Winter Solstice 2025

 

untitled

4x6" monoprint/collage November 2025

Ruth Ann Howden

I wasn't going to mention ailments in this blog post. But that's what most of this year has been, one medical drama after another. Those stories are not worth repeating but this is what I learned since my major fall on January 2, 2025: Friends and family were there to pull me through, then it was up to me to do the work to get body and spirit back in shape. I would not have made it without all their support, each and everyone. From neighbors who cheered me on and told me I was looking better to my sister who came, helped me escape the nursing home and cared for me. And all the wonderful friends in between. I am indeed deeply grateful.

Surrounded by sea 

and sky here content until

a gentile goodbye 

Now I wish to send to you hopeful greetings of the season – and a happy winter solstice, wishing for you friends and family, and days of light. We can only get through this life together. Plus I'm sending a special thank you to those of you who said you missed getting my blog. I like doing it and hope it keeps us connected.

Hope, feeling hopeful, hope is hard to hold onto. You cannot shop for it, hoard it, or lock it away somewhere. However, hope is the tune I wish to dance to. Hope is not static, you have to move with it.  And the more people on the dance floor the better!

Here is part of a letter written by E. B. White 1899.1985:

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out. 

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day. 

Sincerely, 

E. B. White

And here is the end of Rebecca Solnit's Credo November 5, 2024

"… take care of yourself and remember taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed."

a couple more quotes from books I've recently read:

Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark 1981, 

"I remember how the doings of my day appeared again before me, rich with an explicable life. I fell asleep with a strange sense of sadness and promise meeting and holding hands."

"When people say that nothing happens in their lives I believe them. But you must understand that everything happens to an artist; Time is always redeemed, nothing is lost and wonders never cease."

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whittaker 2024: 

"do something meaningful. Or maybe just mean everything you do."

Lamenting 2025: my fallow way in a haiku

No-can dance, sing, paint 

no-can get along alone, 

energy . . . no-can

Well things have gotten much better. I'm re-committed to blogging quarterly and I've joined an artist printmaking studio. I'm taking care of myself and hope you are taking good care of yourself too!

a hui hou, ra

In memory of Drake Wells 

June 7, 1941 – September 10, 2025

Drake's gait was unique 

in syncopation with his 

amazing swift mind