I would like to use this blog as a vehicle for conveying my warmest wishes to you, my dear readers, on this December Solstice 2013.

For me the winter Solstice has far greater significance than any of the man-constructed festivals that clutter this time of year; it has no need of myths or fables or faith to support it, as it is a real astronomical occurrence. This day is a turning point in the apparent harmonic motion of the sun; it ceases moving to the south, and from today it will move in a northerly direction, until its next turning point at the summer Solstice.

Thus the winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere presages longer days, shorter nights, and Mother Nature’s renewal of herself through a surge of photosynthetic activity. Had the calendar makers had been more alert, today would have been labeled January 1.

And I will drink to that!!