solstice

Solstice beauty

/ Tracy Abell / 22 Comments

Today is the shortest day of the year which means tomorrow we start gaining daylight. HOORAY! For me, the winter solstice is the most significant day of this season. Why? Because the day always gives me a much-needed emotional boost, and this year’s solstice is especially welcome because there’s sunshine. Not only that, these lovely roses are blooming next to our front porch.

December 21, 2025

How could I feel anything but hopeful as I gaze upon those sun-kissed blooms?

I’m documenting my hope and optimism here because we’ve been swamped with rain (with much more in the forecast thanks to the atmospheric river) and have learned our aging roof has multiple leaks that are causing widespread microbial growth. BOO HISS! We’re gathering bids for a full roof replacement we hope/need to get in the very near future–all we need are two consecutive days of clear weather to get started. I’ve got a new mantra: Rain, rain go away . . . and please don’t come back until our roof is intact!

Happy Solstice, everyone!

Happy Solstice

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Today is the shortest day of the year and tomorrow we begin gaining daylight. Despite the incremental change at first, it’s still a huge boost to mental health. And we need it here in Colorado as we brace ourselves for an arctic blast. Tonight it will get down to -12 degrees F and tomorrow’s high will be a whopping -1 degree. And thanks to the climate crisis, we’re also smelling smoke from a wildfire in Boulder County (almost exactly one year after the Marshall Fire last December!) Cold enough to kill people and dry/windy enough to burn everything down. How’s that for messed up?

Anyway, this is some kind of hybrid dragonly/butterfly we found while clearing out my mother-in-law’s house. The six-inch by four-inch, bejeweled curiosity now hangs in my writing room window and I just photographed it as the foothills went dark. The bluish tinge is a result of the Arctic filter I applied, which felt appropriate.

Here’s to more hospitable days. Happy Solstice, everyone!

Gaining daylight!

/ Tracy Abell / 1 Comment

Yesterday was the winter solstice which means it was the shortest day of the year. As of today, we’re gaining daylight. I know I’m not alone in welcoming that boost to our collective morale. When I called out a “Happy Solstice” to a neighborhood friend today, he tilted his face to the sun and pumped his arms.

I went in search of an appropriate quotation for this post and decided upon the following which, in light of the president-elect’s role in inflicting austerity on the masses via the latest covid “relief” legislation, feels very spot-on:

We must not fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world. ~ Rene Magritte

But at the same time, more daylight allows more bird sightings.

Western/Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, December 13, 2020.

I refuse to allow the greedhead bastards to take away all my joy. Happy Solstice!

Thankful Thursday

/ Tracy Abell

Today I’m grateful it’s the second shortest day of the year and that soon we’ll be gaining daylight. I’m also grateful for this photographic reminder that although the landscape is currently dry-and-drab as far as the eye can see, brown doesn’t always mean dead. And ugly. And depressing.

Brown can also bring joy. Today I post this intricately beautiful brown iris as a reminder that blooms of many colors are in my not-so-distant future.

Gimme more daylight

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

winter_solstice

Got a text from Zebu this morning (my time). It was already long-dark where he is in Sweden. He wrote: “Happy Solstice, Mom. This year I definitely understand your appreciation for today. We’ve bottomed out!”

Zebu has finally seen the light (sorrynotsorry!). He now fully accepts what I’ve been yammering about forever: the Winter Solstice is the best thing happening this time of year!

 

 

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Headed Into the Light

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Today is one of my favorite days of the year: the winter solstice. Tomorrow we’ll have only a few seconds more of daylight, but knowing each coming day will be a tiny bit longer and a tiny bit brighter makes me very happy. I can cope now that the light’s on my side.

HAPPY SOLSTICE, EVERYONE!

Image courtesy of MorgueFile.com

Image courtesy of MorgueFile.com

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

I’ve started a new volunteer gig and yesterday was my second day helping out. The man who’s training me noted that there was just one week until Christmas. My back was to him and without the benefit of body language, I assumed (I know, I know), he was launching into the typical stressed-out “I haven’t started my shopping yet and there’s so much I need to do” conversation so I figured I’d put us both out of our misery and/or guilt by announcing that all I cared about was the Winter Solstice and increased daylight. I capped it off with “Christmas Smishtmas.”

Turns out he wanted to talk about the over-sized tree he’d gotten this year and how it’s too big for his tiny apartment, but that it’s so nice to go home after a long day and turn on those pretty colored lights. Oh, yeah, and beneath that beautiful tree? Wrapped gifts for his girlfriend.

The poor guy sounded apologetic.

The thing is, I totally understand those sentiments and if I wasn’t so lazy, I would have put up some pretty colored lights of my own. I tried to convey that, but he was clearly ready to move on to a non-Scrooge-related topic.

MorgueFile photo courtesy of Cohdra

MorgueFile photo courtesy of Cohdra

“Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.” ~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Longer Days!

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

           

I cannot begin to tell you how very I am to be gaining daylight!


                                                                         image from morguefile.com

Bring it, Sun!

                 

Happy Solstice!

/ Tracy Abell / 20 Comments

                  

I’ve been looking forward to this day for quite some time.
We’re going to start gaining daylight again!
And what better way to celebrate than with a House Finch Party?!

                                                                              
                                                                        © Tracy Abell 2010