Can you call a solstice “nature?” Everything’s nature, but especially the environmental stuff, the outdoors, and this morning during a dogwalk at the usual time, the usual morning light just wasn’t there. Nature. Non-negotiable.
Today was and is December 21, winter solstice. It’s always a little unclear if the night before or after this day is the longest one of the year, but what’s not unclear is that it’s pretty dark at dawn.
Instead of this darkness being challenging, it’s encouraging. It underscores the implacable nature of things in the natural world. During the winter solstice, you’re not going to wake up to morning light streaming into the room. Non negotiable.
And on your walk you might see a coyote with steaming breath staring hungrily at your pooch, and you might see a few freezing squirrels who were smart enough to take care of their nuts, and you might see a cardinal, some nuthatches and sparrows. Hardy winter birds you expect—expectations met.
But you won’t see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, or any hummingbird. You won’t see a Veery or a Vireo. No cuckoos either, Yellow-billed or Black-billed; they’re not cuckoo enough to stay so they migrate. Non-negotiable.
How does the dimly lit morning of the winter solstice connect to thoughts of birds who migrate and those who don’t? Easily. Comfortably. They both calmly illustrate that this is the way the world works, with or without our involvement or understanding.
It’s not the world of human stuff, but the real world of planetary rotation, of bird migration, the non-negotiable indifferent nature of nature. Oddly, this is comforting as hell, although as you crunch through the coating of solstice snow, you’re cold as hell. Still you’re loving it all.
Comforting as hell, or maybe comforting as heaven, too. You paint a nice picture of nature naturing, which is all it can do, and all we can do, and there’s freedom in realizing this. It’s even easier to realize it when we’re outdoors, and your TFBW posts take us outdoors like a charm. ❤️
And, the woodpeckers are still around as of this morning!
nice, thanks
“This is the way the world works.” Thus spaketh the TFBW and Lao Tzu. Nature is all pervasive, infinitely immense, and non-negotiable. And so one must go with the flow, including dog walker, his dog, and the hungry coyotes who watch them.