Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 17: Recipes - Warming Winter Drinks

 

It's an unremittingly grey and stormy day. Wind blusters and buffets the house, and constant rain blurs the valley, creeping through every opening and trickling down my collar. Brrr! This is the perfect excuse - if one were needed - to snuggle by the fire with a nice mug of spiced apple juice. Spiced apple juice is the simplest of recipes, quick to prepare yet warming and soothing. Or if that doesn't appeal, why not try one of my other suggestions?

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 17

Warming Winter Drinks

A hot drink on a cold winter's day warms the body, soothes a dry or sore throat and puts a smile back on your face. Here are a few suggestions to thaw you out. 

• Hot Spiced Apple Juice: Add a generous pinch of ground cinnamon, a few cloves and a cardamom pod to a mug of apple juice. Heat in a saucepan or the microwave to just below boiling point. Strain out the spices and enjoy! You can also experiment with adding other fruit juices to the mix - pear, blackcurrant, plum or a spoonful of elderberry syrup are all tasty additions.
• Golden Milk: You can use cows milk or vegan substitute - I find oat milk works well. There are lots of recipes out there on the internet, but this is how I make it. To a mug of milk, add 1tsp turmeric, ½tsp ground ginger, ½tsp ground cinnamon, pinch of black pepper, pinch of cardamom. Heat the milk to just below boiling point. Strain out the spices and stir in honey to taste. This is supposed to be good as an anti-inflammatory. I'm not sure if it helps my arthritis or not, but it tastes so good, who cares?
• Flavoured Hot Milk: I find a mug of hot milk before bedtime really does help with a restful night's sleep, and it means I get into bed feeling nice and toasty! You can use dairy milk or a vegan substitute, and if you want to add flavour and sweetness, put in a splash of one of the syrups you can buy to flavour coffee. My favourites are either vanilla or hazelnut syrup, but there are many different ones to choose from, including cinnamon, caramel, gingerbread, amaretto, pumpkin spice or strawberry.
• Hot Blackcurrant: Simply make up blackcurrant cordial with hot water instead of cold. Serve it in a mug. Hot blackcurrant cordial is wonderfully comforting when you have a cold.

Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 16: Stargazing

 

“I will love the light for it shows me the way;

yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.“

- Augustine “Og” Mandino

The long, dark nights of winter are a wonderful opportunity for stargazing. The earlier it gets dark, the earlier you can be out there - bundled against the cold, eyes turned heavenward, enjoying the ever-changing patterns of the night sky. With a little study you can learn to distinguish between stars, planets, meteors and passing satellites. There are constellations to identify, meteor showers to watch for and sometimes other astronomical phenomena to spot such as the milky way or comets. 

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 16

Stargazing

The best nights to stargaze are those with little or no cloud-cover - although these will also be the coldest, so wrap up warm and maybe take a flask of hot tea or coffee with you! The skies will be darkest on the nights when there is little or no moon - those around the new moon are ideal. The November new moon fell on Monday 15th November, so the next few days are a great time if the skies are clear. The next new moon will be on December 14th. Try to do your stargazing as far away from light pollution as you can - though of course this will be dictated to a certain extent by where you live. The further you are able to get away from built up areas, the better. 

There are several meteor showers during winter - over the next few weeks, look out for the following:

• The Taurids, which are split into two segments - the South Taurids which are visible now and will continue until November 25th and the North Taurids, which will continue from now until December 2nd.
• The Leonids which are visible between November 15th–20th. 
• The Geminids, visible between 14th-17th December.
• The Ursids, which you can see between 17th-25th December.
• The Quadrantids, between 1st-5th January.

You are most likely to spot meteors after midnight, but if you can't stay up that late there are plenty of constellations to enjoy, and planets such as Mars, Saturn and Jupiter to look out for. There's plenty of information on where and what to look for in the skies where you are on sites like this one. 

If the weather is cloudy, you can make the most of your time by studying up on the constellations so that you are well-prepared for the next clear night. You could also branch off and read up on the myths attached to the constellations, or teach yourself about the moon and its phases.

And if you do happen to see a meteor - don't forget it's a shooting star, so make a wish!

Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 15: Turn It Around

'Winter Blessings and Beauties' is now on day 15! I can't believe I've been disciplined enough to manage to post every day so far - I hope to be able to continue all the way through to Imbolc. An interesting side-benefit for me is that I have been engaging far more mindfully with Winter than I normally do, and I'm feeling quite positively towards the season as a result. How is the experiment working for you up to now? 

It's not that I expect to be full of the joys of Winter from beginning to end - I really dislike the kind of fake positivity that would require. But I am hoping to be more aware and appreciative of the positive aspects of the season, and so far that seems to be the case.

But if appreciating Winter still feels like a bit of an uphill struggle how about this - give a bit of thought to the things which seeing as it's winter, you don't have to worry about. Things like... wasps. Sunburn. Mosquito bites. Hay-fever. Mowing the lawn. You get the picture! Once you start making a list it's quite surprising how many burdens are lifted by the presence of Winter.

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 15

Turn it Around

Instead of pining for the things you miss about the summer, try making a list of the things you don't miss at all! What made you uncomfortable? What was inconvenient or difficult? What extra expenses were incurred? What extra chores were necessary? Think about how grateful you are for not having to waste any time or energy on any of these things during Winter! 

 

Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 14: Winter Fun for Children and Your Inner Child

The trees have mostly lost their leaves to the recent winter storms, and I find the drifts of them irresistible to sift through. I search for choice beautiful specimens to bring home, like a child picking up shells on a beach. Today I was inspired by the different shapes to make some leaf rubbings, something I haven't done since my schooldays. Early winter is a good time to take leaf rubbings as there are plenty of fallen leaves to choose from, yet they are still fresh and pliable - later in the season they can become too dry, crumbly and fragile to use for leaf rubbings.  

If you would like to make your own leaf rubbings, choose freshly fallen leaves (or even pick some green ones from plants or wildflowers - I managed to get a good result from some Japanese anemone leaves from the garden). The best leaves to use are not too soft, with a clear shape and some prominent veins for texture (tip: often the veins stand out best on the back of the leaf rather than the front). Wax crayons work best, but you could also use coloured pencils, charcoal, or soft graphite pencils. Put the leaf on a hard, level surface such as a table top or a tray. Put a sheet of paper over the top, and then rub the crayon or pencil over the paper to reveal the shape and details of the leaf beneath - experiment to find the level of pressure that works best. Let your inner child have fun! Later you could cut out the leaf shapes and use them to decorate your home.

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 14

Winter Fun for Children and Your Inner Child

Remember all the fun things you used to do as a child during the winter? Share them with your children - or re-introduce them to your inner child! Have fun!

• Take leaf or bark rubbings
• Make a big pile of autumn leaves - and jump in it! Use the leaves to build forts, or labyrinths.
• Play Poohsticks
• If you're lucky enough to have snow - enjoy it! Make a snowman, have a snowball fight, make snow angels, write your name in the snow, make snowcastles (like sandcastles), catch a snowflake on your tongue, stand outside in falling snow and try to catch snowflakes on a dark-coloured background so you can see their six-sided crystal structure
• Put on your wellies - and jump in every puddle you see!
• Toast marshmallows round a fire
• Go tobogganing or ice skating

Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 13: Bringing the Winter Garden Indoors

Wandering in the garden today, I noticed the beauty of the crocosmia seedpods. When they first form they are green, gradually turning to a bright orange which then fades to brown as the weather grows colder. At this stage of the winter some still glow orange, while others are ageing to russet and bronze. I decided to pick some for a winter bouquet, then - my curiosity piqued - I decided to see what else remained in the garden for me to add. Amazingly, even at this time of the year I had quite a lot to choose from!

First I added some sprays of ivy, complete with their winter berries (I made sure to leave plenty for the birds). Then I added a lot of oregano seedheads, which although a dark brown colour worked well as a 'filler' much as gypsophila might in a summer bouquet. There were a few bunches of tansy flowers which hadn't quite gone over yet and their cheerful yellow buttons added a splash of colour. I put in a few of the skeletal dried seedheads of umbellifers including ground elder and fennel. The final finishing touches were the crimson twigs of a dogwood shrub which added more colour. The final result is a rather unruly and cheerful tangle of a floral arrangement, but I love its warm, rich colours and think it looks rather special and very seasonal accompanied by a few apples and squashes. 

