{life with a curious and crazy 13 yr old}
As D would tell it, our Solstice was cancelled and our celebrations ruined. She’s not one for silver linings yet. From a kid perspective, it was pretty terrible — all of her expected happenings and excitement deflated by means beyond her (or any of ours) control. I haven’t even finished her gift yet (some nice crocheted hand warmers I just haven’t had time to work on).
First, Solstice was shaping up to be thin as it was, we were worked to full capacity (T-day weekend was also Black Friday, Shop Local Saturday, and our one-year store Anniversary, AND the weekend before my dissertation defense, so…just a little bit of stress and overtime — thank you to our lovely neighbors for taking us in for T-day dinner and to my defense committee for being so generous), we were strapped for time and money. We had a great weekend full of celebration and store fun but we were exhausted (thank you to all the lovelies who came to our afterparty to listen to the baker play his guitar!). Somewhere in there J held some baking classes and we had a poetry book launch with the amazing Betty Thomas, and a lovely reading by local authors Gillian Burnes and Laurel Dodge.
To cobble together some kind of Solstice, J and I essentially wrapped random things from home and put them in our stocking (like we used to do when we were first together — ha!). Because of the heavy snow we were unable to find a decent tree in the back lot for Solstice and D was getting bummed (we certainly can’t afford to buy a tree), and all the events from the Events calendar were getting bumped due to time, money, and weather. We eventually strolled over to the derelict neighbor’s yard and gleaned a little white pine from her growing collection to which D promptly decorated and at least felt as if there was some festiveness happening.
And then the flood (see the after and after-after pics of the parking lot behind the store). 50-75mph winds, rain, snowmelt = flood. No power in the house for 4 days, no power in the store for 5 (no internet, no cell, no Solstice lights, no lights in the house except the front room but the systems like the fridge, freezer, and water pump/sump pump were on and the kitchen island — we live ok on the teapot/rice cooker/hot plate scenario for a bit, and now I hope we have enough wood to get through the season since we weren’t able to get any this year). We had a loss of business time (last week before the commercial holidays), much dough, and more sleep. The child had an ear infection all week and J needed emergency oral surgery on Solstice. I think the stress of keeping the generator going so that the sump-pump didn’t stop and the loss of business put him over the edge. Grammy sent a couple of presents so that held off the absolute meltdown for the kid (thank you Grammy & Poppi, she loves her new stereo and sweater!). So, we spent most of Solstice in the dentist’s office. The lights came on Solstice night — the little tree next to us as we huddled together on the couch lit up just in time. But no Solstice Take-Out, no Anniversary dinner, no Gardens Aglow, no Portland trip to buy gifts for each other (always a nice day spent together visiting old haunts and favorite spots), no country drive to see the decorations, no waffle breakfast at Hot Suppa, or full home spa day (though we did sneak in a little spa after some stocking presents), and I think I got the last Egg Nog on the shelf. The next day we spent in the 40degree and stinky (smelled like oil spill from other shop’s systems failing) store.
But marvelous folks came in, and other shops helped other shops (thank you to Goldfinch Creamery for the coffee, and Selene’s Fly Shop for the heater, and Costell & Costell Gallery for the heads up!) , and the Master Electrician assessed ours and many others’ needs, and the local farmer/senator came in to check in on us, and the mayor, code enforcement, and many many friends dropped by to make sure we were ok. And we were — all things considered, we were better off than many who remained without power long after us, lost a lot of stock, equipment, business time and employee care. Our hearts go out to them, and our help any way we can…
We came in on christmas eve and christmas to make sure folks had bread and food for their families (also making sure the bread members and shares had their breads for their families on Tuesdays — that’s how it works for us with a 24 hour fermentation cycle). The 24th is also our wedding anniversary so as we celebrated a bit with a nice bread board and some biodynamic prosecco from the determined and amazing Table Bar (sans power and heat), when our basement finally decided to fill with water and destroy a freezer full of food and the word is still out on the damage to the hot water heater (we managed to save some of the food by moving it to a defunct freezer in the garage, our spare from the pandemic). I think we finally got a little sleep last night.
We haven’t assessed the damage to the homestead yet — to be honest, I think we’re a little afraid. We know a couple of dear trees lost big branches and apples were uprooted, we can see from here that the massive pea trellis has collapsed and the swale has overflowed and washed out but we haven’t ventured further. We’re afraid the work will be too much to repair and all the systems we have put into place over the last 8 years will be gone. We will wait another week before we look, I think. We’ll just admire the stars at night, and the sun over the hill for now.
At some point D has to learn that 1) adaptability is key to survival, 2) we are all together and safe, and 3) we are all in it together so we have to step up and help each other — Winter Solstice is going to happen with or without us anyway and our celebration of it is our gift. One we celebrate in many ways and at many times.
May you be safe and sound at the end of this calendar year, and renewed for the next. The days getting longer is a positive thing, right? Happy Winter.
Rock Bottom Homestead 