Today is winter solstice. Summer solstice is a momentous occasion up here, as we have almost twenty-four hours of daylight. Winter solstice seems to squeak by with hardly a mention. However, I find that of all days, this is one we should be celebrating. The return of the sun. Is sun not life itself? Here, the lack of sun is so noticeable. Today the sun rose around 10:50 and set around 2:30, giving us three hours and forty minutes of sun. I should have written down the exact time when I heard it a half a dozen times on the radio today.
Almost everyone is low on energy, sleeping more, feeling lazy and so on. I have one recommendation for those feeling blue on these dark winter days: GET OUTSIDE! I don't care how cold it is. Bundle up and go for a walk in the middle of the day. Stand and look at the sun. Feel the warmth of the sun...if you can. If I didn't have outside chores to get me outside during the daylight hours, I'd probably spend my whole day inside, in the kitchen, and I would go crazy. I have my outdoor chores to thank for my sanity this time of year.
Chickens getting treats, milk, kombucha mother and king crab shells, mmm.
frosty duck door
All of these pictures were taken today. These outdoor shots were around one p.m. Sun shining on the south facing hills.
A view from the snow blanketed garden.
Winter Bucks
Beet and carrot pulp leftover from juicing- the goats love it.
Winter Does; healthy thick fur balls.
Hot cross buns, mmm.
And, better, iced cross buns
Gift making, homemade lotions.
Noah is stringing cranberries and popcorn onto thread, to be hung outside. I don't know if the chickadees will eat them or not. But it is a nice gesture. We did hang birch bark covered in bacon grease and sunflower seeds for the chickadees, and that, they loved. By the way, anyone see the eclipse last night? It was pretty cool. It was a cold night to be standing around outside. But I happened to catch it about half way on my way out to close the animals in, and then continued to look up now and then over the space of a half hour. Not something you see every night.
Happy Solstice!
.JPG)
3 comments:
Emily As always a beautiful post. I was up every hour to see the eclipse but we had to much cloud cover, I was very disappointed.
It sounds like you are keeping sane even without the sun. Where I live in Ontario we have the most sunlight hours of anyone. They built a massive solar farm just around the corner from us.
Hot cross buns mmmm. Enjoy your holidays with your family and please keep blogging you are a wonderful writer. B
Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing. I know what you mean about going outside even for a little while. If I stay in too long it is not good. We all do outside chores. I think it is difinitely healthy for us. Of course, we are not near as cold as you all are. Stay warm and God bless.
Buttons, as much as I make do and enjoy sunlight and temperature extremes, I do love the sun. In the summer I structure my day around getting out when it is the sunniest. I'm looking forward to spring, which is like a sunny winter in other places. Still snowy, but with bright blue skies and sun.
Post a Comment