It’s been a very, very quiet year on campus. With the days grown shorter and darker, it seems even quieter. Let’s accept that as a gift.
Our world is so full of electrically charged, artificial light that unless we live deep in the wilderness or in a very rural area, far from our neighbors, we cannot escape it. So it is difficult for us moderns to understand the gravity of solstice traditions that arose in a world lit by the sun and moon and firelight. A world that grew darker and darker and darker…until Midwinter, when the light began slowly to return, that was a natural world not to be ignored as we too often ignore our natural world.
It’s Midwinter’s Eve. Let the Yule logs burn bright. Here are some views of the garden in the dim light of December mornings.
But even in Pacific Northwest winters there are sunny days.
On a bright afternoon, this young Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) hid out from the crows on the edge of the herb garden.
Two immature snow geese (Anser caerulescens) arrived in December to spend some time with the Canada geese (Branta canadensis) grazing on lower Rainier Vista grass.
Students have been removing the invasive English ivy (Hedera helix) from Island Grove (the woods north of section D in the herb garden). Someone used the pulled ivy to make a festive holiday tree facsimile, replete with empty beer cans and whiskey bottles as ornaments, probably found in the nearby foliage. Ah, life in the city.
yuletide tree of sorts
festooned with empty vessels
of last year’s spirits
See you in the garden.