Winter Solstice

Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night makes its entrance today. It's officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest-known holidays in human history. Of course we don't need to be reminded about winter as we've already had it for over a month.
I view December 21 as a day for great rejoicing! As the Winter Solstice heralds in a new season bringing us the shortest day of the year we are now on a roll toward the summer solstice. Over the next six months we will steadily gain nearly seven hours of daily sunlight. The term solstice means "sun stands still". It is when the sun stays closer to the horizon than any other time of the year and appears to rise and set in same place for several days in a row. Can't wait for those longer days of daylight!

Robert  Frost and Melville Cane do a wonderful job capturing winter images in their poems.  

Snow Toward Evening

by Melville Cane

Suddenly the sky turned gray,
The day,
Which had been bitter and chill,
Grew soft and still.
Quietly
From some invisible blossoming tree
Millions of petals cool and white
Drifted and blew,
Lifted and flew,
Fell with the falling night.

and here is mine...

Winter Solstice

by Sue Ready

Winter came like a whisper

during the early morning hours

gently covered the barren land

freezing fingers held it in a grasp.

The warmth of the morning sun 

pushed heavy clouds aside 

and opened up 

a clear blue sky. 

Icicles cling tightly to the roof. 

Cars slosh through melting snow. 

Animals leave snowy tracks behind. 

Late dawn- 

Early sunset- 

Slipping sun- 

Short days- 

Long nights- 

Countdown 

till Spring 

Can’t wait!

______________________________________________

Cook's notes: Feeling chilled? Perhaps what you need is a bowl of soup to warm you up. Try these previously posted soup recipes from Ever Ready.

 Lemon and Orzo Chicken Soup

Chicken and Kielbasa Bean Soup