Happy Solstice!

In past years, we have celebrated the solstice with friends--the party began with afternoon sledding on the side of a hill as the weak light cast long shadows on the birches and pines. Once we were all thoroughly cold and wet, we'd move indoors to a candlelit room--no electricity on this night. Soups, breads, salads, cookies shaped as stars and moons. Sometimes there was an additional run with the sleds--lanterns lighting the run with an end at the sugarhouse. A Bonfire. Fiddles, guitars, children dancing. And, finally, a hushed lighting of the tree. A great white pine with real candles and just a very few star and moon ornaments.

We are in Ohio visiting my parents this year on the Solstice. No bonfire for us. So, I leave you with some images from the SUMMER solstice at our house. It was a hot day last June We picked and froze strawberries to eat today. We gathered richly-green ferns to make a beautiful table. We made fairy houses which were visited in the night with lots of glitter. We're saving our strawberries for Christmas day, but we'll take a moment today to think about this shortest day of the year. I hope you all find a moment today to stop and enjoy the blessed dark and the coming return of the light.