Happy Solstice

Photo credit: Todd Paris, University of Alaska Fairbanks

My my, what a strange year it has been. May next year be brighter for us all.

Here is a gratuitous dog photo:

They posed so nicely! After I had already had our holiday cards made, alas. :D

They have been rather picturesque lately! The above photo is from when they sat bolt upright because a moose came walking through the front yard. A second later, they were barking at the door.

They are very good about moose and don't chase them, just woof at them. :)

Today, our only Solstice gathering was virtual. My friends AT and ST took a small portion of their family to Troth Yeddha' Park to represent the Pavva Iñupiaq Dancers to commemorate Gazhee by singing to the Winter Solstice Siqiñiq (Sun). Here is a link to the performance.

Here is a screenshot:

Happy Solstice to all 12 of my loyal readers! Although I love winter, I understand that the darkness is hard on people, and our ancestors rightfully knew it as a dangerous time. In the times before wood stoves and polar fleece and electric lighting and daily shipments of fresh produce and cheese aisles in the grocery stores, people knew that not everyone would make it through each winter, and there may not have been enough of everything to go around. It was a foreboding time indeed. Let us be thankful for our little pleasures in this darkest of times. On this darkest, longest night, remember what my friend AT says: "Berries are sleeping under the snow!"