❄️ Commonplace memories; winter & snow
"In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago". Christina Rossetti.
I occasionally copy snippets of prose, poetry, quotations, facts, music and art in my commonplace book1, amongst my own writing. This is in the true spirit of a commonplace book, where you include other people’s work with your own thoughts, ideas & memories. By mingling them together, you may view your work, and / or their work, differently. It is best if you write by hand so you can include doodles and lines linking or underlining passages.
You can include quotations, excerpts and art that you enjoy when you write your family stories2. Using other people’s work can help if they say it better than you think you could, and also gives an insight into your taste in literature, music and art - another aspect of you and your family’s tastes and lifestyle.
I thought I would share some of my winter commonplace book entries with you.
"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness." John Steinbeck
I have just met up with a friend visiting from California, and it reminded me that I love living in a country that has four seasons, even though winters can be cold. I only seem to remember the good parts of my childhood in the Highlands of Scotland. We lived in a house where the cooking range, and living room fireplace, were the only sources of heat. Why don’t I remember anything of the freezing bathroom?
Though I do remember ice on the inside of the bedroom windows, and my grandmother’s false teeth (that she soaked in a glass of water at night) once being frozen solid in the morning. I had an excellent technique for getting undressed & dressed under the bedclothes - which had an electric blanket. Tip: dump your day clothes on the floor by the bed, then pull them into the bed to warm them up before you get dressed.
I remember we had a big painting over the fireplace. There used to be a mirror, but men in kilts standing too close to the fireplace to adjust adjust their tie before church, became an issue. There was one picture of deer in winter and another of deer in summer. It was a big event when it was declared that the season had changed, and we could swap the pictures. My favourite picture was the deer in winter. The pictures are long gone but my uncle told me that what I thought were ‘paintings’ were very good prints of paintings by Rosa Bonheur.
I love this poem that epitomises the light and warmth inside the house, with the deep darkness of the Scottish countryside outside. I loved being inside on a dark, cold, winter night, when the curtains were closed, and the glowing firelight on the pine panelling.
The Fallow Deer at the Lonely House by Thomas Hardy
One without looks in to-night Through the curtain-chink From the sheet of glistening white; One without looks in to-night As we sit and think By the fender-brink. We do not discern those eyes Watching in the snow; Lit by lamps of rosy dyes We do not discern those eyes Wondering, aglow, Four footed, tiptoe.
By the time my daughter visited my family home they had installed central heating. Though the bathroom did not seem much warmer. It may have been because the bath water came from a spring from the hill behind the house, and the cold water was very, very cold. One year there was a lot of snow, which my daughter loved.
"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again’." Lewis Carroll
In London where we now live, snow rarely falls or accumulates enough to go sledging. The last time it snowed, our daughter was without a sledge. I bought one as soon as I could, which was after the snow had melted. Of course, in the 10 years since, London has not had a further significant fall of snow.
"In the falling quiet there was no sky or earth, only snow lifting in the wind, frosting the window glass, chilling the rooms, deadening and hushing the city." Truman Capote, American Fantastic Tales
Snow was a big problem in my childhood. Though snow looks lovely, snow is hard work when you have to live and travel surrounded by the stuff. Snow can block roads and the weight can pull down trees and damage houses. Ice and snow on roads can be lethal. It takes a significant effort to get rid of snow, so I was amazed to find that 10 inches of snow, when melted, will result in only 1 inch of water3.
Scots have many terms related to snow. There is ‘snaw’ (snow) of course, but I particularly like the difference between ‘flindrikin’ (a slight snow shower) and ‘snaw-pouther’ (fine driving snow). 50 words for Snow by Nancy Campbell is a delightful book about snow in cultures around the world.
I found a very old snowman!
Which reminds me of The Snowman movie4 (he also burnt his bum). We watch it every Christmas, it is like taking a calming, deep breath before the festivities, as we visit an old friend and enjoy the story, the images and the music. A sadder tale of a snowman is told by Hans Christian Andersen.
I also found out that Michelangelo made a snowman! It was when Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici was Lord of Florence. Apparently, he was called Piero the Unfortunate because he had a lot of bad luck, mostly due to everyone else being more competent and intelligent than he was. But in 1494 Piero commissioned Michelangelo to build him a snowman (or woman). In 1568 Giorgio Vasari published his ‘Lives of the Artists of the Italian Renaissance’, which included this quote: “one winter, when a great deal of snow fell in Florence, he [Piero] had him [Michelangelo] make in his courtyard a statue of snow, which was very beautiful”.
“It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.” Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales.
Apparently, we don’t all make the same kind of snowman. This is my wee drawing of the difference between the snowmen in the USA and the UK.
This extract epitomises what follows in the story The Glamour of Snow. “The little village already slept. The world lay smothered in snow. The châlet roofs shone white beneath the moon, and pitch-black shadows gathered against the walls of the church. His eye rested a moment on the square stone tower with its frosted cross that pointed to the sky: then travelled with a leap of many thousand feet to the enormous mountains that brushed the brilliant stars. Like a forest rose the huge peaks above the slumbering village, measuring the night and heavens. They beckoned him. And something born of the snowy desolation, born of the midnight and the silent grandeur, born of the great listening hollows of the night, something that lay 'twixt terror and wonder, dropped from the vast wintry spaces down into his heart—and called him. Very softly, unrecorded in any word or thought his brain could compass, it laid its spell upon him. Fingers of snow brushed the surface of his heart. The power and quiet majesty of the winter's night appalled him....”5
"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is time for home." Edith Sitwell
I hope you can enjoy some restful times this winter, interspersed with cold, brisk walks, with the low sun giving a cheerful aspect to the countryside. After such a heroic effort, I reward myself by sitting by the fire with a cuppa, a book and a large slice of fruit cake. This is Delia Smith’s recipe.
If you would like to listen to the hymn ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, click here.
What are your winter memories and favourite winter prose, poetry, art, music, films, facts … ?
I will be on holiday next week, so I will not publish another Motley Story until December 30th. Thank you so much for reading and writing comments throughout the year, and very best wishes for a happy, fun, festive season.
Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are similar to scrapbooks filled with items of many kinds: essays (often with the compiler's responses), notes, proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, prayers, legal formulas, and recipes. Definition from Wikipedia.
Of course, you must check and abide by copyright laws. But if you are including a small amount of another person’s work in your private papers, then you should be okay. Always attribute the work and make it clear when you are quoting or showing another person’s work. Re-examine your work for copyright issues if you decide to publish.
The amount of water in a quantity of snow depends on several factors, including wind, temperature, and how wet & dense the snow is.
This link is to an extract of The Snowman. If you have not seen it, please buy / stream it because it has beautiful, hand drawn animation with a lovely story. The film was produced using traditional animation techniques consisting of pastels, crayons and other colouring tools, drawn on pieces of celluloid which were traced over hand drawn frames.
From the short story by Algernon Blackwood, called The Glamour of Snow. A ghostly story of a young man who is staying in an alpine village so he can have peace & quiet to write his book, and enjoy winter sports. But a mysterious woman beguiles him. You can read the story for free in Project Gutenberg.
That time when my husband and I were living in Paris and it snowed at Christmas and we just sat outside on a bench together near the Pont des Arts breathing in the scent of snow... nothing more beautiful than to be in love at that moment.
Funny about the sledge (what we call a toboggan). My husband grew up very poor in the Bronx and would tell you that a flattened cardboard box is really the superior ride, at least for older children, and, for foolhardy teens, a plastic trash bag. I loved learning about the cultural distinctions among snowmen.