Certain slant of light

More than a hundred years ago, Emily Dickinson wrote a poem about winter's light, a certain slant of light. This is just the first stanza:

There's a certain Slant of Light,
Winter Afternoons -
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes - (ED, 1890)

Emily used a lot of dashes and capitals to emphasize certain words, and she created a mood that speaks very directly to me from across the years. I notice, although we still have a month before we actually reach true winter afternoons, the length of the shadows. The picture above was taken last Saturday while wandering around the Farmers' Market. A rhubarb leaf imprint was used to make this cement sculpture bird bath (or whatever one wants to use it for), filled above with seasonal gourds. Each one is unique. Linda at Back Lane Gardens holds classes on how to make these.

The much reduced market is still going on in our part of the country and will continue until December 19, the last Saturday before Christmas, and will then reopen in the spring. What's left of the bustling market that covered the entire parking lot has now moved inside, where the rain and the cold are much less bothersome.

The soap that Linda makes and sells here at the market is wonderful, and she hopes that people will consider these gifts for their friends -- or for themselves. I bought a bar of "gardener's soap" which has the "scrubbing qualities of the coffee grounds to help remove stains and odors." She has also added a hint of orange. I also noticed the way people wear their neck scarves, and this wrap (above) seems the most common (around the neck and then hanging down each side). This means I need to make my scarf about the length of my body (over five feet) to make it work right. The pattern just says to keep going until it's done, which is reasonable, assuming that I am aware of what that means.

While walking along the street, I saw this gorgeous cabbage catching the water droplets and simply looking elegant. They are so ornamental at this stage, and it makes me wonder if they are still edible. It looks like some bugs have found it to be pretty tasty, though, as I look more closely at it (click to enlarge).

We are getting ready for another round of wind and rain, starting this afternoon, after a respite from the last two. I'll take my bird feeders down before I go to bed, and hope that this one won't be as destructive as the last: While on the bus yesterday, I saw a huge tree cracked right down the middle. Today I thought I'd take a picture of it but it was already mostly sawed into firewood. Think I'll work on the scarf, which I might actually finish in the next couple of days...

:-)