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 13

Bringing the Winter Garden Indoors

Take a walk in your garden, the countryside or a park. See what you can find to make a winter posy or natural display for your home. Look for:

• Colourful seedpods and berries 
• Unusual coloured or shaped twigs
• Pretty leaves
• Winter flowers
• Sculpturally skeletal seedheads 

Bring your treasures home and arrange them in a container or on a flat surface, somewhere you can see and enjoy their beauty.  

Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 12: The Magic of Darkness

While writing this series of posts I find myself returning again and again to the question of just why we are so down on winter? I do think it has something to do with the dominance of dark over light during this part of the yearly cycle. I suppose it's sensible for a species with poor night vision to be wary of the dark - which could be concealing all kinds of hidden dangers. But the dark doesn't contain only danger - it contains enchantment and beauty too. I love this poem which celebrates the power and magic of darkness:

Alchemy

We are in a state of continual transformation: fresh atoms are continually being reincorporated in us, while others that we received beforehand escape from us.

('De l'Infinito', Giordano Bruno)

Wonderful, what will come out of darkness:

stars, owl voices, sleep;

water, green shoots, bird's eggs

with their own curved darkness;

gemstones; a whole and perfect child

from my unseen recesses; delight

from behind shut lids, finding each other,

fingers and tongues made delicate by night.

Great magic's performed after sunset.

Old alchemists conjuring angels,

witches dancing spirals under the moon;

drum-shamans, their spirit journeys;

three nights in a tomb

Staging a resurrection. Transformations

taking place out of ordinary sight.

Daylight gives us boundaries, fixes

everything. The world separates

into colours and chemicals, figures

and faces. Surfaces appear solid

reliable, unconfused. We can see

to operate complex machinery.

Only darkness permits mixing

of elements, stirring of essences

in secret, combing dark and bright

into new patterns while we sleep; so dawn

finds us transformed, shifted.

Star-particles link us with trees

dolphins and stones, travel through us

creating the universe. Base matter

becomes gold: in the Cauldron

of Annwyn, in the crucible of mind

we're all magicians. The Hidden Stone,

Elixir of Life, eludes us; we've lost

the art of working through touch

with invisible forces: but as darkness

rises, and we grope wildly, perhaps

out of chaos the magic will come right.

- Hilary Llewellyn Williams

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 12

The Magic of Darkness

What magic do you find in darkness? When you can't see clearly, what beauties are revealed to your other senses? What possibilities and transformations arise? Consider how darkness complements light, the balance and interplay between the two, how shadows add depth and contrast. Try writing your own poem praising the dark.

    

 

Winter Blessings and Beauties, Day 11: Look Up!

The world seems to turn in on itself during winter. The green world withdraws its energy and becomes mostly dormant, animals hibernate and the short hours of daylight and cold weather can make staying at home seem like the best option for humans. 

Yet conversely, the skies above us seem to expand their horizons without the obscuring foliage of trees. The sun, lower in the sky, casts long, beautiful rays to caress the land. And as days shorten, both dawn and sunset become more accessible. Instead of hunching against the elements, look up! The winter skies are beautiful, and often far more changeable and colourful than the anodyne blue skies of summer. Within an hour you may see blue change to dove grey, to charcoal, to mother-of-pearl, to peach, to scarlet. There are a multitude of cloud shapes and sizes and textures. There are rainbows and storm clouds and bright, clear sunlight. Make the most of this endlessly changing beauty while you can. The best bit? You can even enjoy it through a window, from the comfort of home! 

Winter Blessings and Beauties: Day 11

Look Up!

Remember to look up periodically during the day to enjoy the ever-changing big skies of winter. Snap photos of the beauty you see. Write poems inspired by the interplay of dark and light, sun and rain. Read the symbols you see in the skies. Try manipulating clouds with your mind. Be dazzled by swirling murmurations of starlings, rooks, jackdaws or even pigeons. Learn the names of star constellations. Watch the night skies for meteors. Follow the phases of the moon.