the longest night...

In which our plucky heroine has a quiet solstice birthday...

This is just plain lovely... happy Solstice one and all!

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"And so the Shortest Day came
and the year died.
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year."

~ Susan Cooper

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Tonight, when I went to close the chooks in their house for the night, I found two eggs!! This has never happened here before, the earliest I ever got winter eggs was in late January. When I spoke to Mr Dawson, he said that he as had this happen, sometimes... because the sunset time is staying light longer, even while the sunrise time is getting even later, so while the night lengthens, it also shifts in time, and some hens occasionally will lay solstice eggs. I never heard the like, but the eggs are welcome just the same!

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	brown linen blouse	GM enamel redone	extra tartlets**
2	jingle bell	brown blouse cuffs	bag of fabric scraps
3	indigo batik dress	enamel reset	low hanging branches
4	miyazaki stamps	x	yard waste bin
5	Laurel stamp	x	bag to Goodwill
6	much Awesome Sauce	x	-
7	5 jars mandarin oranges	x	-
8	x	x	-
9	x	x	-
10	x	x	-
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x