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ellenkushnerOne of the (many) things I realized I love about being in Amsterdam is that whenever you go into a café or restaurant, there are lit candles on the table. Doesn’t matter whether it’s lunchtime in one of those high-design brushed steel Dutch minimalist joints where the candle (in a clear glass holder, of course) shares the table with a single orchid, or drinks in an old basement in a canal house where the jenever is pulled from a barrel and you can’t see the candleholder anymore for the years of taper wax it’s crusted with, or a smokey corner bar with a Keno machine. You sit down, there’s a candle burning.
I mentioned this to my Amsterdam pal (former NY radio goddess Ruth Dreier, who moved there some years back to work for Radio Nederland, now does a cool indie show on radio100
http://p081.ezboard.com/finterstitialartsfrm10.showMessage?topicID=4.topic
and who actually lives in the fabled Begijnhof!
http://www.amsterdam.info/sights/begijnhof/ )
and she said, “Oh, yes; winters are dark here, and nights are long. As soon as that time hits, I start bringing out the candles, too. Everyone does.”
Even when I moved to Boston from NYC, that first winter I was appalled to notice how many fewer minutes of sunlight I got toward the end of the day, just this little ways up the coast.
It doesn’t matter how much electricity you’ve got, or what kind. There is nothing like a living flame to burn away the winter gloom.
And so you behold me now, as the sky begins to darken at 4 p.m. in Boston, sitting in my study in my comfy chair with my laptop, and across the room a candle burning on the desk. There’s another one burning downstairs, scented a little with spice, so that when I go down I don’t mind. If guests come over, I will wander through the livingroom with my matches until they are surrounded by those small, particular points of light and heat.
I mentioned this to my Amsterdam pal (former NY radio goddess Ruth Dreier, who moved there some years back to work for Radio Nederland, now does a cool indie show on radio100
http://p081.ezboard.com/finterstitialartsfrm10.showMessage?topicID=4.topic
and who actually lives in the fabled Begijnhof!
http://www.amsterdam.info/sights/begijnhof/ )
and she said, “Oh, yes; winters are dark here, and nights are long. As soon as that time hits, I start bringing out the candles, too. Everyone does.”
Even when I moved to Boston from NYC, that first winter I was appalled to notice how many fewer minutes of sunlight I got toward the end of the day, just this little ways up the coast.
It doesn’t matter how much electricity you’ve got, or what kind. There is nothing like a living flame to burn away the winter gloom.
And so you behold me now, as the sky begins to darken at 4 p.m. in Boston, sitting in my study in my comfy chair with my laptop, and across the room a candle burning on the desk. There’s another one burning downstairs, scented a little with spice, so that when I go down I don’t mind. If guests come over, I will wander through the livingroom with my matches until they are surrounded by those small, particular points of light and heat.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 01:01 am (UTC)Here at my desk there is currently a peppermint scented candle. You're right... nothing beats a living light in the gloom.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 02:16 am (UTC)Unsolicited handy tip: keep some used birthday cake candles around. Light one and use it to light all your other candles. Easier than going through a bunch of matches. Think I'll go do that now.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 02:12 pm (UTC)Regarding candles, I saw more private homes than other when I was there, so I can't really help you with that. I can ask but my relatives do slow post not email. There are probably quicker ways to find out.
(I am not really surprised you might be interested. It's that type of place.)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-12 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 08:02 pm (UTC)Myself, I come from a little-known CALVINIST branch of Judaism - we got socks or underwear for Chanukah.
The first night, only.
We did light the candles, though - I remember well the fights with my brothers over whose turn it was! I thought I would enjoy living alone and getting to light them all myself each night - but it turns out it's not all it's cracked up to be. Now, I'm glad to share - in fact, I practically arm-wrestle anyone who comes over during the 8 nights of candlelighting, no matter their background, to light the Menorah!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 06:26 pm (UTC)Of course, then there's the problem of actually writing instead of playing with the candle...
no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 07:58 pm (UTC)I did that a lot when I was a teenager - I used to use leftover or broken Chanukah candles that my mom didn't want; I'd put them in a little brass candlestick I got at my grandma's. (Pathetic, huh? See above.)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-15 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 06:52 pm (UTC)(BTW, this is Jen of the dress at WisCon a few years back. Hi!)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 07:53 pm (UTC)(Sorry - I get all oogly around kittens - I wish we weren't both allergic.)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 12:46 am (UTC)Too bad about the allergies. I used to be more allergic when I was younger, but now it's gotten mild enough that I'm willing to be a little sneezy if it means having these wonderful creatures in my life.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 04:18 pm (UTC)I, too, love candles. The sad thing is that I rarely light candles anymore, and I'm not really sure why. I don't have any reason not to...it just never seems to come to mind. I really should change that. Perhaps I'll go dig through my candle stash and pull one out to light today.
good call
Date: 2004-12-07 04:09 am (UTC)I thought about this post tonight; this year the winter seems particularly deep and dark. So I hit Whole Paycheck and bought some wonderful, terribly expensive candles which are burning right now on the clawfoot coffee table here in Providence. Everything smells of lavendar now.
Yes, indeed, the warmth of candlelight is a great solace for the darkness of the year. Thank you for the suggestions and happy Hannukah!
Re: good call
Date: 2004-12-10 05:06 pm (UTC)Good for you. Now you can just start haunting Pier One, where they tend to knock 50% off the previous scents as the new ones come in. Some of them are pretty malodorous, but you just have to target - and then stockpile - your favorites. (They never have lavender, though....)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-10 05:04 pm (UTC)Another convert....
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:51 pm (UTC)I sent you a thank-you letter many years ago for writing Thomas the Rhymer, read over tea poured from the Aladdin's lamp pot. How heartening to learn you're a firebug like me.
When the days start getting shorter, I traditionally made my list, and my husband and I made a day trip of driving to a candle factory outlet to stock up. They used to provide paper bags with handles for $15 or $20, and you could fill your bag to the brim with candles from a roped off area--seconds, over-runs, unfortunate color batches, pillars, tapers, tea lights, votives. The rest of the warehouse was devoted to first-quality returns and over runs at vastly reduced prices. Stocking up was a tradition, and when the air began to bite this fall, I started mentally making my list--and then remembered that the outlet closed its doors earlier this year. I'm bereft. And no longer giving candles profligately as birthday and holiday presents. I hate the feeling, but I'm hoarding. My precious candles, lights in the gloom.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-03 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-16 09:58 am (UTC)I am sad to hear that your candle outlet has closed. However, I just read in the Boston Globe ("Home" Section, of course) that the Yankee Candle chain is having just such a sale now - fill a bag for $15 or something . . . You can scope out their venues all over the country at http://www.yankeecandle.com
I also haunt Pier One, which puts old scented candles on sale as fast as it makes new ones . . .
Best of luck with the dreary winter - may your fires burn bright!
no subject
Date: 2005-01-16 10:46 am (UTC)I was going to be snarky...
Date: 2004-12-26 02:24 am (UTC)...I'm only writing this, because it'll be my first logged-in comment, and I want it to be somewhere I'll never see *G*
Happy St Stevens! (Or Boxing Day, whatever)
Re: I was going to be snarky...
Date: 2004-12-26 02:26 am (UTC)Louis Vuitton Luggage
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Date: 2012-01-17 02:23 pm (UTC)Louis Vuitton
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