Winter Arrives Soon: Some Macro Images On The Winter Solstice.

It’s the first day of Winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, although the actual solstice doesn’t officially occur for a few more hours, at 11:49 P.M. EST. in Northeastern Pennsylvania. 

This has always been one of my favorite days of the year, from when I first learned that on this day the sun reaches it southernmost location in the skies, and begins to head back north, bringing with it  longer days. I do not  like the short days  and I look forward to this day, as did our ancestors for thousands of years. 

There is not much to photograph this time of year. No insects, flowers or green leaves. Still, if you look close you can find some beauty in the the dead and dormant plants, such as this milkweed pod. 

And the intricate design of the dead queen anne’s lace flower has a unique beauty to it.

And, as  always, some of the red oak leaves remain clinging to the trees and often remain until they are replaced by the new leaves in Spring. 

It has been a mild December here, one of the warmest on records. No sub zero temperatures or snow cover as in most other years so there are still some apples rotting on the ground. 

And pumpkins left over from halloween. 

And I was surprised to still find this tansy flower that only recently perished in the below freezing temperatures we just had this past weekend. 

And some fresh mint growing through the thick cover of the newly fallen leaves. We have been fortunate with warm weather so far this year but I have a feeling we will eventually pay for it with some arctic blast during the next few months. 

But for now the warm weather continues and it was a nice night to stand outside and enjoy a solstice  fire to welcome the suns return trip north, like  countless generations of folks have done so for many thousands of years. Tomorrow we will have more sunlight than today and, in my book, that is a very good thing. Here is a link to some more photographs I took on my walk today. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/photographs-page-2/nggallery/photographs-page-two-blog/winter-solstice-walk-december-21-2015

The simplicity of winter has a deep moral. The return of Nature, after such a career of splendor and prodigality, to habits so simple and austere, is not lost either upon the head or the heart. It is the philosopher coming back from the banquet and the wine to a cup of water and a crust of bread. ~John Burroughs, “The Snow-Walkers,”