Short & Sweet

 No, not a description of me, though the stature would be correct enough. ‘Tis the Winter Solstice, so what better way of making the most of the shortest day of the year than bouncing out of bed before sunrise to see how much I could pack into nine or so hours of daylight. It was worth wandering up and down for half an hour or so to catch the sunrise, waiting for the light to be just so, to get the best shot I could. Don’t know how the professionals set themselves up for hours on end waiting for the light, I wouldn’t have the patience.

 

Spent the morning tidying up and pruning in the Village Green, or murdering depending on what you’d think of our efforts. Giving creepers and shrubs a number 1 haircut or short back and sides if we were feeling more compassionate might mean things look a bit denuded for a while, but come spring they’ll grow rampant again and I’m sure will end up just as out of control as ever.

Took the afternoon to get over the morning, the old back is protesting loudly. Maybe I should’ve headed to Hobart and gone to the annual early morning skinny dipping winter solstice swim in the Derwent, part of the Dark MOFO Festival. Can’t imagine it would’ve limbered me up like a nice swim in a heated pool. Quite apart from the fact the sight of me in the buff would not have been one you’d want to see that early in the morning, the temperature of the water would probably have ended up causing me doing more harm than good as I froze my toes and every other bit of me. Definitely not that adventurous. Think I’d relegate that experience to the same category as running with the bulls in Pamploma. You’d have to be mad.

Anyway, the sun has already set, not spectacularly, but tomorrow marks the turnaround as the days lengthen again a minute or so at a time. Spring is definitely not just around the corner though, in fact winter hasn’t yet made much of an impact even here in Tassie. The real freeze is yet to come, snow is forecast in some parts early next week, so time to make that big pot of soup, chuck some spuds in the fire for dinner, curl up on the couch and make inroads into my accumulated pile of secondhand books purchased for just this reason.

Roll on Winter, do your best.