We had to be up early this morning. Rumors to the contrary notwithstanding, we old folks are not early birds. We go to bed late after we run out of movies and Netflix specials and sleep in. For me, that’s until Bonnie decides she has waited long enough and starts to bark. And keeps barking until I put in an appearance. Normally, I try to get away with handing out one biscuit then going back to catch another hour or so of sleep, but we had to be up this morning. Not as early as Bonnie wanted us up, however. She’s a dawn dog.
Winter Solstice – Sunrise
So, when the barking penetrated the fog of my sleepy brain, the sun was just rising. Coincidentally, I just happened to have my camera at hand. And today is the winter solstice in this latitude, so these are the dawn of the solstice rising behind the woods in New England. If you are interested in some meteorology factoids about the solstice, the Boston Globe had a good article this morning.
Other holidays celebrated (now or in the past) on the winter solstice include: Blue Christmas (holiday), Brumalia (Ancient Rome), Dongzhi Festival (Asia), Korochun (Slavic), Sanghamitta Day (Theravada Buddhism), Shalako (Zuñi), Yaldā (Iran), Yule in the Northern Hemisphere (Neopagan), Ziemassvētki (ancient Latvia). It’s the shortest day of Earth’s year. The long hours of cold and dark simply scream out to “do something to cheer yourselves up!” This is where enthusiasm comes in: you really need to party hearty when the world is cold and dark for 15 hours a day.
Of course, if you live in the southern hemisphere, you are wearing flip-flops. having a barbecue on the beach, and complaining about the heat. Never underestimate the power of a tilted planet.
A note: We’ll be offline most of the day. Stuff to do. Actually, we’ll be out most of tomorrow, too. The season has finally caught up with us and all the things I have procrastinated and left undone are demanding attention. Happy holidays, one and all! Don’t despair: the sun is on its way back. From here on, days will be longer and brighter. Odin only gets to keep old Sol for a brief interval.
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Categories: #Photography, celebration, Christmas, Dawn, Humor
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
The sun can stay right where it is since it is now positioned far enough to the southeast that it’s not in my eyes as I drive home in the mornings. Or even up at all. I really need to stow my camera away in the car one night this coming week so I can get a picture of the sunrise from Mecca’s lot. The view there is much better than what I have at home, and this time of the year, it’s almost always a beautiful red sunrise…
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It hasn’t been feeling very summery here for the past few days. Our local op shop has been inundated with visitors buying jackets and sweaters. However we are being threatened with thirty degrees for Christmas Day but then rain for most of the following week. That’s Tasmania, our weather is never totally predictable.
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Sounds like my world 🙂 They always say around here “if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.” Sometimes you have to wait five minutes, but rarely much longer.
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Marilyn, Danny and I are very late nighters and we sleep in when ever possible. The cats are quiet, Usually until either the alarm goes off or we start talking. Merry Christmas from Our Neck Of The Woods, Lake Kissimmee State Park And Rolling Meadows Ranch, Love Sarah
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And a merry Christmas to you, too. Bonnie gets restless if I am not up and serving her needs. But she earns her keep by making me laugh every day. May your holiday be filled with joy … and aren’t you glad you aren’t in the freezer?
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Love the sunrise. Beautiful. Days will stets to get longer hurray!
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Slowly, but surely. This is as dark as our year gets, so now, we just have to keep on keeping until the sun returns 🙂
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If we could just shorten the lag period – we are on our way to spring. Yippee
Leslie
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Yes, but let’s stay calm. It’s only December 🙂 I hope for the best but am ready for worse.
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I’m clicking my heals, Marilyn….. can’t help it.
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You are joyfully optimistic. It must be a Canadian thing 😀
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Perhaps… or else it’s the thoughts of the sunny beaches of Jamaica or Waikiki.
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Thank you for sharing, really enjoyed and hope the following two days are great fun!
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I hope so too — for ALL of us. Either the internet is totally asleep or WordPress’s servers are not serving! No one has any hits and few comments. Maybe just as well. I have a team of women in to clean today, so I’m trying to deal with life from my bedroom. But I got everything wrapped up, yay 🙂 Actually, considering how little there was to do, it wasn’t a big achievement, but I take my pats on the back where I find them, even if I’m the one giving them.
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I know I’m thinking the same thing. It’s been hit or miss for days. I figured no one was interested any more in anything! lol. suddenly blam, hits everywhere, now nothing again. And Yeah! why not! I’m with you.
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I think it’s a combination of the holidays so close and WordPress’s erratic servers. I’ve been hearing a lot of people, especially overseas, complaining about being unable to connect or send comments. We may not be getting the server outages, but we get the blowback by not getting hits.
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I know and agree. I noticed a total of 29 comments one day, and they 2 days ago 130 so I was baffled at the difference. so hmm
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