Solstice on ice

Our friend Rowan invited us to celebrate the Solstice at her beautiful ancestral country house. We had planned a bonfire with some music playing, but the weather had other plans... We braved the freezing rain to play some games Steph had prepared (from the great book Games Children Play), in the dark with glow stick props!

We rushed back inside for great food, warm apple cider and a spot on the beautiful brick bench beside the chimney. Danny played contrabass beside their cute Charlie Brown Christmas tree, and we listened to some vinyls (wow, we sure have forgotten what real music sounds like. It felt like the musicians were there with us in the room...).

Little ones had fallen asleep on the couch by the time we were ready to go our separate ways... There was a thick layer of ice on the cars and the roads were as shiny as skating rings... We did less than 500 m before deciding that it was way too dangerous to try to make it home, very carefully turned around and crashed in our friends' guest room.

Waking up to the snowy fields that we could see from the bed reminded us of our old farmhouse (a lot of that house reminded us of it, actually). We ate leftover vegan Carob chai spice cake with cardamom icing (OMG, that cake is sooo good!) by the fire and took turns going outside in the freezing rain to snap some photos (next post!).

On the drive back home, there was lots of tree branches on the road. The poor trees were arching over from the weight of the ice... At some point, there was a blue electric fire over our head, where frozen trees and electrical lines met (covered in ice, the trees act as a ground). What a solstice adventure!