The Winter Solstice - Spring is on the Way!

I can't believe I missed it! Yesterday was the Winter Solstice - the shortest day and the longest night of the year - December 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice already took place on June 20, 2008. The reason for the different seasons in the two hemispheres? While the earth rotates around the sun, it also spins on its axis, which is tilted some 23.5 degrees. Because of this tilt, the Northern Hemisphere receives less direct sunlight and the Southern Hemisphere receives more (and vice versa) depending on the season.

In ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated with a feast, while in pre-christian Britain, the end of December centered around the pagan yule log in a fiery display to melt the heart of a cold and dreary winter. Now, in more modern times the response to brighten winter doldrums is the celebration of Christmas by different cultures around the world, complete with twinkling lights, holiday feasts & lively festivals. To many pre-Christian cultures, however, December was thought of as the most dreaded time of year, when the lack of heat and light and a limited supply of food spelled danger. The cold was barren and the darkness seemed to last forever.

But here in Tramp's Camp, the Winter Solstice marks the rapid march towards spring! Even though it was -3 degrees here this morning and more snow is imminent all week, my thoughts are turning to outdoor activities and gardening. But just now, realizing that time has shifted and another season is headed our way, I feel some slight panic - we actually could use more long, dark days as we are far behind on things that we would like to have accomplished by spring. Things like installing a pellet stove in the shop - we haven't had time to clean it out enough to make room for the stove! And we need the pellet stove for heat in the shop because we are building a kayak and the epoxies, etc. need to cure at a certain temperature. And heat in the bottom of the shop will also help heat the upstairs where we have our guest quarters and our exercise equipment and we really need to be exercising! We also had planned to use the down time in the winter to re-design our yard - both front and back so that when the weather warms up, we will be ready to landscape. Even thought we live in modern times, much of what we do is still dictated by the weather! And speaking of modern times, I guess I'd better go put some more wood on the fire in our antique wood cook stove and grab another cup of coffee from the french press!!