Book Advent Calendar Day 21: Happy Solstice to you

Happy Solstice to you, dear and gentle readers.  It is now the turning of the year and the sun will stay gradually longer each day. 
                          

Winter is not all bad.  It does give us an excuse time to be indoors and read by the fire.  There is a quietness that settles on the earth and in the air up here in the northern hemisphere in our winter.  A time to be still, to dream, and to wait.   Creativity and growth and new life can only come after a time of darkness, and planting seeds.  In my life, in the midst of this PTSD crisis I have been in for the past two months, there is a slow change in me, a settling down again of some of what was stirred up.  The soul has it's own time.  So I am learning how to sit still, and what being peaceful feels like.  These are good things for me.  It's good that it is winter now, I think.  It matches what I need inside me.  I am certainly more calmer than I was, though the anxiety is there, just under the surface. 

My wish for you and for myself  is:   May the coming year be filled with peace, contentment, and many good new books.    May the light increase in your life, and mine.                   

Book Advent Calendar Day 11: After the storm

Well, it wasn't quite a storm though we did receive 17 cm of snow officially (about 8 or so inches) all through the day and night yesterday.  Here are some photos (click on each to make them bigger) I took during my walk today.  I will let the photos speak for me about my thoughts for the day:  peace, and stillness, during this holy season. May you find the time to reflect on what means most to you as we approach the end of the year.

One good thing about being home is that I do have the time now to reflect, and I am becoming aware of how much I love silence, and solitude, in balance with all the noise and activity (and love!) that comes with being part of a family.  I need both solitude and to be part of my family.  I am grateful to have both.