Hello again, dear readers! I’m glad to see you again, and not only because you’re the loveliest readers on The Internet, but also because it means Christmas is near!
You may have noticed I’m starting a little late this year. I could tell you that I delayed because Christmas shouldn’t start until after Thanksgiving anyway, but you know I don’t believe that. The truth is, I’m trying to practice the slow life that I preach, and finding it hard this year. My work has always been demanding, but a promotion and some big moments this year have made it doubly so. It’s all I can do to breathe these days. In Washington, it’s all too easy to get wrapped up in your job and to think that what you’re doing is the importantest thing in the whole wide world. I love my job, but lately I find myself forgetting that my job is not my life. And even if it were, the best way to keep from burning out is to not take it so seriously. But Slow Christmas isn’t a state of perfection, is something we aspire to. If we had it all figured out, we wouldn’t need this blog.
So how do we remember to slow down? I was hurrying through my errands this weekend, still a bit jetlagged from a work trip and desperate to get home, I came across something that stopped me in my tracks. In front of a Kinko’s on the sidewalk stood the most beautiful gingko tree, in full fall yellow. If you’ve never noticed ginkgo trees in the fall, it’s a truly spectacular thing. Their fan-shaped leaves turn a pure deep yellow so saturated that when you stand underneath one, the air itself is yellow. Never has there been a better sure for seasonal depression, or a more uplifting feeling, than standing underneath a ginkgo tree in the fall and looking up.
This ginkgo wasn’t a perfect specimen, but it was breathtaking all the same. Don’t take my word for it, I had my camera with me for totally mundane reasons, and managed to capture the feeling:
So I have this advice, if I have any credibility remaining: don’t wait until “things slow down” to steal five minutes for beauty or friendship or solitude. Take it now. And on that note, I’m off to steal a few minutes with the spouse.
Anyone else have a ginkgo tree moment recently?
As a matter of fact, I have. There’s a beautiful ginkgo tree in our neighborhood, just off an old brick street. I love it just as much in the spring and summer when its leaves a green.
When I was trying to come up with a knitting pattern I could write for the fall issue of “The Kansas Creative Quarterly,” a new webzine, that ginkgo tree was the inspiration. The result was the leaf pattern here http://thekscreative.org/knit-ginkgo-leaf-pattern-by-eden-detrixhe/
And, pardon the shameless self-promotion, but there’s also a ginkgo leaf scarf and a ginkgo purse in my Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/listing/78870112/teal-white-ginkgo-scarf-falling-ginkgo and http://www.etsy.com/listing/78973838/ginkgo-leaf-clutch-purse-brown-gray-teal).
P.S. It’s a great tree for kids because the leaves look like whale or fish fins.
Hi Porter!! So glad you’re starting up Slow Christmas, slowly
The fall colors here in your home state have been beautiful this year and there is a gorgeous Ginko on campus that I have enjoyed for weeks walking too and from classes. You are so right about needing to make a point to slow down. My mom will be here for Christmas and we’ve booked ourselves into a 2.5 hour restorative yoga class on December 18. I highly recommend it, if you can find one.
We have a Gingko tree and I too have been enjoying its yellow leaves both on the tree and littering the walk. Maybe I should take the leaf photos I have been considering before they are gone for the season.
I love those moments! I find that it is often a smell that stops me in my tracks and makes me take notice. Last week we were raking leaves after work for a leaf pick-up the next day. Oscar was ‘helping’ us, so obviously I ended up buried in a leaf pile.
Laying there, with my face completely covered by leaves, I felt like I was breathing in the pure essence of fall, and I literally felt my system slow down and relax. I highly recommend some leaf-breathing therapy to anyone in need of a ‘slow’ moment!
[...] Christmas was a little anemic this year. Just wanted to take a moment to let you know why. It was a busy season at work, and I was falling down on a lot of things that are important to me: time with the [...]