12.03.15  “I shall see the springs, the summers, and the autumns slowly pass; and when Old Winter puts his blank face to the glass, I shall close all my shutters, pull the curtains tight, and build me stately palaces by candlelight.”  –Charles Baudelaire

On the first day of December, I put my fairy window up in the kitchen pantry.  I can still watch the snow fall outside the top half of the double-hung window, but there is a “through the looking-glass” magic to look at the gray sky through wavy leaded glass, illuminated with fairy lights.  At dusk, when the white lights come on outside the nook window, I pull all the lace cafe curtains shut in the kitchen, turn on the mantle bough lights, and light the candles throughout the living room.  I find myself rushing home in the afternoons to get here in time to “close all my shutters.”

I guess I am seeking safety–from Old Man Winter, climate change, wars and pestilence, violence seemingly everywhere.  And, the knowledge that another year is coming to an end.  In December, mortality sometimes feels like a shadow coming down the hill behind my house.  This is why I listen, over and over again, to the honor concert video of Duncan and Anna singing “Shalom, shalom, may peace be with you my friend”.  And, I know that I must keep vigil for magic and fairies out there in the deepest dark.