Some Thoughts for Today by Joe Farace
Today is the first day of winter and is the Winter Solstice. Here in the Northern Hemisphere the Earth will be tilted as far away from the sun as it will be all year. It’s also the shortest day — and longest night — of the year and this year it occurs at 8:59 AM MST right here on Daisy Hill.
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the word solstice comes from the Latin words for “sun” and “to stand still.” In the Northern Hemisphere, as summer advances to winter, the point on the horizon where the Sun rises and sets advances southward each day; the high point in the Sun’s daily path across the sky, which occurs at noon local time, also moves southward each day.
At the winter solstice, the Sun’s path has reached its southernmost position. The next day, the path will advance northward. However, a few days before and after the winter solstice, the change is so slight that the Sun’s path seems to stay the same or stand still. The Sun is directly overhead at high noon on Winter Solstice at the latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn.
As I write this, no snow is expected on Christmas but some is expected on Christmas Eve and I can tell you after the year that Mary and I have had, I’m really looking forward to sitting in the living room next to our Christmas tree and sipping some hot chocolate while watching the snow fall. One can always hope for a White Christmas but not a blizzard, as in 1982. As you scroll down the linked page, that’s me shoveling snow off Mary’s red Toyota,
How I shot this image: The featured photograph was made during my daily walk when we lived in Brighton, Colorado. The camera used was a Fujifilm FinePix S100FS with an exposure of 1/450 sec at f/8 and ISO 200. The image was captured using the camera’s B&W Color Mode that also offers High, Mid, and Low color choices.
Here in Daisy Hill, six miles from Parker Colorado, it can also be quite cold and snowy this time of year with temperatures below zero but the weather here is so unpredictable that I wouldn’t be surprised to see temperatures in the low 50’s.
No matter the weather, I want to wish you the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years.
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