Hello Solstice Superheroes!
The sixteenth song in the Plant Songs Project is entitled Solisinframons. What the heck is that word you ask? I’ll explain later.
First a little about the song: This is what could be called a minimalist composition. Not necessarily minimalist like the style that was popularized in the second half of the 20th century. But simply just that there’s not much to it. It’s a simple chord progression in G-flat major; all diatonic (no borrowed chords), and all of my improvisation stays within the G-flat major scale as well. It’s very slow. I’ve written a hand full of songs like this over the years. Sometimes it’s nice to just set the stage and let the improvisation be the bulk of the performance.
2025 will mark ten years since we’ve lived in Beacon, NY. Many of you know that I’m an avid gardener and have studied Permaculture and have tried to implement the ethics and principles of Permaculture on our little property. It’s been great fun and fulfilling. One of the most important of the Permaculture principle is “Observe and Interact”. It’s recommended that you spend an entire year observing a property before implementing any major design choices, so you have an understanding of things like sun, shade, wind, and water patterns and are more likely to put design elements in the appropriate places.
Ten years in, I’m still observing, and noticing new patterns and learning new things about the property. How wonderful. Over the years I’ve noticed that, being located northwest of Mount Beacon, we have a period of time in the Fall and Winter during which the sun rises behind Mount Beacon and is only visible after it eclipses the North Peak. That means at this time of year, we only get direct sunlight on the property from about 9:40am. At other times, it follows above the contour of the North Peak, rising between it and Lambs Hill, and provides direct sun much earlier. In the height of summer, the early sun rise happens much further north on the horizon, and might miss the Hudson Highlands mountain range all together.
So this is the dark time of year. If you go to a higher elevation spot in Beacon around 7:30 or 8am and look west over the Hudson River, you can see direct sunlight shining on Newburgh, and even the western part of Beacon while you yourself might be in the shadow of the Highlands. I had been thinking about this phenomenon recently, and first I thought that I’d like to find the day that we first get direct sunlight in the yard in the early morning - when the sun rising in the hollow between North Mount Beacon and Lamb’s Hill - and have a celebration that day. I brought this up to my brother Jake, and he said that actually we need some kind of celebration for the dark times, because that’s when we need to be uplifted. It would be similar to how we celebrate Christmas just after the Winter Solstice, and many religions have holidays around the same time.
After some contemplation, I agreed with my brother that we should do something to brighten our world during this period of time. So we decorated one of those candles that are in a glass jar. And I came up with a Latin name for this period of time: Solisinframons. Solis = sun, infra = below, and mons = mountain. Then the day, and the whole period of time, that the sun rises adjacent to the mountain instead of behind it we’ll call Solisupramons. “Supra” meaning “above”. My daughter and I decorated the candle with acrylic markers and we’ve been lighting it during breakfast. It’s really been enjoyable, and has certainly brightened our mornings.
Interestingly, we could all be celebrating Solisinframons in our neighborhood. But the dates are highly localized. Just a few doors down from us and up the hill on Robinson Street gets the direct morning sun a few minutes earlier than us. They’ll have a shorter period of Solisinframons, although I’m not sure by how much. In Spring of 2025 I’ll be documenting the day in which we get the early morning direct sun. I’m guessing it will be early February, but I’m really not sure. Then in Fall 2025, I’ll be looking for the date the Solisinframons begins, my guess in early to mid-November.
To me the song Solisinframons reflects a time of coziness, of huddling together, of contemplation, and of planning for the next years growing season. I hope you enjoy it.
On a side note, I’m planning on taking the next two weeks off from the project as I had planned at the onset. Who knows, if something comes about, maybe I’ll continue through the break. But I expect to not publish for next two weeks. Happy Holidays!
Our Solisinframons candle.
The sunrise behind Mount Beacon on December 18th at 8:20am. It will be almost an hour and a half before we’re out of the shadow.