Happy Winter Solstice - tomorrow we start gaining light every day!
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 5:02 pm
by rubato
Allelujah!
Commuting in the dark is no fun.
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 2:02 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
Guinevere wrote:Happy Winter Solstice - tomorrow we start gaining light every day!
And in 6 months we'll start losing light every day.
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 7:56 pm
by Econoline
Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice, all in one song.
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 10:35 pm
by Jarlaxle
Three months to spring...
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:35 am
by Long Run
"And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.”
–Susan Cooper
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:37 am
by Gob
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:41 am
by Jarlaxle
Four months to motorcycle riding.
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 3:12 am
by BoSoxGal
SOLSTICE DAYDREAM
an orange glow
the color of a crenshaw melon
slips behind an indigo sky
we dance across the universe
pivoting off the tips of
moonbeams sparked and bright
from a distant sun
folds of velvet drape
over the fiery star
spit orange flames like
tongues unhinged and
undaunted the snow moon
=
begins to wane as the tiger
transforms into a rabbit and the
blue moons of last december fade
Marie A, Mennuto-Rovello
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:52 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
Jarlaxle wrote:Four months to motorcycle riding.
Just watch out for the left over sand on the roads.
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 5:57 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Not as good as those writers but...
heard somebody call my name
saw the Lady of the Flame
she held out her hand to me
said dance child and be free
and the willow tree bends in the rain
to touch her samite hem
the moonlight strokes
the swaying oaks
in the sacred grove again
round and round we danced 'til dawn
i danced on though i knew she was gone
for she'd called my name as the candles burn
and her voice held the promise of return
and the willow trees bend in the rain
as the holy dance is done
by the ancient oak
our love is invoked
and gathered to the One
her mystery is not forgotten
down the darkened thousand years
the moon sails on
though most denied her
still the dance is woven here
(me 1981)
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 5:59 pm
by Lord Jim
Did anybody paint themselves blue and dance naked in the moonlight?
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 6:10 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Only in those Hope/Crosby woad movies
...and of course, the Woad Warrior hisself, mate:
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 8:29 pm
by Gob
Lord Jim wrote:Did anybody paint themselves blue and dance naked in the moonlight?
You have to, otherwise the seasons will stop, don't tell me you didn't?
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 2:55 am
by Sue U
Well, the hens have started laying again, so I guess they're feeling more confident that the world is no longer headed for oblivion.
Silly birds haven't been watching the teevee, obvs.
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 8:01 am
by Guinevere
The girls always know when the light comes back! Or maybe they just liked the person caring for them while you were gone......
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 6:23 pm
by rubato
I've always thought it interesting how the seasons follow the astronomical relationships rather than track them. The winter solstice isn't the middle of winter as you might think. It is the beginning because the thermal mass of the earth, the atmosphere, and the surface waters take time to respond to the shortening daylight and cause temperatures to drop to their annual lows sometime after the shortest day. The same happens in the opposite direction with the highest annual temperatures happening often in August, two months after the longest day. But we still use the astronomical dates to mark the change of the seasons because it is an easily determinable moment, a nice clear dark mark at the dates of solstice and equinox that we all can see and measure.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 6:25 pm
by rubato
Guinevere wrote:The girls always know when the light comes back! Or maybe they just liked the person caring for them while you were gone......
Someone turned the lights on in the henhouse. Commercial layers are grown under lights because they only lay eggs when it is light. More hours of light, more eggs.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 6:38 pm
by Long Run
Lord Jim wrote:Did anybody paint themselves blue and dance naked in the moonlight?
No, but doesn't this sound more fun?
Re: The return of the light!
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 7:07 pm
by Big RR
Personally, I enjoy the longer nights (and love colder temperatures); less feeling guilty about not doing stuff outside after work. Long nights give you a lot longer time to relax.