Winter Solstice: In which we are home.
December 21, 2013 in Canada, North America, Travelogue
At 5:00 p.m. it is solidly dark on Wolfe Island.
At 5:00 a.m. it was also solidly dark. I was driving the long, straight stretch of highway 401, between Windsor and London, Ontario.
We didn’t intend to celebrate the Winter Solstice with a marathon drive through every form of precipitation, but in the end, we did; ending our circumnavigation by sliding (literally) into home base seconds ahead of bad weather and two days ahead of our original plans.
If you’re in North America, you’re aware of the great storms sweeping from the mountains, across the prairies and then circling the wagons around the Great Lakes to paint the shores in great, glistening sheets of ice. If your not, be thankful for the relative warmth and have a cup of sunshine for me.
We rolled out of Bloomington, Indiana in the kind of rain that Noah’s boys would have made note of, around 8:00 last evening, having thoroughly feted our beautiful goddaughter. Nothing says “Sweet 16” like balloons and flowers the colours of raspberry and orange sherbet, cotton candy tinted glitter, a punch fountain, three tiers of cupcakes and a DJ pumping out music that makes anyone over 26 wince just a little bit. It was a party worthy of our lovely girl. She was surprised, to say the least.
16 hours later we crunched through ice, over half an inch thick, picking our way, gingerly, into the big log house we cobbled together the summer I turned thirteen. She smiled as I turned the door handle. She has been waiting for me.
I won’t beleaguer the point, but suffice to say that it rained Bloomington to Detroit. There was heavy fog Detroit to Toronto. From Oshawa (just past Toronto) to the Wolfe, we crept along, about 40 km an hour counting slide offs and reminding the children what real snow plows look like.
Flags are frozen stiff to their poles. The fingertips of evergreens are completely encased in tombs of ice, like Han Solo stuck to the wall. The ice is so thick over the snow that the boys can walk on it. My Dad, rugged up in his Afghan herder’s hat, scarves, layers of jackets and leather gloves was found easing his way across the glare at the ferry dock, shopping bags slung over his arm, testing each foothold with the metal tip of the ox goad he uses as a winter walking stick. Apparently he was eager to see the kids.
Grammy is, as advertised: giggly, a little weepy, and exclaiming continually over the size increase in her babies. Fresh bread came out of the oven. Soup is on the stove. Tea was in the tea pot. A fire is lit. She has clearly been anticipating our arrival. For months.
Bluejays are picking at the big pottery feeder under the pergola and chickadees are nibbling gratefully at the suet block. Gabe and Gramps have been down to the river to check the ice. The boys are embroiled in a death match of the board game “Life.” Hannah and Tony are sleeping.
The sun has set. I have had my nap. The Christmas tree is lit. I have a cup of tea. All is well. Somehow, the shortest day of the year has felt like one of the longer ones, but the ends do seem to justify the means.
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Look how cozy!!!! So glad you all made it safely; I can only imagine how much love and fun is there to be enjoyed! Drink it up!! Love you guys!
Jen,
It sounds like a great Northern style adventure. Seems like the weather up there is continually creating new adventures to alleviate the boredom you would have without it. 🙂
Interesting looking log building style! And you helped build it? It looks like a pole building with short logs between the poles. How did you seal the seams between the logs?
Tim
Beautiful! And look how cozy!!!!! Your photos (even the icy ones) make me feel warm inside. 🙂
Merry Christmas to you all….looks sooo cozy…enjoy
Hi Tim! Yes, Northern style adventure indeed!!
The house… yes, my family built three log homes… the first the summer before I was born. The second when I was eight years old and this one the summer I turned 13. I peeled most of the logs with a draw knife, that was my first and most consistent job. Of course we did everything else too… I chipped out all of the holes for the electrical boxes to fit into… my brother, who was 11 at the time, did most of the running of the wires. We learned a lot. It’s not a pole building exactly. We have uprights at five foot intervals with four foot lengths of logs running between them. We used a spongy sort of weather stripping between the logs (laying that as fast as the guys could spike together the logs was my job too!) it expands and contracts with the changes in temperature, far nicer than the black tar caulking that we used on the other two houses. The second floor of the house is framed with cedar board and baton on the outside.
Thanks for asking!
Love that you are home for Christmas 😀
I hear you, Jen. Here in Quebec, we are stuck at home because of the freezing rain. Most people don’t have power and the trees in from of our house are breaking to the ground, piece by piece. There are blue electric flash of light when frozen trees touch power lines. The North is something! We tried to come back home last night after our solstice celebration with friends and had to turn around after less than 500 m because the roads where like a skating rink… Glad you are all together and safe! Merry Christmas!
Catherine… Oh WOW!! Where in Quebec are you? I know this storm is taking down a wide swath. Our trees are breaking too. More ice is falling tonight and I’m worried that we’re going to keep losing more… 🙁
Oh this brought a tear to my eye, and I don’t know quite why! That log house looks fabulous, I swear I saw an elf running around there. This post reminded me of a show I used to watch called Northern Exposure; I was immediately transported back to my 20’s, romancing about living in Alaska-your writing seems to have that affect on me Jen. So glad you got home safe and sound and wishing you all a joyful Christmas.x
That is soooo cool. Today people just buy the logs already peeled with flat tops and bottoms already cut with notches to lock them together… not the same thing at all! It is a beautiful cabin! What a wonderful thing to have had a part in building.