Saturday 21 December 2013

Seven hours and fifty-one minutes

The sun rose at 8.13am this morning, and set at 4.04pm.  I spent the day watching the light, the clouds and the sky.

This was sunrise, viewed from upstairs.


One hour later.


And an hour after that, looking out of the front of the house towards the river.




I half thought I might take a picture every hour, but life got in the way.  The middle boy had an optician's appointment in Bristol and things were generally too busy for me to wander about snapping pictures for a while.

After lunch we avoided the crowds and went to the little town of Wotton-under-Edge for a wander, and to pick up a few things.  The hill in the distance is the "Edge" - the edge of the Cotswolds.  In fact the Cotswold Way footpath passes through the town.


This building is on the high street, and I always look up at it when we pass.


We went to the little park just before sunset.



Seven hours and fifty-one minutes after the first photo I took this one, at 4.04pm.  The shortest day of the year has ended.


Winter solstice is one of my favourite days of the year, one that I look forward to a lot.  There's a real feeling of being in tune with the rhythm of the seasons.  Enjoying every minute of the light and loving it more for its brief appearance.  And luxuriating in the warmth and cosiness of home during the long hours of darkness.  This year I've also been thinking about how lucky we are to have the sanctuary of a safe home when so many don't.

I hope you all had a lovely day, and that your evening and night are happy and peaceful, in these the darkest hours of the year.

27 comments:

  1. oh your pictures! they weave such a story!

    happy winter solstice. I too love this time of year. xo

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  2. Beautiful - we are lucky aren't we that we have somewhere warm and dry to settle during the darkness. Enjoy your cosy home especially at this time of year.

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    1. We are lucky indeed. I try to instil a sense of this in the children as well, without being too dramatic. There have been some very sad pictures on the news lately.

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  3. This is such a great post. I love the idea of taking photos throughout the day anyway, but when you do it on a special, changeable day like the solstice, it's especially interesting. It's very dark here today too, which is unusual in and of itself because it's so often sunny here, but it's actually a stormy day. I was out between 3:30 and 4:00 to do an errand and it was almost like dusk already. Thank you for sharing, this was really interesting.

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    1. It's a wild, dark stormy day here today. Nice to be at home.

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  4. what gorgeous skies. it was dark and stormy here and it was dark soooooooooooooo early. this morning I am wondering if the sky will ever lighten....

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    1. It's much the same here at the moment, and I don't think it will improve any time soon. But we don't have anywhere to go, so I'm happy.

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  5. It stayed damp and dull here all day. Flighty xx

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    1. The very best day for sofa flying Flighty.

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  6. Here it was really windy again! Looking forward to the steady creep of daylight!

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  7. Lovely pictures, I wish we had had a dry day here too. It was grey, overcast and pouring with rain all day, just like the the last two months!

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    1. Today too! Two inches of rain forecast tonight, as well as gale force winds. The fence is hanging by a thread.

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  8. I look forward to the winter solstice too, I know that we're on the way to spring now and the nights start to get lighter again. That always makes me happy. I love those clouds in your second photo.

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    1. Thanks Jo, I like to reach the solstice too.

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  9. I love the sunset picture. You got a nice shot

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  10. I love following the clouds throughout the day. These are lovely and hope you have a wonderful night, too!

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    1. It was Kari, thanks. Always nice to enjoy a long winter night inside.

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  11. Thanks so much for your lovely comment, CJ. Happy Christmas to you too x

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    1. Thanks Emma, and thank you for visiting.

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  12. Wonderful pictures.... I am sad when we reach the winter solstice as I love so much Autumn and winter...

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    1. I love winter too. There's still plenty left though I think!

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  13. Dear CJ, it was so nice to meet you and share things and thoughts with you....So enjoyful to read your kind comments as well.I added your adress in my bloglist!So, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
    Olympia

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    1. Thank you Olympia, and thanks for visiting. I hope you have a lovely Christmas and a very happy New Year as well.

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  14. Wow, I did a double take when I saw the 6th photo down as I live in Wotton Under Edge. It is a lovely town to live in, apart from the lack of parking ( see 6th photo down - it should be car free but the residents have nowhere else to park ). We are very lucky and have lots of lovely or useful shops for such a small town, hope you bagged a few nice things for Christmas!

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    1. What a lovely coincidence. I often visit Wotton, I love it there. It has such a nice feel to it. I came home with several books, mostly for the children, but I did find a recipe book for myself which made me happy.

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