Solstice

     The morning is bleak, the sun didn't lighten the sky until well past 7, in part because we are approaching the shortest day of the year and in part because we are on our third day of much needed rain and the sky is heavy with thick gray clouds and the oft presented morning fog.

The ridge beyond is hidden this morning.

Though I don't truly suffer from SAD,  the short days, long nights, and the heavy overcast sky are depressing.  I look forward to the Solstice, knowing that with each suceeding day, the ratio of light to dark increases in the favor of light.  I am sure that I would never be able to live in Alaska, though I would like to visit, as the extended period of dark would likely require me to be medicated and in counseling to survive those months and the period of light would be equally irritating as I don't sleep well in light and don't like my sleeping room tightly curtained.  Perhaps I would have done well when the families bedded for the night shortly after full dark, to conserve the candles or lamp oil and rose with the sun to begin the day's chores.  In retirement, there is little heed to the clock unless we have an appointment or a plane to catch, I rise with the sun's lightening of the morning sky, we eat when we are hungry, and though we have the conveniences of modern electricity and lights on our little farm, I am ready for bed early each winter night.