Walking Into Winter

This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.

Margaret Atwood

Winter Sun

Beneath heavy clouds

blazing brilliant light it dropped

then fell out of sight

Saturday -a beautiful expanse of dune grass blew gently in the wind. (Saugatuck Dunes)

Sunday over ripe berries hung from a bare branch…but those looked like tiny buds below them.

Monday, a dark-eyed Junco sat still for a moment looking right at the camera

Tuesday, a neighbors Hydrangeas; blossoms dried, faded and gone to seed…delicate as paper

Wednesday in the garden, a dried up rhododendron blossom that Dr. Seuss could have drawn.

And on the beach, a pair of pigeon’s prints in the sand by Lake Michigan - as if he just stood there, looking over the water and then flew off

Today - Winter Solstice, the sun was muted by cloud cover but still came through - looking more like the moon.

Movement is good for the body. Stillness is good for the mind.

Sakyong Mipham

This is a time of year that often gets me down, so I did a lot of walking and looking for little signs of light and life. A little color, a little sun, some flowering plants with seeds and buds waiting for spring, a couple of footprints in the sand, the stars in the morning, the cold crisp air and crunchy frost-covered grass under my feet - all these things get me outside of my mind as well as my house and those are both good things. And today the days begin to grow longer again! Happy winter solstice- and Merry Christmas if you celebrate!

Thank you so much for being here! I will see you next week!

The morning sky on the shortest day. Within the darkness, there is the promise of light to come.

Late Autumn Musing

I saw old autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.

Thomas Hood

In November,

I am

November.

I am dark and still,

I am cloudy and cold,

I am stormy.

One day I shine;

laugh out loud,

and scatter the leaves.

The next day I freeze -

whipping up an icy wind

blowing snow over everything.

Then, once again

I stop -

Melting into

December.

One white leaf in a sea of brown

Hey. Who’s over there?

A tufted titmouse with a little bite

November at its best - with a sort of delightful menace in the air.

Anne Bosworth Greene

A little taste of winter blew in Monday night.

Snow gathered in the fallen leaves.

A dark-eyed Junco got a face full of snow while searching under the feeder for fallen seeds.

A Carolina Wren showed up on the suet feeder. Seems a bit late to be in Michigan.

A young deer with its beautiful winter coat stayed around the edge of my yard all afternoon.

Listening…

By sunset Wednesday evening, most of the snow was already gone. In this photo, the deer are standing in the light of the setting sun looking oddly orange, except for the parts in the shade.

November’s a burn and an ache.

Charles Wright

November is a strange month. It’s moody. It can be warm and calm. It can be cold, dark and windy. It can be wintry. It can be all of these things in the same day. It takes me along with it if I’m not careful. I try to be careful. I don’t always succeed.

Luckily - by the time you read this - it will be December. Hope your November was full of good weather both internally and externally.

Thank you so much for being here. I will see you next week!

A late November sunset clear, bright and cold.