Beyond The Winter Solstice.....

Aaaaahhhh....cannot believe it is December 23rd, but I REALLY can't believe I neglected to post on Monday the 21st which was the Winter Solstice. For those of us that live in climates where we have 4 very definite varied seasons, this is definitely a turning point for us. I always am filled with excitement,like we've turned the corner despite having so many weeks of winter left. We've reached the shortest day of the year and now very slowly, at a snail's pace, our days will get longer.

But for now, winter is here in full force, and I'm not going to fight it!








"In drear-nighted December,
Too happy, happy tree,
Thy branches ne'er remember
Their green felicity:
The north cannot undo them
With a sleety whistle through them;
Nor frozen thawings glue them
From budding at the prime.

In drear-nighted December,
Too happy, happy brook,
Thy bubblings ne'er remember
Apollo's summer look;
But with a sweet forgetting,
They stay their crystal fretting,
Never, never petting
About the frozen time.

Ah! would 'twere so with many
A gentle girl and boy!
But were there ever any
Writhed not at passed joy?
The feel of not to feel it,
When there is none to heal it
Nor numbed sense to steel it,
Was never said in rhyme."

- John Keats, In Drear-Nighted December