it's no march, but it's a start

[ontology]

SARAH SLEAN RELEASING NEW ALBUM IN MARCH ASGLHKGH. This is, in a word, brilliant.

* * *

We went to get our Christmas tree yesterday. There's a tree farm about twenty minutes out; very lovely place -- apparently they don't get a great lot of business, so far as we can tell. Maybe they do it as a side thing. Anyway, you drive up, pick out a tree, cut it down, and take it home yourself, or you can pick one out and tag it and bring it home later. They're very inexpensive, and cutting down one's own tree is much splendider and more romantic than buying it from the Wal-Mart gardening centre, which is what we used to do. Dad and the siblings and I (minus Leandra) tramped round through bracken and long grass and, occasionally, thorns, in search of the perfect Christmas tree, which took a bit of time to find. It was so dry this summer that many of the trees are very brown, especially inside: we'd come across one that looked fantastic, pull apart the branches and take a look inside, and it'd be dry to the core. It was all very picturesque, though, and I wish I'd thought to bring my camera. (I seem to remember also thinking this two years ago, when we all went, and it was snowing.) Winter light has such an odd, thin, pale quality to it, and as we were driving home, the sun was setting through the pines.

Well, we've been wrestling with the tree stand all day and have come to the conclusion that there's nothing for it but to get a better one, cos our trunk is small and the tree keeps falling over and we do not want to tie it to the ceiling this year. Alas, the Christmas tree falling over at least once has become sort of a tradition hereabouts, it seems. If we get everything set, we ought to be decorating it tomorrow night. (We never decorate a tree until after dark. It spoils the magic. I love plugging in the string of fairy lights and holding the great length of them, like a line of multi-coloured fireflies, and winding them round the tree. Although then it gets very prickly and sort of deters from the romance of things.)

Also, at some point I need to talk about the spooky Victorian-esque awesome which is PJ Harvey's White Chalk. But I ought to give it a good, deep listen first. In a room with the lights out.

Comments

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Eeee. Sarah Slean took me a while to warm up to, for some reason, but I'm kind of in love with her by now, and...way too many of her songs are now wanting to get on my Thieves' Honor playlist. >_<

Heh, I've always had a fake tree. It's not as romantic, but at least we've never had it fall over...

Also, at some point I need to talk about the spooky Victorian-esque awesome which is PJ Harvey's White Chalk.

*shifty eyes* I can has?

[airys1.livejournal.com]

Oo there's something about real Christmas trees...the smell alone is worth it. They do create a mess, but they make up for it with everything else.

I only remember going looking for a tree once a very long time ago. I was very small...I just remember a sled and lots of layers :)

[midenianscholar.livejournal.com]

We used to do that in FL. It was one of the traditions I missed the most when we moved. Plus my little brother is allergic. In DC we had a separate school room, so we got a real tree for it, and that was splendid.

[burningstarsxe.livejournal.com]

Your tree descriptions sound eerily like my own experiences. :P For the past two years our tree has fallen down at least twice, so we have tied it to the wall. This year, we have bought a new tree stand, so hopefully it shan't topple over. Just to play it safe, however, we're just going to put the tree and lights up to begin with. Then wait a few days before we actually decorate it, so if (when) it does fall, we don't lose any ornaments to the hard wood floor.

[wanderlight.livejournal.com]

PJ Harvey's White Chalk was one of the loveliest things that happened this year, was it not? One evening before it got too too cold, during a full moon, I went outside on a walk and listened to the whole thing straight through. It was like magic

♥!