book was like a more current Jodi Picoult novel – lots of emotion, but with black characters and “the mothers”, the churchwomen who were like a Greek chorus to the events. A fun read! [Read more…]
Cape Cod Hygge, Part 1
“Hygge” is the newest cool experience, according to Pinterest, the Washington Post, and just about every other site I’ve been reading. If you haven’t run across it yet, it’s a Danish word meaning coziness, more or less. (It’s pronounced “HOO-gah”.)
Apparently, the word is used constantly in Denmark, which has about 8 months a year of weather that calls for a lot of hygge. Practiced properly, it encompasses your space, your people, and your intention. “A conducive environment is key to experiencing hygge,” says Danish ambassador Lars Gert Lose.
Yesterday was a good day to create hygge. I had both Jotul stoves going, all the lights on in the house, and a soup simmering on the stove. These began as an effort to at least start off warm and with something hot to eat when the power would go off, which was a highly likely possibility given the howling wind and thunder snow.
Ode to a Cranberry Harvest
I don’t know what stage of harvest these bogs are in, but they’re clearly active. Here are some pictures I took of the bogs that abut Brookside, Tuesday, Nov. 1. The late afternoon sun made them glow like a 19th century pastoral!
Brookside Golfers
The golfers have been out in full swing (sorry, couldn’t resist) all spring and summer, the ladies on Monday and Thursday, and the guys too.
When I hear about how much they all enjoy golfing together, and socializing after, I do sometimes think that THIS is the year I really should take up golf. But I think this is just going to have to remain a vicarious pleasure for now, at least until I retire (if I retire!).