The Cozy Season is Beginning
Our Librarry Fireplace, December 2018
Yesterday was the kind of day my grandfather might have said was “unseasonably warm” here in Oysterville. According to the weatherman it was 68º but, working outside in the sunshine, it felt warmer. It was a pleasant contrast to the weather of a few days ago when the sun was hidden from us because of low-lying fog.
In fact, on Saturday we had the season’s first fire in our library fireplace. It felt wonderful but, even better, it seemed so cheerful and cozy against the darkness and chill of day outside. It was early for the “Cozy Season” to be starting, though. I tend to think that Halloween is about when we begin activating our fireplaces for the year. But, like everthing else in this year of 2020, even the usual time markers have re-adjusted themselves.
Mary Lou Mandell – Loyalty Day c.1970s
For instance, for almost as long as I can remember, Loyalty Days in early May have marked the beginning of the “Tourist Season” and the gateway to summer. This year… not so. It wasn’t until the beaches re-opened for the Fourth of July that the tourists really returned in force. And many of us who live here year ’round never did feel like summer had arrived — certainly not with the usual crowds of relatives and friends who traditionally come visiting in June, July and August.
Likewise, the week after Labor Day has been the traditional beginning of the school year here. This year… not so much. Depending upon which school, which grade level and which School District, “back to school” has been somewhat of a moving target.
Helen & Harry Espy, 1947
It’s interesting to think about how much the rhythms of our lives seem anchored to so many familiar seasonal and holiday markers. But, perhaps, the “Cozy Season” will still feel somewhat familiar. In my grandmother’s time, it was when she gathered the mending and worked at it in the evenings by the woodstove, often listening to the radio or to my grandfather’s reading of an old favorite story.
For me, it’s a time to hunker down and re-group — to assess the current year’s progress and to begin planning for the next. I know it will be a different experience this year. I only hope it still feels “cozy.”
Greetings from Long Island! I’ve discovered your website by using google, and I must say I’m enjoying it. I wasn’t quite sure how to contact you, so that’s why my question is posted on your blog. Thru a little luck I rcvd a very old Newspaper article mentioning Captain Carlin as the man responsible for raiding my 3rd great grandparents home in Charleston, SC. Most likely right after or during the Civil War. Always a little bit of truth in family folklore, as we were told our 2nd ggrandfather, Robert H. Richardson b. 1824 SC d. 1870 NY claimed that a cousin was going to bring to him the family antiques from Charleston back to NY for the family. They never arrived. Thou the cousin we were told was a Carlton. Did a DNA searching and found that I have a very distant match with Sally Purinton and thru her tree I found Horatio C. Richardson. I’m still trying to make the connection, which is all a work in progress. When I read your article regarding Colin Carlin you have refered to Horatio Cornelia (Shea) Richardson as marrying in 1878. I must ask where the Shea name comes in? I am so looking forward to your favorable reply. Thank you in advance, Karen Steinhaus
Thanks for reaching out, Karen, but I have to say that I have no idea how “Aunt Shea’s” name came about. She was my grandmother’s aunt — my great, great aunt and died well before I was born. I do vaguely remember her daughter Imogene who was “an old, old lady” in my child’s view when we lived in Alameda California. I imagine that “Shae” (which is pronounced “Shay”) came about as a nickname for Horatia (not Horatio which would be the male form). My uncle, Willard Espy devoted several pages to Aunt Shae in his book, “Oysterville, Roads to Grandpa’s Village” but the only reference to her name was paranthetical: “(she came to be called Shae and sometimes Rae.)” Sorry I can’t be of more help. Do you mind my asking why you were interested in her nickname?
Sydney