Tesla's Calendar
Jan. 3rd, 2008 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teslaThe way that I frame up the year in my head doesn't align with the calendar I grew up with. The landmarks in my year are a strange combination of dates and events and feelings. It's been this way since I was 12 or 13, subtly evolving since that time.
The Calendar of Tesla
April 1 - A good day to celebrate the beginning of the year and be reminded of the fickle nature of reality (both the tricksters and the weather see to this).
Forsythia Blooms - The end of winter.
The Peak of Spring - I can't quantify what makes a particular day a part of the Peak of Spring, but it finds me wanting to spend as much time as I can outside and throw off my jacket even though it's really still too cold to warrant that kind of behavior. Also, spring fever. Distinguished from the first day of summer by the crisp smell and delicious chill in the air.
Midsummer - A season rather than a day. A time of relaxation and rejuvenation, sunshine and friends. All of the plants are in the ground and the hard work is over; now we merely tend them enough to allow them to thrive. Folk Festivals, major motorcycle races, and my birthday all happen around this time. (I still think that adults as well as kids should be released from our daily obligations during summer.)
Harvest - Vegetables ripen. Yummy.
Battening Down - Wherein I close all the storm windows, bring the plants inside, and remove things from the house (or from my life) that I don't want to live with over the long winter.
Winter Solstice - The darkest hour (which is not, contrary to the cliche, "just before dawn."). The beginning of the seriously cold, hard part of winter. Yes, the light is returning, but the effects of the long darkness on me are cumulative and will take another 1/4 revolution to abate.
Vernal Equinox - The end of the old year, a time of liberation from winter and a true "coming into light." The beginning of psychological preparations for the new year. Seedlings started indoors have graduated from their "sprout" status and can now be identified by their leaves.
The Calendar of Tesla
April 1 - A good day to celebrate the beginning of the year and be reminded of the fickle nature of reality (both the tricksters and the weather see to this).
Forsythia Blooms - The end of winter.
The Peak of Spring - I can't quantify what makes a particular day a part of the Peak of Spring, but it finds me wanting to spend as much time as I can outside and throw off my jacket even though it's really still too cold to warrant that kind of behavior. Also, spring fever. Distinguished from the first day of summer by the crisp smell and delicious chill in the air.
Midsummer - A season rather than a day. A time of relaxation and rejuvenation, sunshine and friends. All of the plants are in the ground and the hard work is over; now we merely tend them enough to allow them to thrive. Folk Festivals, major motorcycle races, and my birthday all happen around this time. (I still think that adults as well as kids should be released from our daily obligations during summer.)
Harvest - Vegetables ripen. Yummy.
Battening Down - Wherein I close all the storm windows, bring the plants inside, and remove things from the house (or from my life) that I don't want to live with over the long winter.
Winter Solstice - The darkest hour (which is not, contrary to the cliche, "just before dawn."). The beginning of the seriously cold, hard part of winter. Yes, the light is returning, but the effects of the long darkness on me are cumulative and will take another 1/4 revolution to abate.
Vernal Equinox - The end of the old year, a time of liberation from winter and a true "coming into light." The beginning of psychological preparations for the new year. Seedlings started indoors have graduated from their "sprout" status and can now be identified by their leaves.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-04 04:21 am (UTC)I have to agree with
Other dates would include both the Spring and Fall book sales, as I take the day off of work and make an event of it.
Instead of "battening down", I tend to do a Fall Cleaning, where I suddenly realize that I'll be trapped in my house for three months and I want it to be as nice as possible.
I agree with your interpretation of Winter Solstice. I was never able to "welcome the return of the light", because it never really seems to come back until mid-February anyway.
Also on my list would be the annual pilgrimages to Minicon and the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
Thanks for sharing this, it's really made me think.