As I prepare to head off to the big city tomorrow for some usability fun, I note that we are only one week away from that much longed for event, the Winter Solstice. As of today, the day length here is eight hours and 49 minutes. We’ll lose another two minutes in the coming week, then ever so slowly, the days will begin to lengthen again. Celticly speaking, it will be Midwinter, an encouraging thought because that means we are halfway through the darkest deadest season of the year. As my forebears did, I will celebrate the Solstice with a cheery fire and feasting with loved ones. Who’s joining me for roast duck?

I’ll be there with bells on. You know, not literally.
Lynda, I expect you are familiar with the Analemma project at Keppel Henge? If not, google http://www.steveirvine.com/analemma2.html. Your Winter Solstice reminded me of it.
Rosemary
Oh yum, we get to eat the duck from the market. Roy will be envious, I am sure.
How come it is midwinter in Canada, when 21st is always the first day of Winter in England? You could have fooled me tho’ this year. We had snow in October, and November. First October snow in the London area, since the year I was born, 74 years ago!! Who said it was ‘Global Warming’?
I am a southerner (US). Many years ago, my husband and I moved to Maine in late December. I was dismayed because darkness fell so early in the afternoon. One day in early January, I overheard the conversation of two women in a pharmacy. One cheerfully remarked that the days were already growing longer. I thought, “this woman is daft . . . the days here are so short, and it gets dark at 3 in the afternoon.” But I started to pay attention to the amount of daylight, and I realized that the woman was aware of something, having always lived in southern climes where sunlight is abundant, had never crossed my mind. After the winter solstice, each day is a bit longer. Even if only by a minute or two, that is one or two more minutes of daylight. I am eternally grateful to the woman in the pharmacy in Brewer, Maine, whose name I never learned. Thanks to her, I am aware of lengthening days, the power of solstices, and the value of one additional minute of daylight each day. (Carpe diem!)