Sunrise,Sunset,Sunrise,SunsetSwiftly, goes the year.

This post is full of sunrises and sunsets – however, most of December has been grey,  grey,  grey.Usually it is November that is the grey month and December is  better.  But not this year.  November was like spring.  Our September snow melted, and I burned and burned.  I was clearing forest like this close to the road.I wanted to get rid of all the dense, low stuff.  Fallen trees, but also the tangled low branches.  Most of these are cause by mistletoe – the forest is riddled with it.  It causes the tree to make massive distortions and “witches brooms”.The branch supporting this greenery is curving down from the trunk on the left.  The branches could be dealt with, but by now most of the rotten logs were frozen into the ground and when we had a couple of inches of snow, work became unproductive.  So I burned a few piles that had already been made and will call it quits probably until March.Sunrise,Sunset, Sunrise,Sunset.These brief flashes of light at the beginning and end of the days.  It was never very cold (lowest is -23C so far) but for a while it froze steadily and the river iced over. Sometimes the night was clear, but it would always cloud over when daylight came.  The last of the moon held the old moon in her arms.In the early part of December, the Tatla School held their annual Santa Breakfast.  A great meal followed by a concert and a play.  Only 14 kids in the school this year – and mostly grade 2 and 3 girls.  (All in pretty dresses – but their choice of footwear was eclectic to say the least!). But the audience must have numbered well over 100.The play was really well done.And then came Mr and Mrs Santa.Not all the kids were happy about it, though….  This little boy took a lot of persuading to sit on Santa’s knee.Then we had a bit more snow.  Still way less than we should have at this time.No wind down here, but it must have been blowing on the mountains.I always put up a pagan tree for the Solstice.The teeny, tiny LED lights are reflected in all the windows.  This next is not a good picture, but you will notice a light a little above and separate to the reflections.It is Venus – the star on top of my Solstice tree!

Sunrise,Sunset – this on the very day of the Solstice.  Now it will start travelling back again across the horizon.That gap in the clouds produced a few minutes of sunshine.  It was a whole new world.On December 25th I drove to a friend’s place for dinner.  We had the traditional turkey – very nice.  But another friend sent me this vegan Santa, which I had to share with you.The 27th gave us a miraculously clear morning.  I simply cannot remember the last one we had like this.  Probably way back at the beginning of September.When it warmed up a bit, I snowshoed onto the dunes. First I tramped through one of the areas where I have been burning.  It is so open below the trees it looks like a park. Snow and ice (and sun!) turns every mundane twig into a work of art. But by evening the clouds came back and the colour was reduced to the little gaps at the end of the day.

Sunrise, Sunset,Sunrise,Sunset,On the 28th, it started to thaw in the afternoon – and then it poured rain all night!  Our pretty snow was knocked off the trees and reduced by half on the ground.  The last 3 days have been solid grey – not even a sunrise or a sunset to enliven the sky.  And as the light dies from tonight’s sky, 2018 is history.