Winter solstice and the great conjunction....

 

Taking a moment to reflect, as we prepare to welcome the winter solstice and a new year

“The Shortest Day” by Susan Cooper

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, reveling.

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 so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!

(Photo credit: Stonehenge Salisbury Guided Tours)

Shared from my cousin Frank. Beautiful.

     And don't forget to step outside to view the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the SW night sky an hour after sunset.

(daily ex. update, pm tm run 3.5 miles, ytd 1507.5 miles.  Morning walk 4.5 miles, ytd walk 715.8 miles.  Extremely windy.  Winter blew in like a lion.)