Winter solstice 2009....and smiling....

For those who have looked forward to the scowling, sinister, twisted grin each winter, and the stories of huddled bodies hunkered in front of candle light in the deep corners of the basement...

Kenai Alaska or Bust: The darkest day...another year!

Kenai Alaska or Bust: The darkest day, celebration, and reflection.

Those days may well be behind us now. As we turned the corner of Winter Solstice today and celebrated the darkest and shortest day of the year, we find ourselves happy and content. Gone are the virgin days of fear, depression and cabin madness on this day. Yes, our minds, bodies and souls have adapted to the oddity of minimal hours of daylight. It may have something to do with the daily oral injections of vitamin D....boy does it make a difference... and the blessed happy light as well! At 5 hours and 41 minutes of daylight, the sun is at the point on the horizon where we see no visible signs of the sun from the compound. Elsewhere the sun is a mere fleeting light that rises, briefly dashes the alpenglow horizon, and just as quick is setting once again.

It is really amazing how these few things could play such a difference on the psyche. But then again, our metabolisms adapted after the first winter and our second winter became so much more tolerable to the cold. Now, 15 degrees is short sleeve weather, and as soon as your nose hairs freeze upon exiting the door, you know automatically that it is below zero outside!! In similar fashion, the body and mind adjusts to it's environments as well. The snowfall has been significant this past week, and although we were in the teens to 20's last week, we are now hovering above freezing and a gloss of wet covering the ice and snow, so once again we will deal with serious ice up as the temps drop again later this week.

Today also marks Johns 19th birthday! Woo-hoo!! We had a nice dinner out with him and Jen to celebrate, and embarrassed ....or rather amused him as we told stories of when he was a little hellion. And other stories....hee hee..... Is he happy to be 19 you ask?? Well, he didn't say. But he looks happy, and that is all that counts.

The final pottery gig was this past weekend. It was ok. Ok it sucked! The turn out was incredulous. The fact that it was the last weekend before Christmas I feel was one reason. Everyone was tapped out on shopping. Also the fact that it was on a Saturday Sunday, as opposed to a Friday Saturday didn't help. You see, especially being at a major hotel, Sunday check-in's are traditionally deader than a doornail this time of year. And, it didn't start until noon on Sunday. By that time all the check outs are gone, nobody new is checking in. Kills the foot traffic, and the rest of the world is either at home resting or at church functions....not shopping. On the other hand, Saturday started at 10:00AM so there was alot of foot traffic from people checking out of the hotel and stopping in to see what was going on, as well as the same principal for those checking in throughout the day. Friday would have been the same. What are you gonna do? I think they learned a lesson in simple economics, and have stated that next year will be different. Overall, this spring summer and fall were pretty successful with pottery sales, and I walked away pretty content with it all. Now back to the studio to start turning it out for next years events.

Maryann is plugging away. It is a relatively easy winter for her so far. Especially that she is now fully in charge and has all the process down. She is enjoying the comfort of the new den as her winter office. Nothing left to do but smile smile smile! Hope this finds all adorned with a bounty of daylight and health and happiness. Stay tuned!