Happy Solstice!

Morning sun, Winter Solstice 2016

As we speed through the shortest day of the year, I’m looking up and enjoying the low-riding sunlight. I like to think about how our planet is spinning to the east at a thousand miles an hour, fast enough for each time zone, one by one, to crest through sunrise into the light. The wintery air feels like the coolness of outer space right here in my back yard, pressing against my storm windows, while inside, the old heat of the sun resurfaces as the heat in my oven, baking cookies. Tomorrow, the day will start elongating again as we orbit onward and effectively tip our north pole back toward the sun.

I wish you and yours a Happy Solstice!

The Earth in 4 Key Places. Note the light for the Solstice. Not to scale.