Dec. 13, 2023: Apricity

Apricity: the warmth of the sun in winter

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

“These humicubations, the nocturnal irrorations, and the dankishness of the atmosphere, generated by a want of apricity, were extremely febrifacient.”

Lorenzo Altisonant (aka Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour), Letters to Squire Pedant, 1856

“The domination of Nature leads to domination of human beings.”

Abbey, E. (1984). Beyond the Wall: Essays from Outside. Holt Paperbacks.

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell”

Abbey, E. (1979). The Blob Comes to Arizona. New York Times, May 16, 1979.

I still love winter, although I’m not as fond of the shoulder seasons, the constant shift from mud to frozen and back, until it finally stays cold enough to keep the ground hard. Then I’m happy. What I love about it is the relief from summer heat, which I do not enjoy, and the joy of apricity when sitting on the south side of the house in a T-shirt, and it’s only 20 degrees on the north side. I love the quiet, the animal tracks (and animals) that emerge once hunters disappear, and the shadows that hide in the snow. Sure, I get tired of endless layers of clothing going on and off and on again. But not that tired, and not until February, when we will start a long vacation south. That’s another thing to love about winter: the opportunity to get away from it and enjoy a warmer clime.

Once again, serendipity has struck here at 4 Fords. After our greywater drain system clogged last month some 70′ from the house, no “snake” could go further, and no clean-out was there to access it. Alan and I got a backhoe operator to come, only to have him sadly get ill. After a few weeks, as the ground froze, we gave up on getting the darn clog fixed until spring. Alan set up a workaround, using a sump pump that could drain the 70′ of pipe regularly, allowing us to continue to take showers and wash dishes. For several nights, we half-heartedly poured some natural drain cleaner down it (made from earthworms), but didn’t expect much. Lo and behold, after the 5th day, and more than a month into the mess, the drain is free and clear. All hail the Earthworms! Let the holiday season begin!

I am finishing up a challenging semester of teaching Mental Health. I love the students, it’s the rest I can’t stand. I plan to continue to teach at least until we’re done with all the big renovations, or until they fire me. I’m not the easiest professor for the administration to manage in the Colorado Community College System. I especially enjoy teaching inmates from the Colorado Dept. of Corrections. They rock.

We continue to take mini steps forward on projects around the place. Alan, having finished his workshop, is enclosing the utility closet, the one with the giant filters. It will soon be hidden from view. I am doing the same in the bathroom, building a cupboard and a small shelf. Since our house defies the laws of Feng-Shui (by having the front and back doors opposite each other), I’ve hung some Chinese Emperor coins over the doors to keep the money from flying out as fast as it comes in. I’m sure that will be a huge help during a large renovation.

We’ve also been having fun with art projects, something that has been sadly neglected these past 2 years. Alan created some wonderful Christmas cards, based on our favorite ornaments, and I’ve been playing with something called Neurographics, a strange, but quite interesting look at where art and neurology blend. We both hope that 2024 will bring more and more art.

I have just finished one of the best books I’ve read in a long while. I often get bogged down in non-fiction books: everything the author wants to say gets said in the first chapter; the rest is just fluff. But “Wrenched from the Land: Activists Inspired by Edward Abbey“, by ML Lincoln (2020), is an engaging series of interviews done with people strongly influenced by Abbey into environmental activism. Most were good friends of his. The interviewer keeps his own voice out of it and lets these uncompromising characters (and they ARE all characters) speak for themselves. From Paul Watson of Sea Shepherds (anti-whaling organization) to Shonto Begay (Navajo artist extraordinaire) to Terry Tempest Williams, each one speaks of how Abbey energized them to become who they are today. A wonderful, encouraging book.

As the winter solstice approaches, we give thanks to the returning of light, to the return of moisture, to a good Solstice fire as we watch the sun sink over the cliff on December 21st, and, finally, to the chance to relax and “den up” a bit in the coming winter. (Well, after the holidays, anyway 🎄.)