At The End Of The Shortest Day

 This year’s Winter Solstice will come in two hours.

I’m going for a ride to celebrate it—and the end of the semester.

There are organized rides—some in places where the weather’s even colder than it is here. (1C or 33F) Last year, the organizers of such a ride had, I believe, a really good idea.

Because It Isn't Easy Being Green....

By now, I'm sure you've heard that it's possible to balance an egg on its narrow end at the moment of Spring Equinox.

I've never tested that theory/rumor.  I don't think I ever will:  If I have to break an egg, I want to get an omelet out of it.

Anyway, Spring Equinox is three months today. Today, of course, is Winter Solstice.  Now, whether it's possible to balance anything at the moment the North Pole is closest to the sun (the definition of the Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere), I don't know.  

I am sure, however, that other things will balance just fine:

Happy Solstice!

In my half of the world (Who owns the other half?;-), it's the first day of winter, a.k.a., the Winter Solstice.

For my dear readers in Australia and other places in the other half, it's your first day of summer.

Where I live, we'll have about nine hours of daylight today.  Now, some of you don't think its such a short day--and with good reason.  I know my readers in Scotland and Finland (I won't drop any names here!) aren't getting much daylight. This morning, on the public radio station, the weather reporter mentioned northern Finland, where--if I recall correctly--the sun rose after 11 am and set before 2 pm.

Does your Winter Solstice Ride look like this?

Some organizations have Winter Solstice rides.  I've never participated in one--at least with any organization.  Once in my youth, however, a few of my riding buddies and I went on a ride that began with sunrise and ended with sunset on Solstice Day.  We did a century (in miles)--which, especially in the condition we were in, wasn't that difficult, even with all of the stops for hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps.  With each successive stop, the ratio of schnapps to cocoa increased.  I think each of us brought schnapps.  One of us, I forget which, brought his in one of those TA flasks we all hope someone will put in our Christmas stockings.

Great for carrying Schnapps in your jersey pocket.  But I'm told that cognac goes even better in it.

I'm not going to do anything like that day, in part because I didn't wake up until well after sunrise.  But I'm going to sneak in a short ride between grading exams and papers.