Thoughts MidWinter: Jamie O’Reilly

Never are voices so beautiful as on a winter’s evening, when dusk almost hides the body, and they seem to issue from nothingness with a note of intimacy seldom heard by day. –Virginia Woolf, Night and Day, 1919

Roots MidWinter Salon
Sun Feb 23 at 6:30 PM
Tre Kronor Restaurant

Now in its fifth year, Jamie O’Reilly hosts this midwinter Salon. a cozy evening of music, poetry and stories, celebrating the Scandinavian midwinter tradition of Hygge*. The inspiring, multi-talented Paul Amandes is the guest artist. Jamie sings too. With Meg Broz (guitar) and Judi Heikes (reader). Chef Patty’s menu will feature comfort foods in the Scandinavian and Chicago traditions. Please reserve in advance. Evenings sellout. BYOB.
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Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
— Edith Sitwell

A Note from Jamie
Jan 23, 2025

What do you seek-out to get you through the dark days and long winter nights? 

This is my first winter in this apartment – like a little cottage it is, with its bay windows and soft blue art-hung walls. The room is simple, with a half-dozen favorite vintage furniture pieces. And a formidable modern sofa, where I sit and sleep most days. I call this my waiting winter. The time I cope with a chronic disease, which controls my nights and preoccupies my days. 

In this cozy room, the rumble of traffic from the busy street is easily ignored, as the furnace hums and classic music plays on the radio. I have copious amounts of thinking time.

If there are spirits who visit, it’s mid-afternoon, when the sun is low and the light casts an amber glow on objects of precious memory: a sculpted candlestick, the white of the piano keys, a set of picture books on the pie chest. On the wall, a solemn winter landscape is paired with a painting of five angels and the moon. The mirror on the dry sink reflects an eerie haze in the doorway; a shaft of blue light creeps through the stained glass window over the transom. 

Sitting and watching is not a new pastime. It’s been part of my repertoire for as long as I can remember. An essential aspect of the artist’s prerogative. From the seeing, if you’re lucky, comes a wellspring of ideas.

It struck me after the holidays, when folks were getting sick right and left, a new Covid strain appeared and viruses were taking their toll, sick or well – people are staying in. We don’t know what’s next. 

I dig out old songs from piles of paper, scroll through headlines, and think about a theme for the next time I bring folks together.  

And as winter bears down in frigid temps and cold winds, greater extremes in politics shift the reality.  Very frightening. Much to consider.  

The February Roots Salon will have “comfort” as its theme. We will practice the Danish tradition of hygge. For now, we listen, pay attention, and turn to practicing a centuries-old tradition of embracing winter.  Then we gather our thoughts, plan our actions, and seek out one another, as history takes a wicked turn, and hope lies dormant under ice and snow. Et après? (What next?!) 

More About Hygge (From Meik Wiking’s book The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Hygge―pronounced Hoo-ga―is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being. “Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience,” Wiking explains. “It is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe.