Winter's coming!

Sunrise today was at 7:42, sunset will be at 4:18.

It's a sunny Saturday in early December. Pretty and cold, going to be windy later. The Ducks are going to the National Championships. The brilliant sunlight shows just how often Gidget puts her nose on the windows.

The guys across the street just turned their Christmas lights on! Smith Tower's light has turned from blue to green, the Space Needle tip is lit up like a tree, Qwest Field's lights have changed from teal/green to green/red, Amazon's star is lit up, Queen Anne's radio tower lights are on and a lot of the Seattle skyscrapers' top floors are lit in green, white, and red lights.

Wednesday night Lake Union was filled with Christmas ships, yachts and other boats all decorated with lights and decorations. So beautiful! I love driving home in the dark and seeing the ships all decked out, lining up for the run through the Montlake Cut on their way to Lake Washington and the caroling stops. There is something so uplifting about lights pushing back the darkness, bravery against the fading light.

Just imagine the ancients standing together, wondering if the light will ever come back, lighting bonfires to call the sun. We're a long way from those times, but every year I feel an urge to do my part to make sure the sun comes back by lighting candles, turning the Christmas lights on in the living room, making sure the curtains are open so we get the last moments of daylight. The sun is finally almost gone behind Beacon Hill, the last ruddy color over the black Olympics, and all the houses on the street below are lit up. It just turned 5 pm and the light is but a whisper in the west.

Books for this season include The Faraway Lurs, by Harry Behn, a wonderful book about a meeting of a dark ages princess and a newer ages prince, a meeting of stone and bronze, and very romantic. Dear Elizabeth, Winter is Here, by Jean Craighead George, is a great picture book that explains that as soon as the solstice comes, the season changes. The Longest Night, by Marion Dane Bauer, is an amazing fable about all the animals going to fetch the light but only the lowly sparrow is able to do it.

Note the trees attached to the cranes. I read somewhere it was to honor the trees, that because a tree was taken and used, that honor needed to be paid so balance was restored, so bad things wouldn't happen to the people building houses or other things. Like pouring a little wine onto the ground to honor the earth that feeds us. Has anyone else out there heard this?