Winter Solistice Memories

Flicks of light
reflect from tumbling leaves,
as starlight dances to the ground
autumn gives birth to winter.

Blue-gray clouds protect
Last minute Christmas shoppers
From the sun's cold rays.

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Autumn Wind

A cold wind blow
sending chills up the spine of autumn,
and suggesting that winter is here,
but winter solstice
is still 26 days away.

Thanksgiving
is 2 days away:
Will it snow on Thanksgiving?

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Winter

The first day of winter approaches, 

And the temperatures fall 

Toward the single digits. 

Will winter solstice 

Bring us the first freeze? 

I check the temperature app 

On my phone, 

It reads 55 degrees 

As lunch time nears, 

But last night 

The temperatures descended into 

The mid 40s. 

The First Day of Winter 2016

'Idál (Justice), 11 Masá’il (Questions), 173 BE - Wednesday, December 21, 2016 AD about 7:09 AM Pacific Standard Time 

Winter in the Northern Hemisphere  is officially here. It arrived at 2:44 AM PST when the sun shown directly down onto the Tropic of Capricorn. I know there are a lot of people in the United State who will claim that winter actually arrived when the arctic express pushed down onto the northern part of the U.S. That was just Mother Nature's early warning system preparing us for the change in seasons. 

In the Northern Hemisphere this is the shortest day and longest night of the year. The days will grow longer and the nights shorter until the arrival of the Summer Solstice when the situation reverses. The opposite is true for the Southern Hemisphere where the Summer Solstice occurred and the days are now growing shorter. Isn't living on a round planet wonderful. 

I know there are some people who celebrate the solstice, so I wish them a "Happy Winter Solstice". I don't celebrate the shortest day of the year. Instead I commemorate it by writing about it. I use the solstices, the same way I use the equinoxes, in stories and  poem. 

Winter Solstice: The Shortest Day of the Year

Jalál (Glory), 10 Masá’il, 170 BE - Saturday, December 21, 2013 about 10:29 am Pacific Standard Time

It's winter solstice. It's the shortest day of the year. It's the day that the sun stands still. All right, the sun doesn't stand still any more then the earth stands still. The earth is always rotating on its axis and revolving around the sun. While the sun does rotate, it doesn't rotate in the same manner as Earth, but it doesn't stand still either. In addition, the sun along with its planets revolve around the center of the galaxy.

After today, the day become longer until we reach the summer solstice. In between these two astronomical events, in the northern hemisphere, winter becomes spring and spring becomes summer. Plants grow and animals give birth life moves at a faster pace as the days grow longer and the nights shorter. Poets are inspired to write odes to nature, love, or bitch about how fast time flies.

I'm looking forward to spring and summer more this year then in the past. I'm cold. I'm chilly. I'm tired of wearing three or four layers of clothes in an attempt to keep warm. True, I live in Las Vegas so it doesn't get at cold here (most of the time) as in other parts of the country; that doesn't make me feel better or warmer. I want to enjoy something cold instead of having to heat everything (all right, almost everything) in the microwave so it doesn't make me cold when I eat or drink it. I'm tired of bundling up when I go to eat something cold because it makes my body colder.

I'm going to close this before it becomes a rant. I've finished the hot tea I was drinking and I need to warm me up another cup of tea or apple juice. I'd fix myself some hot soup, but I'm full at present and couldn't eat another bit. I'll be lucky to finish my next cup of hot tea.

Winter Solstice 2008

Jamál (Beauty), 10 Masa’il (Questions), 165 BE – Sunday, December 21, 2008 about 1:53 PM Pacific Time

It's winter solstice 2008 and I got a Sunday paper this morning. Last Sunday a young man came to my door selling the weekend edition of the Las Vegas Review Journal. I get a paper on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Today is the first day I've received a Sunday paper in over a year.

This morning I read the Sunday comics while I drink coffee, something I always enjoy doing. I like reading the Sunday paper because it has so many interesting and educational articles. Today a lot of the comics and articles had to do with Christmas, which is Thursday. I hope to get the rest of today's paper read sometime this week.

I don't think I'll get any more of the paper read today because I have a lot to do and it's been a difficult day. I suspect the rest of the week will be just as difficult, but maybe I should hold off on that opinion until Christmas Eve and I celebrate my next birthday.

I don't think we'll go out Christmas Eve. Instead I think we'll celebrate my birthday either Friday or Saturday. I have a gift card from a Mexican restaurant and we'll go there. I have to go to the grocery store either Monday or Tuesday, probably Tuesday because I'm going to be up all night tonight working in the house.

As I said, it's been a difficult day and we haven't gotten a lot done. Therefore, I'm going to have to work on part of it tonight. I don't like doing work in the middle of the night, but there is nothing I can do about it. It has to be done before Wednesday and I have to go to the store Tuesday, which will take most of the day.