The last pale light of the shortest day of the year came barely through the mid-afternoon today. In the summer, the sun sets beyond the right edge of this picture. I’ll be glad to see it begin its course back in the other direction.
Here in the north, we feel these short days in our bodies as well as in our spirits. The brightness of the holidays pushes us through December, but it’s January and early February that are the hardest for those who are most affected by the lack of sunlight. I am not, particularly, but we’ll be leaving our tree and star up for several weeks, grateful for their beauty and sparkle in the dim, short afternoons and dark evenings.
Lately I’ve been buoyed by music: the cathedral’s joyful Sing-along Messiah last weekend; a wonderful recital by my close friend Catherine St-Arnaud and the pianist Julien LeBlanc at a Montreal gallery yesterday evening; and watching a live performance by the Berlin Philharmonic this afternoon, on their Digital Concert Hall platform, of Mozart’s D-minor piano concerto and Bruckner’s 9th symphony, conducted by the astonishing Herbert Blomstedt, who is 96 years old.
Today was also a day of baking, package-wrapping, and conversing with friends.
Wherever you are, I wish you a happy solstice and safe passage through this darkest time of the year.
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