The First Day of Winter

I know that, technically, the Winter Solstice is the 21st of December. The first day of Winter, and the shortest day of the year. But for me, Winter really starts when Daylight Savings time ends. On that Sunday, I always wake up at the normal time, even though it would be a perfect day to catch an extra hour of sleep. I’m pretty sure I wake up partially because my inner clock isn’t yet changed, but this year, it was mostly because you cannot change the inner clock of a puppy, and JoLee was up and raring to go.

So, this morning, at 5:45 a.m. I decided to take Star and JoLee for a good long walk, partially to wear JoLee out, and partially to allow Harry to sleep in on the last day of his weekend. I decided to walk to East Campus. Leaving Tim snuggled up to his Dad, in the pre-dawn darkness the three of us set out.

I don’t know what the technical term for the pre-dawn darkness is - in the evening, it’s called twilight - but I think that’s my favorite time of day. That time when the sun is either rising or setting is magical to me. The blue bowl of the sky glows at the horizon, either with the promise of a beautiful day, or the promise of an incredible night.

Most of the walk to East Campus is on the boring side, to be honest. A concrete sidewalk, with mowed grass on either side, and few, if any, trees. About a third of the way to our final destination, the area on the south side of the walkway becomes a small, wild tangle of trees and brush, mostly left to its own devices. As we walked along, JoLee suddenly stopped and sat down, head cocked to one side, listening. I stopped to listen too, and then Star joined us. I could hear deliberate footsteps in the dead leaves, and they seemed to be coming towards us. We stayed and waited, peering through the tangle of undergrowth to see what was on the other side of the fence. Finally, a movement caught my eye, and as we watched, a small opossum clambered up a nearby tree. There was a clump of what appeared to be leaves stuck to its rump, but as I looked more closely, I saw that its tail curled tightly around a cluster of leaves. I've never heard of such a thing, but all I can think is that the possum was adding bedding to its nest. I watched it move slowly and deliberately all the way to its nest. It was watchful, but unafraid. Simply wonderful.

So, now I’m sitting in the back yard in the sunshine. Star is so beautiful. The sun gleams on her coat, and her calm, knowing eyes squint when she looks at me in the warm sunlight. JoLee is gnawing on a piece of firewood nearby and Tim is curled right next to me on a rug. The sound of the wind in the white pine behind me soothes me on a molecular level, and the warmth of the sun soaks in through my eyelids and collects on my navy blue sweatshirt, warming me gently and thoroughly. I am totally content.

And I just wanted to share that with you.