GOM, SAD and Solar

It’s no coincidence I called myself a grumpy old man [GOM] in June [1], and I wrote of seasonal affective disorder [2] in July [3] and August [4]. For here in Tasmania the three winter months – June, July and August – are cold, dark and wet. Though feeding hay’s mandatory as is chainsawing a wattle that felled a fence last week, farm chores in winter are no fun. So it’s the perfect time to light the woodheater and curl up with a book. Last week I read Solar [5], the newest novel by acclaimed English writer Ian McEwan (pictured) [6]. I couldn’t wait to read a book marrying McEwan’s undoubted writing skills with the theme of global warming/climate change. But, sadly, my disappointment matched my expectancy. My major gripe was that the main character, Nobel Prize winning scientist Michael Beard, wasn’t likeable. And neither were the lesser characters. Also McEwan’s writing quality’s uneven; and big text chunks are irrelevant to the storyline. It needed, but didn’t get, a good edit. I doubt it’d have been published if penned by an obscure writer. I’ve whinged about mediocre books by other fantastic writers – John le Carré and Philip Roth [7, 8]. Solar joins this list. Whether it’s the halo effect, or because these writers are so famous and powerful that no publisher dares edit their work, it’s the readers who suffer. Or was it only that I read Solar in winter when I’m a GOM due to SAD? Ho hum.

P.S. Today’s the winter solstice. So from tomorrow, daylight hours will be longer.

farmdoc's blog post number 612

I don’t know if the summer solstice was yesterday or the day before. But either way, the daylight hours have begun to shorten. Which always seems odd to me because summer’s hottest days are still ahead. As I wrote here, convention has it that summer’s designated by the calendar in the southern hemisphere (i.e. December, January, February) and astronomy in the northern hemisphere (21 June to 21 September, i.e. solstice to equinox). Be this as it may, each year the 12 days between Sweetheart Vivienne’s and my anniversary and the end of the year, is a calm and pleasant time here in Mole Creek and surrounding areas. No wind, long daylight hours ending in 9 p.m. gloaming, abundant grass for stock, patchworked fields studded with fresh round hay bales, work winding down for the year, Xmas decorations twinkling on houses and seen through front windows. This year, thanks to above average rainfall (1,180 mm so far) the Tasmania Fire Service hasn’t yet declared the fire permit season. (They usually declare it in October. I doubt it’s ever been declared this late in the year.) It’s a unique time when our tanks are full of water and our batteries full of electricity. It’s also a time when Sweetheart Vivienne and I like to reflect on our lives in the year that was, and agree on plans for the year ahead. I don’t want to put a hex on anything, but this year’s been a good one for my Sweetheart and me. I’m content, at peace with myself and, I think, healthy. I can’t vouch for the world or anyone else, but I’m okay.

farmdoc's blog post number 287

Today’s the first day of this summer’s last month. I’ve never understood why, but according to convention summer’s designated according to the calendar in the southern hemisphere (i.e. December, January, February) and astronomy in the northern hemisphere (21 June to 21 September, i.e. solstice to equinox). Sweetheart Vivienne frequently reminds me our summers are usually hottest after the new school year starts in late January or early February. Most years she’s spot on, but this year the hot weather arrived a week early. I can’t fathom why it’s not hottest around the summer solstice on 21 December, because that’s when the days are longest and the sun’s highest in the sky. But it isn’t. If our summer was designated to start on 21 December then high summer (i.e. mid summer) would be in February when it’s hottest according to Sweetheart Vivienne. Anyway I do hope this year’s February is not too hot, because next week our darling granddaughter Jarrah starts her career as a schoolgirl. Word is she has her school shoes (pictured) and uniform ready; she’s so excited her school shoes have hardly left her feet; and big sister Indigo’s been coaching her on the cans and can’ts of being a schoolgirl. How delicious and poignant this all is. This summer, as darling Jarrah begins this new stage of her life, my hopes and love go with her.