Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Kinda Sorta Like New Year's Eve

That would be this year's winter solstice, which happens at 2230 hrs MST tonight.  I'll be sure to have a drink to celebrate and think winter thoughts when that time rolls around this evening.  Actually, that's not quite right... what I'll really be celebrating is the fact the days will get incrementally longer after today, and that's a Good Thing.  We always celebrate the solstice in these parts; here's what we said (in part) a couple o' years ago:

Celebrating the Solstice

The sun, nearing winter solstice, travels low across the sky in a multiple-exposure picture made in Maine in 2002.  (photo: NatGeo)

Cool pic, eh?  So, yesterday was the Winter Solstice and it's official: we're all in winter now.  Yays, and all that.  I suppose most people in the eastern half of the country don't need an announcement to confirm winter's arrived... all that white stuff piled up in your driveways and beside the road should be enough, eh?   

So... we gave some thought Sunday about an impromptu trip to Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice, knowing as we do it's a right good time and big party occasion.  The Second Mrs. Pennington and I DID think about driving down that way on the solstice (both winter and summer) when we lived in Ol' Blighty but we somehow never got around to it... and we were MUCH closer then than I am now.  And then there's the somewhat inconvenient fact my passport expired five years ago.  So:  the trip was a non-starter from the git-go.  There are home-grown alternatives to the original, like Carhenge up in Nebraska or the Cadillac Ranch... a mere two hours from where I sit.  I don't think either locations are big party sites, what with being a lil short on Druids and/or other types of pantheists, and I wasn't all that fired up for a drive... even one of only two hours duration... so we threw those alternatives to the wayside as well.  
Yeah, I'll stay at home today/tonight as well.  And just for the record: my passport expired seven or mebbe even eight years ago.  We strive for accuracy in reporting here at EIP.

9 comments:

  1. MDT or MST?

    Either way, it's past my bedtime. I'll have a celabratory Copper Hook in advance. Thanks for the reminder, Buck.

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  2. I know that the days get longer from here however - we also enter our coldest season at the same time.

    To me - much as I don't mind the cold - it does cancel-out the longer day thing.

    Just sayin'.

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  3. Fixd, and thanks. A simple Freudian slip of sorts: I fucking hate winter.

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  4. Kris: Well... I dunno what to tell ya. Ya made yer bed, and all that.

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  5. I'll be celebrating tonight; I f***ing hate winter too. I can hang in there if I know the chance of daylight(and maybe sunlight)is increasing each day.

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  6. I've been thanking The Deity At Hand ALL day for the bright, plentiful sunlight we're experiencing. It's SO nice after the last few dreary days of rain, sleet, and snow.

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  7. I've not been to Stonehenge for many, many years, and never on a solstie. And it's just a couple of hours away from me.

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  8. I have mixed feelings about the longer days. On the one hand, Toby goes to work in the dark and comes home in the dark - so we get very little done. On the other hand, I get to curl up and read much more in the winter when Toby is not working my butt off.

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  9. BP: Stonehenge is one of those "must-do's" for us Colonists. ;-)

    Lou: You can find the good side in just about anything.

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