Coming Soon

 

It is Saturday morning and I might have already missed the opportunity of going out for an invigorating walk. 

January is the month of being contented in confinement. The month of gazing out of the window and not realising how much time has passed just by looking at the mystical dance of sleet, floating and whirling like dervishes. It is also the month of commission for the upcoming year. It is the time to take stock and make the most of what we have.

 

The daylight hours are very much in short supply. Would it be too much to dwell on the sins of omission from the previous year; what we would have done differently, our half-achieved goals and dreams, and the paths not taken in the beginning of the New Year? 

Maybe we should think ahead but only far enough to know that a new day will come and there are always things which can be rectified. Only by trial and error is any lesson learned. 

 

January is the month of stillness, reverie and cocooning or simply dreaming by the fire. We draw a circle of quiet for re-focusing and re-measuring hope to do better and to see things clearly. 

And yet, the elemental forces of nature can get in the way and they can be temperamental. They often come without warning. No two days are alike. There are good and bad days. But we can be consoled with the knowledge that after the days of howling gale force winds and stormy sea, there will be calm and serene days in the sun.

To sweeten a winter afternoon - Citrus, almond and vanilla yogurt cake - a homemade cake by Gordon, based on the recipe online 

“Ah, you flavour everything; you are the vanilla of society.” ~ Sydney Smith, Lady Holland’s Memoir (1855) ~ 

Duality is a part of life. Light and darkness, sunshine and shadow,  January has brought us a reminder of this duality like no other. Indeed, January is named after Janus, the Roman god portrayed with two faces – one facing the past and one facing the future. 

As the afternoon wanes, I look back and early childhood memories of summer lunches on the lawn, strawberry ice-cream served in crystal dessert bowls, sepia sketches done en plein air, remembered flowers and their fragrances are flooding back. 

Being an avid reader, my imagination travels to faraway places. And instead of looking ahead, I confess that I have been looking back.

“I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, while Britain burns, while the world end.” ~ Salman Rushdie on Italo Calvino ~ 

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” ~ Albert Camus ~ 

There is a line in Dostoevsky’s The Brother Karamazvo, one of the longest novels which I had to read at the university, that I remember:

 

“From the home of my childhood, I have brought nothing but precious memories, for there are no memories more precious than those of early childhood…Indeed, precious memories may remain even of a bad home, if only the heart knows how to find what is precious.” 

 

There are people who prefer to start their New Year with a clean slate. 

If you are someone like me who is always nervous of starting a blank canvas or a blank piece of paper, think of all your precious memories, all the beautiful paintings you have seen, all the poetry you have read and all the people you love and who love you. 

We shall carry them over to the New Year to shine a light on the new path we have to travel, to remind ourselves of all the good things (and forget the rest and the brokenness of our daily existence!) and to be sustained by the knowledge that our hearts will know what is precious. 

After all, things of quality have no fear of time.      

     

Happy New Year. 

May your precious memories sustain you and open your eyes to see the extraordinary gifts in the ordinary and the truth hidden in the small events of life. May all your dreams blossom and may you be open to the abundant opportunity for a little oasis of peace and joy that each new day may bring this year.