Winter Solstice

Solstice 2012, Gig Harbor, WA

"This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath." -- Margaret Atwood

"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again'." -- Lewis Carroll

"We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It's worth being cold for that." -- Philip Pullman

"Summer is for surrendering; 

winter is for wondering."

 -- Debasish Mridha

I spent today, the solstice, outside in the desert under a cloudless blue sky. We wandered through the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum for hours, soaking up the warmth before tomorrow's predicted rain and cold.

And for those of you who are struggling, as are so many of my friends and family back in the Pacific Northwest where the days are very short and dark and rainy: 

"May the dawn of the Winter Solstice

chase the dark away."

Happy Solstice